UK firms struggling to recruit right staff: survey

UK firms wanting to recruit more workers either cannot find or afford the right staff, reveals a new survey.

According to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which spoke to 7,300 businesses in the manufacturing and services sectors, the percentage seeking to hire had swelled by 9 per cent in the last quarter.

However most also experienced "high levels of recruitment difficulties" which, according to the BCC, was a risk to growth.

During the trade group's quarterly economic survey, both manufacturing and services firms had reported "solid growth" in their businesses in first three months of the year, with domestic and export sales up since the previous quarter.

It also found that confidence in turnover and profitability was improving, with around 86 per cent of manufacturing firms, up from 77 per cent in the last quarter, and 59 per cent of services companies, up from 53 per cent, wanted to find new recruits.

But despite this, around 74 per cent of manufacturing firms and 58 per cent of services firms said they had been struggling to find staff.

Suren Thiru, head of economics at the BCC, told the BBC, "The main issue is finding enough people with the right skills, and of course the workforce is aging.

"The services sector continues to rebound from its initial shock in the months immediately after the EU referendum, and while growth has not yet returned to historic levels, it remains a key driver of the UK economy."

Prime Minister Theresa May is taking the UK towards a "hard Brexit", meaning UK is leaving the EU without access to Surope as a single market in exchange for having full control over immigration into the country.

However, according to commentators if the government were to restrict EU migration heavily , several industries vital to the UK economy could be hit with worker shortages. Consumers too would be hit, as it could cause either shortages or price rises.