The gap is real and it is costing the sector. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year, according to Make UK's Industrial Strategy Skills Commission Report 2025. When roles stay open that long, the problem is rarely just a single hire. It is a thin bench. A site without a named successor for its critical roles carries succession risk on every shift.
Employers feel it at the top of their list. Manufacturers rank skills shortages (75%), recruitment (36%) and talent retention (32%) as their biggest barriers to growth, according to Barclays Corporate's analysis of the skills shortage in UK manufacturing. Read those three together and you have a succession problem: too few skilled people, hard to hire, hard to keep. An open plant role is where all three show up at once.
Automation is quietly rewriting the job descriptions underneath these roles. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cited automation and half (50%) cited wider digitalisation as trends changing jobs and skills needs, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030, according to Make UK's 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap report. In plain terms, the next person in a maintenance or production role needs different skills from the person leaving it. Succession planning has to look forward, not just backfill.
Many manufacturers are responding by growing their own. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, and that figure rises for firms with more than 1,000 employees, according to Make UK's Executive Survey 2026. That is succession planning in action: moving a known person into a changing role and hiring behind them.
But retention makes the bench fragile. 79% of UK technical professionals plan to change employers in 2026, according to Rise Technical's 2025/26 Insights Report, covered by Engineering and Technology Jobs. If four in five technical people are open to moving, the internal successor you were counting on may be the next person to leave. That is why an open role is often the first visible sign that a succession plan needs a refresh.
Start by reading the vacancy as evidence. Ask who this role feeds into, who could step up, and what skills the role will need in two years, not just today. Because 74% of manufacturers expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030, according to Make UK's 2030 Skills report, hire for learning ability and adaptability alongside the technical ticket.
Then hire on two tracks at once. Fill the immediate gap, and build depth behind your critical roles so a single departure does not stall a line. Given that skills shortages, recruitment and talent retention are the top three barriers, according to Barclays Corporate, move quickly: a role that stays open longer is a role where succession risk compounds. Pair external hiring with the upskilling route that 40% of manufacturers are already using, according to Make UK's Executive Survey 2026, so you are promoting from within and bringing in fresh capability at the same time.
When an open role exposes a thin bench, you need the right person quickly and you need the process handled end to end. We search a database of 15 million candidates to find people who match the skills your plant needs now and next, then manage the recruitment from shortlist to offer. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell us about the role with Reed.ai and we will get started today.
