I spotted an interesting story this week that has nothing directly to do with logistics. The BBC is cutting back its apprenticeship scheme.
That caught my attention because, at a time when so many industries are worrying about where their future skilled workforce is coming from, investing in young talent seems rather important.
The picture in the UK is actually more complicated than simply saying apprenticeships are declining. In England, apprenticeship starts rose 4.1% in 2024/25, to 353,500, while participation reached 761,480. Higher apprenticeships are growing particularly rapidly: starts at Level 4 and above increased by 15.1%, with degree-level apprenticeships now accounting for 17.1% of all starts.
So apprenticeships are clearly becoming an increasingly credible alternative – and complement – to university. But there is a catch.
Much of the growth is at higher levels, while traditional Level 2 apprenticeships are shrinking. And that matters enormously to industries that need people who can actually build, maintain, repair and operate things, such as fork lift trucks and shuttles.
Engineering is a good example. Engineering and technology accounted for more than 100,000 apprenticeship starts in England in 2024/25, up 5% year-on-year. But EngineeringUK says engineering-related apprenticeship starts were still 9% below their 2014/15 level, while Level 2 engineering starts have more than halved since 2017/18.
Meanwhile, the recruitment problem isn’t going away. The IET found that 76% of engineering employers struggle to recruit people with key skills.
And this is where I think the logistics industry needs to pay attention.
The forklift truck technician of 2035 isn’t necessarily going to be the mechanic of 1995. They will need to understand batteries, electronics, sensors, software, connectivity and increasingly autonomous equipment. The same applies to the engineers who will install, maintain and troubleshoot warehouse robotics.
Those skills don’t magically appear when somebody turns 25.
Germany offers an interesting contrast. Its famous dual vocational training system remains deeply embedded in the relationship between education and industry. It isn’t immune from demographic pressures – 461,900 people started dual vocational training in 2025, 2.8% fewer than the previous year – but more than 1.2 million people were still in dual training at the end of the year.
And I was particularly struck by a story from STILL this week. The intralogistics manufacturer has welcomed 58 new apprentices and dual-study students across seven apprenticeship and four dual-study programmes. Better still, all 34 members of its previous Hamburg cohort have been offered jobs – and all accepted. STILL will now have 241 young people in training across eight German sites.
That’s not just recruitment. That’s workforce planning.
I don’t think every company needs to copy the German system, or that university is somehow the wrong choice. But if we are serious about automation, robotics and increasingly sophisticated material-handling equipment, we need to make sure there is a route into those industries for young people who want to learn by doing.
Because the robots may be getting smarter.
We’d better make sure the people looking after them are too.
