London: The Student Loans Company (SLC) has splashed out £2.6 million on temporary agency staff as a result of a technical skills deficit, forcing an emergency uptake in its staff spending, according to official figures.
The data, uncovered in the Student Loans Company’s recently published Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21 and analysed by the Parliament Street think tank, highlighted the skills shortage brought on by a 7.86% SLC staff turnover from April 2020 to March 2021.
The shortage has been brought on by high staff retention in competitive recruitment markets which has made it difficult for the SLC to attract important staff, most notably in the technology, digital and service design sectors.
Skilled technological workers, according to the report, have been joining competitors who offer higher salaries and greater staff benefits which has led to the SLC struggling to find and retain key workers, instead spending £2.6 million on agency staff to compensate.
A lack of cyber security workers has contributed to the technological skills shortage, despite the Student Loans Company seeking to attract people to their Security Programme.
Technology licencing and maintenance costs increased by around £2.4 million, during the reporting period, in order to ensure core systems were sufficiently supported and to increase resilience against cyber-attacks.
Despite the shortage, the Student Loans Company are continuing to aim to “sustain and develop the skills of a well-managed, engaged and motivated workforce.”
Edward Blake, Area Vice President EMEA for Absolute Software, said: The education of workers with technological skills is essential with the rapid global digitalisation that continues to take place. Cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and when an organisation is hit by one, they need to have the right people with sufficient technical skills to stop the attack and prevent system downtime.”
“To supplement the training, companies must also put in place cyber prevention and recovery systems to combat attacks when they happen. Zero Trust protocols offer a solution for fighting against malicious actors who have access to a network in order to stop them moving laterally to other areas. Whilst self-healing solutions can help to ensure applications remain healthy without compromising performance.”
THE RIGHT TO REPLY 24/01/2022.
"Cyber security will always be a top priority for SLC, and we continue to invest in the technical expertise and robust resources required to protect the integrity of our data. Like many organisations SLC employs specialised technical roles within a highly competitive global market, we recognise this and since 19/20 we have introduced various successful measures to recruit and retain an engaged and motivated workforce. We have adopted the cross-Government Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework to attract necessary skills, in addition to significant investment in our emerging talent programmes, including the employment of Graduates and Apprentices in technical areas."