Employer Skills Survey: 2022 (charity and voluntary sector report)

The Employer Skills Survey 2022 (ESS 2022) is the sixth in a series of UK-wide large-scale employer surveys which provide a comprehensive source of labour market information on the skills challenges faced by employers and the levels and nature of investment in training and development.

ESS 2022 took place after the COVID-19 pandemic. In this period, Wales, the UK, and the global economy more widely, has faced unprecedented economic challenges. This data is valuable in understanding the recent labour market picture for employers and in demonstrating how things have changed over time. ESS 2022 included 4,825 employers in Wales (within the UK-wide survey which saw over 72,000 employers taking part). Survey fieldwork took place between June 2022 and March 2023.

This report provides a summary for the charity and voluntary sector in Wales. It makes comparisons to other establishment types and to other UK countries.

The report focuses on:

• vacancies
• hard-to-fill vacancies
• skill shortage vacancies
• skills gaps
• training
• High Performance Working

Findings

Establishments in the charity and voluntary sector in Wales tend to be more likely to have vacancies, hard-to-fill vacancies, skill shortage vacancies, and skills gaps than profit seeking businesses, with the picture more mixed when compared to local and central government establishments.

Regarding recruitment related measures, employers in the charity and voluntary sectors saw sharp increases in the proportion of employers with vacancies, hard-to-fill vacancies, and skill shortage vacancies in 2022 when compared with equivalent figures for 2019.

Whilst a lack of applicants with the required skills, experience and qualifications was mentioned as the cause of a large proportion of hard-to-fill vacancies, the most commonly cited cause was poor terms and conditions (e.g. pay) being offered for posts.

Whilst the majority of establishments in the sector with hard-to-fill vacancies reported that they impacted on the business, most were also responding to this, with increasing advertising / recruitment spend being the most common response.

Employers with skill shortage vacancies were most likely to cite specialist skills or knowledge when asked what skills they had difficulty obtaining from applicants.

Turning to skills deficiencies in employers' existing workforces, the proportion of establishments with skills gaps (which exist where staff lack full proficiency) had increased since 2019, although not to the extent of the increase seen on recruitment related measures. Furthermore, the proportion of staff in the charity and voluntary sector lacking full proficiency had decreased.

In line with other establishment types, the majority of skills gaps in the sector were caused by transitory reasons, specifically being new to the role and / or training only being partially completed. Many of these transitory skills gaps may be resolved once relevant induction and wider training is completed. Other reasons included staff lacking motivation and being unable to recruit staff with the required skills (linking back to the issues posed by skill shortage vacancies).

The primary skill lacking in skills gaps was the ability to manage own time and prioritise own tasks.

Skills gaps also impacted on how the establishment performs, but almost all affected had either taken action to address these or had plans to do so.

The majority of employers in the sector funded or arranged training for staff, at a consistent level over the previous decade.

Around a quarter of employers in the sector were High Performance Working employers, having adopted a range of practices such as having an equal opportunity policy, providing on or off the job training, carrying out training needs assessments, and providing employees with task variety and task discretion.