Qualification levels in the sector are relatively low, especially for managerial and senior official occupations.  Therefore, significant increases are expected in the levels of qualifications required of those employed in each occupation.

The largest incremental demand, of 110,000, is expected to be for S/NVQ Level 3 (SCQF Level 6) qualifications.  Demand for this qualification level is expected to increase in all occupations with the largest increases in sales and customer service, managerial and senior official and skilled trade occupations. 

The automotive retail sector has the lowest proportion of managers trained to the equivalent of S/NVQ Level 4 plus (SCQF Level 8 plus) or equivalent.  Only 14% of managers operating in the sale and maintenance of motor vehicles are qualified to this level, compared to 39% across all sectors of the economy. 

Source:  Automotive Skills SSA Stage 1 – UK 2006a

For a summary of education and training provision for the sector across the UK see:

* estimate is unreliable due to small numbers

Source: SSDA Skills Matrix 2006.  Data from the Labour Force Survey.

Levels of training activity in the automotive retail sector are reported:

• 10% fewer businesses provide training than the national average
• about a third of businesses provide training for more than 90% of their staff
• larger businesses are more likely to provide training than smaller businesses
• 52% of employers in the automotive retail sector are providing only 1-5 days of training per trainee/employee.
• smaller organisations were significantly more likely to provide long periods of training, over 20 days (23%), than medium sized organisations (7%)

The most common types of training arranged by employers are:  technical (79%); health and safety (69%); and induction training (51%).  Generic skills training, such as management, ICT training and supervisory skills, are consider less important.  Less common training provided by employers includes: basic skills training (27%); and financial or financial compliance training (17%). 

Overall, the largest proportion of training taking place in the automotive retail sector was in the broad category of workshop occupations; 48% of organisations devoted 90% or more of their training to this.  In companies with less than 10 employees, 73% carried out 90% or more of their training in workshop occupations.

Source:  Automotive Skills SSA Stage 3 – UK 2006b

A disproportionately large number of higher education course are located in the West Midlands, at 24% of the national total.  In contrast, there were no automotive engineering courses available in Northern Ireland or the North East of England, and only 0.7% of all courses were in Scotland.

Most higher education sector specific studies are towards a first degree (59.4%), although 22.4% of students were studying for Masters Degrees, and 11.7% toward an HNC or HND.  All learners in Wales were studying for an HNC/HND in 2005.

Almost two thirds of Higher Education learners are under 25 years.  33% of Higher Education learners are not ‘White British’; 7% were listed as being from a UK ethnic minority.  95% of learners were male.

The number of courses available per 100 retail automotive sites gives a guide to the comparative choice of course provision available to employers in each region/country.  It is important to note that because the potential number of learners that could be accommodated on each course is not considered, since no such data is available, this is not a measure of the actual capacity of the sector in each region in terms of number of HE learners.

Source:  Automotive Skills SSA Stage 3 – UK 2006b and Automotive Skills SSA Stage 3 – UK 2006c

For more data on sector course provision by region and nation see:

A course search powered by learndirect, and dedicated to automotive retail training, is available on their website.  

For more information on qualifications in the sector go to the City and Guilds website or The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) website which includes a learning hub, serving as a guide to the qualifications that the IMI offers.  This facility shows what levels of qualifications are needed for progression to the next level.  Edexcel also offer automotive retail qualifications. 

Further information on education and training in the automotive retail sector can be found on the Automotive Skills website.