To help the UK capitalize on its engineering talent potential, the Daphne Jackson Trust is carrying out a feasibility study to identify best practice in returning qualified engineers to the workplace.

To increase the number, quality and quantity of engineers, in the UK’s workforce more needs to be done to recruit and retain a diverse range of talented individuals in engineering professions. With sponsorship from the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, the Daphne Jackson Trust is exploring the challenges and opportunities that industry faces in developing and maintaining a diverse workforce.

The Perkins Review, which was published in November 2013, recognises the need to draw on the wider talent pool and encourage more females to train as engineers. It also recommends that more should be done to retain experienced engineers in their profession, and encourage those who have left the profession to return. A copy of the Perkins Review can be downloaded here.

The Trust has commissioned Silvia Boschetto (a consultant engineer with diverse industry background) and Julie Hodgkinson (expert in developing and managing training fellowship schemes) to consult with industrial employers and those wishing to return to industry, to discover what can be done to get more trained engineers to return to and stay in engineering roles. The study report will be used to inform plans for a pilot programme that could support and promote engineers returning to industry.

This consultation is ongoing and if you would like to participate, please contact the Daphne Jackson Trust office as soon as possible.