Twenty-eight per cent of software development positions across UK government departments remain unfilled

Some departments are yet to adopt the open source software despite the government acknowledging its benefits

A new study based on a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by digital experience firm Acquia indicates that the UK government is facing a major software skills crisis, with more than a quarter of software development positions lying vacant across many key departments.

According to IT Pro, Acquia obtained FOI data from 12 central government departments including the Cabinet Office, the Treasury, the Department for Education (DfE), the Department for International Trade (DIT), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and UK Export Finance, among others.

The data sent was accurate as of September 2020, according to Acquia, and revealed that some 317 developer positions out of the total 1,125 sanctioned vacancies were open across 12 departments.

In the Department for Education (DfE), 44 per cent of the developer positions currently remain unfilled.

The Driving Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has the largest software development team with 172 filled positions, although 12 vacancies are yet to be filled there.

The Department for Transport (DfT), by contrast, has no open positions for software developers, and 13 developers are currently working at the department.

Surprisingly, the DCMS employees no developers and doesn't build any of its own services or apps.

In the survey, Acquia also analysed how the central government departments have been using open source code for creating applications. It found that some departments are yet to fully adopt the technology despite the government having acknowledged its benefits many times in the past.

For example, the DWP harnesses open source code to build just 3.7 per cent of its applications.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Cabinet Office makes maximum use of the open source, using it in nearly 90 per cent of its services.

Acquia's survey findings come less than three months after a study by McKinsey predicted that the UK could face a growing skills shortage over next 10 years if attention is not given on retraining workers for the shift to a digital-based economy.

McKinsey said that their analysis suggested that 94 per cent of the workforce lacked skills they would require in 2030.

"Without concerted action by employers, two-thirds of the UK workforce could lack basic digital skills by 2030, while more than 10 million people could be under-skilled in leadership, communication, and decision-making," the report said.

The jobs at most risk would include retail assistants, sales roles, waiters and receptionists, often done by younger workers and usually by part-time staff.

The Open University's 2019 Business Barometer report [pdf] also showed that nearly two-thirds of the UK's businesses are currently experiencing a skills shortage and struggling to find workers with the right skills.

Sixty-eight per cent of the business leaders surveyed in the study said they can't recruit people with the skills they need, despite the fact that millions of people are currently unemployed and looking for jobs.