The Institute of the Motor Industry has called on the Treasury to invest in automotive skills ahead of the Autumn Budget. After 32 years on the tools, here’s what I think they’ve got right — and what they’re still missing.
The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) has [submitted its policy requests ahead of the Autumn Budget](https://garagewire.co.uk/news/associations/imi/imi-calls-for-urgent-automotive-skills-investment-ahead-of-autumn-budget/) on 28 October, asking the Treasury to put serious money into the automoti
ve workforce. Their CEO, Nick Connor, talks about a "growing mismatch between policy ambition, technological change and workforce capacity". That's a polite, boardroom way of putting it. Here's the workshop-floor translation: we are running out of people who can actually fix cars , and the cars are
getting harder to fix every year. After 32 years on the tools, I can tell you the IMI is right to be worried — and if anything, they're being diplomatic about how bad it is. What the IMI is asking for In plain English, their asks are: - Reform the Growth & Skills Levy so garages can spend it on shor
ter, modular courses rather than long formal programmes. - A dedicated Automotive Workforce Investment Fund to help small and medium garages pay for retraining. - Government backing for IMI TechSafe — the competence framework for working safely on electric, connected and automated vehicles. - Workfo