As part of its efforts to help people back into employment, York Jobcentre is running a 25-day course for benefit claimants to obtain their Category C driving licence.

The centre has teamed up with System Group to run the HGV sector-based work academy programme (SWAP), and participants are guaranteed an interview with a local employer.

SWAPs aim to prepare people receiving unemployment benefits to apply for jobs in a different area of work, while helping employers to recruit a workforce with the right skills.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) estimates the shortage of HGV drivers at 100,000, and the escalating problem has led to gaps appearing on supermarket shelves. City of York Council also recently blamed delayed and missed waste collections on the shortage.

Unite union says factors that have exacerbated the shortage include an ageing workforce who are retiring; the effect of the ‘pingdemic’; the backlog in tests for new entrants due to Covid restrictions; and European Union drivers who returned home during the pandemic, but are now deterred from returning to the UK due to Brexit bureaucracy.

Wendy Mangan, employer and partnership manager at York Jobcentre, said: “The driver shortage means it is more important than ever that local job centres work with training providers and employers to upskill current jobseekers and help give them the skills they need to become the next generation of HGV drivers.

“Through SWAPs we are retraining those who are unemployed to start new careers as key workers in the logistics sector.”

The York course will be delivered virtually and in person.

The online element includes: Health and Safety Level 1, Digital Skills Level 1, Employability Award Level 1 Warehouse Level 2 and DGV Level 2. This will lead onto medical-staggered appointments and theory revision & test

Once the theory is passed there is a one week, in-person, practical driving, progressing to the Cat C Licence.

Adam Black, learner engagement manager at System Group, said: “A key feature of these programmes is that everybody who completes the course is guaranteed an interview with a local employer.

“By opening up driver positions to everyone, regardless of previous experience, we are able to tackle the driver shortage head-on with a new influx of talent while also helping benefit claimants enter the labour market and stay in full-time employment.”

The move comes as the number of people in York on low income, or out of work, claiming Universal Credit to help with living costs, fell to 12,746 in July, down from 12,779 in June.

The figures are based on Local Authority data.

In Ryedale, the figures were 3,495, down 41 since June while in Selby there were 5,501 claimants, up 18 on June. In Harrogate, July figures were down 36 to 9,862 claimants.