{
  "id": 11402421,
  "title": "Tech skills gaps are costing UK businesses around £380,000 a year — and it's even worse in cybersecurity",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/tech-skills-gaps-are-costing-uk-businesses-around-380-000-a-year-and",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-02T08:58:19.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechRadar",
    "slug": "techradar",
    "url": "https://www.techradar.com/pro/tech-skills-gaps-are-costing-uk-businesses-around-gbp380-000-a-year-and-its-even-worse-in-cybersecurity"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "UK businesses are suffering financial losses of approximately £380,000 annually due to a significant tech skills gap, with cybersecurity professionals experiencing even greater impacts, according to a recent Pluralsight survey. While 97% of organizations have adopted AI, only 6% report having AI literacy across their entire workforce, indicating a vast gap in skill proficiency.\n\nOnly 35% of UK tech executives believe the skills gap could cost their companies at least £380,000 per year, a figure that rises to 41% when considering cybersecurity professionals. A primary reason for these costs is the necessity to outsource work unexpectedly because of internal skill shortages, resulting in budget overruns for 30% of respondents. Furthermore, 39% of businesses have failed to complete key projects, and 27% have lost clients or contracts due to insufficient internal skills.\n\nPluralsight's findings suggest that many UK organizations have hastily embraced AI without a strategic approach, causing expenditures to skyrocket without delivering tangible benefits. Despite this, recruitment efforts appear to be effective, with 85% of respondents reporting they hired the same number (or more) junior tech professionals this year as before, and 10% increasing hiring significantly.\n\nHowever, 88% of respondents express concern over the lack of junior talent entering the workforce, highlighting the need for businesses to invest in clear development pathways for new talent and continuous skill-building for existing employees. Pluralsight Author Fellow Faye Ellis emphasized that businesses must go beyond recruitment and focus on creating robust development pathways to address the skills gap.\n\nDespite this, 53% of senior leaders remain uncertain about how to tackle their skills gaps. Looking ahead, the research underscores the importance of training existing workers for future skills, prioritizing AI literacy as the workforce evolves, and maintaining investments in junior recruitment to ensure long-term success.",
  "summary": "The skills gap could be costing UK businesses hundreds of thousands each year, and half of senior leaders don't even know what to do about it.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}