Vehicle manufacturers used temporary technicians to fill 25,000 hours of work over the last 12 months in an effort to help plug the skills gap, according to Autotech Recruit.

The company put together a vehicle manufacturer led recruitment programme in January last year and the figures demonstrate the dependence UK garages now have on temporary vehicle technicians to fulfil labour gaps.

The overriding objective of the Autotech Recruit programme was to cut the time it takes car manufacturers to employ temporary vehicle technicians throughout their garages across the UK, improving service capacity, and counteracting the financial losses caused by empty service bays.

Autotech Recruit put together solutions for each franchise, created an online booking portal and put together a team of recruitment specialists to boost technician numbers to work throughout each dealer network.

In addition, a group of regionally based temporary vehicle technicians were sent on an intensive training courses, at each manufacturer’s dedicated training facility, to make sure they were trained to the right standard.

Autotech Recruit works with Volvo, VW Commercial Vehicles, BMW, Seat, Renault and Ford.

The number of technicians trained and working within each manufacturer’s garages will have risen to 69 technicians by the end of the year.

Gavin White, Autotech Recruit managing director, said: “Dealership garages are no different from independent garages, they still need to recruit technicians to ensure they are running at optimum capacity.

“In 2017 we witnessed increasing demand from them for our temporary vehicle technicians and, due to the volume of this demand, we devised the manufacturer led recruitment programme.

“Today, as a direct result of the programme, our temporary vehicle technicians are covering positions with manufacturer’s on both a short term and longer term basis, up to several months in some cases.”