Cpl Life Sciences Industry Analytics Report - Clinical Research

​Leaders inspire accountability through their ability to accept responsibility, before they place blame…

The UK is the leading country for clinical recruitment, accounting for 24% of all vacancies across Europe — up from 22% in 2019. That is an overall 98% increase in activity, which also constitutes the greatest rise in Europe. We have 33% of global advanced therapy trials and lead the way in Phase I/II trials. On the back drop of this increased demand for talent in clinical research, as a leader within this staffing space, I see several underlying trends that should concern every CEO in a UK-based biopharma or MedTech business. By 2030 the UK will require130,000 new highly skilled workers within life sciences, and yet as an industry we are still not training enough of the great talent we have. Leaders inspire accountability through their ability to accept responsibility, before they place blame. Next time you question the cost of a clinical trial, look at the escalating cost of remuneration, mostly created by scarcity of talent. That, which is rare, has a greater cost.

There is a continued slow adoption of the employer-led apprenticeship schemes. The Kent University Apprenticeship Scheme in clinical research has had a poor response from industry, which is hugely disappointing and there are similar trends in the Regulatory Affairs apprenticeship scheme and ATMP. As an industry you have only utilised 23% of your apprenticeship levy. We have to all ask ourselves, where is the rich vein of new talent coming from in the volume required? Who is accountable? If you do not train new talent or adopt the employer led apprenticeships, as a simple starting point, you are becoming a major part of the problem.

Slow response times in feedback on CV’s and interviewing the talent that is available, is also at an all time high. Candidates with great experience have on average 5 companies they can select as a future employer. Who is winning the talent in that race? It’s the agile, urgent, well organised organisations that care about the journey of their potential future employees. Cumbersome processes, with no feedback or slow response to applications are breeding bad reputations for certain companies in our industry. As a leader of a UK life sciences business, when was the last time you truly understood the journey of a candidate through your business? When you were last looking at your Diversity and Inclusion strategy, did you consider bringing a college leaver from a disadvantaged background, gifted in sciences, through the one of the outstanding degree apprenticeship schemes? Or cross skill training a more mature worker? We have an outstanding, world leading science pedigree in the UK, we should all be accountable for the development of the skills required for our future. Cpl Life Sciences has fully funded and skilled trained over 250 life science graduates in the last 4 years. We all need to step up and play our part. Have you?

Read the full report here.

If you would like to know more around how the apprenticeship schemes could support your growing talent needs please contact:

[email protected]

Yvette Cleland, Chief Executive Officer- Cpl Life Sciences