An employers’ organisation says Britain’s manufacturing industry will need one million new recruits by 2020, but faces enormous challenges bringing in quality as well as quantity.

The Engineering Employers’ Federation (EEF) says the new recruits are needed to fill a gap left by people retiring or leaving the industry.

But it says higher education institutions are “missing a trick” because they are not making students employable; nearly 80 per cent of EEF members want courses tailored to industry needs.

Two-thirds of members said they would recruit engineering graduates in the next three years and 27 per cent said the same about grads with business and administration degrees.

EEF said there was evidence of manufacturers “taking matters into their own hands” by sponsoring students and offering Higher Apprenticeships.

Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, said: “With UK manufacturing continuing to expand and grow, access to the right skills in the right numbers is ever more important.

“Businesses are engaging with universities, sponsoring students and hiring graduates, but we need action now if we are to meet expected demand.

“Decisive steps must be taken if we do not want to see the manufacturing sector increasingly looking outside the UK for talent for fear of otherwise running out of steam.”