Record numbers looking to kickstart new careers in cyber, says Government

By Peter Davison

28 June 2023

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A record number of people are looking to embark on a new career in cyber this year through applications to the government’s Upskill in Cyber programme.

Of the more than 3,600 applications received, almost half have been submitted by women with more than 50 per cent coming from people based outside London and the South East, demonstrating the diverse pool of talent waiting to be unlocked across the UK.

Aimed at people from a non-cyber background and delivered in partnership with the SANS Institute, the Upskill in Cyber scheme has been delivered through the government’s £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy.

This is all part of the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology’s plans to build a thriving tech workforce and secure the resilience of the future digital economy while supporting the Prime Minister’s priority of growing the economy and creating better paid jobs.

Minister for AI and Intellectual Property, Viscount Camrose, said: "The UK’s cyber sector is growing exponentially.

"In just 12 months we’ve seen our 58,000 strong workforce jump by 10 per cent, and ensuring we can maintain a steady supply of diverse, highly-skilled professionals is vital to meet the needs of our growing digital economy.

"It’s encouraging to see record numbers from a wide range of backgrounds and communities coming forward for this year’s Upskill in Cyber Programme. However, this is ultimately just one piece of the puzzle.

"We must continue our work with industry and education to improve tech skills across the economy, and we are continuing to invest in the potential of our brightest minds at all levels to unlock opportunity for people right across the country."

Cyber skills are in huge demand across the economy. Last year’s cyber security skills in the UK labour market report found that 51 per cent of businesses have a basic cyber skills gap, with an average of 21,600 new recruits needed every year to meet demand in the cyber sector.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.