The UK’s new industrial strategy has brought manufacturing back into focus, with its emphasis on investment in research and development, AI, green tech, and bold moves to attract global talent.
Policy is catching up and manufacturers are already acting. A distinct trend is emerging, whereby increasing numbers of manufacturing firms are hiring abroad to plug technical gaps in areas like AI, welding, and compliance. Sales operations are being established in other countries such as the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.
The new industrial strategy places emphasis on improving mobility plans to streamline immigration routes for British professionals undertaking short-term moves between the UK, EU, and other international partners to ultimately meet temporary business needs and provide services to their customers.
Now, with new mobility plans and visa pathways, including the £54m Global Talent Fund, how will manufacturers make the most of talent coming into the UK and utilise international expansion for growth, taking into account skills, infrastructure and regulation?
Bridging skills gaps
While global hiring remains crucial, the Industrial Strategy also emphasises the importance of developing homegrown skilled workers. This involves aligning training and educational programmes with the emerging needs of Industry 4.0.
Manufacturers must take a proactive approach to upskilling, particularly in areas such as AI integration, data analysis, clean energy production and cybersecurity. Investment in apprenticeships, technical colleges and partnerships with universities can create long-term talent pipelines tailored to sector-specific needs.
One tool aiding upskilling efforts is salary benchmarking. Employers that benchmark pay across global and local markets gain valuable insight into competitive pay structures, helping them to attract the right talent, whether locally or abroad. Benchmarking also supports fair remuneration practices and helps to determine whether it is most economical to invest in upskilling existing staff or to look overseas for the desired skills.
Leveraging new visa pathways
The UK government has taken steps to make it easier for high-skilled professionals to move to the UK through newly streamlined visa routes. The Global Talent Visa and the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, along with the £54 million Global Talent Fund (on top of recent £25 million backing to attract top AI talent), are aimed specifically at sectors such as advanced manufacturing, clean tech, AI and defence.
According to The PIE News, the Industrial Strategy promises to enhance skills by reforming the employment support system and creating a stronger link between education and labour market demand. It prioritises boosting digital and engineering capabilities and ensuring that the visa system aligns with the needs of high-growth sectors.
The Global Talent Taskforce, announced in 2025, is charged with proactively identifying and attracting global innovators and researchers. For manufacturing firms that struggle to recruit specialists domestically, this initiative provides an accessible framework to onboard world-class professionals quickly and compliantly.
Global hiring specialists can support manufacturers with leveraging these new immigration pathways to ensure that they hire talent from overseas 100 per cent compliantly. If hiring in other countries, Employer of Record solutions can simplify and expediate this process while ensuring compliance.
Meeting sector-specific needs
Manufacturing continues to face a skills shortage that impedes innovation and slows progress. Across mechatronics, CNC machining, green energy systems and complex regulatory compliance, the gaps are only widening.
The Industrial Strategy acknowledges this challenge and offers solutions: improving technical training at all levels, increasing STEM education engagement, and making short-term hiring easier through targeted visa schemes. The Government’s stated goal is to ‘enhance skills and increase access to talent’ by modernising the support system and directly addressing sector needs.
Manufacturing businesses should take this opportunity to focus on assessing their own critical skill areas and determining whether domestic recruitment, training, or international hiring is the best path forward for them.
Building local and global operations
In response to both export demand and skills challenges, many UK manufacturers are setting up satellite operations overseas. These may include sales hubs, logistics centres, or small production lines closer to European customers.
The UK’s industrial strategy aims to build resilient, globally competitive operations while strengthening domestic capabilities, and the trend of companies relocating manufacturing to countries like Poland and the Czech Republic aligns closely with these goals. This decentralisation allows UK companies to add localised and specialist knowledge within their supply chains, outsource production efficiently, and leverage transport links to move goods across borders at reduced cost.
By adopting this model, UK businesses can expand internationally while maintaining strategic control and innovation at home by supporting productivity, regional growth and the development of globally competent talent.
To make this effective, it’s essential to balance strategic growth with operational compliance. Companies must be aware of local labour laws, taxation rules and employment practices. This is particularly important when deploying UK staff abroad on short-term global mobility projects or hiring locally in new territories.
HR systems and payroll infrastructure, of course, must first be equipped to manage cross-border complexities. In many cases, this can be streamlined with the help of an Employer of Record (EOR), which enables businesses to hire internationally without setting up a legal entity.
Mobility is a recurring theme in the Industrial Strategy. As noted in the ICAEW’s analysis of the strategy, there’s a clear objective to ‘explore ways to make it easier for British professionals to move temporarily between the UK, EU, and other international partners.’ This includes developing new frameworks for the recognition of professional qualifications and easing the logistics around short-term business visits.
Manufacturers who need to dispatch engineers or specialists abroad for installations, training or compliance audits stand to benefit significantly from these reforms. Likewise, firms seeking to bring in foreign talent for short-term projects will find it increasingly easier to do so, provided they follow the correct legal pathways.
Strategic alignment and international growth
The UK’s new Industrial Strategy signals a bold intent to modernise manufacturing and make it more competitive on the world stage. For manufacturers, this presents a clear roadmap – but also a responsibility to align with governmental priorities.
By investing in domestic upskilling, leveraging new visa pathways and developing smart global operations, manufacturers can fill critical skills gaps, grow their customer base, and innovate at scale. The integration of short-term mobility plans and digital HR infrastructure will be key to success.
Ultimately, the organisations that excel to greater heights in this new industrial era will be the companies that blend local talent development with agile international expansion, ensuring resilience, compliance, and innovation at every stage, and adapting quickly to regulatory and global market shifts.
The UK’s Industrial Strategy offers both the tools and the vision to reimagine what British manufacturing can achieve. Now is the time for firms to act decisively: to build robust talent pipelines, engage with global opportunities, and position themselves as leaders of the future.
Steve Gardiner, Global Payroll Services & Technical Projects Manager at Mauve Group.
