The hidden cost of redundancies: a growing skills drain

Skills lost, ladders pulled up: why the sector cannot afford a knowledge drain

In the wake of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s voluntary redundancy programme and recent cuts at the National Theatre, many of us are asking the same question: what happens to the knowledge that sits in people, not in buildings or budgets?

The RSC reports that more than 400 of their 835 permanent staff are eligible for voluntary redundancy, with compulsory redundancies to follow if needed. They list financial pressures including rising costs, repayment of their Culture Recovery Fund loan, and falling income from their production of Matilda. 

In August, significant cuts in the National Theatre’s commercial arm, where a team of 24 is being reduced to seven, were also announced.

None of this is about blame. It is about consequences. When long-serving professionals leave, the sector loses the people who know how to solve problems before they appear: the set builder who started at 16 and can read a plan by touch; the cutter in the costume department who can save a production in the final week; the wig maker whose expertise lets an audience believe.

Nearly half of theatre leaders say new hires lack the skills needed for their roles.

There is strong evidence that skills shortages are already biting across off-stage roles. A national study for the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre found widespread shortages, especially in sound, lighting, automation, carpentry, and wigs, hair and make-up. Respondents stressed that the biggest gaps are in mid-level technical roles, where practical experience, mentoring and time in the room matter most.

SOLT and UK Theatre’s State of British Theatre report adds more detail. Nearly half of theatre leaders say new hires lack the skills needed for their roles, and 98 percent report at least one hard-to-fill technical vacancy. More than a third are struggling to retain staff, and over a quarter say they are producing fewer shows due to staffing pressure. 

This is not just a theatre problem. The broader cultural workforce has seen creative education decline, and the training system has been weakened by the closure of Creative and Cultural Skills, the sector skills council, in 2023. 

Redundancies accelerate a skills drain in two ways: they remove experienced people who carry solutions, workarounds and safe practice in their heads and hands, and they collapse the day-to-day mentoring that lets early-career workers learn on the job. The SOLT and UK Theatre research is clear that practical learning and mentoring are valued more than credentials alone, but organisations report they lack the time and money to run these schemes at scale.

The National Theatre’s recent move to expand its Skills Centre is welcome. Backed by new funding, it aims to open pathways nationwide and reach around 15,000 people over three years, set against a cultural sector job vacancy rate reported at around 30 percent. The initiative also links the shortage to years of reduced school-level drama and creative subjects. 

When permanent roles disappear, the work often returns on freelance contracts.

As freelancers, we feel this most sharply. The Big Freelancer Survey shows our workforce under pressure, with 27 percent saying they are considering leaving or planning to leave the sector, up from 16 percent in 2022. Thirty four percent reported hourly earnings below the National Living Wage, which in the long term makes it impossible to stay long enough to gain the experience that the sector needs.

When permanent roles disappear, the work often returns on freelance contracts. That helps organisations avoid costs such as sick pay, holiday pay and employer National Insurance. But it shifts risk to freelancers, and weakens the mentoring structure and stability that salaried teams can provide. Over time, that means fewer chances for trainees and assistants to learn side by side with experts on the floor. The result is a narrower, leakier career pipeline, more workforce churn, and more hard-to-fill roles.

Educational institutions and other training providers can teach craft basics, but the irreplaceable layer is on-the-job learning beside experienced colleagues. The SOLT and UK Theatre study records employers saying practical experience and mentoring are more effective than degrees, and that mid-career scarcity is the biggest risk. Lose that tier, and you lose the people who teach the next wave to pattern a complex sleeve, to dress a lace wig convincingly, to time an automation cue safely.
What practical actions could the industry take?

Protect the pipeline.
Fund ring-fenced paid traineeships, assistants and shadowing that sit inside real productions. Tie public funding to paid mentoring time, not just paid outputs.

Stabilise freelance work.
Adopt fair minimums, timely payment and access to training on the clock so we can afford to stay and upskill.

Back regional skills hubs.
Support and replicate models like NT’s Skills Centre through partnerships with producing houses and colleges across the UK. Measure outcomes in jobs, not just course completions.

Rebuild early pathways.
Advocate for creative subjects in schools and clear routes into backstage careers. Coordinate outreach so that school visits link to real paid entry roles.

We understand that none of this is easy. We know funding is scarce and that organisations are making painful decisions in order to survive. But the problems facing our industry are not new, and they are not improving on their own. If we do not start to address them together, from government to organisations, from buildings to freelancers, we risk losing both the skills and the people that make theatre possible.

What the theatre industry needs without delay is a combination of shared strategies and real investment in people, so that freelancers can feel supported, develop their craft, and progress. Only then can we secure a vibrant, resilient and fulfilling industry for the future.