UK Life Sciences To Create 66,000 New Jobs By 2035

If you are eyeing up a career in science, health or research, you’ll be pleased to hear that the UK's life sciences sector is growing fast.

Over 60,000 thousand new jobs are set to open up in the sector across the country over the next decade, according to the UK Government.

The Life Sciences Sector Plan has just marked its first anniversary and the numbers are pretty impressive.

In its first year alone, it helped attract more than £3 billion in public and private investment, a sign of strong international confidence in UK science and innovation. Patients across the country are also benefiting from faster access to new medicines.

The life sciences sector already employs around 360,000 people across the UK and almost half of those jobs are based outside London, the East and the South East. In other words, opportunities are opening up nationwide, not just in the traditional hotspots.

The new Life Sciences Sector Jobs Plan aims to build on the success so far by unlocking the talent needed for 66,000 additional roles in top occupations by 2035.

These cover a wide range of careers - everything from lab technicians and chemical scientists to software developers - so there's plenty of scope whether your interests lie in hands-on lab work or tech-driven research.

Just a few of the companies driving investment include AstraZeneca, Moderna, Smith+Nephew and UCB. All of which are the kind of major employers that will be hiring graduates and technical staff in the coming years.

For students and other young jobseekers weighing up their options, there's good news on the training front too.

The Jobs Plan is set to strengthen apprenticeship pathways and technical education routes into the sector, including T-Levels and the upcoming-V Levels (post-16 technical and vocational qualifications).

There's also support for upskilling throughout your career via the Lifelong Learning Entitlement and Skills Bootcamps, which are designed to help the workforce keep pace with new technologies like AI and quantum computing.

A new industry-led sector skills body will also bring together government, employers, trade unions and training providers to identify skills gaps and help fill them, meaning training routes should increasingly reflect what employers are actually looking for.

Commenting on the thousands of new jobs being created in the sector, Liz Kendal, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology said:

 “In its first year, our Life Sciences Sector Plan is delivering cutting-edge treatments to tackle cancer, new opportunities for British businesses to start up and grow and well-paid jobs that improve lives for families. A thriving life sciences sector is good for NHS patients and good for economic growth across the UK.”

“People in every part of the country are already starting to see the benefits of our Plan. Up to 66,000 jobs ready to be unlocked, slashed waiting times for clinical trials and new medicines being rolled out to patients. When our life sciences sector succeeds, it improves all of our lives.”

The UK’s Health and Social Care Secretary, James Murray, also commented, saying:

“In the year since we launched our Life Sciences Sector Plan, this government has brought in £3 billion to speed up access to innovative treatments and transform the experience of patients. We also smashed our 150-day target for clinical trial set-up, slashing red tape to get those trials up and running at the speed patients deserve.”

“By bringing together the brilliance of British science with the power of our NHS, we’re not just improving healthcare outcomes, we’re also building a stronger economy and creating jobs across the country.”

Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade added: “Life sciences are at the heart of this government’s modern Industrial Strategy. We are determined to make the UK a global life sciences superpower and this investment will create high-skilled jobs, drive innovation and deliver breakthroughs that save lives.”

The life sciences sector is central to the government's ambition for the UK to become the world's third biggest life sciences economy by 2035.

With billions in investment flowing in and dedicated plans to grow the skilled workforce, life sciences looks set to be one of the more promising sectors for job seekers in the years ahead, whatever stage of your career you're at.