Team UK will not be participating in EuroSkills 2021 in Graz - which has now been rescheduled for September.
The bi-annual skills competition was due to take place in September 2020, before it was pushed back to January 2021, and then “postponed indefinitely”.
Today, EuroSkills confirmed that the competition will go ahead in a different location than planned in Graz between 22 and 26 September 2021.
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Background: EuroSkills 2020 postponed owing to coronavirus
However, Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann, chief executive of WorldSkills UK said that WorldSkills UK had “taken the difficult decision not to participate” in the competition.
He said: “We believe there is still too much ongoing uncertainty, with a changing situation in terms of Covid security, to be able to commit now to participate.
“We have a duty of care to our competitors and we are aware that the ongoing restrictions means that our Team UK members might not be able to prepare fully, in sufficient time, for the event. We are also aware that we may face further controls regarding international travel, and we are not in a position to commit public funding to take part when we could face further disruption.
“Instead, we will focus our international training programmes on participating in WorldSkills Shanghai 2022. Key to this will be ongoing skills benchmarking and pressure testing against European and global partners virtually, and alongside the competition activity, sharing of best practice and insights to help inform policy and practice on mainstreaming excellence in the UK.”
Finland, the Netherlands and Norway will also reportedly not take part.
Dita Traidas, president of WorldSkills Europe, said: “As with all major international events, the pandemic has significantly impacted the planning and hosting of the EuroSkills event in Graz. We are incredibly thankful and proud of the EuroSkills Graz team who have worked tirelessly and in close collaboration with WorldSkills Europe to ensure we continue driving the WorldSkills movement forward in these complicated circumstances.
“We are grateful for the strong commitment of the supporters of EuroSkills Graz 2021 and look forward with great hope, so that despite everything we have gone through, in September this year we will have the best skills event in Europe once again.”
