The skills gap in motorcycle training is making it more difficult for new riders to get on two wheels.
Getting into motorcycling is not easy. Aside from your nan thinking that you’ve joined a gang, getting a licence is nowhere near as easy as it could be, and in many areas it’s difficult to find a local testing centre with availability to take your test. But there’s also another, perhaps more surprising reason why people are finding it difficult to get into motorcycling: the lack of qualified motorcycle instructors.
To most bikers, the thought of turning their love of motorcycles into a career and becoming a motorcycle instructor must be tempting in many ways: a steady income, working with bikes, and introducing new people to the wonderful world of two wheels. However, the industry is struggling to hire enough motorcycle instructors to meet the demand from people wanting to learn to ride.
With Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) data showing that just shy of 40,000 people passed their motorcycle test in 2024*, the problem with finding trainers is clearly a big one. However, the skills gap is even more evident in CBT training where the volume of demand is far greater. Because CBTs are still paper-based, there are no exact national figures showing how many certificates are awarded annually, but the fact that the UK’s largest motorcycle training organisation, Phoenix Motorcycle Training, alone is issuing around 6,000 CBT certificates yearly gives you an idea of the scale of the issue.
Mark Jaffe, owner and chief instructor at Phoenix Motorcycle Training, believes they could be bringing many more people into motorcycling if they had enough staff to meet the demand. Instead, with not enough instructors available, many people are unable to take their first step into motorcycling, potentially putting them off riding bikes completely.
Phoenix Motorcycle Training is constantly looking for instructors around the nation to help fill the skills gap, and meet the demand from people wanting to ride. There are jobs from CBT instructors to full motorcycle licence training and advanced rider training instructors that need filling, so it’s no wonder people aren’t able to become riders or further enhance their skills to make biking even more safe and enjoyable. 
Mark Jaffe said: “The lack of motorcycle instructors is a real hindrance in getting more people on two wheels. At the moment, we have more learners wanting to sign up for courses than we can take on because we don’t have enough instructors to train them.
“You would think that earning potential of up to £40k per year and the chance to turn motorcycling into a career would be enough to get bikers applying, but we are really struggling to find enough instructors to meet the demand in several areas around the UK.
“It’s not like we are looking for trained professionals either. You need a full, clean, motorcycle licence and a minimum of three years riding experience, but that’s about it. We have a fantastic training programme for our instructors to give them not just the skills to train people to ride bikes, but also a Level 3 Award in Education and Training (RQF), so they gain a teaching qualification applicable to any teaching job.
The need for motorcycle instructors is clear if you talk to the training organisations, as not all jobs are advertised on the job sites. Phoenix Motorcycle Training for example has more vacancies advertised on their website than on external sites.
Phoenix Motorcycle Training is encouraging not only motorcyclists to consider this exciting career, but all training organisations to join in the drive to recruit more instructors in order to make it easier for more people to discover the joys of motorcycling.
* 39,637 licence test passes in 2024 according to MCIA
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