Management must take ALL the blame for what is happening to staffing levels within NATS.
Staff morale has reached an all-time low....worse than has ever been seen before within the "Company". I, for one, cannot blame the younger controllers for looking elsewhere for employment. And I take my hat off to ALL the "ab-initios" that have validated in the past few years - it is by no means an easy task these days.
We have been talking about "pass rates", and how much of a percentage will validate at their final unit. Again - due to incompetent management in the past (and yes, it is still the same - nothing changes) - this is sadly a factor within the training regime.
It didn't used to be so.
When
proper training was given to students (we used to call them "cadets"), the failure rate at the final unit was virtually ZERO !!!!!
But then again, you see, the old system cost MONEY......and that is the overriding control in EVERY SIDE OF AVIATION these days.
Such a shame, when it's now NATS' customers that are footing the bill !!!
