UK Space Agency understaffed, claims David Southwood

Staff at the UK Space Agency are “overstretched” due to staff shortages, according to Royal Astronomical Society president David Southwood.

UKSA staff are slow to respond to enquiries and are “working enormously long hours”, said Southwood. He made the comments during a hearing of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee inquiry into the Work of the European and UK Space Agencies.

Southwood explained that the UKSA plans to recruit more staff as it is still relatively new, having only been set up in 2010. “I would not be surprised if you took the average space scientist, they’d be concerned about how overstretched the staff are,” Southwood told MPs. “You can do that for a year or two, but you worry about people falling over.” He added that recruitment was slow due to civil service processes.