The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has said the number of people starting construction apprenticeships needs to triple to plug labour shortages.
In a report, the CITB says that the 2023/24 education year saw 33,000 construction apprenticeship starts, an improvement since the pandemic but still “a long way short of what we need”.
It adds: “We estimate that apprenticeship starts would need to increase two or three times on present levels to fulfil recruitment needs – even taking other routes into industry into account.”
The CITB says 50,000 additional workers will be needed in each of the next five years to meet additional construction demand, but adds that the sector is also suffering from “greater numbers of older workers retiring, who need to be replaced”.
It also points out that only half of people who start an apprenticeship in construction go on to pass their final assessment and receive a qualification.
“While [apprenticeship] starts must increase, achievements must also rise significantly in England,” the report states.
“While some apprentices who do not reach their end point assessment will eventually enter the construction workforce, many more won’t. And the longer it is before people join the workforce, the greater the likelihood is that they will need to refresh their skills.”
The report also reveals that just 21 per cent of construction firms employ an apprentice, and just 10 per cent have more than one. It urges: “We must motivate, incentivise and support smaller companies to take on apprentices.”
Mark Farmer, whose review of the CITB was published last month, told Construction News in an exclusive interview: “There’s a whole cohort of kids every year that are doing post-16 further education courses in construction-related qualifications, and very few of them, for whatever reason, end up in the industry or in qualified employment.
“So there is an attrition issue that I’ve tried to highlight in the report. A lot of people in the industry are aware of this, but I don’t think it’s publicised enough.
“Kids that actually are pretty close to our industry at age 16, who have got the propensity to think of construction as a career, are not managing to get into paid employment with a traineeship, apprenticeship, whatever it might be. There’s massive attrition. It’s as much as 60 or 70 per cent.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mace chairman Mark Reynolds said the government had a role to play in providing a construction pipeline and incentivising companies to invest in skills.
“We have that pipeline there but we have a leakage at the moment,” he said.
“Many people go through full-time education [with the intention of] joining the industry, but half of them don’t actually get a job at the end of it. And that’s because employers don’t have confidence.”
Reynolds conceded that the “industry needs to do more in this area” as well, saying that he had “spoken to several CEOs of large organisations like Mace and there is a reluctance [to take on apprentices]”.
He said the government should target the construction of four million homes in the next five years — rather than its goal of 1.5 million homes — saying it would “definitely” be achievable if a pipeline was created through land, planning and building regulation approvals.
