Loadsa Money – Spring Statement Throws Cash At Skills Shortage

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• Loadsa Money – Spring Statement Throws Cash At Skills Shortage

The Spring Statement heralded lots of budget cuts but loads of money for construction – for housebuilding and to tackle the skills crisis by encouraging more young people into well-paid, high-skilled jobs. 

The labour shortage was predicted by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to reach over a quarter of a million people by 251,500 by 2028. This was due to many existing workers retiring but also due to a lack of young people seeing the trades as a good career choice.

The government has pledged it will inject over £600 million over the next four years to train up 60,000 more engineers, bricklayers, electricians and carpenters by 2029. They will do this by funding placements, establishing Technical Excellence Colleges, launching new foundation apprenticeships and expanding Skills Bootcamps.

Low confidence

MyBuilder.com released a report shortly after the last general election, finding that 57 per cent of people were not confident that government targets for house building will be met. This new injection of funds to increase the amount of skilled trades in the UK will go some way to deliver a Plan for Change. 

Andy Simms, a construction expert from MyBuilder.com, says: “It’s encouraging to see that the government is taking the labour shortage seriously and investing in the future. It's also great to see the support for small construction companies to enable them to take on more apprentices, which is much needed.

“The new announcement is a promising step in the right direction, yet more needs to be done to encourage young people into the trades in order to meet building goals in this country. Schools and colleges need to make more young people aware of the options available to them within the construction industry.

“A career in the trades can be lucrative, flexible and present many opportunities to build your own business, without being burdened with student debt. It’s a great path to take. More must be done to present it to young people as a desirable career choice.”

Picture: The government has allocated training funds.

Article written by Brian Shillibeer
27th March 2025

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