Government to invest £600 million into construction Training & Apprenticeships
23rd March 2025
School leavers should get a job on a building site rather than turn to a life on benefits, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has said. She said that too many young people were unemployed and that construction offered “a good wage and decent prospects for the future”. Writing for The Telegraph, she insisted that she was “not prepared to allow a generation of young people to slide into worklessness”.
She made the remarks as ministers launched a new training scheme to encourage 60,000 school leavers to take up jobs in the building sector. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, will spend £600 million to fund extra work placements and apprenticeships, and to set up new colleges to teach technical skills. She hopes boosting the number of workers will help the Government meet its target of delivering 1.5 million new homes by the end of the decade. Ms Reeves will deliver the announcement alongside her spring statement, presenting it as a major measure to help turn around Britain’s economic prospects. Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, announced a £5 billion crackdown on sickness benefits last week. The reforms will largely affect younger people, by tightening the criteria for getting signed off for milder mental health conditions such as anxiety. Ms Phillipson wants to encourage more school leavers to take up a job in a construction industry that is facing acute staff shortages.She warned that previous governments had “cut corners to try to mend the problem” by relying on an influx of cheap labour from abroad to fill the gaps.
“The devastation of those choices is plain to see,” she writes, citing figures which show that one in 10 youngsters is not in work, education or training. “We may have inherited this problem from the last government, but it is one this Government will not shirk. “I am not prepared to allow a generation of young people to slide into worklessness.”
The Education Secretary said construction offered “a prime opportunity for out-of-work young people to get into a job with a good wage and decent prospects for the future”.
‘Construction sector needs you’
“So our message to out-of-work or underemployed young people is simple. Whatever your background, wherever you are in life, the construction sector needs you to help fix the foundations of our country, to build homes and deliver sustainable growth for the future.”The intervention will be seen as the latest example of the Government pivoting towards a more traditional blue collar Labour message.
During the New Labour years almost all young people were encouraged to go to university rather than get jobs in technical trades. Industry leaders have warned that the UK currently does not have enough construction workers to meet its target of building 1.5 million new homes. The Home Builders Federation has estimated an extra 20,000 bricklayers, 20,000 groundworkers and 8,000 carpenters will be needed. Also required will be 3,200 more plasterers, 2,400 plumbers, 2,400 electricians, 2,400 roofers, 1,200 tilers and 480 new engineers.The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that there are more than 35,000 vacancies in the construction industry. Building firms report that more than half of those cannot be filled because of a lack of skilled labour available – the highest rate for any sector. Almost half of the £600million programme will be used to set up 10 new technical excellence colleges and to boost construction courses at existing institutions. The remaining cash will go towards funding more construction skills bootcamps, apprenticeships and creating 40,000 new industry placements.
Ms Reeves said: “We are determined to get Britain building again. That’s why we are taking on the blockers to build 1.5 million new homes and rebuild our roads, rail and energy infrastructure.
“But none of this is possible without the engineers, brickies, sparkies, and chippies to actually get the work done, which we are facing a massive shortage of.
“We’ve overhauled the planning system that is holding this country back, now we are gripping the lack of skilled construction workers, delivering on our Plan for Change to boost jobs and growth for working people.”
Opportunity knocks for young people to build futures as well as homes
By Bridget Phillipson
It’s essential we build more homes in this country. The problem is, thanks to the system we inherited, we don’t have enough skilled construction workers to build them, certainly not at the pace needed. I talk to large and small employers week in, week out. From visiting the apprentices working at Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Somerset to hearing the inspiring stories from people working for Lee Marley Brickwork during National Apprenticeship Week, the message is clear: we need more workers, more apprentices and more investment in skills. In the past, governments have cut corners to try to mend the problem – something which people in the building trade know is never a great idea.
In choosing the quick fix of importing migrant labour instead of investing in our own young people, those governments failed to recognise that young people working in construction are not just building homes, they are building futures for themselves. We must break that pernicious cycle and provide more training opportunities and great careers for local people here in this country. The devastation of those choices is plain to see: the latest figures show that more than one in 10 young people in England are Not in Employment, Education or Training – the so-called NEETs. We may have inherited this problem from the last government, but it is one this Government will not shirk. I am not prepared to allow a generation of young people to slide into worklessness. Spreading opportunity is what drives this Government and its Plan for Change. It’s what drives my politics. I believe background shouldn’t mean destiny. I want to see more pathways to high-skilled, well-paid careers for every young person in this country, not just the lucky few.
Construction offers a prime opportunity for out-of-work young people to get into a job with a good wage and decent prospects for the future. And the need for them has seldom been greater. The Home Builders Federation recently said that, to get 300,000 homes built per year, we need tens of thousands more workers than we have now.
So our message to out-of-work or underemployed young people is simple: whatever your background, wherever you are in life, the construction sector needs you to help fix the foundations of our country, to build homes and deliver sustainable growth for the future. We will help you get there: today, alongside the Chancellor, I am announcing investment worth more than £600million to train the construction workforce of the future, propelling our mission to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament. Thanks to the investment and reforms we are introducing as part of our Plan for Change, up to 60,000 more construction workers will have been trained by 2028, delivering the growth, security and renewal which Britain needs. That money will support additional construction apprenticeships, establish technical excellence colleges specialising in construction, launch new foundation apprenticeships and expand skills bootcamps for working-age adults to enable them to enter the sector and drive economic growth. We can’t do this without industry, which is why we are also launching a Construction Skills Mission Board co-chaired by Mace chair, Mark Reynolds. As the leader of one of the biggest construction firms in the country, Mark will bring real expertise from industry to our Plan for Change, and will help us deliver on our shared goal of getting Britain building again.
And our plans don’t end there. We are also launching new construction foundation apprenticeships, aimed at young people, to provide a new entry route into the industry. And we have slashed red tape for employers which will enable at least 10,000 more apprentices per year to be recruited in key sectors including construction. Through our new Youth Guarantee, every 18- to 21-year-old in England will have help to access an apprenticeship, quality training and education opportunities or help to find a job. We’re overhauling careers support for young people and those who are out of work, bringing job centres together with the National Careers Service, kick-started by £55million of investment to help get people back on their feet and into skilled work.
We know the scale of the challenge we have inherited, with sluggish growth, tightened budgets, years of underinvestment in skills and a dire shortage of housing. But we have a plan to fix the foundations and get Britain working again. Today, we’re getting on and delivering it.
