Government to fund construction skills
Promising to ‘back the builders, not the blockers’ in Wednesday’s Spring Statement, the Chancellor has announced £600 million of investment to train up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers by 2029 in order to tackle the industry’s skills shortages. The funding package is designed to ensure the Government can meet its target of delivering 1.5 million new homes as part of its Plan for Change and includes:
- £165 million to help colleges deliver more construction courses
- £100 million to fund 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges
- £100 million to expand Skills Bootcamps, ensuring new entrants, returners or those looking to upskill within the industry will be able to do so
- £100 million to fund over 40,000 industry placements each year for all Level 2 and Level 3 learners, supported by a £32 million contribution from CITB
- £80 million for a capital fund to support employers to deliver bespoke training based on their needs
- £40 million for new construction foundation apprenticeships to be launched in August 2025
- £20 million to form partnerships between colleges and construction companies within all Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) areas.
The funding will be overseen by a new Construction Skills Mission Board, co-chaired by Mark Reynolds, Executive Chair of Build UK member Mace Group and Co-Chair of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) which will develop and deliver a construction skills action plan and provide strategic leadership to the sector. The huge success of Open Doors last week shows that people are interested in joining construction and Mark has called on the industry to “embrace the Government’s growth mission and match their ambition” by investing in new jobs and training. This is a great opportunity to address some long-standing skills issues and scale up the systems we have in place to make a real difference to employers across the supply chain and their workforce.
