Where are the People to Build 1.5 Million Homes?
Compared to European countries, the UK needs an extra 4 million homes to fully alleviate the housing crisis. In this context the Government’s commitment to building an extra 1.5 million over the next 5 years is a great start but is it achievable? The answer is NO!
Current Skills Shortage
So far there has been a lot of focus on changing the planning regime. That is needed but we must also sort out the major skills gap challenge.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) and other trade associations, along with the UK’s largest housebuilder, Barratt Redrow, have said skills shortages will hold us back. It is estimated that some 152,000 skilled people are needed across all trade groups but with specific significant skills gaps in bricklaying, carpentry, ground workers and construction plant operatives.
Government Response and Skills England
The government has confirmed there was a “shortage” of construction workers but said it was “taking steps to rectify” the problem. If they think that this is by setting up “Skills England” they are deluding themselves.
The 1st Skills England report does not bring out the scale of the problem and appears to skirt over it. It gives the impression that DfE believes that much of the skills gap can be resolved by off-site manufacturing i.e. modularised housing. As an advocate of this approach, I fully support the idea that this is part of the solution. However, there are major market barriers to wholesale take-up of the approach. People want to buy ‘traditionally’ built homes, mortgage lenders, insurance companies, planners and building control professionals are all reluctant to support modular housing. As a result, many companies that entered this market are scaling back or withdrawing. So, this is not the ‘big’ solution.
Global Labor Market Challenges
What about the traditional approach of importing skills into the UK? Well, our research published in 2024 shows that there is a massive global increase in demand for construction workers driven by economic growth, Net Zero and improvements in living standards. Accordingly, importing ‘labour’ is also not the ‘big’ solution.
Potential Domestic Workforce
So that leaves us with training our own.
The question then is do the people exist to be trained? We know that we have a larger number of NEETS, just under 1 million, and 2.8 million people locked out of work due to long-term sickness. The government has launched the “Get People Working” programme to address the issues. So, the answer would appear to be yes, we do have people. We will have to ‘sell’ to them the benefits of working in construction and there are many. It is well paid and there are great career opportunities for decades to come. We will also have to face up to the fact that they will need a lot of additional training to get them ready for employment.
Current Training Initiatives
So what do we need to train them on? Clearly a priority is the occupations, above, where employers have identified the greatest skills gaps.
Whilst applauding the ambition of DfE and IfATE in driving up quality through better apprenticeship and occupational standards, allayed with the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, the reality is the number of people with construction trade competency coming through this system has declined. This has exasperated the skills shortage, not solved them. We can also see that there is just not enough money in the ‘levy’ pot. So, this is also not the ‘big’ solution.
New Training Programs and Investment
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and the National House Building Council (NHBC) have announced a £140m investment in Homebuilding Skills Hubs to deliver fast-track apprenticeships and high-quality training. It is intended to use fast-track apprenticeships which are 25% – 45% faster than traditional apprenticeships, with some 32 hubs hoped to be launched by 2027.
CITB and NHBC expect to train an additional 5,000 apprentices per year, which would be an extra 25,000 over 5 years. These might come under the DfE’s proposed foundation and short duration apprenticeship model. However, we still are awaiting the details of these new DfE programmes. This would go part of the way to closing the skills gaps, but still a long way short of the real demand expected by industry. More will be needed.
Challenges with Fast-Track Training
Do we think that a fast-track shorter apprenticeship will work? The type of work and hence skill level needed for mass, repetitive, housing building is different to that needed to be able to achieve the full 100% IfATE occupational standard for each trade. So, in principle it should be possible for the occupations mentioned above, which have the major skills gaps. This is provided the people remain employed on this type of major house building programmes. It will not work for all occupations such as electricians.
Quality and Certification Concerns
The fast-track approach raises the risks about quality and credibility in the light of the findings from the Grenfell enquiry. For example, a person passing a fully IfATE apprenticeship will get a Blue trade CSCS card which will evidence full competency. What will happen to the people going through a fast-track programme? Will they also get a Blue trade CSCS card even though they can demonstrate competency in part of the trade, i.e. mass housing building, but not all aspects covered by the IfATE standard? Digital technology has the potential for us to capture these differences, so it becomes transparent to employers what level and scope of competency a person has. However, the CSCS single carding scheme is not developed to that point at present. Much more work would be needed as well as a commitment from industry and individuals to collect and provide the necessary data.
Clearly there are a wide range of complex issues to address and deal with if we are to make this work. So, if the government is serious about achieving its ambition of building 1.5 million new homes, it must properly engage with industry and work out a realistic set of training programmes and interventions which will fully close the skills gap.
By Graham Hasting-Evans, Chief Executive of NOCN and President of BACH
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