The Government’s 10?Year Infrastructure Strategy, which sets out £725 billion of investment in the country’s infrastructure over the next decade, highlights that this will only be delivered if the UK has a workforce with the necessary skills. This is supported by the Construction Workforce Outlook 2025-2029, published by CITB last week, which reveals that an extra 47,860 workers will be needed each year to meet the projected growth in construction by 2029.
As part of the Spending Review, the Government announced £1.2 billion of additional skills funding to support over 1.3 million 16 – 19-year-olds to access training by 2028/29. It includes £600 million to train up to 60,000 additional skilled construction workers by 2029, which will include expanding Construction Skills Bootcamps and opening 10 technical excellence colleges specialising in construction skills. This funding will be overseen by the Construction Skills Mission Board, which will develop and deliver a construction skills action plan to ensure employers can secure the required skills.
Skills England is now fully established and the Education Secretary has set out its priorities for 2025/26, which include understanding future skills needs, improving the skills offer, and simplifying access to skills for both employers and individuals. It has published a sector skills needs assessment for construction which identifies the key issues facing the industry, including low completion and retention rates for apprenticeships and a training model that is too complex and administrative-heavy for many SMEs.