With support from the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), we carried out a survey to understand industry employers’ perspectives as well as analysing the skills databases held by the government’s ONS and the CSCS carding scheme for construction (building and civils). The results (can be viewed here) and recommendations for change from both these sources are detailed within.
The report sets out four main areas for change following the surveys findings.
Making consistent progress, through collaboration, across the UK in these four areas is the best way of ensuring the industry has the workforce its needs to support the move to a more sustainable economy and future.
Nick Roberts, Construction Leadership Council Industry Sponsor for People and Skills and CEO of Travis Perkins plc said: “Construction plays an important role in the UK economy, but we all recognize the scale of the widening skills gap challenge in the industry. There is a huge opportunity if we get this right, so we welcome this report which makes an important contribution to the future workforce debate. It provides great insight from employers in the sector into how we can overcome the skills challenges we face by working more collaboratively with each other and with Government, and ensuring that we attract, develop and retain competent and productive people who have the skills needed to deliver on net zero, retrofit our buildings, look after our rich built heritage, and create a built environment that we can all be proud of.”
This latest report has received support from Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and Association of Colleges (AOC). Emma Meredith, Director of Skills Policy and Global Engagement, at AOC said: "This report provides a timely insight into the views of construction employers across the country. AoC supports the need for pathways to construction careers that are modularised and flexible, to fill the well-documented skills gap in the construction industry."