UK facing critical shortage of skilled tradespeople – report

The UK faces a critical shortage of skilled tradespeople that threatens to undermine ambitions on housing and net zero, a new report is warning.

Checkatrade said there was an urgent need for 1.3 million new skilled workers and 350,000 apprentices over the next decade to meet Government targets and ever-growing demands on the construction, home improvement and repair industries.

Its report said that with an improving economy, lower interest rates and accelerated planning processes, the home improvement and repair sector is forecast to grow by 40% over the next decade.

But, this promising growth is at risk due to a severe skills deficit,  exacerbated by an ageing workforce, with more than a third of current workers aged over 50 and many planning to retire within the next decade, said Checkatrade.

To address the replacement of retirees, the sector will need to recruit 377,000 new workers, coupled with the additional 734,000 to meet current demand in the home improvement, repair and construction sectors, it was forecast.

Jambu Palaniappan, chief executive at Checkatrade, said:  “The home improvement and repair sector is a crucial one, not just when it comes to delivering meaningful results against our Government’s Building Better plans, but also in order to shore up and future-proof existing housing stock.

“The potential benefits for both individual homeowners and the wider economy are immense. However, this vision of modern, energy-efficient homes that are fit for 21st-century Britain will remain out of reach unless we tackle the critical trade skills gap head-on.”

Andrew Evans at Capital Economics, which helped with the research, added: “Addressing the Government priorities of increased housebuilding and reaching Net Zero will require a skilled construction workforce with the capacity to deliver the associated increase in activity.

“Our modelling shows the scale of the challenge. Among many striking findings, 377,000 new recruits are needed over the next decade for home improvement and repair work alone.”

– In a separate report,  skills development organisation, City & Guilds, and the Lifelong Education Institute, called on the government to learn from mistakes of the past and create a long-term skills strategy for lifelong learning and economic growth.

Kirstie Donnelly, chief executive of City & Guilds, said: “We have a once in a generation opportunity to clean the slate of skills policy for good and create a holistic, long-term strategy for uplifting our economy through skills provision that works.

“It’s crucial now that we learn from mistakes of the past. I we don’t get this right now, we will never resolve our productivity and growth problem.

“Not only is this critical to solve in multiple industries in need of skills, it’s also critical to the delivery of this Government’s missions.”