Mace Construct group executive chairman and Construction Leadership Council (CLC) co-chair Mark Reynolds has called for a radical new incentive to encourage employers to take on apprentices, following research highlighting a decline in the plumbing workforce.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Reynolds said the number of construction apprentices joining the industry had fallen.
“We’ve been tracking this for a while and what we’ve seen is the number of apprentices drop from 3,700 joining the industry to about 2,500 in the past two years,” he said.
He said one key challenge was that many people completing construction training were unable to secure jobs.
“There are over 140,000 people who are training in construction every year, but half don’t get offered jobs, and this is because of a lack of employer confidence and NI challenges. The commitment of employers to take on apprentices is a challenge,” said Reynolds.
“Apprentices are not productive in the first couple of years, so we need to find a way to help employers to invest in people so they can get to that productivity level.”
‘We need to go further’
Asked whether government or industry should take responsibility for addressing the problem, Reynolds said both had a role to play.
“We are working with government through the Construction Skills Mission Board and the £650m additional investment from government for construction – that helps us create opportunities. But we need to go further.”
He proposed an R&D tax credit for employers taking on apprentices, arguing that incentives should focus on improving productivity rather than simply providing financial support.
“We need to get people up to a productivity level that is sustainable for business to operate rather than offer incentives that are just a payment. We need something that drives productivity and efficiency and creates sustainable long-term jobs.”
Asked whether the shortage of plumbers and other trades could threaten government ambitions around green energy, housebuilding and reindustrialisation, Reynolds said the impact was not being felt yet – but could become a problem.
“Not today, but could be in the future. We have an ageing workforce – over 900,000 in the construction sector above 50; when you look at the age group between 18 and 30 it’s only about 400,000, so we are going to need to recruit 400,000 over the next 10 years to supplant the people leaving the industry.”
JTL’s research highlights a significant contraction in the UK plumbing workforce, with the number of plumbers falling by almost 18% between 2018 and 2024.
