Construction underpins many of the things the country wants to achieve, from building new homes and infrastructure to improving existing buildings and supporting the move to net zero.
But none of that can happen without people with the right skills.
The scale of the skills challenge is significant. Commitments to deliver 1.5 million safe and decent homes over this parliament, invest £725 billion in infrastructure over 10 years and upgrade 5 million existing buildings will create significant future workforce demand.
The recently published Construction Jobs Plan sets out how industry, government, and devolved and local partners will work together to meet this challenge head-on. Skills England evidence, data and insight informed analysis and conclusions within it.
Key considerations include making the skills system work better for smaller businesses, supporting young people into the workforce, and making sure the right apprenticeships and wider training is in place to support employers and learners as the sector evolves.
Skills for smaller employers
Small and medium-sized enterprises are central to construction. In March 2025, there were around 385,000 construction businesses in the UK, with 99.9% classified as SMEs. Any serious response to the sector’s skills needs must obviously work for them.
Skills England has been gathering insight from smaller businesses across the country. The barriers to engagement they have told us they’re facing include:
- difficulty navigating a complex skills landscape
- limited time and capacity to engage with training providers and workforce planning activity
- challenges accessing training that works for smaller employers
- difficulty assessing the value and return on investment of workforce development
These are themes we have heard repeatedly from smaller businesses. As Skills England board member Anthony Impey has highlighted, the challenge we are seeking to address is not convincing SMEs that skills matter, but making it easier for them to act while managing the day-to-day pressures of running a business.
Apprenticeship units
One solution already being rolled out is apprenticeship units. These are short, focused training programmes designed to address specific skills gaps. They help existing employees develop new skills and may be more suitable for SMEs that don’t feel suited to longer full apprenticeships.
For construction, they cover permanent modular building assembly, solar PV installation and maintenance, and electric vehicle (EV) charging point installation and maintenance.
Foundation apprenticeships
A young person looking to take their first steps into the workplace could benefit from construction foundation apprenticeships. These cover three areas: building service engineering (low carbon heating, refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump engineering and plumbing), finishing trades (painters and decorators, wall tilers and floor layers), and onsite trades (bricklayers, carpenters, joiners and plasterers).
Foundation apprenticeships combine technical knowledge and skills with broad workplace learning, helping young people decide their next career steps. They are available for people aged 16 to 21, and 22 to 24 year-olds who are a care leaver; prisoners or prison leavers; or have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
Success with apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are an excellent way for employers to refresh and upskill their workforce. This can be both through programmes specifically designed for construction jobs, or broader apprenticeships for wider business needs like administration and HR support.
They give people an opportunity to gain experience, knowledge and occupational skills while contributing to a real business. For an employer, they can provide a way to develop talent around the needs of the company rather than relying entirely on an increasingly competitive recruitment market.
AD Construction provides a really good example. This SME has used apprenticeships to bring in talented new people and help build long careers. Its leaders and apprentices explained, in a video we have published, what that experience has meant for them.
More routes than people realise
Construction careers extend far beyond roles people may traditionally associate with a building site. Skills England analysis shows demand across a wide range of skilled occupations, including bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, retrofit specialists, and engineering construction. A recent report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) also highlighted that skills shortages in ‘professions’ like surveying and planning are equally significant to the sector as conventional building ‘trades’.
There are many different ways to enter and progress through construction-related careers. Our occupational maps show what apprenticeships and technical training is available and how people can progress between occupations.
Added to this, Skills England recently published our Employability Skills Framework, which supports young people who struggle to explain how their experiences translate into skills relevant to work, as well as employers who find it difficult to identify potential in candidates with limited employment history.
Building the workforce construction needs together
Construction’s future workforce needs are substantial, but so is the opportunity.
The Construction Jobs Plan provides us with a shared direction that Skills England will help take forward with employers and our many other valued partners. Its success will depend on practical action co-ordinated with employers, providers, government, and local partners.
For people, that means clearer routes into rewarding careers and better information about where those careers could lead. For employers, particularly smaller businesses, it means making it easier to identify, develop and invest in skills that will support productivity and growth.
If we can do both, we will not only help meet construction’s workforce needs. We will create opportunities for more people and strengthen the businesses responsible for delivering the homes, infrastructure and improvements the country needs.
Phil Smith CBE
Chair, Skills England