On Wednesday 26th March, the Chancellor’s Spring Statement pledged to “support the builders, not the blockers”, announcing a £600 million investment to address construction industry skills shortages. The funding aims to train up to 60,000 additional skilled workers by 2029, helping the Government meet its goal of building 1.5 million new homes under the Plan for Change.
The Construction Products Association (CPA) says: “With the impact of the Autumn Budget still fresh in people’s minds, we were not expecting much from today’s Spring Statement that would be directly relevant to UK construction, manufacturing or distribution. The focus of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement was always likely to be on ‘difficult decisions’ regarding the pressure on government finances and increased defence spending in the light of greater global uncertainty and risks. As the onus was on the government to stick to its fiscal rule, the options were to either increase taxes or cut spending, and the Chancellor focused on reducing day-to-day government spending across the civil service and social care to ensure that capital expenditure was broadly maintained from the Autumn Budget, which is positive.
“Another positive is that the Spring Statement included an additional £2 billion in social and affordable housing in 2026‑27, which acts as a bridge to long‑term investment into social and affordable housing through to the government’s Spending Review in June. In addition, amongst an additional £2.2 billion for the Ministry of Defence, there will be an allocation to secure better homes for military families. The government also reiterated that it is committing £625 million in England over four years to enhance existing training routes, ensure a sustainable flow of skilled construction workers, and support employers in investing in training, with the aim of delivering up to 60,000 additional skilled construction workers during this Parliament.
“However, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which produces the independent economic forecasts accompanying the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, now forecasts that house building in the UK over the five-year parliament will be 1.3 million net additional dwellings, which would approximate to around 1.0 million net additional dwellings for England. As the government’s target is 1.5 million net additional dwellings over the 5-year parliament in England (as housing and house building policy in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is devolved), the government will fail to meet its target by around 50%. However, this is in line with the CPA’s forecasts, and the CPA has been highlighting this to its members since the new government took office last year.”
Nikki Davis, CEO & Principal of Leeds College of Building, says: “We welcome the announcement made by the Chancellor that £600 million worth of investment is being made available to train up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers. Without this, government priorities such as house building, retrofit, or mass transit would likely be stalled.
“These roles are urgently needed to build a target of 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament and are part of a skilled workforce that will help drive economic growth.
“Construction employs 2.15 million people, but more than a third are now over 50 years old. The latest Office for National Statistics figures show that there are over 35,000 job vacancies in the industry, with many due to a lack of required skills – the highest rate of any sector. Demand is only expected to increase further.
“FE colleges are instrumental in meeting these training demands, and we are ready to meet the challenge. Although we are doing much already with limited resources, we urgently need this funding to tackle critical shortages and ensure a skills bottleneck is averted.
“After years of campaigning on this issue, we are delighted that the skills crisis in construction and the built environment is being taken seriously, and I look forward to reading the details of the plans.”
