They have addressed skill shortages on their website, listing that of those who started a painting and decorating apprenticeship at college, only 19% went on to work in the construction industry.

They state the main reasons for this are that many young people ‘aren’t prepared for the world of work. Employers as a result, are reluctant to take them on as they can’t be relied upon on site.’  While also stating ‘many of them don’t get onsite practical experience during their studies. Consequently, they don’t have the skills to work independently on site.’ And interestingly suggesting ‘There isn’t a continuing professional development (CPD) programme which lets them keep up their skills or get skills with new materials that are being introduced into the industry.'

CITB Strategy and Policy Director Steve Radley joined Clive Holland on the Clive Holland Show to talk more about this, and when asked about the shortage of trades and skills, said this:

“There's a variety of factors, and I think we have to remember that I think before the pandemic hit, that some of the shortages are already there. I think what we've seen is a combination of things.

“One of the factors [is that] we've gone from a time when a lot of activity was on hold to one where the industry has got busy pretty quickly.

“We've also seen other things like obviously, the number of workers from abroad has fallen, and some people have gone and not come back again.

“I think the number of apprenticeships starts going down, because in this period, although companies have really remained committed to apprenticeships, and keeping those apprenticeships going for the workers, I think with a lot of uncertainties around their company, [they might be] a bit reluctant to start an apprenticeship”

Steve did go on to explain that there are many things in place to try to inspire the next generation of tradespeople though, available through the CITB:

“Although there are shortages of people, this is a really good time to be for people to be coming into construction. There's a lot of opportunities there, we're really seeing vacancies go up, and also because we know other parts of the economy are suffering.

“We've really made a apprenticeships a priority. During the pandemic, we did a lot of work to keep apprenticeships on program and we saw 99% of learners we supported stay on their apprenticeships and complete them

“We're continuing to offer significant incentives through the grant scheme for people to take on apprenticeships, the government has also provided incentives for companies that have taken on apprenticeships, so they've been boosted over the last year or so. [we] really want to make sure that everybody that could do an apprenticeship and come into the industry has got the information support they need.

“Another thing that we're doing is we've been working with the government and the colleges to set up construction traineeships, and what this is doing is taking people from further education, and then providing them with a period of experience in the industry

“There's a lot going on. I certainly wouldn't underestimate the challenges we face at the moment. But I think there's a lot of support for companies that are looking to bring people in”

You can catch more industry interviews and news exclusives on the Clive Holland Show, Monday – Thursday between 2 – 4pm, or even catch his weekly podcast down below!