Electrical skills gap widens as apprenticeship starts drop: ECA

​​​​​​​Fewer than one in five learners enrolled in government-funded, classroom-based electrical courses advanced into an apprenticeship or skilled employment over 2025/26

New analysis from the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) shows the electrical skills gap is growing nationwide, with a 5.5% drop in electrical apprenticeship starts, putting government ambitions and economic growth at risk. 

ECA’s 2026 Electrical Skills Index - which compares the number of people starting government-funded classroom-based electrical courses with those entering apprenticeships - shows that while interest in electrical careers continues to grow, the system is failing to convert that interest into qualified electricians.

Fewer than one in five learners enrolled in government-funded, classroom-based electrical courses progressed into an apprenticeship or skilled employment over 2025/26.

ECA is calling on the Government to work with industry to tackle the growing national shortage of qualified electricians.

ECA’s newly published 'Electrical Skills Index' - a dataset analysing how many people in England are starting classroom-based courses compared to apprenticeships - reveals a deepening structural imbalance across the skills system. 

Key findings from the ECA 2026 Electrical Skills Index:

• More than 26,000 learners enrolled in government-funded, classroom-based electrical courses in 2024/25 — up significantly from previous years — yet available outcomes data continues to indicate that less than one in one progressed into an electrical apprenticeship or skilled employment within 12 months.
• Over the past year. electrical apprenticeship starts have fallen by 5.5%, even as apprenticeship starts overall rose by 4.1%, and as the electrification programmes gather pace across the country. 
• For the second Skills Index in a row, several economic heartlands face the highest electrical skills shortages, with regions such as Greater London, North West, and West Midlands the most affected.
• The East Midlands, South West, South East and Greater London saw an average 8% fall in electrical apprenticeship starts last year compared to 2022/23. These same regions saw an average of a 16% increase in government-funded course enrolments last year compared to 2022/23