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Apprenticeship
Levy is exacerbating
construction skills
shortage, says FMB
» » THE LATEST STATISTICS
released by the Department
for Education show that the
number of new construction
apprenticeship starts for
January 2019 has fallen to
950 compared with 1,216 the
previous year. In particular,
the number of starts for Level
2 apprenticeships, that is
equivalent to GCSE level, has
dropped to 555 in January 2019
from 712 in January 2018.
Brian Berry, Chief Executive
of the FMB, said: “These latest
statistics point to a serious
failure of the Government’s
Apprenticeship Levy. Their
publication comes at a
time when 64 per cent of
construction firms are already
struggling to hire carpenters
and joiners, and 61 per cent are
struggling to hire bricklayers.
The Government needs to make
the Apprenticeship Levy work
for small construction firms by
increasing the proportion of
Apprenticeship Levy vouchers
that are permitted to be passed
down the supply chain from
large to small companies from
25 per cent to 100 per cent.
After all, small and medium-
sized construction firms train
two-thirds of all apprentices
in our sector and more
importantly, they offer training
in the skills the industry actually
needs – the onsite trades like
plasterers and plumbers.”
Berry concluded: “Looking
ahead, as part of its post-
Brexit immigration proposals,
Ministers want to close the
door to Level 2 tradespeople
by dubbing them ‘low skilled’
and preventing them from
entering and working in the
UK for more than 12 months
at a time. It takes years to
train quality tradespeople to
become a Level 2 worker and
even if we did have the time to
train at this scale, there aren’t
enough UK-born workers to
go around as we are almost
at full employment. The
construction industry is facing
a cliff-edge when it comes
to skill shortages, and I’m
concerned that we will not be
able to continue growing and
delivering on the Government’s
housing and infrastructure
targets if this state of affairs
continues. The Government
must fundamentally rethink
the Apprenticeship Levy and
its post-Brexit immigration
proposals, or else the
construction sector will not
be able to deliver what’s
required.”
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