Colleges and training venues across London will host the WorldSkills UK national finals next year, it has been revealed. The annual national skills competition will return to the capital in 2027 after two years in south Wales, and two years in Greater Manchester before that. Outgoing WorldSkills UK chief executive Ben Blackledge confirmed the move at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ (AELP) annual conference this week. Blackledge also said colleges were over-represented in the UK’s catalogue of national competitors and issued a plea for more independent training providers to get involved in skills competitions. It marks the first time in five years a London further education organisation will host a UK national final. In 2022, WorldSkills UK hosted domestic national finals in venues across the UK, one of which was Barking and Dagenham College. The cohort of 2027 host venues will be announced in the Autumn. Last year, over two dozen national finalists hailed from London’s FE colleges with two winning medals. WorldSkills UK confers gold, silver and bronze medals on competitors that excel in dozens of professional skills at their national finals. Top performing competitors are then in with a shot of being selected for specialist training and coaching to represent the UK internationally at EuroSkills and WorldSkills. Blackledge was joined on stage at AELP’s national conference this week by four competitors from Team UK selected to compete at the global WorldSkills competition in Shanghai this September. Asked what the training provider sector could do to support the UK’s competitive performance on the world stage, Blackledge said: “Registrations for the next cycle [of competitions] open in March and they will be hosted in London in 2027-28. “If you’d like to get a sense of them, come to Wales in November this year. Loads of educators will be there, loads of team leaders will be there. It’s a great chance to learn.” ITP learners wanted For the next cycle of national and international competitions, Blackledge told AELP conference he wanted to see more entries from independent training providers. “You’ll have heard from two competitors here who trained at a college. We are making real progress in having a full range of sectors represented, but we still have an over-representation of colleges, I would say,” he said. “I know there is such quality in absolute numbers within the independent training provider networks, so I guess my plea is – get involved in this.” WorldSkills UK is expected to announce the competitors for the 2026 national finals next month. And as well as preparing for Shanghai, WorldSkills UK is already laying the groundwork for the EuroSkills 2027 in Düsseldorf and WorldSkills 2028 in Aichi, Japan. Knuckling down for Shanghai Four champions from Team UK selected for Shanghai were invited to the AELP conference to discuss their experience of preparing to compete on the world stage. The 26 members of Team UK have just three months of intense training left before they head to China to compete against 1,500 young people from across the globe in their specialisms. Yuliia Batrak, restaurant service competitor and Medallions for Excellence winner at last year’s EuroSkills Herning, told delegates she was practising breathing techniques to cope with the unpredictability of her skill. “You don’t know what customers you’re going to get, you don’t know what tasks you’re doing to get on the day and you just need to think very quickly to deliver a five-star service on the day,” she said. left to right bricklayer Joseph Shingler restaurant services champion Yuliia Batrak and renewable energy competitor Madeleine Warburton Joseph Shingler, a bricklaying competitor from Shrewsbury College, said he uses ear defenders to zone out loud noises and competing with crowds of people watching. “The national final taught me that no matter what, I can just go and give it go. My attitude has been to have fun, give it 100 per cent and see what comes out of it,” he said. Batrak added: “I’m really looking for the gold medal. I’ve been working for it for the last three and a half years.” WorldSkills Shanghai will take place between September 22 and 27.