Duplication of construction skills training criteria being developed by separate sector bodies should be streamlined to ensure the industry can meet demand for an estimated 250,000 workers by 2030, an education charity has argued.
In a report that calls on the government to come up with a “long term realistic strategic plan” for the construction industry’s workforce, NOCN has raised concerns that there are three separate standards programmes and training levies for the sector.
This includes standards, occupational maps and competency frameworks overseen by the Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education (IfATE), the Construction Industry Training Board, and steering groups that report to the new Building Safety Regulator – set up in last year in response to the Grenfell Tower fire.
NOCN says the new government, the replacement of IfATE with Skills England and the new building regulator are an opportunity to combine the three into a “single programme of work”.
This would help address existing skills gaps in construction and a huge demand for new workers, estimated by the CITB to reach 250,000 by 2030.
Without an increase in construction workers, who are in high demand globally, the government could struggle to meet its target of 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
NOCN chief executive Graham Hasting Evans told FE Week: “There’s massive duplication, and then the changing government, creation of a quango and the ongoing Grenfell recommendations is an opportunity, and I think it should run by one industry-led body.
“It opens up the opportunity to resolve these streams of work and pull them all together, so they’re in one place – more efficient and more effective.”
In NOCN’s view, development of standards and management of the apprenticeship levy, CITB levy and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board’s (ECITB) industrial training levy should also all be delegated to a single, industry run body such as the Construction Leadership Council.
The charity also argues that this could help reverse a decline in construction workers entering the industry since the apprenticeship levy was introduced, as employers, particularly smaller businesses, are held back by “inflexible and bureaucratic” rules.
The government should also “publish and implement” recommendations from a government review into the effectiveness of two industry training boards, which is yet to be published despite being completed under the Conservative government in 2023.
More than a year later, a date for the review’s publication is yet to be confirmed.
Rosalind Thorpe, director of education and standards at the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), said: “CIOB has long argued for changes to be made to the way in which industry training standards are set. The industry needs one set of standards which everyone buys into.
“The apprenticeship levy and the CITB levy are not working as intended and we have not seen the right number of skilled people with the necessary competencies to work in the construction industry, particularly as it embarks on a new era of building safety.
“In our recent pre-election manifesto, we pointed out that much of the apprenticeship levy fund has been left unspent since its introduction and the number of new apprenticeships has failed to reach government targets.
“CIOB has called for funding to be focussed more on missing skills rather than purely on apprenticeships – something we feel could be achieved by adjusting the current levy arrangements.”
David Nash, director of strategy and policy at the ECITB, said: “ECITB levy arrangements are widely supported by our levy payers with 85% voting in favour at the last consultation round.
“Whilst many of the challenges are similar, the skills and occupational requirements of our industry – which services the energy and industrial processing sectors – are quite different to those faced by the wider construction industry.”
Read the full NOCN report here.
