Skills crisis threatens ambitious UK home building programme

A growing skills crisis in the UK building industry threatens the Prime Minister’s ambition to increase home ownership and will undermine wider economic growth, it is claimed.

The Prime Minister stated last week that he wants his legacy to be defined by increasing home ownership, but this won’t be possible without an ample supply of skilled construction workers, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

The organisation’s latest survey covering the third quarter of 2015 suggests that a skills time bomb is in danger of exploding with 60% of small construction firms struggling to hire bricklayers, up from 49%three months ago.

The research also shows that 54% of firms are struggling to hire carpenters and joiners, up from 47% in the previous quarter. ‘If the skilled labour isn’t available, the Government’s ambitions for home ownership won’t be realised,’ said Brian Berry, FMB chief executive.

‘It’s not just house building and home ownership that are being hampered by the skills shortage. The future economic growth of our country relies on major infrastructure projects, such as HS2 and Hinkley Point, being built,’ Berry pointed out.

‘We urgently need to boost our workforce by convincing people, in their thousands, to return to our industry or join us for the first time. Key to this is the need to address the severe shortfall in apprenticeships,’ he explained.

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Source: Property News Spain