Information gathered via a Freedom of Information request has found a significant number of people studying a construction qualification will never be able to work on site…
Some 167,000 young people studying towards a construction qualification will not be able to work on site, it has emerged.
The information, which was discovered via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, has found the majority of people studying towards construction qualifications will be unsuccessful in the field unless they have an NVQ. Construction union UCATT said the Government is “pouring money down the drain” as a result.
According to the data only 18,000 people successfully secured a construction apprenticeship last year, despite a prolific shortage of skilled workers in the sector.
UCATT found that the vast majority of 167,000 young people who embarked on a construction training course will not gain the qualification necessary to work on a site.
To be able to work on site, trainees must gain an NVQ qualification, which can be achieved via an apprenticeship scheme. However, the analysis revealed only 12 per cent of trainees on construction courses successfully secure an apprenticeship.
The data revealed of the 167,970 students who enrolled on a construction course during the 2014/15 academic year, some 146,960 were based at general further education and tertiary colleges. A total of 19,780 were based at private colleges funded by the public sector, while 11,240 were social enterprises.
Labour MP Teresa Pearce said: “The clearest and easiest way for us to solve the housing crisis is by building more homes, and to do that we need to ensure that the construction industry has enough appropriately trained and qualified workers.
“These figures show that the Government is standing by while the construction industry suffers a skills crisis, and while young people’s futures are put at risk.
“The Government urgently needs to get a grip on this situation, and work with the construction industry, colleges, and students to ensure that we have a construction sector capable of providing the homes we desperately need.”
UCATT Acting General Secretary Brian Rye commented. He said: “I’m horrified by these figures. What a waste of talent and Government money, to take these young people through a course and then have them ignored by the construction industry.
“We have a well-documented skills shortage in the construction industry and we have major constructors failing to take on apprentices.
“And yet hundreds of thousands of young people who want to work in the industry are just left on the scrap heap.”
Rye added: “This is a calamity for the British construction industry. Young people are being thrown to the wind. Hundreds of thousands of talented, enthusiastic young people are having their career hopes dashed by a complacent and self-serving industry.”
The news will not be welcomed by a sector that is already battling chronic skills shortages that threaten to unhinge government housing and infrastructure plans.