UK needs 225,000 skilled workers for carpentry, plumbing, painting, others

• There is a shortage of construction experts in the UK, which is causing delays for homes that require building services
• If nothing is done about this, an additional 225,000 skilled workers would be required by 2027 to fulfil the growing demand
• The Home Office added roofers, bricklayers, plasterers, and carpenters to its list of shortage occupations last year to solve the deficit

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

Bricklayers and other construction professionals are in short supply in the UK, causing delays for households needing building services.

There is a lack of plumbers and heating engineers, roofers and carpenters. Photo Credit: John Howard, COROIMAGE
Source: Getty Images

The UK is expected to lose out on £98 billion in growth by 2030 due to the skills gap, meaning an extra 225,000 skilled workers would be required by 2027 to fulfil the growing demand.

Thousands waiting to get skilled workers

A national building audit by Fix Radio found that, since 2021, an astounding 415,000 people had to wait more than a year to find a constructor.

Beyond only builders, there is a lack of plumbers and heating engineers (301,000 families waiting year), roofers (294,000) and carpenters (274,000).

According to Daily Mail UK research, clients have had to wait more than three months on average for a bricklayer over the last three years, while gardeners, painters, and decorators have left clients waiting more than two and a half months.

Experts in the field point out how seriously this skills gap affects large-scale projects, such as the ongoing construction of the Co-op Live stadium in Manchester.

The ageing workforce makes the problem worse; now, 5% of construction workers are over 50, and 33% intend to retire by 2030.

In the next ten years, around one million tradespeople are expected to retire, according to the Construction Skills Network of the Construction Industry Training Board.

The solution

More British workers need to be trained immediately, even though migrant labour has helped to some extent to alleviate the shortages.

To address the shortfall, the Home Office put carpenters, plasterers, roofers, and bricklayers to its list of shortage occupations last year.

The UK government is taking steps to address the issue, such as supporting 100,000 apprenticeships and toughening up on non-vocational university degrees.

During the General Election campaign, the Labour and Conservative parties promised to build hundreds of thousands of additional homes in key cities, while Labour proposed new towns.

Clive Holland of Fix Radio emphasised the critical need for more builders, warning,

“If political parties, irrespective of their stripe or colour, honestly believe they can address the housing crisis without having the serious conversation of addressing the skills deficit, we’re heading into a very dangerous position.”

According to a Fix Radio study, 18% of parents discouraged their children from going into construction because they thought the pay was too poor, and two-thirds of Britons felt that they were not sufficiently encouraged to pursue skills in school.

Companies eligible to sponsor Nigerians’ work visa

Legit.ng reported that the United Kingdom has updated its list of companies permitted to sponsor skilled immigrants through the temporary worker immigration route.

According to checks by Legit.ng, the latest list, updated on Friday, May 24, 2024, now includes 113,919 approved companies.

This indicates that 14,063 companies have now been added to the approved list compared to the 99,856 approved at the start of 2024.

Source: Legit.ng