Construction apprenticeships are in crisis. The credit crunch and the downturn in the housebuilding sector could mean that this year will see an all-time low in apprentice recruitment.
Yet, the construction industry needs to recruit over 88,000 new recruits every year. Most construction bosses don't want to train apprentices. Instead, they would rather recruit unskilled or migrant workers.
At UCATT, we know this situation is unsustainable and so we invested in major research to provide solutions. The report Apprenticeships - A Firm Foundation is a sobering read.
The report acknowledges that the government has finally grasped the nettle and its aim of 500,000 apprentices by 2020 is laudable.
But Davies identifies that the necessary expansion will not occur in construction if employers are left to their own devices. If self-regulation was going to work, it would have done so in the last 10 years when the industry enjoyed constant growth. Instead numbers declined.
Davies's solution is that the government introduces contract compliance. All employers would be required to have apprentices to work on government contracts. The policy would include government agencies, devolved administrations and local authorities and the industry would be forced to change its attitude to training overnight.
Will it happen? We will have to wait and see. Something has got to give if the UK is going to have an adequate skilled construction workforce in ten years' time.
Alan Ritchie,
General secretary,
UCATT
Comments (1)
Apprenticeship Crisis
When it comes to replenishing the workforce, where exactly is sustainability in the construction industry, if the most of the skilled workers will be retired in 10-20 years time?
I agree with Alan Ritchie’s other statements, in that a lot of the blame lies with the introduction of CIS. Although, there are over 150,000 contractors in the industry, few are big employers, or are geared up to be employers. But I disagree strongly with his unfair attacks on construction bosses.
Contractors don’t prefer to employ labour on a self-employed basis in order to deny workers’ their rights, or to fiddle HMRC out of millions. (which by the way they’ve made up in double quick time, by issuing £100 p.m. penalties to contractors who have failed to get CIS returns in on time)
There are two good reasons why contractors use subcontractors, firstly, major contractors are still demanding that labour is supplied on a daywork basis, so supply chain companies still have to cut each others throats on price. Secondly, the duration of construction contracts normally can't be guaranteed, and it is unfair to take someone on under a contract of employment and then put them out of work a few months later.
This is all the more important for apprentices, trainees or improvers, because they more than anyone need continuity in employment.
When Mr Ritchie attacks some subbies as ‘the bogus self-employed’, he is forgetting that these skilled men could become the experienced workers that impart valuable construction skills to a trainee workforce. Many of these workers’ skill and ability take them far beyond the remit of an employee in other industries, but could they manage a PAYE scheme in order to employ an apprentice? Of course not, but then if Mr Ritchie was asked to do the same, he probably would not be able to do so either.
Along side PLAs and traditional apprenticeships, what is needed is a third solution, not employment agencies as we know them, but some kind of ‘super employers’ that work in partnership with contractors, training colleges and the unions to supply and manage a trainee workforce nationwide.
This solution would allow construction industry trainees to be employed along side experienced workers, with the advantage of being relocated to another contract if work dries up. An added advantage of this set up, is a reduction in the administrative burden of tax and employment legislation on contractors, and proper employment rights for workers and trainees. A further advantage is an increase in opportunities for females and workers returning to the industry, such as ex-offenders, and the industry could gain ground on the issue of diversity as well as solving the skills shortage.
We need a think tank made up of real people who have an understanding and a pride in this industry. Personally, I don’t want to wait and see if the Government will act, do you? My company is well on the way to providing the ‘third solution’, and if you don’t want to wait and see either, or are also involved in this issue at whatever level, please contact me at carolyn@cwcworkforce.co.uk.
Pay it Forward
Posted by Carolyn Walsh | July 17, 2008 11:43 PM
Posted on July 17, 2008 23:43