Construction trainee scheme to protect apprenticeships

AN apprentice matching service has been set up to help support ‘at risk’ trainees in the North West’s struggling construction sector.

ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for construction, has expanded its Apprenticeship Matching Service, which seeks to find new work placements for apprentices who cannot continue training with their original employer.

In the North West the AMS now has 130 trainees on its books that are at risk of losing their apprenticeships.

ConstructionSkills’ said it has already helped 29 of them to find new employment, but added that because of rising numbers, it has put out calls or around 88 businesses to offer apprentice employment opportunities.

Apprentices in carpentry and joinery are the most affected, with shop fitting being the least affected construction trade in the region.

Gillian Cain, apprenticeship manager for ConstructionSkills North West, said: “The severity of the economic downturn means that the construction industry faces many challenges this year, and continuing the development of the next generation of workers is at the forefront of these.

“Increasingly more apprentices are becoming ‘at risk’ of being laid off, and to stem this tide we need more employers, who have the capacity to offer training opportunities to these young people.

“If this doesn’t happen, then the UK’s construction sector risks seeing the continuation of skills shortages that have plagued the industry since the last recession, caused by laying off experienced workers and reducing the number of new recruits.”

The news comes as the Chartered Institute of Building’s annual skills survey of the construction industry show that the industry is still suffering a skills shortage despite the downturn in construction demand.

Around 77% of respondents said there is a skills shortage in construction and 78% of those feel that the loss of skills will hinder the industry’s recovery when the economy improves. Over three quarters (76%) of all respondents felt apprenticeships should be mandatory on public projects, which would help to encourage the employment of apprentices.

Michael Brown CIOB deputy chief executive said: “Construction has been notoriously bad at attracting students, and other new entrants, which has exasperated the industry’s long-term skills development. There is no denying the importance of graduate and apprentice recruitment as these employees represent the future of the industry.”