Rachel Reeves has unveiled £600m worth of investment in construction skills training, while bringing forward £2bn worth of affordable housing grants.
Ahead of last month’s Spring Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the £600m investment would train up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers.
It includes £100m of investment to fund 10 new technical excellence colleges and £165m of new funding to help colleges deliver more construction courses.
The construction sector’s Skills Bootcamps will also be expanded, with £100m of funding for new entrants, returners or those looking to upskill within the industry.
All local skills improvement plan areas will benefit from £20m to form partnerships between colleges and construction companies, to boost the number of teachers with construction experience in colleges sharing their expertise to train the next generation of workers.
Construction is also one of the key sectors that will benefit from new foundation apprenticeships – backed by an additional £40m – that are due to launch in August 2025. Employers will be provided with £2,000 for every foundation apprentice they take on and retain in the construction industry.
A further £100m of government money, alongside a £32m contribution from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), will fund more than 40,000 industry placements each year for Level 2 and Level 3 learners, those studying NVQs, BTECs, T-levels, and advanced apprenticeships.
The CITB will double the size of its New Entrant Support Team programme to help small and medium-sized businesses recruit, engage and retain apprentices.
The latest £600m award for training follows February’s announcement by the Department for Education that it was dropping the requirement for apprentices to have the equivalent of English and maths GCSEs to complete their course.
The Chancellor has also announced £2bn of new grant funding to deliver up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes as a ‘down payment’ from the Treasury ahead of more long-term investment in such housing, planned for later this year.
The £2bn is earmarked for new affordable housing that can be delivered by providers before the end of the current parliament, the Treasury said.
