The UK’s national government has unveiled a £600m ($774.9m) investment aimed at training up to 60,000 additional skilled workers in the domestic construction sector.
This funding package encompasses £100m for the establishment of ten new Technical Excellence Colleges and £165m to support existing colleges in delivering more construction courses.
Furthermore, ‘Skills Bootcamps’ will receive an expansion with £100m of funding, facilitating new entrants, returners, and current workers to upskill within the industry.
Meanwhile, all regions involved in the Local Skills Improvement Plan will benefit from a £20m investment to foster partnerships between colleges and construction companies.
The domestic construction sector is also set to be a beneficiary of new foundation apprenticeships, supported by an additional £40m, launching this August.
These apprenticeships aim to introduce more young people to the industry and provide them with the necessary skills for advanced apprenticeships and a career.
Employers will receive an incentive of £2,000 for every foundation apprentice they hire and retain in the sector. This is in addition to the full funding of training costs through the new Growth and Skills Levy.
An additional £100m of government funding, complemented by a £32m contribution from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), will help finance more than 40,000 industry placements each year for learners at various educational levels.
The government will also sponsor a new Construction Skills Mission Board, co-chaired by the government and Mark Reynolds, executive chair of Mace. The board will be tasked with developing and executing a construction skills action plan and providing strategic leadership to the sector.
CITB chief executive Tim Balcon said: “We are delighted with the support the government is giving the construction sector with increased investment. This package will provide vital support, where it is needed most – it will cut straight to the heart of the construction industry being able to address the challenge of building 1.5 million new homes for people that desperately need them.
“As an industry, we now need to grasp this opportunity and play our part in delivering it. I genuinely believe this is a once-in-a-generation chance to us to recruit and train our workforce – equipping more people with the skills they urgently need now and in the future.”
Last December, the UK government introduced planning changes to accelerate the delivery of new homes as part of Labour’s Plan for Change, aiming to build 1.5 million new homes and boost economic growth.
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