GGF calls for apprenticeship reform to tackle skills shortages
January 2019

The GGF is urging the Government to change its policy towards apprenticeships to tackle shortages of skilled installers, surveyors and manufacturers in the face of migration issues.

The call comes after the government’s Migration Advisory Committee sought the views of industry representatives including the GGF about the migration challenges affecting recruitment.

The Federation highlighted three problem areas:

• Training for entry level staff is disproportionately expensive for small businesses, which make up the majority of firms in our industry. This means experienced installers and surveyors have fewer opportunities to pass their skills on to new recruits. 

• Lack of awareness among school leavers about the opportunities available within the sector. As a result, school leavers are more likely to choose careers in higher-profile related disciplines such as bricklaying or plumbing. 

• Uncertainty around Brexit for skilled workers from overseas has led to increasing numbers of them choosing to return to their country of origin.  

It also noted that Trailblazer Apprenticeships are imperfect because apprentices cannot currently be classed as ‘self-employed’.

Group Chief Executive Kevin Buckley said:, “In the response, we called for apprenticeship policy reform and set out the measures we support for upskilling and recruitment across the sector including; a new strategy to raise visibility of the sector among school leavers, collaboration with firms around Trailblazer Apprenticeships and new competency training programmes for members and non-members. 

It's clear that a sustainable pipeline of skilled workers is crucial to the delivery of the Government’s plan to build one million new houses by 2020. A rough estimate suggests that this could require 10.5 million installations for new-build and retro-fit combined in the near future. This underscores the importance of the sector to the UK’s housing market, and we hope the MAC will recognise this and urge Government to take action.”