Britain currently faces a housing and infrastructure crisis. The Conservatives missed every housing target they set over the last fourteen years, and the speed of major planning decisions slowed to nearly two years by the time the Conservatives left office. The previous government scrapped housing targets, and time and time again chose to back the blockers rather than the builders.

This has snatched the dream of home ownership from millions of working people, leaving acute housing shortages and stagnant economic growth. In his Plan for Change, the Prime Minister set a clear target to build 1.5 million homes and fast track planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects.

Ahead of the Spring Statement 2025, Labour is announcing a package of measures to address the large-scale skills shortages in the construction sector. The skills shortage in this sector is hampering delivery of the government’s top priorities around housebuilding and the 10-year infrastructure strategy and needs immediate action.

The construction skills network report that around a third of construction employers cite finding suitably skilled staff a key challenge. This is broadly being driven by three problems:

• A leaky pipeline meaning only 46% of those achieving construction courses go into sustained employment.
• Inadequate course provision.
• Insufficient workforce, resulting in a 10% vacancy in construction teachers.

This Labour government’s full construction package consists of:

1. £100m of new investment to fund 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges, providing specialist facilities and training in construction.
2. Targeted support to enable experienced construction workers to partner with education providers to share their vital expertise. This will come alongside £165m of new funding for further education construction course providers to put on more courses and pay teachers more.
3. £98m of funding to support Further Education providers in offering industry placements.
4. New construction foundation apprenticeships to increase the numbers of young people aged 16-21 applying to get into the industry and give them the tools they need for a successful career. This is just one of the sectors set to benefit from new foundation apprenticeships, backed by £40 million of funding and set to launch in August 2025.
5. Employer incentives of up to £2,000 for those who take on a young person participating in a construction foundation apprenticeship.
6. £100m of new funding for expanded skills bootcamps to increase the number of skilled construction workers
7. A communications campaign to promote construction skills opportunities, and to support the recruitment of Further Education construction teachers.
8. £98m of investment towards improved support for SMEs who want to take on apprenticeships. This will be through the Double New Entrant Support Scheme (NEST) programme.
9. A capital pot to support large businesses to deliver bespoke training.
10. A new construction skills mission board to secure the workforce needed to meet future demand. This will be a collaborative approach between construction industry leaders and government and provide strategic leadership to the sector.