ConstructionSkills has helped almost 750 “at risk” carpentry and joinery apprentices either find new employment or remain with existing employers during the construction slowdown.
The organisation, the Sector Skills Council for construction, used its Apprenticeship Matching Service (AMS) to help the trainees but around 170 additional businesses are still needed to offer employment opportunities so apprentices can finish their training.
Construction Skills, which has just expanded AMS, has 900 at risk carpenters and joiners on its books, including the 750 is has already helped.
It says its initiatives are needed as carpenters are forced to halt their training as building firms feel the pressure on their finances during a difficult construction market.
Gary Wells, a carpentry apprentice at risk recruited by KB Construction, after being made redundant in his first year of his apprenticeship, said it was important for employers to take on apprentices.
“I was a couple of months into college and I’d started the placement – it was all going well for me and then out of the blue I was laid off last October,” he said. “ It wasn’t anyone’s fault; it was down to a lack of work.
“It is a great opportunity and apprentices, like me, are keen to learn and progress in their trade,” he said. There’s nothing like the intense experience that you gain and need from being on-site.”
Nigel Donohue, apprenticeship programme manager for ConstructionSkills, emphasised the need for more employers to come forward.
“If this doesn’t happen,” he said, “then the UK’s construction sector risks seeing the continuation of skills shortages that have plagued the industry since the last recession.”
