Britain to train 120,000 builders, carers to cut reliance on migrants

Straits Times

26-05-2025

More than one in five working-age Britons do not have a job and are not seeking one, with the latest official data showing the inactivity rate at 21.4 per cent. PHOTO: REUTERS
Britain to train 120,000 builders, carers to cut reliance on migrants
LONDON - The UK government plans to train 120,000 British builders, engineers and care workers as it tries to curb migration without worsening skill shortages.
Mr Keir Starmer's Labour Party is allocating £3 billion (S$5.22 billion) to deliver 30,000 new apprenticeships by the end of the Parliament, according to an official release on May 27.
A 32 per cent increase in the Immigration Skills Charge, a levy on employers sponsoring skilled foreign workers, is set to fund an extra 45,000 training places in sectors such as construction and social care, which depend heavily on foreign workers.
The government is also backing programmes for adult learners.
'We're taking our responsibility seriously providing more routes into employment,' Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said.
Mr Starmer is trapped between boosting the workforce to deliver on his growth promises and clamping down on migration to fend off the surge of Mr Nigel Farage's populist Reform party.
Labour has recently announced it's increasing English-speaking requirements for overseas workers and making it harder for migrants to stay in the country.
A recent Boston Consulting Group analysis warned that Britain's supply chains will be overwhelmed by the £900 billion that's set to be injected into public and private infrastructure by the end of 2029.
The report recommended expanding the shortage occupations list, making it easier to source overseas staff for these jobs, and relaxing English-speaking requirements for the main visas.
The government's ambition to replicate Britain's post war era of building, including the promise to deliver 1.5 million homes, is at the heart of its economic growth plan.
However, the construction sector suffers from severe labour shortages due to an ageing domestic workforce and foreign builders shunning the UK after Brexit.
Business leaders have warned that the shortfall in skilled workers is too big to be filled by training programs alone, while builders can take years to get qualified, exposing the sector to inflation and logjams in the short term. BLOOMBERG
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