The Autumn Budget announced this week by Chancellor Rachel Reeves made some bold claims about fostering a growth economy, especially through skills development. - By Chris Claydon, Chief Executive of JTL.
At JTL, we were encouraged to see some increased investments in skills – the headline figure of £300 million allocated to further education, £950 million for skills capital, and £40 million for new shorter apprenticeships as part of the transformation of the Apprenticeship Levy into the Growth and Skills Levy. However, the devil being in the detail, it is clear there are critical pieces of the puzzle missing from this Budget. If left unaddressed, this risks undermining the Government’s ambitions for economic expansion, housebuilding, energy security and infrastructure growth across the whole of the UK.
In the electrical and plumbing trades, apprenticeships are critical to building the workforce needed to deliver on the infrastructure goals that the Chancellor emphasised this week. They are recognised as the gold standard route into the building services engineering sector. But while the Budget saw significant allocations made to clean energy, new EV charging infrastructure and affordable housing programmes, there simply is not a strategic approach to fostering the highly skilled workforce to deliver them.
Despite acknowledging the importance of apprenticeships, the Budget fails to address the funding needs of many apprenticeship providers who are classified as independent training providers (ITPs) and train the majority of apprentices. The projects that the Government wants to deliver in this Parliament require the technical skills in the very trades JTL specialises in as an industry charity and training provider.
At this stage, it’s unclear how the £300 million for further education, as well as the £950 million for skills capital will be distributed but there is a danger that FE colleges will be prioritised over other provider types. Further, it appears that the measures to reimburse schools and colleges for the rise in National Insurance contributions do not extend to other providers. This means ITPs must continue to operate on an increasingly uneven financial playing field.
Independent providers deliver 68% of all apprenticeships in England, four times as many as FE colleges, yet they are unable to access capital funding to support the real costs of delivering high-quality training. Providers and charities like JTL are facing growing costs of training and skills delivery, but are left out of the capital funding available to further education colleges. This disparity leaves us straining to meet growing demand and limits the sector’s capacity to expand apprenticeship places.
The sector’s funding gap becomes all the more pressing as the demand for skilled workers in green jobs and infrastructure delivery accelerates. We are seeing a rising need for electricians and plumbers who can directly support decarbonisation, the installation of new energy systems, and essential infrastructure projects. JTL’s electrotechnical apprenticeships are critical in training workers equipped for the UK’s transition to net zero, and have a golden thread of quality throughout, yet funding restrictions are leaving a skills gap that, if left unaddressed, threatens the progress of key national and regional government initiatives.
The skills pipeline for electrical, building services, and other essential trades is not merely a convenience for the industries we serve—it’s the backbone of the UK’s economic future. So it’s crucial that we have a skilled workforce ready to meet the challenges of today’s evolving green and building sectors. However, without fair access to funding and other support, ITPs are unable to expand their training capacity and deliver the hands-on, safety-critical training necessary to develop the workforce.
The solution is clear: if we are serious about closing the skills gap, we must level the playing field for ITPs to operate. For charities like JTL that means access to funding to invest in infrastructure i.e. training centres, and in turn grow apprenticeship numbers by scaling up.
If we want to sustain our economy, accelerate housebuilding, and ensure energy independence, we need a systems approach that places funding where it can have the greatest impact—directly into the hands of those training tomorrow’s workforce. With sufficient government support, providers and charities like JTL can continue bridging the gap between Government ambitions and on-the-ground capability, delivering the high-calibre skilled workforce required for the future.