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The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has called for the government to make it easier for the sector to employ migrant workers under the points based immigration system
The CLC has submitted evidence to the government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), detailing the roles it believes could be considered for inclusion on the shortage occupation list.
The CLC’s Movement of People Working Group has compiled a report, detailing its recommendations, and it has updated its guidance on employing migrant workers.
The following roles have been recommended for inclusion on the shortage occupation list:
- Bricklayers and masons
- Carpenters and joiners
- General labourers
- Ground workers
- Piling rig operatives
- Plant operatives
- Plasterers, dry liners and ceiling fixers retrofit co-ordinators
- Road construction operatives
- Roofers, roof tilers and slaters
- Scaffolders, stagers and riggers
- Steel erectors
- Thermal insulators
The CLC also recommended that building safety managers be included in the skilled worker route and proposed alternative ideas for making access to overseas workers easier. Proposed solutions include a clearing house model and widening the Youth Mobility Scheme to all European Economic Area countries.
Mark Reynolds, co-chair of the CLC and group chairman and CEO of Mace, said: “The CLC is committed to building our domestic construction workforce and championing construction as one of the best career choices for new entrants but the fact is we are still currently facing chronic shortages.
“A dynamic immigration system allows us to bridge gaps in workforce need and meet the people requirement for the sector’s pipeline of work. That’s why we are calling for the inclusion of these occupations in the shortage occupation list, to help make it a little easier to access the right people, at the right time.”
Skills gaps
James Butcher, director of policy at the National Federation of Builders, added: “Construction faces a vacancy rate higher than the all-industry average, so it is fair to say we are in a worse position than many other industries.
“The occupations we have recommended are based on a solid evidential base for the sector’s need over the next five years. If we are successful in getting these occupations listed, we’ll work hard to ensure construction companies know what they need to do to engage with the immigration system, which is why we are also launching new CLC guidance on how to do that.”
The MAC is expected to report on construction shortages imminently.
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This is not addressing the real problem. What is needed is NOT to send 50% of young people to university to learn to be non-productive but to reintroduce apprenticeships but with day release for both trades and staff. The much maligned CITB was far better than the shambles we have today with a huge skills shortage because since the 1980’s very few people have actually been trained in skilled trades.
The total lack of serious apprenticeship places has blighted the industry for decades, because it is cheaper to employ immigrants than to teach our own youth, however more immigration means less and more pricey homes, more issues with nutrient neutrality etc…. We must market construction as a worthwhile industry and train people!
Why doesn’t the government reintroduce the YTS scheme. Building firms complain of a lack of trades men but do nothing to help with training. Sub contractors working on a price are not interested in stopping work to train / help an apprentice and large firms do not directly employ trades men giving them the time to help with a trainees development.
The manpower situation is going to be made even worse over the coming years by retirement of the last large number of apprentices are due to retire.
There has always been a shortage of training in the UK construction industry.
Construction firms do not want to pay for training and then retention of operatives.
They would rather pay cheap rates to badly trained immigrants who move from firm to firm with no allegance to a company or the industry.
Nothing changed in the construction industry in the 56 years I was employed therein both as an owner of a Subcontract Company and then as a Senior QS and Commercial Director with some of the largest companies in Europe operating in the UK.
You can have as many regulations and standards as you like but proof of the pudding always ends up at the work face with the operatives employed. Long term and ongoing solid training in the UK is the only answer.
Trouble is all of this has been said countless times but the industry will still revert to cheap labour from abroad due to costs of training and employment in the UK
The Construction Industry model was always going to suffer post Brexit as the tap of transitory labour was shut off.
The current model where main contractors are often just management organisations, managing very small subbies (often less than 5 staff on their books) does not encourage investment in staff training – most of the people doing the work, are battling just to survive, never mind invest in reasonable levels of training.
As much as I personally like supporting SMEs, we need to get back to bigger organisations employing their own local staff and keeping them long term, so that training, investing and upskilling them makes sense.