UK needs 1.5 million homes fast: How India's skilled workers can help

7 of 23 shortage occupations where it's deemed sensible to fill the shortage with migrant workers are in construction

The UK government will invest £600 million over the next four years to train up to 60,000 construction workers as part of efforts to fill job shortages and build 1.5 million homes. The announcement comes as pressure mounts on the government to deliver economic growth without increasing immigration.

 

The move is part of what the government calls a ‘skills agenda’, and will run alongside a broader push to improve infrastructure. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the shortage of skilled workers is now among the biggest hurdles to Britain’s growth plans.

 

“We are determined to get Britain building again,” said Reeves in a press release accessed by Business Standard. “But none of this is possible without the engineers, brickies, sparkies, and chippies to actually get the work done, which we are facing a massive shortage of.”

 

 

Shortage of workers despite high demand

 

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that there are over 35,000 unfilled vacancies in construction. Employers say more than half of these cannot be filled due to a lack of people with the right skills, even as demand is expected to rise.

 

The government intends to meet this demand by increasing the domestic supply of skilled workers. Reeves said, “We’ve overhauled the planning system that is holding this country back, now we are gripping the lack of skilled construction workers, delivering on our Plan for Change to boost jobs and growth for working people.”

 

What the funding will cover

 

* £100 million for 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges  

* £165 million to help existing colleges deliver more construction courses  

* £100 million to fund over 40,000 industry placements annually for Level 2 and Level 3 learners  

* £32 million from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to support apprenticeships  

* Expansion of CITB’s New Entrant Support Team (NEST) programme to help small and medium businesses recruit apprentices  

 

UK education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the new measures will address both labour shortages and inequality. “These measures will break down barriers to opportunity for thousands of young people, helping them to thrive in – and build – their local communities,” she said.

 

‘Reducing net immigration has been a distraction’

 

Despite the shortage, the government’s plan excludes migrant labour as a solution. Labour has made clear that it wants to rely less on immigration and more on domestic training.

 

Meghan Benton, director of the international programme at the Migration Policy Institute, said this approach may fall short. “The UK government is grappling with pressures to reduce net immigration, while also meeting significant labour shortages,” she said in an email response to Business Standard.

 

“The focus on reducing net immigration has been a distraction. It’s more important to have a system that delivers on policy goals. For instance, a lot of immigration is made up of health and social care workers, so it’s right to try and increase the supply of UK-trained doctors and nurses, but focusing on reducing net immigration overall isn’t going to help get there,” she said.

 

She added that while joining up workforce and immigration policies can work in the long term, shortages will continue in the meantime. “This is a long-term effort and it takes time to train new workers, and in the meantime, skill shortages in sectors such as construction will continue to bite.”

 

Construction jobs already on the shortage list

 

According to the Migration Advisory Committee, several roles in construction already qualify for eased visa rules due to shortages. These include:

 

Pipe welders  

Boat and ship builders  

Stonemasons  

Bricklayers  

Roofers  

Carpenters  

Retrofitters  

 

“This means that 7 of 23 – more than a third – of shortage occupations where it’s deemed sensible to fill the shortage with migrant workers are in construction,” said Benton.

 

Role of India and mobility agreements

 

The UK and India have been negotiating a free trade agreement, and one of the sticking points has been labour mobility, particularly in relation to access to social security systems and visa processing times.

 

“With its large pool of trained construction workers, there could be benefits to addressing bottlenecks in India-UK labour mobility in the construction sector including around visa processing, credential recognition, and access to additional training,” said Benton. “Lots of countries, including Germany for instance, are pursuing labour mobility agreements with India amid demographic asymmetries.”

 

Indians top UK immigration charts

 

According to ONS data for 2023, Indians were the largest group of immigrants to the UK, with 250,000 arrivals. Of these:

 

127,000 came for work  

115,000 for study  

9,000 for other reasons  

 

They were followed by:

 

Nigerians (141,000)  

Chinese nationals (90,000)  

Pakistanis (83,000)