Labour’s plan to tackle the housing crisis is unachievable, the construction industry has warned, saying it simply does not have enough workers to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years.
Angela Rayner last week said there was “no excuse” not to meet the target and this week Sir Keir Starmer doubled down on that pledge, committing to the creation of a generation of new towns with spades in the ground before the next election in 2029.
But the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS), which supports and represents builders, has poured cold water on the plans, warning that the sector “simply doesn’t have the workforce to build it”.
While Sir Keir has said ministers are “urgently using all levers available to build the homes we need so more families can get on the housing ladder”, the CCS said the government’s major infrastructure projects are at risk because of a “black hole in recruitment”.
“Moving forward with this bold building plan without addressing the recruitment crisis is not only short-sighted but also dangerous when builders are already under immense pressure”, its executive chair Amit Oberoi told The Independent.
As of September 2024, there were almost 100,000 fewer construction workers in the UK than there were five years previous, ONS data shows, due to a stream of workers leaving during the pandemic and a brain drain arising from the retirement of older workers. Brexit has also meant some European builders have been unable to return to work in the UK due to stricter visa requirements.
Since then, the CCS said it has been hard to attract workers as many see construction jobs as low-skilled and physically demanding.
To make matters worse, one-third of the current workforce is aged over 50 and will retire in the next decade, analysis from Capital Economics and Checkatrade shows, estimating that 244,000 qualified apprentices are needed to plug the skills gap by 2032.
While Mr Oberoi welcomed the government’s ambition to build more homes, he said a “housebuilding programme of this size needs a recruitment drive to match”.
“A truncated approach to apprenticeships and loosening planning rules, effectively cutting corners, will not fill the hole in the industry, especially when taken with tax rises that harm the ability for businesses to recruit,” he said.
He urged the government to introduce better financial incentives to encourage hiring and more education, to “teach young people about the lucrative and fulfilling roles available in the industry”.
The 1.5 million homes target means building an average of 300,000 new homes a year – a figure not achieved since the 1970s. However, construction firms are not convinced it can be done.
“There simply aren’t enough people to build the number of homes planned”, Angela Mansell, MD of Mansell Building Solutions, one of the UK’s longest-established specialist contractors, warned.
“Recruitment is challenging as candidates are not visible and readily accessible,” she told The Independent.
Bruce Benson, a managing director at family-owned construction company Mullaley, added: “The challenges we face in recruitment cannot be ignored. We need to change perceptions, showcase opportunities within the industry, and provide young people with the support they need to succeed.”
Mr Oberoi said apprenticeship reform must be at the top of the government’s agenda and called on ministers to do more to “tackle the root causes of the recruitment crisis”.
On Monday, the government announced that up to 10,000 more apprentices will be able to qualify per year by shortening the minimum duration of apprenticeships from 12 months to eight and scrapping compulsory maths and English qualification requirements for candidates.
But Mr Oberoi urged the government to go further and “be more ambitious” with its plans.
“Rather than just cutting corners by reducing apprenticeship lengths, we’d like to see Sir Keir Starmer go further with a more holistic approach and be more ambitious with financial incentives and outreach initiatives,” he said.
Despite Ms Rayner last weekend saying there are “no excuses” to not build the new homes Labour promised in its election manifesto, skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith admitted there were issues to overcome.
Asked whether there are enough construction workers, Baroness Smith told Times Radio: “No, that’s part of the problem, that’s what we inherited from the last government, a skills system that was fragmented where a third of vacancies across the economy are because of skills shortages.
“So that’s why we’re really having to ramp up the amount of people who are getting skilled.”
A spokesperson said the government was “taking decisive action” to fix the housing crisis and will invest £5bn into the system this year to “get Britain building again”.
