The Construction Industry Training Board has published its ‘Construction Apprenticeships: Opportunities. Challenges. Support.’ report, revealing significant regional differences in construction apprenticeship starts and employer participation across Britain
Regional disparities in construction apprenticeships have prompted calls for local skills plans to focus more on helping employers recruit and support apprentices.
Lee Bryer, insight manager at CITB, explained: “Construction needs skilled people across the whole of Britain, and this report shows striking differences in the scale of opportunity for people to start apprenticeships depending on where they live.”
London has the biggest regional disparities between size of workforce and apprentices employed
London has far fewer construction apprenticeship starts relative to demand. The report found around 30 construction employers for every apprenticeship start in London, compared with fewer than four in Scotland and between six and 20 in other regions.
The contrast between Scotland and London remains stark when apprenticeship starts are compared with the size of the construction workforce. Scotland recorded 42.3 starts per 1,000 construction workers in 2024-25, while London recorded the lowest rate at 8.9 starts per 1,000 workers.
These findings point to a wider challenge in employer participation. London has one of the largest concentrations of construction businesses in Britain, yet apprenticeship starts are relatively low compared with the number of businesses and the size of the construction workforce.
This highlights the potential to support more employers in creating apprenticeship opportunities.
Only 17% of construction businesses employing apprentices
Across Great Britain, the report shows that around 33,000 people started a construction apprenticeship in 2024-25, but only around 17% of construction businesses are currently employing an apprentice.
Additionally, micro businesses, which account for around 95% of the industry, are much less likely to participate. Increasing apprenticeship starts will therefore require practical support to help employers, particularly SMEs, recruit and support apprentices, alongside efforts to improve apprenticeship completion rates.
“Apprenticeships are fundamental to the future of construction, and a hard-working apprentice is great to have in any business,” said Bryer.
“With many young people not in education, employment, or training, apprenticeships can be a fantastic way for them to enter the workforce; the sector, the government, and education providers need to work together.”
The case for place-based skills intervention
The findings support devolved, place-based skills interventions that respond to local labour market conditions.
At a time when many young people remain outside education, employment or training, increasing the number of employers able to offer apprenticeships could create more routes into skilled work while helping construction develop its future workforce.
Bryer concluded: “We cannot afford for apprenticeship opportunities to be lower or to be concentrated in only some parts of the country. By making apprenticeships easier to offer, we can create more opportunities locally and build a stronger, more resilient construction workforce.”
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