NFB warns employer shortage could undermine £625m Construction Jobs Plan

The National Federation of Builders has warned that learners could train for construction careers without enough employers to take them on, after the government published its Construction Jobs Plan backed by £625m to train up to 60,000 workers.

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade published the plan on GOV.UK, dated 19 October 2026, describing it as a national framework for tackling the sector's workforce and skills challenges and the barriers to workforce investment.

Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB, said the Labour government had not done enough to support a healthy business environment or remove barriers introduced by previous governments. He said stealth taxation in construction was causing many companies to shed staff, hold off investment or close.

"Unless we change this, learners will find themselves training for a career without enough employers to take them on or give them the vital experience to progress," Beresford said.

The package

According to the NFB, the plan commits £625m over four years to support the training of up to 60,000 additional skilled construction workers during the current Parliament. The National Audit Office (NAO) and the Department for Education put the same target at 2029.

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) set out the breakdown of what it called the Construction Skills Package. It includes 40,000 industry placements a year for eligible Level 2 and Level 3 construction learners aged 16 and over, up to 10,000 new construction-focused Foundation Apprenticeships and 35,000 additional construction-focused Skills Bootcamp places.

The CLC said the plan brings government and industry together to build the workforce needed to deliver 1.5 million homes. The Construction Skills Mission Board has set an ambition for industry to create 100,000 job opportunities a year by the end of this Parliament, and industry has agreed ten commitments to tackle the sector's workforce and skills challenges, the CLC said. Local and regional delivery will be at the heart of the plan, it added.

The NFB said the plan's wider skills reforms include foundation apprenticeships and more flexible apprenticeship durations through the Growth and Skills Offer. Skills England will work with employers, government departments and local partners to coordinate workforce planning and align training with national and regional demand, the federation said.

The colleges

The plan also includes ten Construction Technical Excellence Colleges across England, with employers helping to shape courses, the NFB said.

The DfE named the ten colleges on 12 August 2025: Derby College Group, West Suffolk College, New City College, City of Sunderland College, Wigan and Leigh College, North Kent College, Exeter College, Bedford College, Dudley College of Technology and Leeds College of Building. The department said the colleges, backed by £100m, would train 40,000 construction learners by 2029 and built on the £625m investment announced in March 2025.

The delivery risk

The NFB's concern about employer capacity follows a similar warning from the NAO. In a report dated 13 July 2026, the spending watchdog said employer engagement is a critical delivery risk for the construction skills package.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: "Success will depend on employers having the confidence and capability to offer placements, apprenticeships and jobs."

The NAO said up to 755,000 additional construction workers could be needed by 2030 to deliver government ambitions, and that construction had the highest rate of hard-to-fill vacancies due to skills shortages.

The CLC's industry ambition of 100,000 opportunities a year sits alongside the government-funded target of up to 60,000 workers by the end of the Parliament.