ConstructionSkills, the UK's Sector Skills Council, has unveiled a host of planned measures to help preserve the employment of the industry's existing apprentices through the economic downturn, and to encourage firms to bring through the next generation of workers.

The first and largest of these measures is the expanded Apprenticeship Matching Service (AMS), which seeks to find new work placements for apprentices who cannot continue training with their original employer. The AMS was established with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) at the end of 2008, but is now entering its 'phase two', wider-scale operation.

It offers a broad range of support services to help businesses retain their apprentices through the downturn, including mentoring for apprentices, advice for employers about other business support, and help with paperwork.


To ease the financial and administrative implications of training an apprentice and maximise opportunities for completion, ConstructionSkills has also introduced a number of sensible flexibilities in apprenticeship training models and is working with employers to explore available funding options to help support a displaced apprentice.

The AMS now has over 2,000 'at risk' trainees on its books, and while ConstructionSkills' designated team has already helped almost 600 of them to find new employment, the rising numbers have prompted calls for around 1,000 additional businesses to offer employment opportunities that mean apprentices can continue training.

Nigel Donohue, Apprenticeship Programme Manager for ConstructionSkills, said: "Increasingly more apprentices are becoming 'at risk' of being laid off, and to stem this tide we need more employers, who have the capacity to offer training opportunities to these young people.

"If this doesn’t happen, then the UK's construction sector risks seeing the continuation of skills shortages that have plagued the industry since the last recession, caused by laying off experienced workers and reducing the number of new recruits."

Other initiatives being implemented within ConstructionSkills' Apprenticeship Programme include ways of supporting employers in recruiting new apprentices. New training models will be available to businesses of all sizes in order to streamline the process of recruiting an apprentice, and to make it more financially viable.

(GK/JM)