West Midlands launch for Try a Trade
A charity has launched a new initiative to encourage more young people to become plumbers or electricians after new research found the industry needs double the number of trades apprentices recruited every year or risk crippling shortages.
In a bid to make an impact on the issue, the HomeServe Foundation, the registered charity of Walsall-based HomeServe, has set up a new pilot initiative in schools across the West Midlands called Try a Trade, which it hopes will help boost the number of Generation Z school leavers entering the sector.
HomeServe has also donated £120,000 to the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Scheme which enables large employers to pledge their unspent levy to fund the training of apprentices at small and medium-sized enterprises across the region, helping the economic recovery from Covid-19.
The Try a Trade pilot from the HomeServe Foundation is being spearheaded by HomeServe chief executive Richard Harpin and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street.
They were joined by pupils from the Streetly Academy, one of 15 schools in the West Midlands to take part, to officially launch the project in Sutton Coldfield.
The initiative follows research by the charity which found the UK will need to recruit and train 193,000 more qualified plumbers, electricians, and skilled trades such as joiners as the industry swells to 7.3 per cent of total employment in 2030 – a level not seen for the last 30 years.
Soaring demand for tradespeople means the sector will need to train 21,400 new recruits every year to meet the target – double the number of successfully completed apprenticeships seen in the UK pre-pandemic.
Mr Harpin said: “The good news is that despite Covid 19 and Brexit, the UK construction and trades industry is experiencing incredible growth – and this is expected to continue apace for the duration of this decade.
“What stands in the way of this growth is the availability of skilled trades workers across the country. We need a significant step change in the number of apprentices in key trades if we are going to see the industry reach its full potential. We can’t afford to ignore this.
“Therefore, what we need to see now is an overhaul of the recruitment process and a united effort across education and industry, and the private and public sectors, to bring more young people and career changers into the industry. Right now, youth unemployment is 10 per cent amongst 18 to 24-year-olds, so we’ve developed a genuinely impactful programme to help young people understand the potential the industry offers while supporting small trades firms to take on a young trainee.”
Mr Street added: “If we are going to build a local workforce fit for the future, it is time to reimagine how we recruit and train our young people. Alongside traditional university options, we must not forget that there is a plethora of exciting and well-paid routes into a practical trade that are available right now. We need qualified electricians to install electric vehicle chargers, we need heating experts to help us roll out renewable energy systems, and we need engineers to enable green retrofitting of homes.
“Try a Trade is a brilliant way to open young people’s eyes to the world of opportunity out there for them. The West Midlands has always been the industrial heartland of the UK, and now is the time to see a new generation of tradespeople blossom here in our region.”
