Spring Budget 2017: Government and infrastructure industry should collaborate on skills gaps, says expert

The government has pledged to strengthen and simplify the current "confusing" system of technical qualifications in England, including through the introduction of two-year 'T-level' courses for 16-19 year olds to incorporate more classroom time and a high-quality industry work placement. The new qualifications will be introduced from 2019/20, and supported with over £500 million in additional funding per year once fully implemented.

Speaking as he presented the Spring 2017 Budget document, chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond said that the reforms would put English technical education on a par with its academic education, which was "undeniably one of the best in the world".

"There is still a lingering doubt about the parity of esteem attaching to technical education pursued through the further education route," he said.

However, infrastructure expert Richard Laudy of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the reforms, although welcome, were "a drop in the ocean and will not meet the skills crisis facing the UK infrastructure sector".

"The sector is still yet to recover fully from the 400,000 construction jobs lost in the recession and has an ageing workforce, 30% being over the age of 50 and around 700,000 set to retire in the next 10 years," he said. "And yet, demand is only increasing. The UK needs to bring in an additional 36,000 workers every year to meet the demands created by our infrastructure programme."

"Government and industry should collaborate, map the skills required to deliver our infrastructure and prioritise them within any post-Brexit immigration system. So whilst the chancellor's announcement is to be welcomed, the government needs to go further," he said.

The government recently commissioned former science minister Lord Sainsbury to conduct an independent review of technical education, and to make recommendations for reform. His recommendations, which were accepted in full by the government, included replacing the thousands of qualifications which make up the current system with a new framework of 15 routes to skilled employment, with a streamlined set of valuable qualifications.

The new 'T-levels', to be developed in direct response to Lord Sainsbury's recommendations, will enable young people to leave college with a quality qualification focused on their chosen occupation or set of occupations and experience in their chosen field, as well as wider employability skills. The two-year courses will involve around 900 hours of programme time, a more than 50% increase on the current average length.

The chancellor also announced that maintenance loans, like those available to university students, would be made available to students on technical education courses at levels four to six in National Colleges and Institutes of Technology from 2019/20. This will enable students to continue their training at these institutions, while also supporting adults who choose to retrain for a technical qualification.

Arcadis, the engineering consultancy, published a report last month on its findings that the UK will require up to 400,000 new construction workers every year until 2021 to meet predicted demand, regardless of post-Brexit immigration issues. It urged the government to act quickly to secure the rights of EU workers currently employed in UK construction and to simplify the visa system, while also minimising the effect of impending changes to the taxation of benefits in kind and the IR35 disguised remuneration rules on workers and their employers.