{"id":531322,"date":"2025-10-22T10:46:34","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T09:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=531322"},"modified":"2025-10-22T10:46:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T09:46:34","slug":"trade-group-chiefs-urge-pm-to-suspend-apprenticeship-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/trade-group-chiefs-urge-pm-to-suspend-apprenticeship-reforms-22-10-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade group chiefs urge PM to &#8216;suspend&#8217; apprenticeship reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">A 22-strong coalition of industry bodies has written to prime minister Keir Starmer calling for the government\u2019s proposed reforms to apprenticeships to be suspended as they will be a \u201cdisaster\u201d for construction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In an open letter, the industry groups argued that the changes will weaken skills standards, damage employer confidence and undermine the delivery of 1.5 million new homes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The reforms, announced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/new-towns-plan-to-tackle-skills-shortages-and-boost-mmc-pipeline-28-09-2025\/\">Skills England<\/a>, include shortening the minimum duration of an apprenticeship from 12 months to eight months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cSampling\u201d assessments rather than full competency checks are also being proposed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">However, the groups have warned this will create a fast-track system that \u201cprioritises cost-saving over capability\u201d. The reforms could risk triggering a \u201crace to the bottom\u201d as assessment providers compete to offer the fastest route to completion, the letter argued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThese proposed government-led changes, we believe, will spell disaster for the construction industry and undermine the government\u2019s ambition to generate economic growth,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n<p>Among the signatories is the Federation of Master Builders, the Electrical Contractors\u2019 Association, the Building Engineering Services Association and the British Woodworking Federation, which is leading the coalition.<\/p>\n<p>The groups also warned that the proposed approach could invalidate CSCS cards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the reforms move ahead, CSCS will no longer recognise apprenticeships as they will not be confident individuals have met the minimum standard to demonstrate competence and safety,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n<p>The reforms could also conflict with the Building Safety Act and Dame Judith Hackitt\u2019s recommendations on competence-led training, according to the groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Skills England continues down this path, we risk another Grenfell on the 1.5 million homes, sending the message from the government that construction needs to concentrate on cost-cutting over skills,\u201d the letter warned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Helen Hewitt, chief executive of the British Woodworking Federation, said: \u201cThe government\u2019s proposed apprenticeship reforms risk dismantling the foundations of competence and safety in our industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cBy shortening the duration of apprenticeships and replacing rigorous, impartial assessments with lighter-touch alternatives, these changes threaten to dilute skills, undermine confidence and create dangerous inconsistencies across the construction sector.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">She added: <span class=\"s1\">\u201c<\/span>At a time when the country urgently needs more skilled workers to meet housing and infrastructure demands, cutting corners on training is a short-sighted and dangerous path.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWe strongly urge Skills England and the government to listen to employers, training providers and industry bodies before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cShould these changes go through, all apprenticeships delivered in England will be impacted, meaning other industry sectors should also be taking keen interest in the progress of these reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>Construction News<\/em> has contacted 10 Downing Street for comment.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday (21 October), the government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/skills\/plan-to-replace-btecs-with-v-levels-confirmed-21-10-2025\/\">announced plans for new vocational V-Level qualifications<\/a> as part of an effort\u00a0to tackle the skills crisis in sectors such as construction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 22-strong coalition of industry bodies has written to prime minister Keir Starmer calling for the government\u2019s proposed reforms to apprenticeships to be suspended as they will be a \u201cdisaster\u201d for construction. In an open letter, the industry groups argued that the changes will weaken skills standards, damage employer confidence and undermine the delivery of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29901,"featured_media":504118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[565,575],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-531322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-skills"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trade group chiefs urge PM to &#039;suspend&#039; apprenticeship reforms | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A 22-strong coalition of industry bodies has written to prime minister Keir Starmer calling for the government\u2019s proposed reforms to apprenticeships to be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/trade-group-chiefs-urge-pm-to-suspend-apprenticeship-reforms-22-10-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trade group chiefs urge PM to &#039;suspend&#039; apprenticeship reforms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 22-strong coalition of industry bodies has written to prime minister Keir Starmer calling for the government\u2019s proposed reforms to apprenticeships to be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/trade-group-chiefs-urge-pm-to-suspend-apprenticeship-reforms-22-10-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T09:46:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/08\/training_skills_shutterstock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Wilmore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Wilmore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/trade-group-chiefs-urge-pm-to-suspend-apprenticeship-reforms-22-10-2025\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/trade-group-chiefs-urge-pm-to-suspend-apprenticeship-reforms-22-10-2025\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Wilmore\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9\"},\"headline\":\"Trade group chiefs urge PM to &#8216;suspend&#8217; 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