SMÀ¦°ó

1. Home
2. Research and insight
3. HBF explains...the Sector Skills Plan

What is the Home Building Sector Skills Plan?

The Home Building Sector Skills Plan is a strategic action plan developed and shaped by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) in collaboration with industry and sector partners, including trade associations, the Future Homes Hub, the National House Building Council (NHBC) and CITB.

The Plan responds to the key workforce and skills challenges facing the home building industry and provides a framework for coordinated action between industry, education providers, Government and delivery partners.

It is a living document that aims to ensure skills activity is coordinated and aligned with home building pipelines, regional growth plans and occupational demand, while supporting the objectives of the Construction Skills Mission Board.

Other sector plans have also been developed for areas including infrastructure and repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI).

Why is the Sector Skills Plan needed?

The Plan aims to support the industry to recruit, train and retain the workforce of the future, helping to build more homes, meet changing demands and support delivery of the Government’s target to build 1.5 million homes.

The home building workforce faces several long-term challenges. There is a shortfall in the number of people entering the industry through education and training, while an ageing workforce means a significant number of experienced workers will reach retirement age in the coming years. 25% of the home building workforce is aged over 50, creating a significant future recruitment and replacement challenge.

At the same time, the skills required by the industry are changing. New products and ways of working, modern methods of construction, updated building regulations, digital technologies, evolving regulatory requirements and higher quality standards all require workers to develop new skills and competencies.

Although a career in the industry is of interest to many young people, the challenge is to convert that interest into jobs, training into competence, and local skills initiatives into a coordinated national workforce strategy.

The sector has a workforce with the capacity to meet current levels of house building. But if other constraints can be addressed and house building increases to the levels the country needs, the industry will require a substantial increase in workforce numbers, skills diversity and flexibility. This is not a short-term recruitment challenge; it is a structural issue affecting every stage of production. As the industry undergoes major change, success will depend not only on expanding the skilled workforce, but also on having the right skills in the right places at the right time.

What is the scale of the skills challenge?

The construction industry is expected to need more than 200,000 additional workers by 2030, with demand particularly strong across home building, infrastructure and retrofit.

For home building specifically, HBF research shows that building an additional 10,000 homes each year would require around 30,000 additional workers across direct and indirect roles. Whilst we are currently building around 200k homes a year, the Government has an ambition – and there is a national need - to be building 300k homes a year. Doing so would present the industry with a significant workforce challenge. This is what the Sector Plan aims to address.

What are the key priorities for the Plan?

The Sector Skills Plan focuses on three broad priorities:

• Attracting and developing the talent pipeline: Build a diverse, inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we build for, and attracts and retains new generations into construction careers.
• Futureproofing skills and competence: Prepare the workforce for evolving industry demands, including the digitalisation of construction processes and new homes, modern methods of construction, net-zero housing, and regulatory change.
• Resolving productivity and labour shortages: Increase industry productivity by addressing critical skill gaps and increasing the availability of trained workers.

How will the Sector Plan drive change?

The Plan provides a framework for coordinated action across the industry. The core objectives include:

1. Developing a clearer picture of the workforce and skills the industry needs, including technical, practical and behavioural competencies
2. Identifying and addressing the barriers that make it difficult to recruit, train and retain the people needed to build new homes.
3. Improving awareness of available training and sharing information that can strengthen skills, competence and career development.
4. Testing new approaches, commissioning research and sharing good practice to address workforce and skills challenges.
5. Working with national, regional and local partners to align priorities and coordinate delivery.
6. Working with NHBC and CITB to help members identify appropriate training and understand available funding.

Who are HBF’s partners in implementing the plan?

The Plan is delivered through collaboration between HBF members, industry organisations, Government, training providers and delivery partners:

• HBF members - representatives from member organisations of all sizes, including home builders, suppliers, subcontractors and industry associates.
• Trade associations and industry bodies - including the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC), Association of Building Contractors (ABC) and Finishing Industries Systems (FIS).
• Key industry and skills organisations - including the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), National House Building Council (NHBC), Future Homes Hub and Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC).
• Government and public bodies - including the Construction Skills Mission Board, Skills England, the Department for Education (DfE), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
• Delivery and training partners - including Pathway CTM, Site Ready Solutions and other training providers supporting specific initiatives under the Plan.

What are some examples of initiatives being delivered through the Sector Skills Plan?

A number of initiatives are already being delivered by HBF and its partners to address different parts of the skills challenge:

• Partner a College connects home builders, suppliers and subcontractors with further education (FE) colleges. The programme aims to improve the transition from construction courses into employment by helping colleges better understand employer requirements, aligning course content with industry expectations and providing clearer progression routes into apprenticeships, employment and further training.
• , supported by CITB, are being developed to increase training capacity and provide accelerated training in areas including groundworks, bricklaying and carpentry. The aim is to help new entrants develop practical skills and become better prepared for employment on site.
• Skills masterclasses provide short, focused training sessions for people already working in the industry. HBF has delivered masterclasses in areas including brickwork and roofing in partnership with NHBC and relevant trade bodies. These provide a practical way to improve competence and address common quality and compliance issues across the workforce.
• Women into Home Building, which won the Best Career Initiative award at the 2026 Women in Housing Awards, is a three-week programme designed to attract more women into site management roles. Launched in 2023, the programme provides participants with virtual insight and training followed by work experience with home builders. It aims to broaden the talent pool available to the industry and address the under-representation of women in site-based roles.
• HBF is also developing further initiatives with partners to broaden the pool of people entering the industry and improve routes into employment, including work with the Fair Chance Alliance and the New Futures network.
• A new Brickwork Team model is being piloted by Site Ready Solutions - an approach that combines structured pre-apprenticeship training, mentoring and site experience. By developing and creating a role for skilled support team operatives alongside experienced bricklayers and apprentices, the model seeks to increase the number of new entrants on site without undermining productivity or commercial viability. Structured mentoring, clear progression routes and support with employer costs can make a significant difference, particularly for SMEs and subcontractors.

What is the industry calling for from Government to support the plan?

Government support for skills and workforce development is welcome, but long-term investment and partnership with industry will be needed to ensure the workforce can grow alongside housing delivery.

The industry is calling on the Government to:

• Deliver a flexible Growth and Skills Levy that works for employers of all sizes. The Government should build on its welcome support for helping 16–24-year-olds into employment by setting out a clear, long-term strategy for investment and incentives that enable employers to recruit, train and upskill their workforce. This will be essential if the home building sector is to expand capacity and deliver the Government’s housing ambitions. The Growth and Skills Levy must fulfil its commitment to flexible funding by ensuring that support is accessible to employers of every size. The Government should also establish clear pathways into the sector for new entrants and career changers, backed by effective regional and national training and employment programmes.
• Recognise that one size does not fit all. Employer costs are a particular issue when taking on apprentices or supporting new entrants to achieve competency and become productive. This is especially pertinent when home building is suppressed. Targeted support for SMEs, including financial contributions towards supervision, mentoring and placement capacity, would help broaden the pipeline of new entrants and encourage greater employer participation.
• Plan skills investment alongside land, infrastructure and planning reforms. There needs to be stronger coordination between national home building ambitions and local skills planning. Skills investment must be planned alongside land, infrastructure and planning reforms, with workforce capacity treated as a core delivery constraint rather than an afterthought.
• Translate national workforce ambitions into practical regional delivery plans. As Government moves towards greater devolution, local and regional Skills Improvement Plans will become increasingly important. Combined and strategic authorities, working with employer representative bodies, should identify local workforce needs and shape provision accordingly. The Government must ensure that national ambitions are reflected in regional plans that align investment in training, careers activity and employment support with local demand and priorities.
• Ensure CITB levy funding is accessible, timely and responsive to home builders’ changing needs. The Government needs to ensure that CITB, to which the industry pays a levy (in addition to the Apprenticeship Levy all companies pay), is structured so that it can provide the funding companies need to train and upskill staff. CITB should ensure industry money is available promptly through efficient processes that all builders can easily navigate, enabling them to pay for training and respond to changing skills requirements.

Where can I find more information?

• The Home Building Sector Skills Plan.
• The work of HBF’s Industry Attraction and Skills Team
• The size of the skills challenge – HBF research

If you have any questions about the Sector Skills Plan, contact our skills team at skills@hbf.co.uk.