The construction industry cannot recruit the workforce it needs if young people don't know how to join it, the Federation of Master Builders has warned.
As students across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland collect their GCSE results the pathway into the building industry is little understood with 78% of adults having never heard of the T level which is a two-year technical qualification for 16–19s, launched in 2020, designed as the technical equivalent of A-levels, warns the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
The polling of 2,107 UK adults, carried out by Savanta, for the FMB, found that apprenticeships remain the only route into construction with mass recognition, at 86%.
Fewer than three in five (57%) have heard of BTECs, and 39% know about degree apprenticeships and 38% traineeships.
Although around half of 16 to 18-year-olds have heard of T Levels, just 17% of people aged 65 and over have.
Brian Berry FMB Chief Executive said: "Thousands of teenagers will be handed a set of results and asked to choose what comes next.
“Our research shows that the people they turn to for advice - parents, grandparents, family friends - have never heard of one of the main routes into construction on offer.
“You cannot pick a path nobody has told you exists. If we are serious about building the homes this country needs, the industry and Government have to explain the ways into construction in an accessible way— and small builders need the support to offer those placements in the first place."
