Insights
I started my own career as an apprentice. Four years on large new-build sites with Ardmore Construction gave me my trade, my qualifications and every habit I have relied on since. So when I set up my own business, taking on apprentices was never a question. It was part of the plan.
My view has always been that a company like ours should carry a minimum of three apprentices, always. They are the next generation of electricians, and for a lot of young people an apprenticeship is the starting point of their working life.
The panel that said it all
At a trade conference, a panel asked the room how many apprentices the businesses there had taken on. The general answer was none.
It was not that people did not want to. It was that the numbers no longer work.
The cost now outweighs the return
The cost of taking on an apprentice has skyrocketed over the years. Wages, college time, supervision from a qualified electrician, tools, vans, travel and the months before an apprentice can work productively all add up — and they are all paid for up front, by the employer.
For most small and medium contractors, that investment now far outweighs the return they can expect over the life of the apprenticeship. And there is very little support from the government to close the gap. So businesses do the maths, and they stop.
Why that should worry everyone
If every business makes the same decision, there will not be enough qualified electricians coming through in ten years' time — for new homes, for social housing, for renewables, and for the electrification of everything we are being asked to deliver. By the time the shortage is obvious, it will be too late to train our way out of it quickly. If we do not act now, there are going to be major problems in the future.
Why we keep doing it anyway
- It is how the trade survives. Every experienced electrician was once an apprentice someone took a chance on.
- We get to shape the standard. Apprentices who learn our way — tidy, evidence-led, right first time — become the engineers and supervisors of the future.
- It keeps work local. Training people who live near St Albans keeps skills, wages and careers in the community.
- It is the right thing to do. Someone gave me that start. It is our turn to give it to others.
What needs to change
Apprenticeships need real backing from government, and it needs to reach the small and medium contractors who actually train most of the country's electricians. Support that reflects the true cost of the first years of an apprenticeship, simpler funding and practical help with college placements would change whether a business says yes.
Until then, we will keep doing our part — always a minimum of three apprentices — because the future of the trade depends on it. But we cannot do it alone, and the industry should not have to.
If you are a young person thinking about becoming an electrician, or a college looking for employers who take apprentices seriously, get in touch.