Recruitment

Training and childcare costs offer for women seeking construction career

WOMEN entering the construction industry will be able to benefit from support for training costs and childcare as part of a new intiative.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has joined forces with Women into Construction to launch an employment programme aimed at addressing gender imbalance in the construction workforce - which currently sees just 16 percent female representation.

Working closely with employers Barratt Developments, Bellway Homes, Cala Homes, The Hill Group, Keepmoat, Persimmon Homes, Redrow, St Modwen and Vistry Group, the project hopes tro attract women into site management roles by offering a funded programme.

The programme will include: • Site visits (central locations and online) • A week of online insight and development sessions, including Q&As with site managers and employers, and employability and health and safety training • Two-week on-site work placement • 1-2-1 coaching and support from Women into Construction

Work placements will take place at sites across England, offering participants first-hand experience of the site manager role and how they could help industry deliver much-needed homes.

Women interested in the opportunity are invited to register to attend an online information session at 11am on Tuesday, January 31.

At the event, they will learn more about the programme and meet the employers involved.

Women into Construction’s business development director, Jacqui Wordsworth, said: “With women representing just 4 percent of site managers, we want to inspire and encourage more women to take up a career in home building – helping us and our employer partners to change the face of construction.”

And Jenny Herdman, director for HBF’s Home Building Skills Partnership, added: “The home building industry is facing a significant skills shortage.

“If we are to build the new housing this country desperately needs, it is vital that we attract a broad range of entrants into the industry.

“HBF is delighted to be working with Women into Construction to increase the number of female site managers in the industry and show that there are opportunities for people of all backgrounds and talents to develop a rewarding career in home building.”

Job Vacancies

Labour employment plans

LABOUR’S shadow work and pensions secretary has unveiled plans to encourage older workers and those with medical conditions back into work.

In a speech to the Centre for Social Justice, Jonathan Ashworth promised improved support for those who have recently left employment, as well as more flexibility over fitness-to-work tests to help those on sickness benefits find work.

The government says it is increasing employment support for the over-50s.

A spokesperson said ministers were also expanding a service offered to workers in their forties and fifties to review their skills.

In his speech, Mr Ashworth warned that with 2.5 million people out of work with long-term ill health, there was a ‘monumental waste of human potential’.

If Labour wins power at the next general election, he said the party would make it easier for those on sickness benefits to restart their payments if they take a job that doesn’t work out.

He also promised local councils control over a proportion of the skills budget currently spent by central government, to help ensure job training is better tailored to local areas.

A government spokesperson said it was investing an extra £22m in employment support for the over 50s and that the Department for Work and Pensions was reviewing workforce participation.