UK falling thousands short of electricians from workforce as numbers ‘stand still’
JTL’s research shows England remains below the training levels needed to meet demand for housing, clean energy and infrastructure.
- The electrical workforce in England has increased marginally from 160,200 to 161,300 in 2025, but remains 25% smaller than in 2018, with more people projected to leave the electrical workforce than join.
- Apprenticeship starts are falling with 7,200 in 2024/25 and expected to fall well below 7,000 this year, significantly below the estimated 12,500 starts per year needed to keep the workforce at the level needed and retain competence.
- A persistent achievement gap of around seven percentage points exists between levy and non-levy employers across the apprenticeship system, reflecting wider challenges around employment stability.
New research has shown that England faces a significant lack of people training to be electricians, meaning key projects across energy and housing are at risk.
Projection modelling produced by apprenticeship provider JTL, alongside key industry partners, has found that around 12,500 electrical apprenticeship starts are needed in England each year to meet growing industry demand, yet current start numbers are falling. The Government’s own assessment for electricians in construction and clean energy sectors alone requires the workforce to be 32,400 larger by 2035.
Building on the electrical workforce projection model JTL pioneered in 2025, Powering the Future, which warned that England’s electrical workforce had dropped by over 26% since 2018 and that without further action it could decline a further 32% by 2038, this data shows that England’s electrical workforce has remained effectively static, increasing only from 160,200 to 161,300 throughout 2025. Workforce outflow is expected to continue to exceed inflow and this critical sector is below the training levels needed to support housing, clean energy, infrastructure and data centre projects.
Developed by JTL in collaboration with industry partners, the projection model provides long-term, data-led insight and foresight into workforce size, skills levels and sector resilience. One year on from its conception, the model now shows that recent increases in JIB cardholders and NVQ or Experienced Worker Assessment entrants have helped improve the ‘known skilled person density’, which denotes competence, however the workforce size has not materially changed and is not on a growth trajectory.
Apprenticeship starts are currently falling below 7,000 per year. JTL’s analysis suggests the sector would still need in the region of 12,500 starts annually, alongside around 5,500 other new entrants and an additional 800 individuals qualifying through NVQ or Experienced Worker Assessment routes, to have enough skilled workers to meet demand.
The findings come as new project and planning status analysis points to a major pipeline of data centre development expected to move forward before 2030, with work valued in the tens of billions. Presented at a recent ECA and BESA-sponsored industry roundtable attended by senior civil servants, the analysis highlights the growing demand for skilled electricians and ventilation, heating and cooling engineers needed to deliver the UK’s digital and clean energy infrastructure.
JTL is warning that without stronger employer incentives, simpler apprenticeship processes and better alignment of public funding with routes that lead directly into skilled employment, the sector risks falling further behind demand. The training provider is calling on Government to introduce targeted incentives to help employers, particularly SMEs, take on and retain more apprentices.
The analysis also highlights a persistent achievement gap of around seven percent between levy and non-levy employers across the whole apprenticeship system, linked to factors such as employment stability. The gap is wider in trade-based apprenticeships such as building services engineering (10-20%) where the prevalence of SMEs is significantly higher.
Chris Claydon, Chief Executive of JTL, said:
“One year on from our original research, the message is clear: the electrical workforce is still standing still. A modest increase in the workforce estimate (less than 1%) is not enough to build the capacity needed to deliver the UK’s housing, infrastructure, clean energy and digital ambitions.
“From grid upgrades and low-carbon technologies to the rapid growth of data centres, demand for skilled electricians and building services engineers is only increasing, but the training pipeline is not keeping pace.
“Apprenticeships remain the gold standard route into a competent electrical workforce, but we need support for more starts, stronger employer incentives and a simpler system that makes it easier for businesses, particularly SMEs, to invest in apprenticeships with confidence.”
