A new report from the Electrical Contractors’ Association says that the 5.5% drop in electrical apprenticeship starts means that the UK’s electrical skills gap is widening just as demand for electricians is accelerating.
ECA’s 2026 Electrical Skills Index – which compares the number of people starting government-funded classroom-based electrical courses with those entering apprenticeships – shows that while interest in electrical careers continues to grow, the system is failing to convert that interest into qualified electricians. Fewer than 1 in 5 learners enrolled in government-funded, classroom-based electrical courses progressed into an apprenticeship or skilled employment over 2025/26.
Key findings from the report include:
- more than 26,000 learners enrolled in government-funded, classroom-based electrical courses in 2024/25 — up significantly from previous years — yet available outcomes data continues to indicate that fewer than 1 in 5 progressed into an electrical apprenticeship or skilled employment within 12 months
- over the past year, electrical apprenticeship starts have fallen by 5.5%, even as apprenticeship starts overall rose by 4.1%.
Skills England estimates that the UK will need an additional 12,000 electricians by 2030, yet the statistics show that work-based routes into the industry are shrinking. With around 90% of learners still unable to secure a foothold in the profession, government ambitions on growth, employment and net zero are increasingly at risk, the association says.
ECA skills deputy chair Luke Cook said: “The electrical skills gap is no longer a future risk, it is a live and growing threat to the delivery of electrification. Demand for electricians is surging, but the number of people entering the industry through apprenticeships is going backwards.”
Deputy chief executive Andrew Eldred added: “In ECA’s 125-year history, we have never seen a gap so wide between ambition and workforce reality. We are training more people but producing fewer qualified electricians, at the exact moment the country needs them most.
Without urgent, targeted support for the SMEs that train and employ the workforce, Clean Power 2030 and economic growth will simply not be deliverable. Employers cannot fix this alone. If the system does not change, the skills gap will continue to widen and delivery will fall further behind.”
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