Although there are dire warnings and grim predictions for post election cuts across the public sector, last quarterly’s CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey of almost 800 employers signals that the UK’s emergence out of recession is now leading to better job prospects.

The reports suggests that whilst public sector employers are radically more pessimistic about employment intentions compared with three months ago, private sector employers are more optimistic about creating jobs in the second quarter of 2010.

The overall net balance between the percentage of employers expecting to recruit and those expecting to cut staff across all sectors of the economy is now positive for the first time since Winter 2008. The findings show the sharp bounce back in the private sector recorded growth of almost a third over the quarterly period, extending into sectors previously affected by the recession such as construction – including trade skills like electrical and plumbing – and manufacturing.

The findings, once again, reinforce past government initiatives and future plans to encourage the raising of the numbers undertaking skilled training and qualifications with emphasis on increased apprenticeships and the urgent rolling out of green energy programmes. In other words, improving your work and career change prospects will be dependent on completing training courses leading to recognised and approved qualifications.

In the construction industry, the key skills of the electrical and plumbing trades, traditionally, are always in demand in both the commercial and domestic, residential areas. Entry level training is open to all applicants, whatever their previous experience, on either the Electrical NVQ 2330 level 2 for those training to be an electrician or the Plumbing NVQ 6129 level 2 for learning plumbing.

Successful completion of these ‘knowledge underpinning’ courses allows progression onto NVQ at level 3 in order to be considered sufficiently ‘competent’ to go on to enter the industry under apprenticeship schemes.

Developing more apprenticeships is central to plans by political parties and anyone undertaking a skills training course now is likely to extremely well placed for career development and gaining employment in the immediate and longer term future. The KPMG report also highlighted the increased job prospects in London and the South East, which are forecast to be the main engines of growth. The overall net balance for London and the south of England has risen sharply to +21% from -3% and the predicted average pay award will increase by at least 2% in the private sector in the twelve months to April 2011.

Renewable green energy technologies are without doubt, the future of the plumbing and heating industry. However, already the Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC) is warning that inadequate training is threatening to undermine the confidence in efficient, energy saving systems installations.

Consumers and companies are now starting to look into investing into renewables such as heat pumps and Solar PV. However, lack of competent and properly trained installers is causing problems. Plumbing and heating engineers need a solid grounding in plumbing and heating so they can understand renewable technologies properly. With many renewable technology installations happening alongside or as part of existing conventional systems, this grounding is crucial.

APHC points out that while there has been a marked increase in the number of short courses covering various renewable technologies, some of the engineers taking them do not have the depth and breadth of knowledge to go on to install the new technologies safely and effectively. The result is potentially costly and dangerous installations.

Equally, however, engineers qualified in conventional systems must also recognise the need to update their skills with specialist training.

Unfortunately, some plumbing and heating professionals practised in conventional fuel installations too often seem to overlook the need for specialist training, instead seeing solar hot water systems, for example, as just another heating system! Unlike conventional heating appliances, solar systems can be exposed to temperatures from minus 30 to over 200ºC at pressures up to six bar. An expansion vessel can explode if a system is unable to correctly manage steam expansion, causing components to melt and releasing high temperature fluid or flashing to steam inside the building, with loud banging noises from system components on sunny days.

It is vitally important that all student plumbers must be fully aware that they must start their knowledge and skills training on an approved training qualification course like the City & Guilds NVQ Plumbing 6129 Level 2 , followed by the NVQ Level 3 before progressing onto a green energy course.

They will need to select a recognised and accreditated training provider like AbleSkills who have both the necessary training facilities in place and experienced teaching staff to impart the required qualification standards of ability.

Everyone agrees that the key to avoiding a serious rise in UK unemployment is the focusing on training and qualifications. From Government departments to educational institutions and industry training skills centres, it has been emphasised time and again that there is still a ‘disparity’ between the skills employees have and the skills demanded by certain jobs, which means many people are unsuitable for jobs across a variety of sectors.

The shortage of trained and qualified skills throughout the country’s construction trade workforce could be easily rectified by re-educating the workforce in areas that there are going to be long term employment opportunities. It has been stated that there is a fear other European countries could start to take these job prospects away from the British labour force.

Regarding the electrical industry, the estimated shortage of trained and qualified electricians stands at about 37,000 – over six and a half thousand electricians needed in S.E England by itself – with not enough electricians possessing the relevant electrical qualifications, for example, Part P.

Budget cutbacks in colleges means they do not have the capacity to train the yearly requirement of new electricians. The increasing important role of approved and accreditated skills training centres, like Able Skills, to lead the way in providing properly trained and qualified trades personnel, is now vital.

As recession lingers and companies downsize or fold, many will look to secure their future prospects by retraining or seeking to update and add substantially to their current skillsets and services they are able to offer.

Entry level to the electrical industry is by undertaking the City & Guild Electrical NVQ 2330 Level 2, a set route of formal knowledge and practical skills training, which naturally progresses a student to NVQ Level 3 and onto other key courses to learn essential 17th Edition Wiring Regulations, PAT testing, and important new green energy installation, such as Solar PV.

At AbleSkills, a portfolio of key ability qualifications can be built up to develop a student’s capability and expertise, which will provide an essential springboard for a seriously committed student, of any age or previous experience, to start afresh in a new working life.

The news early in 2010 that consumer confidence was returning to the tiling industry was obviously, very much welcomed. The UK trading performance of a major tiling supplier had continued on an upward trend, seeing like-for-like revenues increase by 5.5%, with sales up 3.9%.

This is also good news for the construction industry as a whole, and for all those either looking to start a new career, or experienced tradesmen wishing extend their service skills by training to tile.

Interior tiled spaces are now enjoying widespread popularity after earlier decades of emulsion painted walls. In fact, the recent history of the tile shows an ever upward rise not seen since the Victorian era!

After the Second World War, tilemaking resumed only slowly, with mechanised production helping to cut costs. In the 1950s, the design emphasis was on geometric patterns, but some figurative designs were still made. During the 1950s-1970s, tiles were popular as an exterior facing material for public buildings.

By the 1980s, tiles were undergoing a revival and at the turn of the millennium, tiles – colourful, individual, stylish and fashionable – had become almost as popular as they were a century ago. They are again being used to decorate homes and establish company identities, with a vast range of designs available in many differing techniques.

Such is the enormous upsurge in tiling interiors, that tiling courses are heavily subscribed to by DIY enthusiasts, especially on weekend courses . For all those seriously interested to enter the construction trade industry,  a complete City & Guilds NVQ Tiling course is ideal for an assured professional career start. Meanwhile, professional tradesman report increased demand for trained and qualified tilers throughout the country on many of the latest commercial newbuild projects.

The future of electrical training is being transformed. The key area of change is service provision for the installation of renewable energy technology. Going electric will now mean going green!

From now on, to train to be an electrician, a prospective student must now complete more than just the approved City & Guild Electrical NVQ 2330 Level 2 and NVQ 2356 Level 3 qualification.

Recently, the Government introduced ‘Feed-In Tariffs’ – or the electricity part of ‘Clean Energy Cashback’, which also includes the ‘Renewable Heat Incentive’ – a similar measure for the installation of electrical heating. The goal is to increase the UK’s level of renewable energy towards the 15% target of total energy from renewables by 2020.

Although designed for all consumers but aimed principally at households, businesses, schools, hospitals, landlords and care homes, Feed In Tariffs give three financial benefits:

• A payment for all the electricity produced.
• Additional bonus payment for exporting into the grid.
• Reduced electricity bills for any energy produced and used.

Currently, 95% of the electricity used comes from oil, gas, coal or nuclear power stations and only 5% from a clean, renewable source. By installing renewable energy under the Feed-In Tariffs and Renewable Heat Incentive, the renewable contribution towards 100% targets are increased.

The response to climate change is rapidly changing our approach to energy consumption. Lighting and Heating by alternative sources, is seen as the way forward. By now, it is strikingly obvious that future trade skill employment prospects will be dependent more and more on having the all-important knowledge obtained from taking an additional certificated green energy course, for example, in Solar PV technology or Heat Pumps installation.

Newly published, the EU Directive on the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources effectively recognises and turns the text on the potential of air and ground source heat pumps, as sources of renewable energy, into EU legislation.

This means that under the new legislation, all EU member states should increase their share of renewable energy in final energy demand in an effort to boost the EU’s total share to 20% by 2020.

Both the European Heat Pump Association and the European Partnership for Energy and the Environment have commented how everyone will benefit from the new Directive. Alongside windmills and PV solar panels, the householder consumer is encouraged to use state of the art renewable technologies for heating and cooling at lowest possible costs, thereby increasing local demand for renewable technologies to reach individual targets.

This means that, whereas before, consumers would choose technologies with lower investment costs at the start, but with high annual running costs, financial incentives from national governments will now result in an uptake of heat pumps, which have extremely low usage costs.

The prospects for the plumbing industry will potentially be huge as the drive to install the heat pumps are likely to escalate as the energy and financial saving benefits, begin to hit home with the UK consumer. For those about to train as a plumber, becoming qualified to both advise on green energy and install the new heat pump technologies will be crucial to future work prospects.

Once the basic NVQ Plumbing 6129 level 2 training is completed, a student will be able to progress onto the NVQ level 3 and from there, undertake to train on a heat pumps course. Not all training centres are properly equipped or fully accreditated to offer these latest courses. AbleSkills has built purpose built classroom workshops, specifically to teach the differing types of renewable energy installations and students can obtain one-to-one tuition from industry experienced tutors in their own plumbing project classroom space.

With post election cutbacks forecast across the public sector and tax rises almost certain, finding a secure job or career switching is going to be the answer for many looking to secure their future work prospects. The construction industry has traditionally been a steady and solid provider of long term work and has weathered the downturn more successfully than many other sectors.

To train to be an electrician today means of course, also learning about the installation of ‘green energy’ technologies such as Solar PV.

If you are just starting out, the question will be how to get yourself into the trade and become a fully and properly qualified electrician. Even with the proposed college course cuts, it’s not as daunting as you may think as you can still get yourself onto a fully approved and recognised electricians training course!

A school leaver can often find it difficult to find a electrician firm to train with as most electricians tend to be sole traders who can’t offer the level of training required. Firms that can offer the required skilled electrician training tend to not want to train staff who may leave and set-up in competition with their former training company.

The mature students may not only face both the above challenges but also the added problem of applying to local colleges which run two-year part time courses aimed at the younger student. Most mature students and even many younger students are of course keen to become qualified as quickly as possible and get going in the industry within months rather than years! Up until fairly recently, if you were over 25 years old you would have had no chance to become an electrician as no college or employer would look at you. Your only option then would have been to pay a considerable sum to buy a franchise.

The right skills training provider, such as AbleSkills, will guide you in the right direction to help you achieve your training goals. There are many types of courses which allow you to train over periods of time that suit you and your circumstances. The approved industry entry level for those with little or no previous electrical experience is the City & Guilds NVQ 2330 Level 2, which introduces you to all the basic principles including Health & Safety. To help with individual circumstances, you can even take this course over weekends, consecutively. Your training should then progress to NVQ Level 3, or if you wish, you can combine both Level 2 and 3 in one complete course.

At AbleSkills, there are numerous opportunities to study different modules of electrical knowledge to add to your developing skills which will give you an added edge when applying for post training apprenticeships and employment.

Olympics 2012 edges ever nearer and TV News reports almost daily on construction progress. And the news is that there is still a need for more skilled, trained and qualified workmen to help complete the huge task in time for the opening ceremony!

Latest estimates reveal that there are more than 9,000 people working on the construction of the Olympic Park and the Olympic Village. According to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) some 20 per cent of the construction workforce are from the five host boroughs – Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest or Greenwich.

Significant progress has been made but the commitment to ensure employment and training opportunities for people living around the Olympic Park is predicted to be a challenge in the year ahead. Expectations are that 2010 will be the toughest year yet to achieve build completion target dates.

The call will inevitably go out for more trained and qualified tilers, electricians, plumbers and plasterers. When it comes to training to be a tiler, there are a number of very straightforward and easy course options for DIY weekenders to fulltime on a short 5 day intensive block diploma to 3,4, or 6 week NVQ Tiling certification.

Learning to tile like a professional can be an easy learning curve if you’ve already undertaken domestic tiling projects in the kitchen or bathroom and found you have a real knack – and can lay up tiles quickly and accurately! Tiling is a trade skill that can be taken up and learnt with relative speed, which is what you will need once you’re gained your qualification and start work down at the Olympic Village!

We all read those plumbing ‘disaster’ stories reported in the press from time to time! It’s been commented before on this blog, of the numerous and widespread, incorrect and unsafe practices that continually come to light. Despite every effort by Government, official trade bodies and established, approved training centres like AbleSkills, ‘bodged’ work continues to plague the industry.

Recently, the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) gave its official backing to the Connect Right campaign, launched to raise awareness of the heath and environment problems caused by misconnection to the public drainage system.

Malpractice such as the above is, of course in breach of every water regulation and health and safety regulation in existence! It should never, ever happen! Correct and safe water supply connection is a key part of training to be a plumber on an approved NVQ course at an accredited training centre.

Plumbing students who begin their training on the City & Guilds Plumbing 6129 Level 2 course are first introduced to the issues of ‘back siphonage’, ‘back pressure waterflow’ and ‘cross connection’, all dangerous and potentially injurious issues. A fully trained and qualified plumber should never make a serious mistake of misconnecting supply.

The Connect Right campaign was launched by water and sewerage companies and the Environment Agency to emphasise the importance of always engaging registered plumbing professionals to carry out competent and safe connections to the appropriate water drains.

According to the CIPHE, research had revealed that, ‘ hundreds of thousands of homes are misconnected, putting households at serious heath risks and threatening the environment’.

The CIPHE holds the register of registered plumbing professionals on behalf of the industry, and to join the register, plumbers must be qualified to national standards for plumbing and water fitting installations.

Electrical horror stories are not new and have been commented upon on this blog on previous occasions. Yet despite extensive regulation, legislation, and approved and accredited NVQ electrical training and qualifications, problems persist with standards that exist in parts of the electrical industry, and the complete lack of common sense shown by DIY renovators and home owners generally when it comes to the electrical systems in their own house.

The Council Insulation Programme was introduced to enhance energy efficiency of council housing and help reduce the number of households having problems paying their fuel bills. The scheme which included installation of cavity wall and loft insulation, hot water tank jackets, and energy efficiency light bulbs, enabled over 80% of council owned homes to be brought up to the Decent Home Standard by 2010.

Unfortunately, there have been reports of the insulation program causing electrocutions and fires – nearly all of these problems, however, appearing to originate from poor, sub-standard and pre-existing electrical work.

Investigations have discovered down lights lacking proper thermal insulation and their transformers not securely fixed, wiring not correctly insulated or connected or the wrong gauge, and incorrect lighting fixtures.

A majority of the housing stock was found to have sub-standard electrical systems to the point of being physically dangerous, caused by a long history of shoddy workmanship and corner cutting, poor regulatory standards on DIY work and a public ignorance when it comes to the expectations of longevity of electrical systems.

There has been some talk of overhauling existing regulations on DIY work, even though the Part P scheme, which only allows specific categories of electric work to be legally carried out by homeowners, was designed to control dangerous practices.

Training to be an electrician, who becomes both competent and qualified, formally begins on the City & Guilds NVQ 2330 Level 2 course, which not only provides foundation knowledge learning but also introduces the statutory principles of safe electrical installation practice and at the same time aims to instill duty of responsibility to Health & Safety regulations in respect of always working with due care and diligence.

Students who qualify at level 2 would then be required to undertake level 3 – or a complete course of both level 2 and 3, back to back- in order to obtain the required standard of qualification before being allowed to enter the industry to gain full working experience, mostly under apprenticeship.