Latest News & Insights
View our latest insights, guides and case studies
Able Skills now has 2 Electrical Training Centre's which has enabled us to separate our 'Domestic Electrics' from the more technical areas. We have been teaching Electrical based courses for 5 years now and we have finally reached the stage where we have a 'Technical Centre of Excellence' and a Centre dedicated solely to the […]Read article
Rounding up the 'cowboy' electricians !
Read articleIt is to be expected that during the current economic downturn that there would be an increase in the number of bogus tradesmen trying to make a quick buck by passing themselves off as bone fide contractors in the construction / utilities industries. The NICEIC – who are the electrical contracting industry’s independent voluntary body […]

Plumber wins 'Apprentice' - on Gulf TV !
Read articleA British woman has won a share in a $1m business after winning a Middle Eastern television reality show. Hannah Dodkin, 30, a qualified plumber from Somerset, took part in “Hydra Executives” that was shown on Emirates TV and four other Arab TV channels. The show, based in London and Abu Dhabi, has two teams […]

Training doesn't have to be straining !
Read articleSo you know all about the lucrative pay that electricians or plumbers can earn! And the fact that they may only work 3 or 4 days a week! The question is : how do you get yourself into the trade and become a fully and properly qualified electrician ? Especially if you are starting from […]

Australia demands UK plumbers !
Read articleAustralia wants our plumbers ! It seems they are one of the professions on its wanted list as it raises its annual target figure for skilled workers coming into the country. So why are our plumbers in such demand?”It’s very indicative of how the economy is doing because demand for plumbing services rises when the […]

The fastest bricklayer in the west' - mythbusters and record breakers !
Read articleEvery industry has its ‘urban legends’. Bricklaying, as you might imagine, would lend itself very nicely to an amazing story or two. You will, no doubt, come across bricklayers who claim to be able to lay a thousand bricks a day, day in day out! It is perfectly possible for bricklayers to lay a 1000 […]

Gunning for the plumbing cowboys !
Read articleAccording to the The Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) – the professional body for the UK plumbing and heating industry – there are approximately 120,000 people who call themselves plumbers in the UK, but sadly not all of these plumbers hold qualifications or experience and so the industry is experiencing a shortage […]

There's more to Carpentry than chiselling a good price at the timber merchants!
Read articleTo most people, carpentry was what they tried to avoid doing at school! It was a double lesson afternoon of attempting to fit together two pieces of wood to make coat hooks or bookends without slicing your finger off or bashing your nail which would leave a bruise that took six months to fade away. […]

Filling the skills gap with a real Apprentice !
Read articleBeing an apprentice used to mean you were working at and learning a trade skill. Not running around in a big black Chrysler SUV, suited and booted and issuing orders down a mobile angled horizontally at your lips!It was, and still is of course, a fully approved and accredited course of rigorous training in a […]

Gas is no laughing matter if you don't know what you're doing!
Read articleIt will kill you – that’s a fact! The problem now is that the current economic downturn could result in an increase in fatalities linked to unsafe gas and electrical installations. Research carried out for the new Gas Safe Registry reveals over 4 in 10 people (41.4%) admit they are more likely to tinker with […]

Train to Gain can take the strain!
It probably goes without saying that one of the biggest obstacles to taking the plunge and applying to go on a course of training is the cost factor. So if you haven't got enough savings, or anxious about using any redundancy money or tax rebates you prefer to hold onto now in these uncertain times, […]Read article
Get PAT Testing off pat !
Read articleAccording to research conducted at the end of 2008, product recalls had reached a record high of 230 over the year, an increase of 20% compared to the previous year. Consumer goods saw the biggest increase from 91 cases in 2006-07 to 120 during 2007-08. 40% of the consumer goods recalled were made in China. […]

