Supporting Apprenticeships: Fixing Scotland’s skills shortage.
February 1, 2026
SNIPEF’s Supporting Apprenticeships: Fixing Scotland’s skills shortage manifesto sets out the urgent need to strengthen Scotland’s plumbing and heating skills pipeline through fairer funding, improved completion and sustained employer support.
Evidence from employer research in late 2025 shows recruitment intent is fragile, skills availability remains low and more than half of businesses are unlikely to take on an apprentice without additional support. At the same time, employers overwhelmingly back the four-year apprenticeship model as essential for maintaining safety, quality and professional standards across a safety-critical workforce.
The manifesto focuses on a single, outcome-driven objective: creating a balanced funding system that shares the real costs of training between government and employers while protecting high standards and improving completion. This includes extending regional employer incentives across the full four-year programme, offsetting wage and supervision costs for micro and SME businesses, and rewarding completion, retention and flexible entry routes into the profession.
Taken together, these measures are designed to increase apprenticeship recruitment, strengthen workforce capacity and support modern low-carbon careers, delivering long-term benefits for businesses, communities and the wider Scottish economy.
