Policy Conference 2025 | Drawing attention to a dwindling workforce

24 November 2025

A session on skills at Timber in Construction: From Roadmap to Reality heard positive messages about proactive efforts to provide more people with the skills required to support the industry’s future.

Steve Fowkes, Senior Adviser, Sector Capacity at the Forestry Commission, said the Forestry Sector Skills Plan, launched this year and covering the decade to 2035, provided a blueprint to tackle a stark challenge.

“We do not have enough people with the skills we need now, never mind in the future. We need thousands of people to do jobs at entry level, then hopefully they can move on within the industry,” he said.

Mr Fowkes bemoaned the fact that only 51 funded forestry apprenticeships had been completed in England within the last five years - and said this had to change.

He described the next key project after the publication of the Sector Skills Plan - an ongoing Labour Market Intelligence census. Urging industry to take part, he said: “We are defining critical roles, looking at how many people we need and who is doing what now. What KSBs (Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours) do we need? And have we got a product to do that?” 

Melanie McEwen, six weeks into her role as Operations Director of the Forestry Training Service UK, said 20 companies had already offered support to develop a high-quality training service. “We are working to understand what is the exact problem we are trying to resolve, and what we need,” she said. “We will share good practice, identify gaps, and develop training. There was a clear message from the Minister - that people are needed to deliver our targets, for our climate, our economy and our communities.”