Komal's Story

Komal, 26, from Barking in East London, wanted to retrain as an electrician to help build the social housing her community desperately needs. Construction training providers in London had unfilled places while local housing targets remained unmet, but CITB levy funding was not directed to areas with the greatest housing need. HM Treasury treats infrastructure spending as a deficit risk rather than as the mechanism that puts skilled workers into jobs building homes that already have planning permission. The workers were available, the training capacity existed, but Westminster's spending choices left both unused. This episode explores how central government decisions about construction training funding block working people from careers in the building trades. Blocked Britain contains strong language and discusses economic hardship.