Daphne Doody-Green – Building the next generation: why we must back talent now

With skilled trades under pressure and too many people eyeing the exit, the bathroom sector has a choice: complain about the gap, or build a pipeline. Apprenticeships, and the ambition of our Thirty-under-Thirty community, show what happens when we invest early and properly, says Bathroom Association chief executive, Daphne Dood-Green.

Over the last few years, our industry has become accustomed to juggling lead times, regulations, rising costs, and shifting demand. But there’s one challenge we can’t ‘manage around’ for long: people.

A recent snapshot of the UK trades workforce should stop all of us in our tracks. Jackson Woodturners’ UK State of the Trades Report found 76% of tradespeople have considered leaving their trade within the next 5 years. Plumbers are among the roles most at risk, with 83% saying they’ve considered stepping away.

The reasons won’t surprise anyone who works in and around construction. 42% pointed to rising costs making work less viable; 31% said poor physical health has pushed them towards the door; and 30% pointed to difficult customer relationships. Even when work is present, day-to-day realities can grind people down, creating a retention crisis as much as a recruitment one.

So what does this mean for bathrooms? It means we need to act like a sector that intends to grow. Not just by selling more product, but by building a credible, visible, supported route into long-term careers, across manufacturing, distribution, design, sales, installation and service.

That’s why apprenticeships matter so much. They don’t just fill vacancies; they create capability, loyalty and progression. Encouragingly, there are signs that the government is recognising the scale of what’s needed, with a budget of more than £3bn in the current financial year. But policy only becomes progress when employers can actually use it, especially small firms, which need training to be simpler and more workable. Smaller firms often face significant risks in hiring apprentices; beyond the time and money, the end of an apprenticeship does not necessarily guarantee competency, requiring further investment.

The good news is that our sector already has proof that investment pays back. During National Apprenticeship Week, Lakes highlighted apprenticeship success stories, including a Bathroom Association Thirty-under-Thirty winner, and shared honest reflections from apprentices about learning while earning and the support that keeps them engaged.

That mirrors what we’ve heard in our recent Thirty-under-Thirty video interview series, held with winners from our 2025 cohort. Again and again, the theme is ‘drive meeting opportunity’: young people who want responsibility, employers who back them with training, mentoring, and real progression, and the confidence that comes from being trusted to lead, improve, and innovate.

Apprenticeships are a direct route to a better-skilled workforce now, but they can’t do the job alone. We also need to actively promote bathroom careers through school engagement, local community initiatives and career fairs, as some of our members, such as Thomas Dudley, already do.

This is the pragmatic optimism I see across our membership. The skills gap is real, but it isn’t inevitable. If we want a thriving bathroom sector five, ten, and twenty years from now, we have to build the talent pipeline today, and properly funded apprenticeships can be one of the most practical, proven ways to do it.