Branching out … a new fund to grow Wales’s forestry workforce

The Forestry and Timber Skills fund, which opens today, forms part of Wales’ efforts to future-proof the workforce and provide a pathway to a career in forestry – an industry who’s ageing workforce has led to concerns of a UK shortage over the coming years.

The fund is part of the Welsh Government’s Flexible Skills Programme and will support businesses to address skills gaps within their workforce by subsidising places on accredited forestry and timber supply chain courses, with up to £20,000 available per organisation.

In an England and Wales study of forestry businesses in 2021, respondents listed lack of skills as the main reason for unfilled vacancies.

With more skilled workers needed to meet woodland creation targets and expand the production of quality Welsh timber to fulfil the growing demand for low carbon timber-framed social homes, the Welsh Government has acted quickly to help address the issue. 

One thriving Lampeter firm who are bucking the trend are eager to apply for the new scheme, having taken advantage of previous Welsh Government forestry skills funding initiatives to ensure their growing team are fully qualified.

Lampeter Trees Services, established by Islwyn Williams and his son Meirion in 1993, provides forestry services for the National Grid, councils, Natural Resources Wales and private estates.

Meirion and his brother Emyr now run the business. Having staff qualified to industry-standard levels is a legal requirement to bid for many of the contracts that make up their day-to-day work and to date their workforce have attended nearly 400 training courses with Welsh Government funding support.

One of the staff members who has benefited from attending subsidised courses is Tomos Williams, Meirion's son. Tomos returned to the family business as a groundsman after graduating from Bangor University. He is now a qualified climbing arborist, leading a team of his own.

On the value of skills training support, Tomos said:

“Without the funding I wouldn’t have been able to gain so many skills in such a short time, nor would we have been able to train so many of our staff. We’ve been able to make sure everyone is up-to-speed. More qualified staff means we can take on more complex contracts and we’re more efficient in all the jobs we take on.

“I love working outdoors. In my day-to-day work I’m in places people usually only visit on the weekend – big estates, national parks. I’ve had the opportunity to work on ancient trees. It’s a special job.”

The Minister for Skills, Jack Sargeant, said:

“Foresters, arborists and those who process and work with timber are the original green jobs. But we need more of them. We are expecting demand for timber globally to quadruple by 2050. It’s vital that we expand our skilled forestry sector both to meet that demand and to achieve net zero targets.

“The fund will also support skills development to increase use of timber in construction which, in contrast to forestry, is a relatively new sector where formal skills and training have not been previously available.”