Briefing from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) on the existential education and workforce crisis in the English planning sector.

 

The RTPI is extremely concerned with the implications of the decision to restrict the use of levy funding for Level 7 apprenticeships – of which the successful Chartered Town Planner degree apprenticeship is one - to those aged 16-21. It is important to note that the Chartered Town Planner L7 Apprenticeship has been supporting approximately 200 planners a year into the profession, with around 70% apprentices being employed in local government. The Department for Education (DfE) has estimated that only 17% of current Chartered Town Planner degree apprentices would be eligible for funding via the Growth and Skills Levy once the age restrictions apply. This is reducing our annual number of entrants into the profession by at least 166 planners a year, whilst also threatening the viability of courses at 11 Planning Schools. Over half of England’s Planning Schools could be jeopardised by these changes. This will have a larger knock-on impact for the delivery of planning education and number of planners entering the profession.

We are deeply concerned about the ramifications this change will have on the supply of much-needed planners, the planning system’s ability to manage the use and development of land in the long-term public interest, and the consequences of this for the Government’s growth agenda across the public and private sectors.

The RTPI is calling for immediate intervention to support the viability of Chartered Town Planner Level 7 apprenticeship courses, which would require an immediate £6.8 million investment.

If this intervention isn’t made, there will need to fund an alternative provision to ensure that the number of planners entering the profession remains at current levels. This alternative provision will require a £27,983,600 investment in fully funded part-time masters bursaries with work placements, over the remainder of this Parliament.

Moving forward we need to secure long-term sustainability for the planning workforce through a skills and workforce strategy.

We encourage you to raise the following points in your submission to the Autumn Budget and welcome your support in signing the joint letter sent alongside this briefing.

Existing planning workforce demand

The impact of the change in the funding rules will be felt at a variety of levels, primarily, but not exclusively, in the planning profession and in the higher education sector. 

According to the RTPI’s State of the Profession research, public spending on planning in England contracted by 16% between 2009/10 and 2023/24. 25% of planners have also left the public sector between 2013 and 2020. 

There have been efforts by Government to address capacity concerns within the planning sector, with a commitment to recruitment of an additional 300 planning officers by the end of 2026 through Pathways to Planning and Public Practice. Research has identified that there is an existing gap between the additional recruitment figure announced by Government and what is currently needed.

• The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s own Local Authority Planning Capacity and Skills Survey 2023 stated that the vast majority (91%) of planning departments reported having had difficulty recruiting for at least some roles in the last 12 months. Such a percentage extrapolated across England would work out as approximately 298 local planning authorities reporting recruitment difficulties. Most of these planning departments also reported having multiple vacancies.
• Recent research by Unison suggests that around another 600 planners on top of the Treasury’s figure are in fact needed, with 884 vacancies identified nationally and 80% of local planning authorities operating below full capacity.
• The Home Builders’ Federation goes further to estimate that there is a national shortage of over 2,200 planners across England and Wales.

Across all of these pieces of work it is apparent that the 300 additional officers figure is not nearly enough to address existing capacity constraints, let alone emerging workforce demands.

Future demand

The demand for planners will extend and increase past the end of 2026 (when the 300 additional officers should be in post). The Government’s ambitious growth agenda will increase the number of planners needed across the country generally.

• The Home Builders’ Federation report Planning on Empty, assesses that to achieve the Government’s planning ambitions, the planning skills gap in local authorities may be as much as 7,500 full-time equivalent officers.
• Additionally, the impending increase in demand for planning services has been reflected in modelling work undertaken by the Local Government Association on anticipated cost pressures for local government. This work reported an anticipated additional 6.2% spending need in planning and development services from 2026/27 compared to 2024/25. 
• The Government’s growth agenda will not just require planners in local authorities, but capacity in the private sector, statutory consultees, the Planning Inspectorate and the rejuvenated ATLAS service.
• Emerging or expanding aspects of the planning system, such as development corporations and spatial development strategies will also require planning workforce. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill impact assessment has identified that the preparation of emerging spatial development strategies could require 150-200 new planners. This is paired alongside workforce demands from the Government to expedite and improve local plan coverage and establish more development corporations.  

The Institute understands that a planning sector skills strategy is not currently envisaged or in production; we would argue it would form an integral part of the Government’s construction strategy. The Skills England Assessment of Priority Skills to 2030 guidance  states that “Chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultants are assumed to all work within the construction sector regardless of Standard Industry Classification (SIC), as all are assumed to be integral to construction.” This further asserts the need for planning to be included in any forthcoming construction workforce strategy.

The impact of changes to Level 7 apprenticeship funding on the Higher Education Institutes

The estimated cost of Government support to train a single cohort of Level 7 Chartered Town Planner apprentices is £1.7 million (average of £8,575 per apprentice) per annum. This does not include salaries or the cost of any additional support. The ramifications of this loss of funding will be significant and will impact the public sector and delivery of university planning education most dramatically – though the impact on private sector planning should not be underestimated.

As previously highlighted, there are increasing concerns about the viability of Chartered Town Planner Level 7 apprenticeship courses, given the expected reduction in student numbers due to age restrictions on funding. The RTPI is aware that one Planning School has already taken the decision to withdraw from offering the Level 7 apprenticeship from 2026; another has suspended recruitment to undergraduate-entry apprenticeship provision with immediate effect; and a further School has stated that without immediate stop-gap funding it will be withdrawing their apprenticeship course too. All others are under review and we expect decisions to be made soon. 

Changes to the funding of Level 7 apprenticeships will lead to a loss in funding for Planning Schools, which could jeopardise the viability their continued provision of the Level 7 apprenticeship, as well as other part-time Master’s planning courses. Our Planning Schools are already facing a number of challenges, including the decrease in international student numbers, which is affecting the overall health of the planning academy. The demise of the planning academy would be catastrophic for the profession.

Asks of Government

What the RTPI is currently asking for through our stakeholder letter

• On 30 July 2025, the RTPI wrote to the Minister for Housing and Planning to outline concerns around the impact of changes in funding to Level 7 apprenticeships and ask for a £6.8million capital investment to support Planning Schools to recruit and train 400 apprentice planners over the remainder of this Parliament.
• If this ask is addressed urgently, this could help increase the viability of the Level 7 apprenticeship and support the continued delivery of this course for 400 apprentice planners from September 2026 to the end of this Parliament.
• If not addressed, then the viability of Level 7 Chartered Town Planner apprenticeship courses may become untenable, and the provision may be removed over the next few months. In the event of this happening, the below actions will need to be taken forward in the Autumn Budget to maintain the number of planning graduates entering the profession.

If the above ask isn’t addressed there will be a need to fill the short-term gap through other measures in the Autumn Budget                    

• As a matter of urgency, we need to direct funding to address the anticipated loss of around 400 planners to maintain business as usual for the rest of this Parliament. To help mitigate this reduction in capacity, there should be an allocation of funding for an additional 400 places for students on part-time master’s courses with a funded full-time work placement in local government. The cost-breakdown of this would be:

Average starting salary over a two-year period: £29,500 x 2 years = £59,000	for 400 planners =	£23,600,000
Average cost of undertaking a part-time planning MA/MSc in England £10,959		£4,383,600
Total:		£27,983,600

 

• The above funding will help to maintain the existing number of planning graduates entering the profession, but as previously detailed there is an urgent need to address the anticipated increase and changes in workforce and skills demands for planners due to the Government’s programme of work and growth ambitions.
• To ensure the long-term sustainability of the planning profession, we need to ensure that investment in planning education and skills meets the ambitions of Government. The only way to ensure this is to develop a long-term workforce and skills strategy.