The plumbing and heating sector provides services to the construction industry and to other kinds of clients. Work in the sector includes installation, service and maintenance in water, sanitation and drainage systems, heating and ventilation or air conditioning.

About 60% of the workforce are self-employed or work in small businesses.

In most parts of the UK, employment is expected to increase over the next years.
In the plumbing sector, there are shortages of fully qualified plumbers. There are skill gaps within the heating sector.

Regionally, the highest additional requirement of trained staff is expected in the South East. On average more than 1,000 additional plumbers will be needed every year until 2007. Current and anticipated skill shortages in plumbing and heating have been identified across all regions, but mainly in the East Midlands and in the Eastern regions.

There is a wide range of occupations within the plumbing and heating Sector, such as heating and ventilation fitter, refrigeration engineer or service engineer. There is some need for employees to be multi-skilled so that they can perform multiple jobs and function.

The workforce within the plumbing sector is relatively age skewed with the vast majority of plumbers being between the ages of 35 to 59.

The industry shows a poor performance in recruiting and retaining women and people from ethnic minorities.

There are certain physical disabilities (such as colour blindness) that rule out employment.

Almost all employees are qualified to at least NVQ level 2. Only about 2% of the workforce holds NVQ level 4. Many issues are highlighted as barriers to training such as the size and structure of the sector, technological changes, strong competition or the poor image of the sector.