New Career Skills (NCS), which offers training for people changing careers later in life, has launched a new plumbing course to address the skills shortage in the UK.

Historically, plumbing training was only open to school leavers and took up to five years to qualify.

The new 10-week course is open to men and women of any age. The theory part of the course can be completed at home, followed by four one-week practical sessions at one of NCS’s centres of plumbing excellence. NCS also aims to help its students find employment in the profession once they have completed the course.

The UK needs an estimated 29,000 new plumbers over the next five years, according to the British Plumbing Employers Council.