Sheffield has come in at 92nd place out of the UK areas covered by a new study into electrician numbers, with the city recording 128.0 working electricians per 10,000 homes.
The figures come from research carried out by electrical training provider Elec Training, which drew on data from the ONS Annual Population Survey to work out the number of electricians per 10,000 homes in towns and cities across the UK. The study takes places with fewer electricians for every 10,000 homes as a sign that residents there face the longest waits to get an electrician out, pointing to what it describes as a link between scarce electrician numbers and extended waits. The study only covered UK areas with at least 20,000 households, the release states.
Sheffield sits well down the full ranking published by Elec Training, which puts Kensington and Chelsea at the top with just 37.2 working electricians per 10,000 homes, the lowest figure recorded in the study. Westminster, Camden and Wandsworth followed close behind, with London boroughs said to dominate the top 10 of areas with the fewest electricians. The study gives the national average as 147 electricians per 10,000 homes.
At the other end of the scale, Havering topped the list for electrician numbers per 10,000 homes, with 260.9 recorded there, ahead of Broxbourne on 258.0 and Dartford on 246.6.
National shortage warning
Charanjit Mannu, Director of Elec Training, said the research “highlights that there is a clear disparity between the number of electricians across the UK.” Mannu also referred to Department for Education figures cited in the release showing that the number of people qualifying as electricians in England came to 3,810 during the 2024/25 period, a fall from 3,900 the year before. Mannu pointed to separate findings from JLT Training indicating that England’s pool of electrical workers has shrunk by a quarter since 2018, with departures from the trade expected to outpace newcomers joining it. Mannu said that “the UK faces a very real risk of an electrician shortage in the coming years, which will create even longer waiting times for an electrician appointment.”