This article was produced in partnership with Utility Week.
All over the UK, companies are crying out for skilled workers, and in energy and utility industries, the need is particularly acute. What can be done to ease the crisis? Phil Beach, head of Energy & Utility Skills, shares his thoughts.
Demand for vocational and technical skills is hot. With that comes fears that the ability to scale up and upgrade infrastructure could be adversely impacted as companies compete for a finite pool of workers.
That scenario is one Energy & Utility Skills is working to avoid. The organisation’s chief executive, Phil Beach, acknowledges, “There is massive competition for skills in energy, road, rail, nuclear, and other industries.”
“We need a strategic focus and step change to deliver the demands we see coming down the track,” he tells Utility Week.
In water, AMP8 will see huge levels of investment combined with enormous demand for workers. And, of course, the government’s mission for the UK to become a clean energy superpower requires a significant increase in our sector’s workforce. “By any estimation, we need more people,” Beach says. “The question is: ‘How do we generate that workforce?’”
A combination of new entrants, reskilling, and upskilling experienced people will be required. For example, offshore oil and gas could provide some of the experienced cohort, but the industry needs to work together to determine the competencies they require.
Successful reskilling would be greatly assisted if the industry collaborated to develop competency frameworks and standards. “We need to be able to look at the competency requirements of engineering roles in water and see where there are matches in other sectors. We could then train people up where there are gaps.”
Beach says it is vital that the underlying structure is put in place to enable workers to transit between sectors. “If the water sector has an agreed competence for a job, you can only passport experience between roles if everyone agrees it is a competence you share.
“What that suggests is a coordinated way of employers collaborating to standardise the requirements of a role.”
Government: Tackling skills gaps?
Energy & Utility Skills is already working with counterparts such as the construction training organisation CITB, Nuclear Skills Delivery Group, and National Skills Academy for Rail to achieve cross-sectoral consensus on skills. Phil Beach, the chief executive, is hopeful that the launch of Skills England—the new government body for addressing skills crises, aligned with Whitehall’s industrial strategy—will help.
However, Beach points out that there is still work to be done regarding the effectiveness of the Apprenticeship Levy for the energy sector. Currently, employers are only spending, on average, half the money in the levy fund on apprenticeships. While postgraduate apprenticeships have flourished since the levy was introduced, apprenticeships aimed at 16–18-year-olds have actually stagnated.
“I would invite the government to think about the purpose of apprenticeships – and whether it is being met,” Beach says.
Additionally, there is a cohort of about 170,000 16-year-old students who do not achieve passes in English and Maths but have much to offer.
Apprenticeships in energy often begin at 18 due to health and safety concerns. Beach explains that it would be beneficial if there were training available for 16–18-year-olds that bridged this gap. “And we should consider whether fixed requirements for English and Maths are a barrier to the government’s ambitions to broaden opportunity,” he adds.
“There’s a need to tap into that latent talent pool and prepare students for taking on an apprenticeship at age 18.” Beach mentions he “largely agreed with [former minister] Robert Halfon’s narrative about apprenticeships.” “He is right they provide a ladder of opportunity. But the obvious point is that the bottom rung needs to be accessible.”
Another challenge is encouraging young people to work in the energy and water sectors in the first place. Although Beach acknowledges that utilities have made progress in educational outreach, he admits that the negative headlines about power and water over the last couple of years are affecting the sector’s attractiveness as an employer.
“There is a narrative battle to be won. But I also feel a lot of the negativity will be transitory. We should be positioning the sector as an environmental champion – because power, gas, and water companies underwrite the government’s environmental commitments.
“Young people will be attracted if they feel utilities offer a long-term career for good,” Beach concludes.
Energy & Utility Skills is one of the partners with SkillGuard, a digital skills passport from Causeway Technologies. Learn more by watching our webinar about the challenges posed by AMP8 on demand now.
