SPECIAL FEATURE
drain TRADER
Energy & Utilities sector collaborate to close 277,000 workforce gap
T
he Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership today launches the 2020- 2025Workforce Renewal and Skills Strategy. The sector, central
to achieving Net Zero carbon targets and providing essential services to over 66million homes, is facing labourmarket demands and skills challenges thatwill require 277,000 people over the next decade. Acollaboration of 30major organisations in the sector, known as the Energy&Utilities Skills Partnership (EUSP), has come togetherwith a mandate to ensure that all relevant employers have the safe, skilled, diverse and sustainableworkforce needed to deliver essential services to the public now, and tomeet the fast changing requirements in the future.
The inaugural strategy launchedthree years ago,hadclear strategicpriorities enablingthe sector todeliver tangible achievements: • Attracting diverse talent to the sector, Energy & Utilities Jobs has reached over 8million people and continues to attract over 50%female visitors* to itswebsite.
• Created the sector’s first ever Inclusion Commitment backed by over 40 utility partners
• Increased investment in skills by changing culture through the Procurement Skills Accordwith 67 signatory employers participating
• 1500 plus technical apprentices have graduated into critical utility industries
The strategy acknowledges thatwe are operating in changed times. The impact ofCOVID-19,Net Zero carbon targets, exiting the European Union, increased competition for skillswith other high-profile sectors and the divergent skills policy across the four nations –makes the skills challenge very real and urgent. The baby boomer generation are all aged 55 and over, indicating that 27%of theworkforcewill retire in the next decade leaving the sector to recruit or retrain 48%of the currentworkforcewhich represents 277,000 vacancies over the next 10 years. The skills andworkforce issues are persistent; however, the sector remains committed to addressing three key strategies: 1. Sector attractiveness, recruitment andworkforce diversity
2.Maximising investment in skills 3. Targeted action – to address anticipated skills gaps and shortages Nick Ellins, CEO of Energy&Utility Skills comments:
46 drain TRADER | July 2020 |
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“TheWorkforce Renewal and Skills Strategy continues to provide a framework that everyone in the utility sector canwork within and aims to secure successful UK wide skills provision for the next five years. Byworking together through this voluntary alliance, the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership have led theway and they now call on the whole industry to help in tackling the issues set out, and towork with central and devolved governments, regulators and key interest groups to continue building these initiatives and meet the skills challenge. Byworking together,we can ensure a highly skilled, safe and productiveworkforce that ultimately invests directly back into society and our communities.”
Michael Lewis, E.ON UK Chief Executive and Chair of the Partnership says, “This new strategy seeks to ensureworkforce resilience by calling on all the policy makers, regulators, unions, utilities, supply chain partners and major interest groups to unite. As much as the workforce and skills challenge has increased for our sector, our very purpose has become pin sharp since events such as the environmental emergency and the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, we have a once in a generation opportunity towork together and showthat choosing to take on a career in our industries is about choosing to support our communities and our planet in finding sustainable energy,waste andwater solutions; it is about being in the vanguard of tackling the environmental crisis; it is about meeting those vital zero carbon targets and it is about underpinning the UK economy and people with infrastructure and essential services as criticalworkers.”
Rachel Fletcher,Ofwat Chief Executive, “The challengeswe nowface require the sector to pay even more attention to securing the long-termskills it will need to transition to changing customer and environmental needs. That’s whywe welcome this new Energy and UtilitiesWorkforce Renewal and Skills Strategy and itswork to build human capital through the choice’s companies and their supply chain partners make on apprenticeships, training and employment. Ensuring aworkforce has the right skills is vital to delivering a resilientwater sector.” The strategy, actions and asks are clear, as the sector moves forward to deliver the next five years and close the persistent skills gap.
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