• • • EDITOR’S COMMENT • • •
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WELCOME W
elcome to the March issue of Electrical Engineering.
As the UK heads to a General Election, it seems the Prime Minister is making a series of announcements, to try and steady the ship, before the expected sinking at the polls.
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Managing Editor Simon King
Tel: 07973 386724
simonkingmedia@live.co.uk
Advertisement Manager Jack Wells
Tel: 01622 699171
JWells@datateam.co.uk
Media Director Louise Tiller
Tel: 01622 699 104
ltiller@datateam.co.uk
Simon King Managing Editor
Like the ECA, I broadly welcomed the pledge by Rishi Sunak to create up to 20,000 more apprenticeships with a series of reforms to funding and bureaucracy. However, as an industry which is largely male dominated, I believe it’s key to recognise the need to increase diversity in our workforce. Properly addressing the UK’s long-running shortage of qualified electricians necessitates looking at extra incentives for employers to take on not just recent school- leavers, but also career changers, women returning to work, and other older individuals who have not yet completed their qualifications. Experienced Worker Assessments and NVQs for adult learners are the among the fastest way to increase the skilled workforce, yet in England these courses almost invariably have to be paid for by individuals or their employers. This is a missed opportunity to boost the size and diversity of the workforce; with the rapidly growing electrification of the UK, we are in a race against time.
It’s also refreshing to see the investment in apprentices as a way of allowing the next generation of talent to learn technical excellence in a live working environment as well as the investment in female-led start-ups. However, the increase of headcount from 250 to 500 employees for the definition of SME at a time when digital transformation reduces the need for headcount seems counter-intuitive to ensuring large firms take compliance seriously.
This will move many large firms out of a raft of compliance requirements and into the category of SME compliance, when an organisation of 500 employees is, in reality, quite substantial. We hope that this issue is informative; if you’d like to comment on any of the articles featured, or if you’d like to contribute to a future issue, please email me at
simonkingmedia@live.co.uk.
4 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • MARCH 2024
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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