For 25 years Energy & Utility Skills has been the skills body for the gas, power, water and waste industries; working with employers to build a safe, skilled, and sustainable workforce. Through our expert team and strong partnerships with employers, industry leaders and the government, we ensure that the right qualifications, apprenticeships, and training programmes are in place to meet the evolving needs of the sector.
Today our work has a central role in developing a workforce capable of supporting the UK’s net zero targets and delivering environmental improvements more widely. Our role as a recognised standard setting organisation is crucial in maintaining consistency and quality across the sector as we see greater devolution of skills both across the UK nations and regionally in England.
The last 25 years of achievements have laid the foundations for the next 25 in the race to achieve net zero by 2050.
Delivering occupational assurance through standard setting
Energy & Utility Skills has a long-established role as the standard setting body for the sector. Beginning in 1999 as the Gas Industries National Training Organisation (GINTO), we continue our work in the industry today, as the standard setting body for the Gas Safe Register. Reflecting our longstanding commitment to maintaining high standards for technical and safety-critical roles across industry, our remit has expanded over 25 years to cover the entire energy and utilities sector, including the now emerging energy industries, such as on and offshore wind, solar and energy storage, hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage.
Our latest collaborative project on occupational mapping is pinpointing the essential duties and tasks of high-priority roles, ensuring that pathways to competence are driven by demand. This vital initiative will underpin the creation of new national standards while enhancing existing ones, crucial for addressing the sector’s evolving needs. As we strive for net zero and confront significant environmental challenges, our commitment to developing strong standards and qualifications is paramount for equipping the workforce with the skills and competencies necessary for future success.
UK-wide consistency
Energy & Utility Skills is essential in ensuring consistency in training and skills development across all English regions, as well as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Our UK-wide approach is essential for representing the needs of employers that deliver energy and utility services seamlessly across borders. By aligning training programmes and qualifications with national standards – regardless of where they are delivered – we’re fostering comparability and consistency of training. This ensures that every region in the UK has access to a workforce that is equally skilled and competent.
As part of our work, we facilitate and develop Apprenticeship Standards for England and National Occupational Standards and Apprenticeship Frameworks for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, across our sector. We are actively integrating our new occupational mapping with our standard setting activity to ensure the consistency of competence that employers require.
Trusted Partner to Government
Our role as an industry skills body encompasses government engagement where we work to shape the UK’s skills systems to meet sector needs. As the policy landscape changes, we collaborate closely with government departments and agencies, including the new Office for Clean Energy Jobs and Skills England. We are encouraged by Skills England’s commitment to “work closely with…colleagues in the devolved nations to ensure that students and employers…have a seamless experience throughout the four nations.”
Our employer-validated workforce research provides timely and forward-looking labour market insights to the government, aiding Skills England and other agencies in ensuring that the sector has the right skills in the right locations at the right time.
Fuelled by the challenge of the net zero transition, the sector is evolving rapidly, with government policy playing a crucial role in guiding this transformation. Close collaboration amongst stakeholders is essential to ensure the efficient and accurate provision of skills necessary for the sector’s changes. Recent government investment announcements in carbon capture and storage as well as energy-from-waste, provide confidence that these areas will experience significant growth, underscoring the need for an effective skills system to support the jobs that will emerge.
Through our engagement with government stakeholders, we advocate for agile, demand-led skills policies and delivery systems. We emphasize the need to recognise that many roles in our sector fall below Level 3, and that the school curriculum must improve vocational education. The energy and utilities sector provides excellent career opportunities that can offer those young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) outstanding opportunities and career progression.
The Skills Voice of Industry
Energy & Utility Skills is a foundational pillar of the sector, delivering the leadership and expertise essential for cultivating a safe, skilled, and sustainable workforce for the future. As a sector validated standard setting organisation committed to UK-wide consistency, and actively engaging with government and industry stakeholders, we are uniquely positioned to serve as the authoritative skills voice of industry for the future.