Skills Strategy: Progress Report
View and download our Skills Strategy.
Energy & Utility Skills Partnership 2025-2030 Skills Strategy Report
At the core of our strategy are the four Strategic Pillars: Research, Attract, Develop and Retain, each with defined actions and outcomes for what the sector needs to achieve over the next five years.
Strategic Pillar 1: Research
5 Year Actions:
| Actions | Latest Updates |
|---|---|
| Deliver workforce demand estimates across the energy and utilities sector and assess how well current candidate pipelines meet future needs at devolved levels. | Electricity Transmission workforce report published: informing Electricity Networks Sector Growth Plan and work of Electricity Transmission Skills Alliance . Electricity Distribution (ED), Gas Networks resilience reports and ED workforce reports await feedback |
| Identify key audiences and evaluate their perceptions of industry careers. | Not yet started. Research specification to be developed. |
| Sector-wide social inclusion data will be collected and benchmarked through an enhanced Inclusion Measurement Framework. | 2025/26 Inclusion Measurement Framework (IMF) data collection complete. EUSG review of initial findings report from The Equal Group (TEG) underway, data collection period extended to maximise participation. |
| Develop new approach to understand workforce inflows and outflows, while resilience metrics for power, gas and water industries will be maintained. | Preparatory work has commenced to identify potential data sources, including ONS data, augmenting our workforce resilience metrics framework, as well as planning internal and member data sources. |
| Implement long-term skills ‘foresighting’ to inform future planning. | Planned to commence 2027 |
| Evaluate and publish annual updates on the progress and impact of our Skills Strategy. | Internal preparation underway and associated contracting with Marketing Pod on design work. Report due for publishing June 2026. |
Strategic Pillar 2: Attract
5 Year Actions:
| Actions | Latest Updates |
|---|---|
| Strengthen outreach to sector leavers, returners, retirees and under-represented groups. | Career resources developed and published based on the first five completed occupational profiles |
| Create pathways for NEETs through access-to-work and devolved programmes. | Working with DWP on sector entry programme and engagement with job centres for NEETs-focussed podcasts |
| Deliver an awareness campaign to improve industry perception among target audiences | Final proposal presented to and endorsed by DESNZ. We have shared and consulted with partners, including Energy UK, ENA, BEAMA, ECITB, and RenewableUK. Hosted by Energy UK, we met with partners from government and the sector to discuss plans and workshop new ideas. |
| Engage government and key partners to support diverse recruitment | Prison Service and DESNZ about sector attraction campaign Discussed with Careers & Enterprise Company on expanding best practice through employer standards |
| Benchmark Talent Pool and recruitment data against sector and national trends | EUCJ being included in Membership for 2026/27 Circa 500 monthly new signatories to Talent Pool Sept-Dec 2025. 12 new hires for skills shortage roles at Thames Water, 8 sourced from the EUCJ Talent Pool. |
| Explore talent transfer opportunities from sectors with large workforces nearing programme completion | Contact with Openreach and the Highway Authorities and Utilities Committee. Developing occupational profiles for Energy Skills Passport with Offshore Energies UK & RenewableUK. |
Strategic Pillar 3: Develop
5 Year Actions:
| Actions | Latest Updates |
|---|---|
| Pilot sector entry model to help new talent join sector safely and be productive at pace | M Group held the first cohort in January and we are finalising details with other major employers. |
| Define Level 1–3 qualifications essential to the sector, Growth and Skills Levy flexibility is essential | Paper submitted to Skills England outlining the qualifications and learning that could be eligible for public funding via Growth and Skills Levy; received valuable feedback. Completed standard setting for 32 high-priority roles across energy transmission and distribution, offshore wind, solar, gas and water. Produced template for profiles and process for external review and sign-off. |
| Apprenticeship and technical schemes continuously improved | Worked with industry to develop evidence for review of water industry asset maintenance technician, and the two engineering maintenance technicians (single and dual discipline). Funding approved at £27k per standard. |
| Improve industry-approved occupational standards and ensure alignment with qualifications and training. | Engaged with IET to discuss plans for integration HVDC Fundamentals scheme developed and launched. SE agreed reforms to be case-by-case basis and employers can influence assessment/standards decisions |
| Define full range of job roles across our industries, create consistent occupational profiles for priority roles and introduce occupational map to outline career pathways, skills and progression routes | First 5 profiles completed – Offshore Wind and Solar Additional 20 profiles scheduled for end March sign-off Produced template for profiles and process for external review and sign-off |
| Develop a future leaders programme to prepare for the growth in leadership roles. | Not yet started. |
Strategic Pillar 4: Retain
5 Year Actions:
| Actions | Latest Updates |
|---|---|
| Amplify and share best practices in attracting, retaining, and progressing inclusive talent across the sector. | Social Inclusion is incorporated into the Clean Energy Jobs Plan as well as sector attraction. Work underway to report on disability and ethnicity pay a year earlier – identified those employers already reporting early to understand best practice and how we share it. Good rates of disclosure for ethnicity reporting: many employers have started to internally report on ethnicity pay ahead of the legal requirement in 2027. |
| Develop guidance to support inclusive job descriptions and advertisements. | Not yet started |
| Sector-wide talent referral programme and Candidate Care Charter will be introduced, with early reporting on disability and ethnicity pay. | A talent referral process progressed with the Sector Attraction group. Members invited to share feedback/ barriers to data flow and candidate processing. First draft of potential Candidate Care Charter shared with members, who gave unanimous backing to adopting a charter. Also shared with the EDI group. |
| Engage partners to support workers with health conditions and explore new ways to retain talent through retiree engagement. | Not yet started |
| Primary culture research will deepen understanding of what it means to work in the sector. | Approach agreed to potentially run an in-house survey to share with industry, or to consider alignment with Career Perceptions research |
| Workforce data will guide targeted retention actions and occupational mapping will highlight clear career progression. | Not yet started |
Lastest Skills Strategy Updates:
Energy & Utility Skills and its partners are making good progress in the first year of...
A new sector entry pilot is helping the utilities industry tackle skills shortages while supporting a...
As efforts to scale-up recruitment into the energy and utilities sector gather pace, the Energy &...
Energy & Utility Skills Group and the Electricity Transmission Industry Collaboration have published new workforce research...