UK Government
We work with UK Government to align policy with practical workforce solutions.
UK Government Collaboration
The Energy & Utility Skills Group works across the UK Government to ensure national workforce ambitions are grounded in evidence and deliverable by members and industry. Our role is to provide trusted data, convene employers, and co-design solutions with government departments and agencies. By doing so, we connect national policy with local, regional and UK-wide delivery, ensuring that investment is matched with the right people and skills, and that reform translates ambition into opportunity for individuals, and delivers both growth and resilience for industry.
Clean Energy Jobs Plan
The Government’s Clean Energy Jobs Plan sets out 42 actions across six chapters to deliver the skilled, safe and inclusive workforce required to meet the UK’s clean energy ambitions. Energy & Utility Skills is identified throughout as a key delivery partner, leading national work on workforce demand modelling, attraction pathways, inclusion, occupational profiles and the development of employment routes for prison leavers. The Plan recognises that around 72% of new clean energy jobs will be created in England, with significant growth also projected across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, ensuring that every nation benefits from the opportunities of the clean energy transition.
Our involvement builds on the foundations laid through the Clean Energy Action Plan published in December 2024, where we worked with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to shape the evidence, analysis and delivery priorities that underpin this new Plan. Energy & Utility Skills played a central role in aligning industry data with government policy, ensuring the ambition for more than 900,000 clean energy jobs by 2030 is backed by credible forecasts and clear implementation routes.
The Plan aligns directly with our Skills Strategy 2025–2030, creating a unified national effort to equip people with the skills, confidence and opportunity to deliver the UK’s clean energy future. It brings together government, members, industry partners and training providers with clear focus and shared purpose to turn ambition into lasting impact.
Social Inclusion Forum
The Energy & Utility Skills Partnership works closely with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) through the Social Inclusion Forum, a key component of the Government’s Clean Energy Jobs Plan. The Forum brings together employers, government, industry bodies and community partners to identify practical actions that widen access to careers across the clean energy workforce. Its purpose is to ensure that the opportunities created by the energy transition are accessible to people from all backgrounds and communities, while helping employers address current and future workforce needs.
As the workforce delivery partner for the sector, Energy & Utility Skills contributes industry insight, workforce intelligence and employer engagement expertise to the Forum. This includes providing clarity on workforce demand, identifying barriers to participation and supporting the development of practical solutions that connect underrepresented groups with sustainable careers in energy, water and the wider utilities sector. The Partnership also works with employers to share good practice and inform national discussions on attraction, progression and workforce inclusion.
A significant milestone in this collaboration was the sector planning session hosted with DESNZ at Avon House, which brought together industry leaders, government officials and delivery partners to shape priorities for implementation. These discussions helped establish a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the sector and informed the development of collaborative actions supporting delivery of the Clean Energy Jobs Plan.
Through the Social Inclusion Forum, Energy & Utility Skills helps ensure that workforce policy is informed by employer experience and sector evidence. This collaborative approach supports the development of a larger, more diverse and job-ready workforce capable of delivering the United Kingdom’s clean energy ambitions while creating opportunities for individuals and communities across all four nations.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Skills England
Through Skills England, now part of DWP, we continue our long-standing relationship previously held with IfATE. The Energy and Utilities Advisory Panel (EUAP), established with our support, provides the sector’s formal voice into apprenticeship and qualification reform. This ensures that national programmes remain relevant to employers, that technical education reflects occupational standards, and that learners have access to high-quality routes into industry roles.
With DWP we are also developing a new national sector entry model. Pilots planned to launch in the second half of 2025 will provide safe and rapid pathways into the industry. Participants will complete accredited safety training and employer-specific training, with guaranteed interviews at the end of the programme. Benefits will be maintained during training, and childcare and travel support will be provided so that barriers to participation are removed. For individuals, this offers a clear and supported route into work. For employers, it opens new and reliable talent pipelines. For government, it strengthens economic participation and reduces claimant dependency.
Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service
Energy & Utility Skills Group works with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to help widen access to careers across the energy, water and wider utilities sectors. Through engagement with HMPPS and the New Futures Network, we support employer understanding of the opportunities to recruit, train and develop prison leavers as part of a broader approach to addressing workforce shortages and expanding access to employment.
This collaboration forms part of our wider commitment to supporting workforce participation and creating practical routes into employment for people who may face barriers to entering the labour market.
Department for Education (DfE)
We work with DfE to ensure that energy, water, and waste careers are visible and attractive within the education system. Our collaboration includes supporting careers guidance, using occupational profiles to inform educators and learners, and linking qualifications to clear and accessible pathways into sector jobs. By embedding utilities into the wider education and skills narrative, young people are more likely to see these industries as credible, rewarding and long-term destinations for their future.
Deepening our impact
Our work and delivery across the UK Government is centred on our values: to provide credible evidence, convene partnerships and make a positive difference. On behalf of members and industry we will continue to deepen collaboration and to ensure every part of the UK workforce can deliver the essential services of the future. Please contact us to by email, phone, or the online contact form below:
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