Energy & Utility Skills Group welcomes the government’s move to provide greater flexibility in how employers can use the Growth and Skills Levy, an urgent need for the energy and utilities sector.
The Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed the introduction of apprenticeship units – short, flexible training courses to help respond quickly to evolving skills needs.
Energy & Utility Skills Group has been working with Skills England on behalf of the sector to emphasise our members’ requirement for greater flexibility to use their levy and train their workforce. The coming years will bring significant challenges to strengthen and adapt energy and utilities services that support every home, business, and community across the country.
Our workforce demand analysis shows that the energy and utilities sector must attract, recruit and train more than 312,000 new people by 2030, with over half at Level 3 or below. The Government’s ambition to decarbonise the UK’s energy supply by 2030 and deliver £104bn infrastructure investment in the water industry over the next five years are two of the major drivers for change.
Our Skills Strategy for 2025–2030 lays out a plan of action to achieve this: the key objectives are to attract new recruits, encourage career switchers from other sectors, and to develop and retain workers already in the sector.
Employers need flexible training and assessment routes to better equip existing employees with new skills, combined with accelerated approaches to upskilling and reskilling through shorter targeted courses to address skill shortages.
They also need these routes to quickly assure operational safety and competence while recognising workers’ previous learning and experience.
The first seven apprenticeship units confirmed by Skills England, which will start in April 2026, are:
- Welding – mechanised
- AI Leadership – developing AI strategy
- Electric vehicle charging point installation and maintenance
- Electrical fitting and assembly
- Mechanical fitting and assembly
- Permanent modular building assembly
- Solar PV installation and maintenance
Stephen Barrett, Director of Membership and Strategic Engagement said:
“Our members are ready to move at pace to upskill their employees to meet the current urgent workforce demands.
“It’s great news that Skills England has responded to the need for greater flexibility to achieve this and are introducing apprenticeship units. It is something that Energy & Utility Skills Group has long called for: reforms to the Growth and Skills Levy are an opportunity to support more adaptable training and assessment routes.
“We welcome the reduction in the duplication of training and assessment this will bring through the recognition of workers’ prior learning and experience. We also look forward to continuing our collaborative engagement with Skills England and implement these changes for the benefit of the energy and utilities sector.”
Apprenticeship units are for employed learners aged 19 and over whose employer has identified a need to upskill them quickly to meet business needs and remain competitive.
They will last between 30 and 140 delivery hours, can be delivered over a period of 1 to 16 weeks and offer flexibility in the delivery model to best suit the needs of the employer and learner, in negotiation with their training provider.
For more details, including assessment, delivery and funding, visit: Apprenticeship units – Apprenticeship Service Support
