At its Group Board meeting on 28 January, Energy & Utility Skills Group affirmed its intent to make a substantial and significant capital investment to support the build and delivery of a UK-wide sector platform for the energy, water, and waste industries, subject to the conclusion of formal testing and advocacy.
The Board’s position reflects strong confidence in both the direction of travel and the scale of opportunity ahead. The position is consistent with the Group’s collaborative approach and leadership across sector engagement, concept development, and testing phases. It signals a readiness to invest at a pace where a credible sector-wide mandate exists, while remaining disciplined about how and when progression takes place.
The Group is explicit that ambition, partnership, capital investment commitments, and long-term sustainability must sit together. This approach ensures that any progression is both bold and responsible, and rooted in collective ownership.
The proposed platform has been shaped through extensive engagement with members, industry, partners, and governments. This work responds directly to the defining workforce challenge of the decade. More than 300,000 people will need to be recruited into the energy, water, and waste workforce by 2030 to deliver critical national infrastructure, clean energy commitments, AMP8 investment in the water sector, and long-term workforce resilience.
The ambition is to establish a simple, employer-led, and scalable national asset that strengthens sector entry, improves workforce visibility, and enables delivery at the scale and speed the UK now requires.
At its core, the proposed platform is about removing friction. It is designed to make it simpler for employers to access talent, for individuals to understand and enter the sector, and for the industry to deliver workforce growth at the pace required by national infrastructure commitments. The intent is practical, delivery focused and rooted in employer leadership rather than creating additional complexity.
The Group is now in the final phase of its formal testing and advocacy period, which opened in December. Midpoint results, based on more than 20 substantive responses to date, provide strong confidence in the platform’s potential and direction.
- 86% agree that the proposed platform could set a global benchmark for how complex infrastructure industries attract, develop, and retain talent at scale.
- 86% agree that the platform should operate as a shared sector asset, with access conditional on active partnership and contribution.
Support for the proposed partnership and access principles is consistently high, with responses confirming strong commitment to engagement through Energy and Utility Skills network groups.
- 96% agree that users should actively engage in at least one Partnership network group, demonstrating a clear commitment to improving the sector as a whole.
A near-total commitment to an excellent citizen and candidate experience has also been demonstrated.
- 100% agree that users should adopt and apply a partnership-developed Candidate Care Charter, ensuring a consistent, caring, aspirational, and timely experience for candidates.
- 91% agree that suitable unsuccessful candidates should be directed into a shared sector talent pool, retaining talent for the wider industry.
While these results reinforce confidence, the Board has been clear that leadership also requires clarity. A shared national asset of this scale must be built on a genuine sector mandate.
A clear decision gate has therefore been set. The Group intends to receive more than 50 substantive responses by the close of the testing and advocacy phase. This level of engagement is regarded as the minimum required to demonstrate sufficient breadth, confidence, and sector-wide ownership to justify progression to commencing an invitation to tender process, for which a market notification was published in November.
Paul Cox, Group Chief Executive of Energy & Utility Skills Group, said:
“This commitment is about leadership intent. It reflects confidence in what the sector can achieve together, while remaining disciplined about how we proceed. The midpoint response is strongly encouraging. If the mandate is there, we are ready to move forward with ambition.”
Phil Beach, Group Chair of Energy & Utility Skills Group, added:
“This is a moment for our sectors to lead. The Board’s role is to set the conditions for success, signal confidence, and invest responsibly. Where the sector comes together at scale, we are prepared to back that ambition.”
Call to action
The current testing and advocacy phase offers a live opportunity for the sector to shape a shared national asset with world-class ambition. Opened in December, the testing period closes on Friday 6 February. Responses will then be analysed, and outcomes confirmed and communicated.
Members, employers, and sector partners who have not yet responded are encouraged to take part by visiting https://euskills.co.uk/news/energy-utility-skills-group-begins-sector-testing-phase-for-proposed-sector-platform/, and reading the linked documents, and completing the Microsoft Form used to capture all responses.
This is the final opportunity to shape whether, and how, this sector led platform progresses.
