Louise Parry, Director of People and Organisational Development, Energy & Utility Skills
The generational challenge faced by the utilities sector to deliver the UK’s clean energy ambitions, resilient water infrastructure plans and environmental goals will not be delivered by strategies alone: they will be delivered by people – in the right roles, with the right skills.
We set out clearly the importance of social inclusion in reaching the target of 312,000 new recruits needs by the utilities sector in the Energy & Utilities Skills Strategy 2025–2030. To meet the sector’s workforce demands, we need to widen the talent pool and make sure people of all backgrounds can see themselves in a career in the utilities.
It’s why the Inclusion Measurement Framework (IMF) matters: its purpose is to provide robust insight that strengthens decision‑making, deepens collaboration and supports long‑term workforce planning. Now in its sixth year, it provides the sector’s only longitudinal insight into equity, diversity and inclusion across energy, water and waste, helping employers move beyond assumption and towards evidence about what is changing, what is stalling, and where barriers remain entrenched.
The 2025 IMF report draws on data from 26 participating organisations, representing more than 150,000 employees across energy, water and waste. While the findings reflect a sample rather than the entire workforce, they provide a valuable and credible picture of current progress and the structural barriers that remain.
It shows there are genuine reasons for optimism. One of the strongest signals in the latest data is leadership progression: women’s representation in leadership roles has risen to 33.6%, the most significant improvement since the framework began.
And, while there has been a backlash against equality, diversity and inclusion in some political and business spheres, we found senior leaders in the utilities sector remain strongly committed to EDI and viewed it as a legitimate and understood strategic priority.
More than 97% of correspondents to our accompanying Leaders Survey agreed they are required to demonstrate inclusive behaviours as part of business competence, and that they fully understand their personal role in driving EDI within their organisation. Similarly, 94.3% agreed they can fully articulate the importance of EDI to the energy and utilities sector.
However, leaders’ confidence in EDI is not reflected among the wider workforce.
Data integrity is the cornerstone of measuring meaningful progress, yet high levels of staff are not disclosing their personal characteristics, which continues to obscure the true state of inclusion in the sector’s workforce.
More than half (55%) of workers are not declaring whether or not they have a disability. Only 4% said they have a disability, compared to 22% in the UK working population. This blind spot may be masking systemic barriers being silently faced by many and leaving groups invisible when it comes strategic workforce planning.
Meanwhile, more than half (51%) of workers are not declaring their sexual orientation and 27% their ethnicity. Addressing these gaps requires a shift in how data collection is approached and communicated. The leaders who are stating they are committed to EDI need to better communicate their support to their organisations. If disclosure is treated as a compliance task, it will continue to deliver compliance-level outcomes. We need to move beyond that to clearly demonstrating how disclosure directly informs fairer, more supportive and equitable workplaces.
Perhaps some workers do not feel safe declaring their data. But better inclusion outcomes require better inclusion data – and better inclusion data requires leaders to build trust.
It is time for the sector to pivot from insight to impact, so this year, the report makes two practical recommendations for the year ahead. First, the sector should commit to reducing undeclared inclusion data by 10% in 2026. This can be done by improving how we communicate the purpose of data collection, reinforcing confidentiality, and showing how data enables meaningful benchmarking and targeted improvement. This must be championed visibly by leaders, alongside coordinated efforts to destigmatise disclosure and build confidence in how information is used.
While those who completed the Leadership Survey demonstrated their commitment to EDI, only 35 took part, so we have set the challenge of increasing senior leadership participation by 50% and completion rates will be shared with company representatives to enable them to follow up with leadership teams.
Meanwhile, Energy & Utility Skills remains committed to working with employers, partners and governments across the UK to strengthen the evidence base provided through the IMF and support meaningful progress in social inclusion across the energy and utilities sector.
Equity, diversity and inclusion is not a parallel conversation to workforce planning – it is fundamental to it. The sector’s ability to broaden the talent pool will determine whether it can deliver at the scale and pace required over the next decade. Better inclusion data will signpost how routes into the sector are diversified, ensure people are retained, and not lost to the sector, and how progression becomes visible and fair.
