By Phillip Bryant, Skills & Standards Manager at Energy & Utility Skills Group
The publication of Skills Development Scotland’s latest research into hydrogen workforce demand is a welcome contribution to one of the most important conversations facing the gas sector: how we prepare people, skills and training systems for a future that is not yet fully defined.
Hydrogen Workforce Demand: A report for the Scottish Hydrogen Skills Group brings together evidence on the possible scale of future hydrogen employment, the skills implications and the challenges involved in planning for an emerging industry. While its evidence base is focused on Scotland, the questions it raises are relevant across the UK.
As part of the Scottish Hydrogen Skills Group, I have valued the opportunity to engage in discussions with Skills Development Scotland and other industry and skills partners as this evidence base has been developed.
For me, the report’s central lesson is clear: workforce readiness cannot wait for complete market certainty.
Review the Hydrogen Workforce Demand Report in full.
Preparing for more than one possible future
There remains considerable uncertainty around the scale and pace of hydrogen deployment. Policy decisions, investment, project timelines, infrastructure, planning and future demand will all influence which projects progress and when people will be needed.
For gas network operators, an important question is the extent to which hydrogen could replace natural gas or be used in blended or hybrid applications. Different pathways will create different infrastructure, operational, workforce and competence requirements.
This uncertainty is reflected in the forecasts reviewed by the report. Scotland-specific estimates vary from 236 roles by 2030 under a business-as-usual scenario to cumulative demand for 7,346 engineering construction workers between 2025 and 2030. The figures use different methodologies and assumptions, so are not directly comparable, but they demonstrate why it is difficult to plan against one definitive number.
That should not be an argument for delaying action.
Occupational standards, competence frameworks, qualifications and training pathways take time to develop. Projects can move much more quickly once investment decisions are made. Waiting until demand is fully visible could leave workforce capacity behind infrastructure delivery, contributing to delays and greater competition for scarce talent.
Industry, government and training providers must therefore prepare for different scenarios. Workforce intelligence can help identify pressure points, while flexible training provision can enable the skills system to respond as demand becomes clearer.
This reflects the report’s recommendation for evidence-led skills planning. Energy & Utility Skills is working with gas network operators and industry partners to understand the occupations, skills and competence requirements that could support hydrogen end-use applications and the transition from natural gas to hydrogen. Through employer engagement, labour market intelligence and occupational standards development, we are helping ensure future provision reflects emerging technologies, anticipated projects and evolving safety requirements.
A workforce transition, not a workforce from scratch
One of the report’s most important findings is that many of the skills hydrogen will require already exist.
Hydrogen production, transmission, storage and use will draw on competencies found across gas and electricity networks, oil and gas, process industries, engineering and other adjacent sectors. Relevant occupations include engineers, project professionals, technicians, planners, welders, pipefitters and safety specialists.
Hydrogen is therefore primarily a workforce transition challenge, rather than a requirement to build an entirely new workforce from the ground up.
However, transferability must not be treated as automatic competence.
A worker may possess valuable engineering, operational or safety experience but still need additional knowledge to apply it safely and effectively in a hydrogen environment. This could include understanding hydrogen properties, associated risks, safety requirements, operational procedures, regulation and assurance requirements.
Employers need reliable ways to identify what existing experience can be recognised, what additional learning is required and how competence will be assessed and assured.
The report identifies an evidence gap around the precise “hydrogen delta”, meaning the knowledge and competence that distinguish a hydrogen role from a comparable role in another industry or application.
Energy & Utility Skills is contributing to the development of a Hydrogen Skills Framework that will map the technical hydrogen knowledge associated with specific occupational roles. Alongside occupational standards and competence mapping, this can give employers and training providers greater clarity, support more targeted investment and reduce unnecessary duplication.
It can also create clearer upskilling and reskilling pathways by identifying which competencies are transferable and what additional hydrogen-specific development workers will require.
Shared skills and competing demands
Although the initial focus is on hydrogen’s use within gas networks, the workforce implications extend more widely across energy and utilities.
Hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, offshore wind, gas and electricity networks, water, process industries and wider infrastructure programmes depend on many of the same engineering, technical, operational and construction occupations.
The research highlights existing shortages in areas including engineering, construction, planning, welding and data science. It also identifies an ageing workforce, competition for labour and a lack of diversity as potential barriers to growth.
Transferability therefore creates both an opportunity and a risk. It can enable people to move between sectors and technologies, but moving experienced workers from one part of the economy to another does not increase the UK’s overall workforce capacity.
We need a coordinated view of future demand, with greater alignment around occupational requirements, competence recognition, workforce intelligence and flexible training pathways.
This reflects the report’s recommendation for strategic skills planning across sectors. Through our own employer engagement, we consistently hear concerns about workforce availability, skills transfer, resilience and the retention of experienced people. Our Skills Strategy 2025-2030 responds to these interconnected challenges by focusing on understanding future demand, attracting people into sector careers, developing the required skills and competence, and retaining essential knowledge and experience.
The question is not simply whether hydrogen can attract enough people. It is whether the UK can grow and mobilise the workforce required by its gas networks while meeting demand across the wider energy and utilities system.
Turning recommendations into action
The report’s recommendations cover evidence-led planning, skills investment, workforce transition, work-based learning, career awareness, cross-sector coordination and equality, diversity and inclusion.
The Scottish Hydrogen Skills Group is already connecting project pipeline intelligence with skills planning through collaboration among Skills Development Scotland, skills partners, enterprise agencies and employers.
Energy & Utility Skills is supporting that response in several ways:
- developing evidence on future occupational, skills and competence requirements with gas network operators and industry partners;
- helping to de-risk investment through common standards and clearer competence requirements;
- supporting upskilling and reskilling by identifying transferable competence and hydrogen-specific learning needs;
- promoting strategic planning and safe workforce mobility across sectors; and
- raising awareness of career opportunities and the routes available to new entrants and career changers.
This final point is particularly important. The transition cannot rely solely on redistributing a limited pool of experienced workers. It must also attract new people, widen participation in technical and operational careers, retain existing expertise and support the transfer of knowledge to the next generation.
Ready when demand accelerates
Regardless of how quickly hydrogen develops, it provides an important case study in how established industries manage transition.
The conversation is not simply about introducing a new technology. It is about understanding how existing workforces, skills, competence and training systems can evolve to meet future needs safely, efficiently and sustainably.
We may not know precisely what role hydrogen will ultimately play across the UK economy or within the future gas system. But uncertainty over the destination should not prevent us from preparing for the journey.
The long-term goal should be a resilient and integrated workforce in which relevant skills can transfer safely, competence is recognised and gas network employers can access the people they need when demand accelerates.
Continue the conversation
Read the Hydrogen Workforce Demand: A report for the Scottish Hydrogen Skills Group in full to explore the evidence, recommendations and workforce implications in greater detail.
If your organisation is planning for future hydrogen activity, identifying transferable roles, developing training or competence requirements, or has workforce evidence to share, contact collaborate@euskills.co.uk to explore opportunities to work with Energy & Utility Skills.
We welcome practical insight from gas network operators, employers and partners. Sharing evidence about emerging roles, deployment plans, skills needs and operational priorities will support a clearer, industry-led understanding of the workforce required for hydrogen and the transition of the UK’s gas system.
