SSEN is partnering with the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership, to build and launch the first ever joint Workforce Renewal and Skills Strategy.
As part of the partnership SSEN has committed to a new 12-month pilot programme that seeks to encourage people into careers in the industry. The Talent Source Network aims to help employers access hard-to-reach and diverse individuals, as well as encourage professionals who are looking for new opportunities or to retrain.
The energy and utilities sector requires 221,000 new recruits by 2027 in order to provide the essential services its customers seek and the infrastructure the UK needs for its economic growth.
The Strategy has been created to take the first steps towards ensuring that the UK's vital energy and utilities sector retains a safe, skilled, resilient and sustainable workforce. It sets out for the first time, in one place, the reality of the challenges faced, immediate initiatives that are underway and the ambitions the Skills Partnership shares in moving towards achieving a more sustainable future.
Colin Nicol, SSEN's Managing Director is a member of the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership, alongside other industry leaders from the sector.
Colin said: "We work in a dynamic industry that provides many interesting, challenging and rewarding opportunities. However, recent research shows that 20% of the workforce in the energy and utilities sector is due to retire by 2023 - leaving a significant skills gap that we must work together to address."
"The Workforce Renewal and Skills Strategy will play an important role in helping close this skills gap and ensure we have a sustainable workforce. Taking a collaborative approach through the partnership is vital as together we can identify a consistent way to recruit and train people and standardise the required qualifications across the sectors. This will create a clear route to lasting and fulfilling careers and help our industry compete for future talent."
"The strategy also complements SSE's own ambitions around diversity. I look forward to working with the project partners to create an easy pathway into the industry for people of all backgrounds, creating a workforce reflective of our customers and wider society, an important asset to any successful business."
Bev Keogh, Director of Business Assurance, who represents SSEN on the Energy and Utilities Skills Partnership delivery board, said:
"The Skills Partnership provides us with the opportunity to collaborate and share best practice with other companies within our sector, and government, to help deliver this new strategy and ensure we as an industry are collectively tackling the skills gap."
"We must recognise our industry has changed and the roles we require are not just traditional engineering positions. We have an emerging need for technology-focused skills, such as cyber-security, and our recruitment and training programmes need to adapt in response to this."
"Another key area is forward planning for our workforces, looking to identify when people might be retiring and making sure we have people with the right skills to replace them. This early warning system will be crucial in helping us transition smoothly and help retain key industry knowledge."
Nick Ellins, the Chief Executive of Energy & Utility Skills, who will manage the Strategy on behalf of the energy and utilities industry, said "The National Infrastructure Plan is now widely recognised as forming the backbone of industrial strategy, and more than half of that plan is required to be delivered by the power, water, gas, wastewater and waste management industries. To date the accompanying infrastructure skills strategy has not explicitly recognised this critical contribution or done enough to ensure that the businesses involved have the right environment to ensure a sustainable and talented workforce exists."