Nuclear industry calls for greater flexibility over apprenticeship levy

Allowing companies to pass on money to suppliers could help plug skills gap

The government has been urged to allow big nuclear companies to pass on cash they receive from the government’s new apprenticeship levy to their suppliers.

The Nuclear Industries Association (NIA), in a new document setting out its priorities for the next government, says companies should have greater leeway over how they use the credits they receive via the levy.

Under the scheme, all companies with a payroll of more than £3 million have to pay the equivalent of 0.5 per cent into the initiative.

They then recoup credits, which they can use to train apprentices, but these cannot be passed on to other firms until next year when they will be able to redeploy 10 per cent.

Greater flexibility over how firms use the apprenticeship levy is one of a number of recommendations by the NIA to plug the nuclear industry’s skills gap.

Pointing to the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group’s estimate that total employment in the sector is due to rise to 110,000 in 2021 from 80,000 in 2015, the NIA paper expresses concerns that planned civil atomic power projects will have to compete with other infrastructure schemes for staff.

The NIA urges greater efforts to encourage young people to take STEM subjects.

The document also says the government needs to make a decision on the stalled competition for mini-nuclear plants competition if it wants to see any completed project by 2030.

The £250m small modular reactor (SMR) competition was launched in March 2016 by the then chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne, but as yet there has been no decision on the first stage of the exercise.

“A decision now will facilitate progress and provide the potential for deployment by 2030,” it says.

And the NIA calls on the incoming government to prioritise communities, which have been picked to host large projects like nuclear plants, for additional local infrastructure, such as enhanced transport links.

The report states: “A coherent and holistic approach must be taken to local development to ensure the right infrastructure is in place to meet local growth priorities.”

Overall, the response emphasises the importance of an orderly exit from the Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community) arrangements, which it says must be replicated in order to maintain confidence in the stability of the UK’s energy policy and regulatory regime.