Pipe up, by Mathew Beech

“Unless the sector drives its own apprenticeship training agenda, key areas for development will be missed”

The numbers behind the utilities industry’s escalating skills crisis are well known. A total of 221,000 new recruits are needed within the next decade simply to replace outgoing talent.

Growth in key industries like renewables, and the emergence of new technologies will add to the challenge. And Brexit adds complications, throwing up obstacles to the attraction of qualified individuals from the widest possible talent pool.

The apprenticeship levy, which went live in April, aims to address this potentially crippling skills shortfall by pushing companies to take on more apprentices. It taxes large companies, but offers them funding to train and assess their apprentices.

The levy has been broadly welcomed in principle. Eligible employers back the idea that investment in developing home-grown talent, especially through vocational routes, should be ringfenced. However, speakers at the annual National Skills Academy for Power conference last week were wary of the scheme’s bureaucracy. One speaker called it “a headache”.

There were other worries. Tony Malone, head of organisational development at Cadent Gas, said: “There is a risk of [the levy] being highjacked and feeling less employee-owned and more government-owned”.

The fear is that, unless the sector is allowed to drive its own apprenticeship training agenda, the levy will reflect government’s perceptions of industry needs and key areas for development will be missed.

David Way, skills adviser at the Energy and Utility Skills Group, said: “Remember this is employer money that is being recycled.” He urged the sector to take ownership of the levy and ensure it delivers the right outcomes.

Barry Brooks, former executive director of the energy efficiency Independent Assessment Service, said, “we understand what the big questions are”. The collective industry challenge now is to ensure they are acted on.

Taking action is, however, easier said than done while the practical impact of the levy is unclear and finer details about its rules are still emerging.

There was consensus that utilities are “in a period of adjustment” in adapting to the levy environment. Enthusiasm for this process of change was noticeably thin.

Nevertheless, a pro-active approach to exerting influence over its development is essential if utilities want to see it achieve the right outcomes for their businesses – and for the UK economy.

Mathew Beech, insights editor, Utility Week