UK faces ‘critical bottleneck’ on skilled jobs ahead of green transition
The UK faces a “critical bottleneck” on skilled infrastructure jobs ahead of the green transition, an energy firm has warned.
Workforce availability is an “existential” challenge for key projects vital to securing net zero, David Hickling, head of public affairs at RWE, has warned.
Speaking on a panel on Labour’s mission for the UK to become a clean energy superpower, at the New Statesman’s Path to Power conference, Hickling described the issue as “huge”.
It comes after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer vowed by 2030 Britain would be a clean energy superpower, which he said would deliver thousands of jobs, and help get to net zero.
But the party has faced criticism for appearing to water down its plans to borrow £28bn a year to kickstart the green revolution, which it denies has happened.
Hickling said: “The thing that surprised me is this isn’t all about engineers and technicians. It’s also about project managers, administrators, ecologists, funders — even lobbyists.
“We need to have a whole cross-section of skills built for people who are involved in delivering these projects. And we’re not seeing it.”
His call echoes the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) which found in a 2022 survey that 80 per cent of SMEs had issues recruiting suitable applicants in the past 12 months.
Research by the House of Commons stated that a “key reason for labour shortages is that demand for labour has recovered faster than labour supply since the pandemic”.
Hickling added: “We are recruiting plenty of people into our business to help us deliver our projects, but we’re recruiting them from the very councils we’re then trying to seek planning permission from but they then don’t have enough planners to assess our application.”
He urged Labour to view the “systemic problem” with skilled jobs as “part of that industrial strategy, seeing it as a critical bottleneck that’s going to increasingly restrict our ability”.
Governments, he said, “just can’t put in the too difficult box any longer — it’s really important”.
Moreover, Abel Martins-Alexandre, head of infrastructure at Lloyds Banking Group, highlighted “non-financial incentives”, which he said were key to Britain achieving its clean energy goals.
“They are around investment in infrastructure, investment in ports, in road and rail links and pretty much across the value chain — this will enable more jobs,” he said.
The clean energy mission, the party says, is underpinned by the Green Prosperity Plan, the National Wealth Fund, the Warm Homes Plan, and the ambition to set up GB Energy.
Starmer also announced plans in October to set up technical excellence colleges, in a bid to drive skills growth and work with businesses to align provision with local job opportunities.
Additionally, in the Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled £50m over the next two years to “increase the number of apprentices in engineering and other key growth sectors.