Specifically, the group wants to see radical changes to skills and training courses across the UK.

This builds upon recommendations set out in the group’s report ‘Harnessing the skills opportunities of a recharged electric vehicle sector’ which explores how the UK can equip its workforce for the exciting opportunities emerging in the EV sector.

RECHARGE UK is the EV arm of the REA (Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology). The report was produced in association with Curzon Consulting.

Ahead of the General Election, Labour said it would provide Technical Excellence Colleges which would work with businesses, trade unions and local government to provide young people with better job opportunities and the highly trained workforce local communities need in this changing world.

The government has now confirmed that it will establish a body to be known as Skills England, and reform the Apprenticeship Levy.

A briefing document states that Skills England will ‘bring together businesses, providers, unions, mayoral combined authorities and government to ensure we have the highly trained workforce that England needs’.

RECHARGE UK’s report calls for Centres of Excellence for Net Zero Skills which would see local employers sponsor courses at these sites, located in existing colleges and schools in the heart of communities. Providing additional funding, and resources to these education establishments. It would provide a clear and obvious pathway for post 19 education, where college and university graduates could specialise in net zero skills such as chargepoint installation and maintenance.

The REA’s Transport Policy Manager Matthew Adams said

We welcome the engagement Labour had with our skills report when they were in opposition. I hope that we can continue to have a strong relationship to deliver the change the industry needs to accelerate the deployment of charging infrastructure across the UK. The launch this week of Skills England prioritising the skills the UK needs going forward is a good start and I hope takes on some of our recommendations and recognises the challenges for each part of the EV sector from manufacturers, to installers and charge point operators (CPOs) to software providers and local authorities and technicians.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) estimate that by 2030, between 80,000- 100,000 jobs^[1] could be created by electric vehicle and battery manufacturing in the UK. Meanwhile we are seeing a decline in the number of people qualified to operate and install electrical machinery. Since 2018 the number of people with electro technical skills has fallen by 19% from 342,000 in 2018/19 to 276,000 ± 10,000 in 2023^[2]. 

Research by Curzon Consulting for RECHARGE UK’s report offers a unique insight into current and future recruitment concerns by charge point operators (CPOs). Of those CPOs interviewed by Curzon, 75% of CPOs expressed the view that the current skills gap was “significant” to “very significant”. Recruitment is predominantly from outside the EV industry and 25% of CPOs stated that it took them two months to fill vacancies, with 42% experiencing a lag of three months or longer to fill EV electrician roles.

Almost 40% of those surveyed also said that skills shortages were impacted by Geography. This highlights that a full national strategy like a Centres for Excellence programme could be beneficial in addressing the growing demand for electrical skills across the country.

Most pressingly all CPOs surveyed said that demand for electricians would rise significantly in future and 48% said that demand would rise beyond what the current workforce could support.

Natalia Sokolova, Partner, Curzon Consulting, commented:

With the establishment of Skills England and the reform of the Apprenticeship Levy, we are setting the stage to bring together businesses, providers, unions, and government bodies to build a highly trained workforce. Our research evidences that we must go even further to create Centres of Excellence for Net Zero Skills. The time to act is now

The report can be viewed here – https://www.r-e-a.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Harnessing_the_skills_Report-D2_Low-Res.pdf

[1] https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CCC-A-Net-Zero-Workforce-Web.pdf
[2] https://www.the-esp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/TESP-2023-LMI-Refresh-879.pdf