Source · Select Committees · Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted in Part
Expand Skills Passports and establish commitments for energy sector workforce transition and support targets.
Recommendation
The Government must continue to tackle barriers preventing existing energy sector workers transitioning successfully. Skills Passports and associated funding should be expanded. The Government in its response to us should propose how the transferability of skills across traditional boundaries and between devolved administrations could be accommodated better by accreditation regimes. The Government should put in place commitments to transition the existing local skilled labour supply within Contracts for Difference and similar clean energy support mechanisms. These should include tangible workforce transition and support targets and leverage UK manufacturing content requirements where possible. (Recommendation, Paragraph 32)
Government Response Summary
The government agrees broadly with the recommendation, committing to the Warm Homes Plan's £15 billion investment projected to create 240,000 jobs by 2030, and establishing a taskforce with the TUC to facilitate worker transition. However, it does not explicitly address the expansion of Skills Passports, proposals for skill transferability via accreditation, or specific commitments with targets within Contracts for Difference mechanisms.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
The government agrees with this recommendation. The Warm Homes Plan was published on 21 January 2026 outlining how the government will deliver £15 billion of public investment to upgrade up to 5 million homes and lift up to a million families out of fuel poverty by 2030. The plan includes grants and loans to make it easier than ever for homeowners to install heat pumps, solar panels and batteries; direct support for home upgrades for those on low incomes and in fuel poverty; and new rules to ensure landlords invest in upgrades to cut bills for renters and social tenants. In addition, the Plan outlines policies and initiatives to deliver growth to our economy, good jobs for our communities, and opportunities for innovation. Over time, the Warm Homes Plan is projected to increase the number of jobs supported in energy efficiency and clean heating from 60,000 in 2023, to up to 240,000 in 2030. These jobs will be spread across the whole of the UK and cover a range of retrofit and manufacturing professions – from heat pump, insulation, solar PV and battery installers, to retrofit coordinators, to low- carbon and energy efficiency manufacturers. To support this aim, DESNZ has set up a taskforce in partnership with the TUC, to facilitate the creation and growth of a diverse, skilled and resilient workforce to meet the demand generated by these initiatives. The Taskforce will help workers transition to new, high-quality low-carbon jobs, ensuring that no one is left behind and that the UK can fully harness this opportunity. Its objective, working alongside other government missions and initiatives, is to create good, well-paid roles in the low-carbon heating and home upgrade sectors to deliver on our ambition of upgrading up to 5 million homes by 2030. The taskforce will concentrate on aligning regional skills and jobs supply with the demand for home upgrades, and it will work to build a robust and flexible talent pipeline – made up of multi-skilled workers and jobseekers – through the national skills system and standards.