Recommendation 26

We emphasise that workforce expansion in retrofit and clean heat must go hand-in-hand with high and verifiable standards of competence. Written evidence criticised aspects of the existing skills and competence system in retrofit and related sectors, calling for tighter and more rigorous training standards, improved accreditation and the raising of quality where some courses were described as being of ‘dubious value’. Other submissions advocated expanding mandatory certification and restricting grants to certified contractors as a way to protect consumers and ensure high- quality works. The Government’s workforce strategy should therefore link investment in training to nationally recognised, portable accreditation and competence frameworks, so that consumers, social landlords and public bodies can have confidence that retrofit and clean-energy works are being carried out by properly trained and certified workers. (Recommendation, Paragraph 98)