Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Deferred
Meeting heat pump installation targets demands a substantial increase in trained installers by 2028.
Conclusion
We received written evidence from the Retrofit Academy, Schneider Electric, Energy UK and MCS Service Company which highlighted that meeting the target to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 will require a large increase in the number of trained installers. The Heat Pump Association and the Heat Pump Federation estimated that there will need to be at least 33,700 trained installers by 2028 to meet the overall installations target, and a minimum of 50,200 installers by 2030.32
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to increase the number of trained heat pump installers and describes existing initiatives like the Heat Training Grant and new apprenticeships. However, decisions on future training support beyond April 2025 are deferred to Spending Review 2025.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2025 (Following phase 2 of Spending Review) 3.2 The government recognises that the number of heat pump installers will need to continue to increase rapidly beyond 2025 and will work closely with industry to ensure that sufficient installers are available to install heat pumps. The Heat Training Grant is the main form of government support currently available to upskill the existing heating engineer workforce and will provide around 10,000 opportunities for heat pump and heat network professionals. While this scheme is funded until April 2025, decisions on future training support will form part of Spending Review 2025 (SR25). 3.3 In addition, the apprenticeship framework for heating and plumbing was recently updated to ensure it offers the right skills to deliver Net Zero and launched a new Low Carbon Heating Technician apprenticeship in Autumn 2023. This will help bring new entrants into the sector and build a sustainable skills pipeline. The government will continue to work with industry to promote awareness and uptake of this apprenticeship and explore the most effective ways to grow and diversify the installer workforce. 3.4 The Regional Skills Pilots is a £3.5 million investment in the retrofit skills supply chain across the English regions. The pilots support the five local net zero hubs to work with local delivery partners to identify and test solutions to regional challenges. As part of the pilots, over £600,000 will directly support local heat pump supply chains. Other actions include supporting further education colleges to invest in new low carbon skills training facilities and upskill teaching staff to build capacity and capability in the system. Further support for skills pilots will be subject to decisions taken at SR25. 3.5 The department has set up the Office for Clean Energy Jobs, which will support tackling workforce and skills challenges in core energy and net zero sectors, critical to meeting our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower. The Office will work with the Department for Education and support the newly established Skills England to ensure we have the skills we need to deliver the Mission, forming a view across the department to feed into Skills England’s wider assessment of the UK economy’s structural skills needs, and supporting with targeted delivery of specific policy solutions in the energy sector.