Unlocking the skills to power a greener future
By Simon Ayers MBE, Chief Executive Officer of TrustMark
The UK’s path to widespread adoption of energy efficiency and low carbon home improvements is not short of ambition. We have the vision, the technological innovations, and the political momentum to transform our homes and communities with clean energy. Yet, beneath the surface of this bold national aspiration lies a critical and increasingly urgent challenge: we simply don’t have enough skilled people to do the work.
TrustMark’s recently published Skilled to Build report, based on the insights of over 1,200 small and micro businesses, lays bare a worrying truth: 79% of renewables firms are currently facing vacancies, and 42% report severe skills shortages. These figures don’t just represent workforce gaps, they represent real barriers to the installation of air source heat pumps, solar PV, insulation, and other key components of the UK’s decarbonisation strategy.
In this article, Simon Ayers explores the barriers holding the clean technology sector back and outlines four pragmatic actions that, if taken now, can unlock the workforce potential we need to power a greener, more prosperous future.
Accessing opportunities provided by new technologies
Small and micro businesses are the bedrock of the UK’s Repair, Maintenance and Improvement (RMI) and construction sectors. They make up 95% of the RMI sector, employing over a million people across the country. Firms installing clean technologies are struggling to find qualified staff, despite the long-term security and pay that careers in this sector can offer.
Compounding the challenge is the age profile of the existing workforce. A staggering 44% of workers in the RMI sector are over the age of 55, with nearly a quarter planning to semi-retire or leave the industry in the next three years. Many of these businesses lack succession plans, meaning up to 39,000 firms could disappear from the sector in the next decade. We are not just running short on workers. We are running out of time.
Barriers to progress
What’s holding us back from building this workforce? Our research uncovered three main bottlenecks:
- Burdensome Bureaucracy
44% of businesses cite complex paperwork and processes as a barrier to hiring and training. Nearly 40% face similar hurdles when trying to recruit apprentices. The administrative burden is particularly hard on smaller firms without in-house HR or legal departments.
- Lack of access to quality training
Apprenticeship schemes — crucial pipelines for new talent — are underutilised and underperforming. Only 34% of businesses surveyed had hired a young apprentice in the last three years, and completion rates for construction apprenticeships have fallen sharply (from 55% in 2017/18 to just 35% in 2022/23).
- Underutilised financial incentives
Despite the availability of support like the Apprenticeship Levy and funding from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), awareness and access remain low. Only 7% of businesses surveyed had used the Apprenticeship Levy, and just 21% accessed CITB funding. The flat £1,000 grant for hiring an apprentice is widely viewed as inadequate.
In a sector already stretched by tight margins and short-term job pipelines, these barriers have an alarming effect on recruitment and training. Unless addressed, they will continue to undermine the industry’s ability to scale up for the transition to more energy efficient technologies.
Unlocking a greener workforce future
We believe the solution is not to create entirely new systems, but to better join up and strengthen those we already have. Based on the views of the businesses we surveyed, we are calling for a four-part action plan:
- Incentivise retraining and integrate trades into the curriculum
We must embed clean technology skills into the DNA of our education and training systems. This starts in schools, where trade careers should be treated with the same respect as academic or office-based roles.
Subjects like woodwork, metalwork and renewable energy systems should be reintroduced and modernised within the curriculum. Trade professionals, many of whom are nearing retirement and willing to give back, can be mobilised to mentor young people, deliver career talks, and even co-develop course content.
At the same time, colleges and training providers need support to modernise courses and offer pathways into green technologies that are visible, accessible and aligned with industry needs.
- Simplify the recruitment process for small firms
We need to create a respected, easy-to-use facilitation service that connects businesses with candidates who have been trained and vetted. This service should include:
- Templates and toolkits for onboarding and compliance.
- “Try-before-you-buy” schemes to trial new recruits.
- Centralised databases for qualified candidates.
This system could be co-developed with the Department for Education and Department for Business and Trade, in collaboration with TrustMark, CITB and other industry leaders.
- Raise awareness and access to training incentives
There is no shortage of funding — only a shortage of accessibility. It is vital that more is done to promote these schemes and simplify the process for accessing them. That includes revisiting the use of unspent levy funds and ensuring smaller businesses — who lack bid-writing teams — can benefit without red tape.
- Build clean tech skills by upskilling the existing workforce
We don’t need to build a new renewables workforce from scratch, but we do need to transition and upskill the one we already have. With the right training and financial support, traditional trades like plumbing, heating and electrical installation can adapt to deliver modern low carbon systems.
Our survey shows that 44% of businesses are willing to retrain but need financial help to do so, and 20% want dedicated training centres for renewables. If the government can kickstart consumer demand through incentives and regulation, the market will follow and so will the skilled jobs.
From skills gap to skills revolution
We have the data and we have the industry will, so what we need now is urgent, co-ordinated action to overcome the workforce barriers to Net Zero. This is not about throwing more money at the problem, it is about joining up the dots by connecting education, funding, and businesses in a cohesive system that works for small firms as well as large.
With focused investment in skills and smarter support for the workforce we already have, we can unlock the economic and environmental potential of the green transition. At TrustMark, we stand ready to help facilitate that transformation. Let’s not allow a skills gap to stall our progress. Instead, let’s build a skilled, competent, and confident workforce so we are ready to power the homes and technologies of tomorrow.
To read the full report, visit www.trustmark.org.uk/pages/skills-gap-research
