The government has awarded organisations with funding to deliver accredited training programmes to boost the numbers of skilled retrofit, energy efficiency and heat pump installation workers.
The funding will help initiate the rollout of thousands of training courses across England to develop the skilled workforce of the future that is fit for the green economy.
The courses will deliver more heat pump and energy efficiency installers, as the government announces the winners of the Home Decarbonisation Skills Training competition.
Shining a light on the huge scope for economic growth and job creation in the green energy sector, the £9.2 million funding will go toward providing free and heavily subsidised training opportunities to upskill people that will become installers of clean heating and energy efficiency measures.
The funding will see training providers deliver 8,900 courses at accredited centres across England.
With more skilled people able to install energy efficiency solutions, it will only grow the expanding number of households saving money on their energy bills each year and make homes greener as the UK transitions to net-zero.
Business and energy minister, Lord Callanan, commented: “The green energy sector is driving growth and creating jobs right across the country, and this funding will make sure we have enough tradespeople trained up and able to take advantage of these opportunities.
“We are making homes greener and cheaper to keep warm and training thousands more skilled installers will ensure we keep accelerating the pace of creating cleaner and more energy efficient buildings.”
The government has already committed £6 billion of funding to 2028 to make homes more energy efficient, on top of £6.6 billion already pledged during this Parliament.
A further £4 billion has been pledged through the ECO4 scheme, which is delivering home insulation measures to low income and more vulnerable households, and the £1 billion ECO+ scheme, which will install measures in households who have previously not been able to access support through the Energy Company Obligation scheme.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy [BEIS] has said that improving the energy efficiency of homes is the best long-term method of cutting household energy use and bringing down bills. Government funding for upskilling the green workforce will be critical to helping deliver the people to facilitate the green transition.
The funding will provide training for people already working in the heating and plumbing sector who are looking to retrain or grow their existing skills, as well as for those looking to enter and work in the energy efficiency, building retrofit and low carbon heating sectors, building both the overall number and skill levels of trained installers across England.
Training through the latest round of the Home Decarbonisation Skills Training competition will be delivered until March 31, 2023, following on from the last round of funding in 2021 when the government invested £6 million. This investment delivered just shy of 7,000 new training opportunities.
Organisations that have been successful in the latest funding round will provide appropriate installer training that will culminate in a recognised NVQ qualification or equivalent, as well as Continuing Professional Development-style short courses.
Image by Phyxter Home Services - Heat Pump Installation, on Wikimedia Commons
