Retrofit jobs report
How works and training organisations can support good, local skills development
With case studies and practical examples, our report offers insights and guidance for policy-makers, funders, and retrofit practitioners.
The UK needs at least 200,000 more skilled workers to make its homes and other buildings warm and energy efficient. Growing the workforce is vital to hitting net zero targets, and to tackling the health and economic costs of fuel poverty.
More hands are required to improve insulation and tackle draughts, and to install new technologies such as solar panels and heat pumps. But the UK’s repair, maintenance and installation workforce is getting older and the skills system is not delivering enough new plumbers, heating engineers and builders.
Innovative works and training organisations (WATOs) can play an important role building retrofit jobs, in communities across the UK. These organisations offer trainees full-time employment, and prioritise ‘on-the-job’ learning. This means that as well as delivering retrofit services, they are well placed to attract new talent into the sector.
WATOs offer a supportive work and learning environment – boosting their appeal to diverse or disadvantaged trainees. As a result, they are well placed to play a role in the government’s Warm Homes Plan, which promises ‘good skilled jobs for tradespeople in every part of the country’.
Our new report draws on real-world examples to explore the value of these organisations – and how they can be supported to grow and deliver maximum impact. It was funded by MCS Foundation.
Three recommendations from our report:
1 – The launch of WATOs using shared prosperity or philanthropic funding. These can then earn revenue from government training grants and construction projects. More funding could be unlocked by enforcing social value obligations on large contractors, who might not otherwise create the local benefits of WATOs and similar organisations.
2 – Reforms to the way retrofit for social housing is procured, made possible by long-term government funding. Long-term partnerships between social housing providers and WATOs have significant potential.
3 – Support for WATOs to deliver a broad range of construction services to the social housing sector – such as aids and adaptations for disabled residents and general repairs, as well as energy efficiency work. This would protect organisations from the stop-start nature of government retrofit funding.
“The size of the environmental, social, and economic challenges surrounding retrofit scale-up have been well-known for a long time. However, skills shortages persist and are only likely to widen on current trajectories.
More radical and game-changing solutions are required. Ashden’s report on local Works and Training Organisations (WATOs) identifies and contextualises one major opportunity that has been previously overlooked by researchers, policymakers, clients and industry.
The report makes a compelling case for the system-changing potential of WATOs to ramp up retrofit skills provision in local areas, deliver good jobs, and high-quality installations. Crucially, Ashden’s work here on WATOs goes beyond just the ‘why’ to also start building the ‘how’ that will prove invaluable for anyone exploring practical steps to scale-up retrofit delivery”.
Michael Dickinson, Director, B4Box