The Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) has urged the Government to rethink how it plans to staff the UK’s home electrification drive, warning that the newly published Warm Homes Plan places heavy delivery expectations on industry without ensuring the workforce is properly supported, or even represented.
The Warm Homes Plan, published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) last week, sets out the Government’s approach to cutting energy bills and upgrading homes, backed by a £15 billion public funding commitment through to 2030.
Alongside measures intended to accelerate retrofits and low-carbon technologies, DESNZ has also set up a Warm Homes Plan Workforce Taskforce, co-led by DESNZ and the TUC, covering job roles linked to batteries, insulation, heat networks, heat pumps and solar panels.
The ECA’s core complaint is that, despite electrical installers being central to the ‘final mile’ of safe, compliant installations, there is no electrotechnical industry representation listed among the taskforce’s co-chairs or core members.
‘A shrinking electrical workforce’
In a statement, Keith Sanderson, Head of Skills Delivery at ECA, said the plan missed an opportunity to shore up long-term skills provision at a time when the sector is under pressure.
He noted, “With a shrinking electrical workforce, it is disappointing the Warm Homes Plan does not provide any support or incentives to training providers or businesses offering apprenticeships. As technologies become more complex and digital systems require increasing integration, upskilling will not solve all the needs of the energy transition. Apprenticeships remain the industry’s preferred training route. Short upskilling courses can only deliver if they are developed with genuine input from the industry.”
The Warm Homes Plan is intended to support a step-change in home upgrades, with Government messaging focused on lowering bills, reducing fuel poverty and accelerating the take-up of technologies such as insulation and low-carbon heating. But the ECA argues that delivery is only as strong as the skills and competence of the people installing, connecting and commissioning those systems – particularly as homes become more electrified and more digitally integrated.
Taskforce membership in the spotlight
DESNZ’s published terms of reference list the taskforce co-chairs as Minister McCluskey (Minister for Energy Consumers, DESNZ) and Kate Bell (Assistant General Secretary, TUC). Core members include representatives from the GMB and Unite unions, the National Home Improvement Council, Ashden/National Retrofit Hub, E3G, the Mayoral Council for England, the Construction Industry Training Board, and Energy UK.
ECA is not listed, and the trade body says that absence matters because electrical contractors are responsible for ensuring installations meet the competence and safety requirements that ultimately underpin electrification at scale.
Jane Dawson, Head of External Affairs at ECA, said the omission could have consequences for training design and safety outcomes. She commented, “The twice delayed and highly anticipated Warm Homes Plan provides little solace for the electrical contracting industry. Electrical installers, who deliver the ‘final mile’ of electrical cabling, technologies and systems, are notably without representation on the new Warm Homes Workforce Taskforce. This leaves the UK’s energy transition in peril. A Taskforce without an understanding of the competence and safety standards required, risks training a workforce unprepared for the challenges ahead—and that potentially puts lives at risk.”
The ECA is calling on the Government to revise the taskforce’s composition to include electrotechnical expertise, arguing that this would help ensure training pathways and competency frameworks reflect the realities of modern electrical installation – including the growing overlap between electrical work, low-carbon technologies, and digital controls.
What the ECA wants next
In practical terms, the trade body wants the Government to put apprenticeships on a firmer footing within the Warm Homes Plan’s workforce approach, including:
- Targeted investment in apprenticeship programmes;
- Clearer support for training providers and employers delivering apprenticeships; and
- More structured collaboration across the wider built environment sector, with electrotechnical standards treated as a foundation rather than an afterthought.
