Why the Water Skills Strategic Group is needed to deliver 40k jobs and a £104bn investment

With a commitment to investment over £100 billion in five years, senior leaders from across the water sector met for the first Water Skills Strategic Group to discuss how to recruit tens of thousands of new workers. Paul Cox, Group Chief Executive of Energy & Utility Skills, co-chaired the meeting.

The scale of the challenge

The first meeting of the Water Skills Strategic Group took place at a time of significant pressure, change and opportunity for England and Wales. Water and sewage companies, major contractors, industry bodies and government departments came together in recognition of the scale of the work ahead: ageing networks, rising public concern about pollution, and the growing effects of climate change through more frequent storms, flooding and droughts all place greater demands on the system.

Yet across the sector there is extensive work already underway. Companies are investing, modernising and working to improve performance, and the new Group provides the forum to build on this progress by bringing local and regional efforts together into a coherent national approach that ensures enough skilled and ambitious people, in the right places, with the right expertise and competence, to secure high quality and resilient services for the long term.

The regulator Ofwat has approved water company plans to invest £104 billion over five years into infrastructure and environmental upgrades. Meanwhile the Independent Water Commission chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe has recommended restructuring the regulatory system by bringing economic, environmental and quality oversight into a single body.

The economic importance of water infrastructure cannot be understated: the government ambitions to grow the economy cannot happen without reliable and modern water systems. Energy & Utility Skills workforce demand estimates state that to achieve these changes will require 30,000 new jobs by 2030 that, when factoring in retirements, will open opportunities for more than 40,000 people.

But the competition for skills has never been higher: energy, construction, digital technology and utilities all draw from the same labour market. The water sector’s responsibility is to present a compelling and ambitious offer, backed by strong evidence, clear pathways to competence and consistent training and qualifications.

To achieve this, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), partnering with Energy & Utility Skills, has created the Water Skills Strategic Group to provide strategic oversight, leadership and alignment on skills, competence and workforce planning across the sector, and to ensure the sector’s needs are represented across government by DEFRA ministers and officials.

A sector united in purpose

The first meeting of the Group last week marked an important moment for England and Wales. Attendees represented water and sewage companies, water companies and major supply chain contractors, supported by industry bodies and multiple government departments, including the water and flooding minister.

The purpose was clear: the sector must have enough skilled and ambitious people, in the right places, with the right expertise and competence, to deliver high quality and resilient water and wastewater services now and in the long term. To achieve this, the significant work already underway across individual companies and regions must be built upon and strengthened through partnership to create a coherent national system.

Alongside reservoir development, the latest round of investment will see major upgrades to distribution networks, treatment works and monitoring systems to improve efficiency, reduce leakage and enhance water quality. Modernisation demands expertise in civil engineering, digital monitoring, tunnelling and large scale project delivery, as well as emerging capabilities in smart water management and environmental compliance. The scale of investment also requires increased capacity and expertise in procurement, project management, legal and finance roles to plan, procure and deliver programmes at pace with strong assurance, contract management and governance throughout.

The Group’s terms of reference were discussed at length. Attendees emphasised the importance of recognising the impact of the funding cycle on people and skills, and how its five-year cyclical pattern can make long-term retention and training more challenging. Minister for Water and Flooding Emma Hardy said that government thinking is evolving towards a longer-term view of investment and workforce needs. Attendees also sought assurance that the different devolution and funding arrangements between England and Wales will be reflected in the final terms of reference. The Group was united in its intent to work at pace and achieve a step change for the sector.

Four workstreams to deliver change

Four workstreams will drive the programme. These will be timebound and will report deliverables to the quarterly meetings of the Strategic Group. DEFRA will provide the secretariat and project management functions to ensure neutrality and enable cross government coordination. Workstreams may also draw upon specialist expertise from outside the Group’s core membership to maximise impact and delivery.

The first workstream, Data and Labour Market Intelligence, will give a consistent national and regional picture of the workforce required to deliver the reforms. Understanding how many people are needed, in which roles and in which locations, is essential. At the Group’s first meeting it was agreed that this workstream will also map existing training centres and capability to create a single view that can inform action. The Group also supported the need for a forward look over the next 10 to 15 years to ensure future policy and investment decisions are based on robust evidence.

The second workstream, Sector Attraction, will build a unified narrative that sets out the scale of opportunity in water and the purpose driven nature of careers in the sector. Attendees were keen to see the breadth of both frontline and business support roles represented, and to ensure activity covers school leavers through to career switchers. A representative from HM Prison and Probation Service highlighted good practice is already underway within some companies and there is an opportunity to expand these approaches nationally. Attendees agreed that the narrative must be adopted and amplified across the sector if it is to influence, persuade and inspire.

The third workstream, Workforce Competence, will ensure the sector has the training, schemes, qualifications, degrees and apprenticeships required for workforce growth, competence and long-term resilience. In the short term it will focus on the sector’s Growth and Skills Levy requirements and on ensuring that the reform of apprenticeship standard assessment plans delivers safety, consistency and trust.

The fourth workstream, Monitoring and Evaluation, will track progress against agreed deliverables and monitor delivery of the pledges made at the recent Water UK Skills Summit. It will provide ongoing insight that allows the Group to adjust its focus as reform develops.

Evidence and collaboration at the core

Discussion reinforced the need for evidence to guide decisions. Workforce shortages are already visible across operational roles, engineering, digital capability and specialist occupations. The Group agreed that action must be informed by the best available data, with strong coordination between water companies, contractors and training providers. A shared view of national and regional gaps will support targeted investment, prevent duplication and enable clear discussions with regulators about the workforce needed to deliver customer and environmental outcomes.

Finally, the Water Skills Strategic Group demonstrated the value of collaboration. Water companies and supply chain firms cannot resolve workforce challenges alone. Neither can government, industry bodies or training providers. The Strategic Group provides a single national forum where policy, investment and delivery in skills can align. Its work will inform the operational and technical work undertaken through the Energy & Utility Skills led Water Skills and Competence Steering Group, ensuring a clear line from practical action through to national strategy implementation driven by the DEFRA led Water Delivery Taskforce.

This first meeting set a strong foundation. The commitment to work together, to share evidence openly and to focus on the priorities that will make the greatest difference gives confidence that the sector is ready to meet the scale of the challenge. Delivering water sector reform depends on people. The work of this Group will ensure those people are in place.

By Paul Cox, Group Chief Executive at the Energy & Utility Skills