Urgent action needed to secure skilled electrical workforce for future growth

A new report from JTL, Powering the Future: Securing a Skilled Electrical Workforce to Deliver Growth, reveals a critical shortfall in England’s electrical workforce—one that could jeopardise delivery of major housing, clean energy, infrastructure and AI projects.

Alongside these findings, the report also launches a first-of-its-kind national projection model for the electrical industry, designed to offer long-term, data-driven insight into workforce size, skills levels and sector resilience over a 15-year horizon.

Developed by JTL in collaboration with industry partners including the ECA, TESP, JIB, NET, NICEIC and Electrical Safety First, the model captures not only volumes of electricians but also competence within the workforce —defined as “Skilled Person Density”—giving Government and industry leaders a powerful tool for forecasting and planning at a time of rising demand and chronic under-supply.

Together, the report and model present a stark warning: the electrical workforce has already declined by over 26% since 2018, and without urgent action, could shrink by another 32% by 2038—significantly impairing the UK’s ability to meet net zero goals and national infrastructure targets.

The Workforce Crisis: Key Findings

The report reveals that the electrical workforce in England has declined by 26.2% since 2018, falling from 214,200 to just 158,000 electricians in 2024. This trend is expected to continue without targeted intervention, with projections indicating a further decline of up to 32% by 2038, which could leave the workforce critically undersized and unable to meet national infrastructure demands.

Despite a recent uptick in apprenticeship starts, the current level—approximately 7,540 per year—is insufficient to replace those leaving the workforce. To stabilise electrical workforce numbers and maintain competence in this safety-critical industry, over 10,500 new apprenticeship starts are needed annually. JTL currently supports between a quarter and a third of all new electrical starts, demonstrating its central role in the skills pipeline.

The report also raises concerns about the skill and competence levels within the workforce. Maintaining safety standards in this highly regulated sector requires a focus not only on growing the number of workers but also on ensuring they are fully qualified. In addition to increased apprenticeship starts, significant improvements in apprenticeship achievement rates and sustained uptake of alternative qualification routes such as NVQs and Experienced Worker Assessments are required to ensure that the overall ‘Skilled Person Density’ within the workforce meets employer needs.

The report highlights that current workforce planning and policy are misaligned with future demand. Government strategies do not yet reflect the scale of skilled labour needed to deliver planned housing, infrastructure, and clean energy projects. Without an urgent policy shift and systemic investment, the sector could face worsening skill shortages, cost escalation, and missed targets.

Recommendations from the Report:

The report calls for urgent action to address the crisis, including:

• Set National Apprenticeship Targets: Skills England should publish data driven targets for electrical apprenticeship starts, aligned with infrastructure and clean energy needs. This must include a robust action plan to increase uptake.
• Reform Apprenticeship Funding: Funding levels have not kept pace with rising delivery costs. JTL calls for annual funding uplifts in line with CPI and a re-evaluation of the funding formula to reflect the true cost of delivering high-quality, safety-critical training.
• Boost Achievement Rates: Improve quality and reduce barriers to completion. Higher achievement rates would lower the number of starts required to maintain workforce levels without compromising on competence.
• Incentivise Employers: Financial incentives and tax reliefs should be introduced for SMEs, which account for 80% of electrical apprenticeships. An industry-led campaign should target these businesses to boost awareness and uptake.
• Target resources to impactful training programmes: The Government should monitor training programmes to assess outcomes and input to the workforce more closely, ensuring resources are better aligned based on the impact for industry. 

Developed in partnership with the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), The Electrotechnical Skills Partnership (TESP), Joint Industry Board (JIB) and National Electrotechnical Training (NET), the forecasting model in the report is the first of its kind to assess not only workforce numbers but also competence – exemplified by possession of an ECS Gold Card. It enables users to model how different policy interventions will impact both workforce size and skilled person density over time, while offering a clear roadmap to reversing the decline and securing a skilled electrical workforce for the future.

Chris Claydon, CEO of JTL, said:

“We are at a tipping point. The demand for skilled electricians is rising, but the workforce is shrinking. If we don’t act now, the UK will struggle to meet its housing, clean energy and infrastructure goals. Apprenticeships remain the gold standard for training competent electricians, but we need a comprehensive policy shift—better funding, stronger employer incentives, and coordinated leadership to reverse the trend.”

Andrew Eldred, Deputy Chief Executive of the ECA, said:

"Electricians are essential for the transition to cleaner energy, installing new technologies like energy storage systems and solar panels, and need to be front and centre of planning for the skills pipeline. JTL’s projection model is an extremely useful tool for the electrical industry and should also be utilised by policymakers as a priority.

"Only by targeting available funding to where it has the most impact – away from classroom-only theory courses and towards apprenticeships and other industry-recognised training routes – can we increase the size of the active electrical workforce and maintain competence to ensure the safety and reliability of net zero and other electrotechnical systems.”

Lesley Rudd, Chief Executive of Electrical Safety First said:

"We welcome the Powering our Future report. With the shift towards full electrification of the built environment, it's imperative we have an adequately sized, skilled and qualified workforce, capable of delivering the safe transition to a low-carbon future. Apprenticeships are fundamental in achieving the depth, level of knowledge and practical experience needed for delivering this, and it's key these are adequately supported.”