In their final year, CAT students produce a dissertation in which they explore and research solutions to the challenges of the climate and nature crises. CAT graduate Charlotte Ravenscroft shares her analysis of Local Skills Improvement Plans in England and how they are affecting progress on retrofitting homes.

In the Climate Change Committee’s words, meeting the UK’s emissions targets will require ‘near complete decarbonisation of the housing stock’. The Committee has highlighted the need for steep increases in skilled workers to retrofit millions of homes between 2020 and 2050, including replacing the nation’s mainly gas boilers with low-carbon heating. In total, more than 250,000 fulltime-equivalent workers are forecast to be needed.

For my MSc dissertation, I decided to investigate how this was going in England. After an initial search, I could find little evidence that anything was being done in policy terms to build retrofit skills. The Climate Change Committee’s 2023 assessment had deemed progress on skills as ‘significantly off track’.

The literature pointed to difficulties for tenants and homeowners in finding suitable contractors, even when previous government schemes had provided vouchers to pay for retrofitting measures. Meanwhile, there were plenty of news stories about mouldy homes, botched spray insulation and flammable cladding, demonstrating the harms caused by a lack of skills, knowledge and regulation. As other researchers had concluded before me, leaving retrofit skills development to the market wasn’t working.

Local Skills Improvement Plans

However, potentially promising was the recent launch of Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) in England by the Department for Education. Following legislation in 2022, these plans would be drawn up in each area during 2023 to advise local further education (FE) colleges about future local skills needs. They would cover whatever was deemed a priority locally – from AI to healthcare, tourism to net zero. Colleges would then be required to meet these future skills needs. An employer body was appointed in each area to lead the process of developing the LSIPs.

So it was a fortunate coincidence of timing for my research, that a nationwide exercise of skills planning was underway. In summer 2023 the 38 LSIPs produced nationally were published. My research question asked: Would these new LSIPs highlight the importance of retrofit skills and lead to more people being trained? Would this be sufficient to get retrofit skills back on track?

LSIP research findings

Reviewing the LSIPs in autumn 2023, it was quickly apparent what a mixed bag they were. A few plans highlighted retrofitting as a major, urgent priority, with the need to upskill tens of thousands of workers locally. But others didn’t mention it at all or only very briefly (see figure 1).

Reading through the plans in more detail, it was clear from the LSIP reports that the majority of employers did not yet understand the skills required to achieve decarbonisation / net zero:

‘There is currently a lack of knowledge and understanding of Net Zero within the construction sector regarding practices, new skills, and technologies. For example, the impact of the retrofit agenda on the UK’s Net Zero target is poorly understood.’ North of Tyne LSIP, p9

‘According to labour market data… there is a specific need for workers with skills in energy efficiency and low-carbon transition within sectors like construction… However, feedback from employers in the region indicates a limited awareness and understanding of climate literacy.’ Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire LSIP, p20

Even where there was basic awareness around decarbonisation, construction firms were not planning to upskill their workforce:

‘While there is no mandatory requirement in law, many do not see it as a priority and therefore do not have it as part of their plans either in upskilling their current workforce or recruiting for roles.’ Lancashire LSIP, p23

‘…there is a need, but until there is increased consumer demand for retrofitting, employers – most of which are SMEs – are reluctant to invest in training.’ Enterprise M3 (including all of Surrey) LSIP, p12

‘When asked about Green Skills for the future most businesses (95%) highlighted recycling as a priority skill… [Actions] that require higher investment…came much lower in their priorities.’ Liverpool City Region LSIP, p6, p24

Meanwhile, many LSIPs reported existing skills shortages and recruitment challenges within the construction sector, due to Brexit and other factors. This suggests it could be an uphill struggle to fill retrofit skills gaps with new recruits: ‘Severe lack of young people choosing a career in construction.’ Buckinghamshire LSIP, p10

‘The construction sector is projected to become Dorset’s second biggest employment growth sector by 2035, currently the eighth. Recruiting enough employees to fulfil need will be arguably its greatest challenge.’ Dorset LSIP, p8

Overall, my analysis of LSIPs served to reinforce previous researchers’ conclusions that retrofit skills aren’t going to build themselves.

What next for skills policy?

As the final part of my dissertation, I interviewed seven experts about my findings and they were generally not surprised. One explained why employer driven LSIPs aren’t sufficient on their own to address the retrofit skills challenge:

“The trouble is…the employer view is very much: what do we need in the next six months… So if employers say what we’re short of is scaffolders, let’s spend some money on some scaffolder training… You’re not going to solve retrofit by every six to 12 months saying, ‘Right, what’s the shortage that we can foresee on the horizon?’ You need to take a long-term strategic view and you need to take the industry with you over a period of at least five years, probably 10 or longer.” Expert interviewee

I asked the experts for their policy recommendations. Broadly, their consensus was that a national strategy for retrofitting is needed, which sets higher quality standards so that training effectively becomes mandatory. Longer-term funding for government retrofit programmes would help build market confidence so firms pursue training – but microbusinesses would also need subsidies for training.

Moreover, every new entrant to the construction sector needs to learn basic building physics, so they understand how their chosen trade contributes to a building’s energy efficiency and thermal comfort. This is going to require colleges and awarding bodies to update their courses and qualifications.

In conclusion, only by combining a series of policy interventions – simultaneously on the demand and supply sides – are we likely to see a breakthrough in retrofit skills nationally.

About the author

Charlotte Ravenscroft completed her MSc in January 2024. The Gatsby Charitable Foundation published her research in June 2024. Charlotte is now working on a further project for the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, Ashden and the National Retrofit Hub that builds on he research.

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