The Nuclear Sector Skills Team has appointed Cogent Skills to develop and deliver the Nuclear Workforce Assessment (NWA) to 2028, as part of its delivery of the Nuclear Skills Plan to grow and build a sustainable future talent pipeline.
Over the past two years, the NWA has been instrumental in supporting investment decisions on nuclear skills and recorded significant workforce growth. Being at the heart of the Nuclear Skills Plan’s response to the sector-wide workforce challenge, its findings have directly shaped the Plan and related programmes.
The commitment to 2028 will build on these foundations, with planned enhancements designed to give the nuclear sector a deeper, broader and more responsive picture of its workforce. This will span the full breadth of the sector, strengthen understanding of workforce dynamics and develop stronger links with the wider economy, all underpinned by improved data access and reporting. The NWA and associated data service will integrate with the various Nuclear Skills Plan projects and provide data to underpin progress and benefits realisation.
With the UK's nuclear sector at a pivotal moment, this will equip government, industry and education partners with the robust evidence base needed to support the nation's long-term nuclear ambitions.
Andrew Jones, Head of Research at Cogent Skills, said:
"The UK's nuclear sector is at a genuinely exciting moment. New build programmes, advanced technologies and growing defence commitments are creating real demand for skilled people, and the workforce is responding.
"The enhancements to the NWA will give government, industry and education partners the clear, reliable intelligence they need to make better decisions faster, including who to recruit, in which regions and where the gaps are, driving real action across recruitment, training and workforce planning.
"Cogent Skills has produced the NWA for ten years, reflecting how much the sector trusts our work and commitment to making sure that intelligence continues to deliver real, practical results for the sector."
Jane Squire, Deputy Director, Nuclear Sector Skills Team, said:
"In a growing sector, the Nuclear Workforce Assessment has become the shared evidence base the sector relies on to understand where demand is rising, where shortages are emerging and what we need to do about it. This contract gives us an opportunity to build in enhancements to make the assessment even more responsive and measure the impact the Nuclear Skills Plan is having, so we can target action in the right places, at the right time."
Cogent Skills will partner with the Government's Nuclear Sector Skills Team, a cross-government and industry team, and major employers across the civil and defence nuclear landscape to shape and deliver the programme, keeping pace with a sector that is changing fast.
About Cogent Skills
Cogent Skills is the sector-owned and employer-led skills body for the UK’s science industries. We bring employers together by sector to create a collaborative environment where industry, government and stakeholders can collectively tackle workforce challenges. Our insight-led approach identifies critical skills gaps and emerging workforce needs and is used to inform skills policy for the good of industry. As a skills charity, we reinvest surplus to set industry standards, influence policy and inspire future talent, ensuring the science industries have the people they need to thrive.
