Engineering news
A fast-track scheme that has trained hundreds of skilled welders for the engineering construction sector over the past two years to meet a severe skills shortage must get government funding to continue, industry has said.
The employer-led Engineering Construction Welding programme was launched in 2013 with £2.5 million of industry and £2.5 million of government funding. The programme was a collaboration between several companies and led by Doosan Babcock and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB).
The scheme has so far trained more than 225 welders qualified to work in the nuclear, oil and gas and energy sectors.
Welding training is expensive because of the high cost of the kit and consumable materials required. The job is also seen as seasonable, because the bulk of work takes place during power station's summer shutdown periods. This means many engineering firms are reluctant to invest in training.
The skills shortage has been identified as particularly acute for “high integrity” welders, who are required to work on critical and costly parts of plant, where conditions are often restricted and inhospitable.
Training was provided for the programme by Doosan Babcock and Alstom at expanded training centres in Tipton and Stafford. The scheme allowed unemployed applicants to train to be a fully qualified welder in as little as 18 months and provided a route for more training to become a high integrity welder.
Colin Grimes, regional account manager from the ECITB, said: “It takes three to four years to get qualified as an apprentice, but it is a very expensive process.
“The scheme is over because the funding was fixed. But the qualification framework is still in place. We need more funding to continue the programme. The new nuclear builds coming up will be taking workers from other projects such as thermal power plants. The funding has to come from government for the scheme to continue.”
Martyn Fletcher, director of Doosan Babcock's Asset Support Group, said the programme had helped to “solve an endemic problem in the engineering sector” and was significantly oversubscribed, even after funding had ceased.
“We need to supply people for nuclear, oil and gas and thermal power generation and we've bought 180 new people into that area,” he said.
“But demand is growing and we still need new entrants and supervisors. There is still a skills shortage. During the peak summer period this year the shortage will be around 100 people. By 2020 it will be more than 1000 high integrity welders.
“The seasonality is still a market failure, and we don't have the constant big projects. We need pump-priming initiatives to build the pool.”
High integrity welders currently earn between £65-100,000 a year, he added, whereas craft welders can earn up to £65,000. “It's a very lucrative industry to those that can make the grade,” he added.
Phillip Parker, head of people and skills at Edf Energy, said: “We need 500 welders to build Hinkley Point C. That's a big number. A couple of hundred need to be at the high integrity end of the spectrum. We know from experience that the shortage of welders has created delay and harm to other projects.”
“One of the major advantages of the nuclear build is its longevity. It will take the best part of ten years to build Hinkley C let alone the projects after it.”
Skills minister Nick Boles said: “I'm delighted with the achievements of this programme. A college or training provider can never really understand exactly the skills needed to make someone ready to put on the line and not require constant supervision. The only technical skills training that has real value to the individual is driven by and designed by employers.
“While good high quality training has to be provided through an employer, there are sectors where they can't be certain enough to make those investments on their own, which is why we have training boards and levies. If we are re-elected we will stick to those principles.
“It's got to be led by employers and deliver high quality technical training. It has to involve collective engagement of different employers so other companies can catch the benefits where one can't.”