Why do we need the Nuclear Skills Passport?

Currently, to address the peaks and troughs of skills demand in the Nuclear sector, employers recruit, train and develop employees as and when staff are needed.

For employers this raises the following issues;

• Continual high costs of recruitment and training.
• Negative socio-economic impact (loss of local skills base).
• Lack of availability of staff required.
• Difficult to compete for tenders (no evidence of staff competence and expertise).

The Nuclear Skills Passport will address these issues by enabling employers to;

• Reduce costs by focusing on re-skilling and up skilling the current workforce, rather than recruiting and training new staff.
• Contractors will be in a stronger position to tender for new work as they will be able to evidence the skills and competence of their workforce to nationally recognised standards.
• Enhances the image of the sector by demonstrating that nuclear employers value and invest in staff training and development, thus aiding recruitment.
• Retain and develop local people for local jobs (positive socio economic impact).
• Substantial cost reductions and time savings by reducing the need for repeat and duplicate training as people and companies move from one site to another.
• Have the desired impact on the sector the Passport requires an Industry wide approach to develop and retain the Nuclear UK skills base.