Employment support for oil and gas worker transition
Over a thousand workers will be given tailored support to move to industries such as clean energy, says the UK Government.
The new scheme will give current and former oil and gas workers who live anywhere in Scotland specialist training support, if they wish to transfer their skills to sectors under the energy transition.
The skills programme across Scotland is backed by a total of £6mln from the UK and Scottish Governments, after a pilot scheme in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. In the pilot, more than 400 North Sea workers have been helped to retrain for energy transition roles.
The government highlights that this follows the decision last year to continue the management of existing North Sea oil and gas fields through their lifetime and support new investment through Transitional Energy Certificates.
It reports that latest industry figures show more than 1,500 new jobs were supported in Scotland's electricity networks in the last two years, while Renewables UK says that 2025 saw UK wind industry jobs reach a record high of ~55,000.
The scheme is also being expanded to provide training support in other growing sectors, including advanced manufacturing, life sciences and defence - where the skills and expertise of oil and gas workers are in demand.
Workers will soon be able to access support from a new North Sea Jobs Service that will offer end-to-end career support for oil and gas workers to take up new opportunities in growing sectors.
Oil and gas workers are also benefitting from the Energy Skills Passport, in collaboration with industry and Scottish Government, which helps workers to identify routes into several roles in offshore wind including construction and maintenance. This is reported to be expanded to include more clean energy sectors over time.
