UK gas network could end up at risk due to jobs 'uncertainty', unions warns

GMB Scotland Secretary Rhea Wolfson said “we could end up in a very difficult situation” because of a lack of a plan “to transition skilled workers”.

Ms Wolfson also told MPs the rollout of heat pumps for domestic heating had been slow and failed to deliver promised jobs while the gas network remains crucial and demands protection.

She told the House of Commons Energy and Net Zero Committee on Wednesday morning: “The UK gas network is one of the safest and most reliable in the world, because really skilled workers maintain it.

“If you create uncertainty around such a key part of national infrastructure and workers exit because of that uncertainty, then we could end up in a very difficult situation.

“We don't have a national plan, and we certainly don't have a national plan to transition skilled workers.”

Her intervention came as the Labour government formally embedded its manifesto pledge to end new North Sea oil and gas licences in its flagship energy independence bill.

UK ministers will bring forward amendments to the legislation to support plans to scrap standing charges on household gas bills, ending the daily charge paid even when no gas is used.

Ms Wolfson told MPs around 24 million homes in the UK are connected to the gas network while only around 45,000 heat pumps are being fitted each year.

Around 6,400 were fitted in Scotland in 2023 but installations will need to triple in the next five years to meet net zero targets. The Scottish government has pledged to bring forward delayed and watered-down plans to help the shift from gas boilers to heat pumps before the summer recess.

Ms Wolfson warned ministers’ rhetoric around electrification of home heating must reflect the reality or risk undermining gas distribution networks that will be needed for decades to come.

She said: “Where we can get things really wrong is when there's a severe disconnect from what's actually happening on the shopfloor and in our homes.

“We talk about hypothetical jobs, hypothetical heat pump installations, but it’s just not happening.”

Ms Wolfson told the committee, which is investigating the future management of oil and gas, that GMB supports the drive to net zero but the transition to renewables must be measured and planned.

She said: “It feels like often we are putting the cart before the horse. We are talking about shutting down real industries and transitioning to hypothetical industries.

“Our members support decarbonisation and a jobs first transition but that cannot be managed decline dressed up as a transition that doesn't really exist.”

Wolfson said gas workers have a wealth of transferable skills but any jobs created in renewables struggle to match pay and conditions of those in existing energy industries.

She said: “The investment in the workforce isn't coming from new industries and there is lack of engagement with unions in emerging technologies.

“GMB was founded in the Beckton Gas Works, and we’ve always been a proud gas workers’ union.

“We have thousands of members in gas with comparatively good wages, terms and conditions, and consistency of contract.

“This is permanent work, and it is high density union industry that has invested consistently in apprenticeships.

“A lack of certainty and a lack of national planning means that workers are deeply concerned about the future.”