UK Power Networks owns and runs the cables and substations which deliver electricity from the national grid to 8.5 million homes and businesses across London, the South East and East of England, serving approximately 20 million people.
As the country’s biggest electricity distributor, it has invested more than £6.4 billion in its electricity networks since 2011, focusing on safety, network reliability, sustainability and affordability by caring for vulnerable customers and keeping costs low. It was named Utility of the Year in 2023, 2016, 2015 and 2012. It is also a founder member of the Levelling up Coalition, second on the UK Inclusive Companies list as well as one of only 5% of companies worldwide to achieve Platinum Investors in People status.
UK Power Networks doesn’t just provide student work experience when a parent requests it. Behind its carefully tailored programmes is a targeted aim to boost social mobility for young people in the areas where it delivers power.
This ambition far transcends what many would expect of a humble utility. The team can actually change lives and prospects for the next generation of UK workers. Against the backdrop of a traditionally-male dominated, specialist industry, the company strives for inclusivity in both its work experience and recruitment efforts – to inspire young men and women from diverse or disadvantaged backgrounds who may never have considered a career in the energy industry for themselves. We now have a fulltime apprentice who came to us on work experience programme for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds.
As the first distribution network operator to partner with the Purpose Coalition on the Levelling Up agenda, UK Power Networks published an Action Plan to assess the work that it was already doing to drive social mobility, demonstrating impact in at least five of the key areas covered by the Purpose Goals framework. The Plan proposed a number of ways that the company where it could go even further. Much of that focus was on improving its community impact through school, youth and adult programmes with clear outcomes. It continues to leverage its best practice to extend its work in delivering social impact towards specific opportunity gaps that the Purpose Coalition identified in the communities it serves.
The provision of a range of realistic work placements is a vital element of that and now we’re starting to employ the brightest stars from these programmes by offering them fulltime jobs. This included a partnership with youth empowerment charity Urban Synergy where 12 students aged 16-18, spent a month at the energy firm completing the DREAM programme, developing skills they could use for future employment. The group worked across various departments in the company, including asset management, employee engagement, communications and procurement. Upon completion, trainees were rewarded with certificates and received further mentorship to boost their job prospects and confidence.
UK Power Networks’ training centres passed their first full Ofsted inspection rating ‘Good’ with two areas as ‘Outstanding’ – apparently is quite unusual for a first inspection. The company delivers 100 apprenticeships at any one time to enable access to traditional and emerging careers. Its recruitment team works hard to make them as accessible as possible, targeting schools in the most deprived areas and looking at harder to reach groups such as NEETS and those from underrepresented groups. It has a real ambition to introduce a culture change in its apprenticeship offering to include digital and the technology helping the company to enable the transition to Net Zero.
That ambition also extends to getting more girls interested in the STEM subjects that are the foundation of many of the new employment options available to young people. Historically less informed and less attracted to these careers, businesses like UK Power Networks recognise that it makes good business sense to tap into all the talent that is available. It is showing positive results with 75% of the most recent cohort on the Powering Potential programme female. A recent insight day by some of its female staff at Colchester Library on Women in Engineering Day was well received by four local schools.
The world is an uncertain place at the moment with domestic and global issues that will challenge everyone. With the pressures after the pandemic and the growing cost of living crisis impacting young people in particular, there has never been a more important time to work towards a more positive future, equipped with up-to-date skills and practical knowledge that will prove an asset in today’s labour market. Purpose-led businesses like UK Power Networks can lead the way in creating the opportunities that will help them get there.
