Supporting local businesses on their decarbonisation journey.

Supporting local businesses to upskill the workforce and transition to Net Zero

Enterprise Cheshire & Warrington are leading on the delivery of the Regional Skills Pilot – a government funded project designed to support local businesses on their decarbonisation journey. The project aims to bring together key local training providers and Cheshire West & Chester businesses from the energy production or carbon-intensive industries to train the workforce in the priority skills needed for the shift to ‘clean energy’.

The pilot will fund the development of new training provision, designed to meet employers’ needs and ‘test’ various training solution approaches. Training providers with strong local employer relationships within the energy/carbon-intensive sectors are encouraged to engage in the project and its 3 key activities:

Short Course Competition

Funding is available to support the development & delivery of short ‘upskilling’ courses for employers focused on the following priority skills:

• High Voltage & Electrical Safety
• Engineering, Welding & Multi-skilling
• Hydrogen & Carbon Capture Training
• Digital, Automation and Data Competency
• Environmental Compliance, HSEQ & Safety
• Clean Energy, Net Zero & Carbon Awareness

Courses should:

• Be no less than 10 GLH and no more than 4 weeks in length (this could include 1-5 day long short courses, CPD modules, or skills extension pathways/enhancements for apprentices…)
• Be delivered via an appropriate delivery mode suitable to the content being taught (this can include face-to-face, hybrid or online)
• Be delivered in conjunction with Cheshire West & Chester based employer(s) from the clean-energy sector or from energy-intensive/carbon-intensive industries
• Offer good value for money

To find out more, please contact the project team at rsp@cheshireandwarrington.com or download the application form and competition guidance.

All applications should be emailed to rsp@cheshireandwarrington.com by 5pm on Friday 14^th November 2025.

Apprenticeship Support Programme

Funding is available to support small & medium-sized businesses to engage with apprenticeships in clean-energy related sectors. If you are a local business-owner or work for a Cheshire West & Chester business that operates in the energy production or carbon-intensive industries, get in touch to find out how you can ‘hire an apprentice’ and take advantage of the project support available. 

Contact Faye Hennessey at rsp@cheshireanwarrington.com for more information.

Knowledge Transfer Programme

The Regional Skills Pilot project team are keen to engage with both local training providers and employers who can contribute to and benefit from the development of a train-the-trainer/knowledge transfer programme between education and industry focused on better aligning training solutions in the clean energy sector to employers’ need.

To find out more and register an interest in being involved, contact rsp@cheshireandwarrington.com

The Regional Skills Pilot is being delivered in association with the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero, the North West Net Zero Hub and Enterprise Cheshire & Warrington and runs until March 2026.