Port Talbot Skills Academy pledges to retrain 300 ex-steelworkers

Tata Steel subsidiary UKSE has supported a Port Talbot welding skills academy aiming to retrain 300 ex-steelworkers and provide the platform to eventually create more than 50 new jobs.

UKSE has provided a six-figure loan to local engineering contractor JES which is greatly increasing the capacity of its training centre. The firm has been a key contractor to the Tata Steel works, their business relationship stretching back some 40 years.

The JES Skills Academy plans to eventually have 80 training bays where fabrication, welding and pipework will be taught offering new career paths to people leaving the steelworks and to others who want to follow this career.

The company is investing in and  expanding the state-of-the-art centre, and has made a commitment to offer the training to up to 300 former Tata Steel employees, as well as a range of other candidates, in the next 12 months to set them on fresh career paths.

In the longer term, the firm is aiming to diversify into new markets including oil and gas, petrochemical, renewables and nuclear energy and expand creating between 50 to 100 skilled and semi-skilled jobs based around the workforce trained at the Skills Academy.

The Academy, launched last year to support JES apprentices, has drawn praise from politicians in the UK and Welsh Governments, including local MP Stephen Kinnock. Support for the project has also come from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

It will offer comprehensive, face-to-face training, both hands-on and classroom based,  and with their qualifications students will able to take their skills out into the workplace, said Head of the Academy Sam Owen.

“Our professional team of tutors will operate a range of courses for which we leverage all possible funding support from Government and other agencies.

“We are not just about training, but about enabling people to step into work when they leave us,” he added.

JES Director Justin Johnson explained that demand for welding and associated skills was extremely high across the UK. “Research by the Engineering and Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) demonstrates a nationwide shortage in this area and demand will almost certainly increase in years to come.

“Locally, the new Celtic Freeport in Port Talbot is planned to be a source of jobs fabricating on and offshore wind turbines and other structures in the drive towards energy efficiency and Net Zero,” he said.

The need to bring younger people into the fabrication sector has been highlighted by ECITB research, which shows that 40% of the workforce is over the age of 50. “This is very concerning and underlines the need for training, so that knowledge is passed onto a new generation,” added Mr Johnson.

JES was founded in 1982 by Justin’s father, Viv in a small workshop in Taibach as a pipework fabricator and installer, and has since grown into a multi-disciplined engineering contractor offering design, drilling, demolition and a range of other services. The company has been a preferred supplier for 42 years to Tata Steel and its previous owners, as well as to other industries in the area, and now has a workforce of 116 and a turnover of £18 million.

“The investment will be the platform to expand and we are hoping to add between 50 to 100 roles in years to come as we diversify and develop,” added Mr Johnson.

“This investment by UKSE is a major boost for us and we are very appreciative of their confidence in us by supporting the Academy in the way they are.”

UKSE makes strategic investments in Welsh and UK companies which show the potential to grow and create jobs and prosperity. It provides loan and equity packages up to £1 million and UKSE estimates it has supported 83,000 jobs around the UK since it was established 50 years ago.

Howard Thompson Regional Executive with UKSE in Wales said the need to build a quality, skilled supply chain was paramount. “There is a UK wide shortage of welders. Almost every document published in connection with economic need and strategic economic planning by the Welsh Government and by Local Authorities across South Wales, highlights the skills shortage in welding and fabrication as an area of concern worthy of attention and investment.

“Welding is set to be one of energy transitions most prized skills and we are delighted to be supporting JES in their journey and wish them every success.”