Widely discussed since its release, the Independent Water Commission’s Final Report has delivered a decisive set of proposals that are shaping the conversation about the future of the UK water sector. Its recommendations, spanning regional planning, strengthened oversight, and heightened resilience, will require the water sector to fundamentally change how it operates. Amid this regulatory upheaval, workforce readiness emerges as critical, says Adam Cave, Managing Director of Murray McIntosh.
We Have a Workforce Planning Opportunity
The proposal to establish Regional Water Resource Planners promises more structured project pipelines and improved alignment between water and environmental planning. Yet, this shift brings with it fresh challenges: how will labour mobility, contractor frameworks, and regional leadership be orchestrated effectively?
Moreover, the burden of workforce development will increasingly fall on local ecosystems. Utility firms, policymakers, talent partners, and training providers must synchronise efforts to ensure supply-side readiness matches the rising demand. A regionalised approach to infrastructure requires a regionalised approach to skills, one that builds resilience into the workforce as much as into assets, while remaining subject to oversight by a national framework.
How to Build the Water Workforce We Need
Across the UK water sector, there is widespread acknowledgement of persistent and emerging skills gaps, a reality underscored by the 2025 Water Industry Labour Report, which found that 49% of engineers identified skills shortages and recruitment as the greatest risk to the sector, a significant rise on the previous year. In addition, 66% reported they are considering a move to adjacent sectors, including renewables and oil & gas.
An industry round table recently found that graduates see a career in the water industry as ‘too risky’, which is preventing many from choosing to work in this area, and you can hardly blame them.
The market is – perhaps understandably – rarely framed in a positive light in the media, and that is dissuading people from considering a career here in favour of other comparable markets. In fact, according to a separate study, published last September, utility employers will need to recruit 312,000 new people by the end of the decade.
This figure is made up of replacing 107,000 professionals expected to retire before then and 205,000 new roles required to support anticipated growth. Even if just a fraction of those skills are needed in water, it is still a monumental task. These figures make it clear that urgent and sustained investment in early-career talent is essential, alongside greater access to upskilling for contingent workers and smarter deployment of temporary labour to manage the sector’s natural peaks and troughs.
To tackle the skills gap, many water companies have established academies and tailored training programmes in recent years. These initiatives offer clear career pathways and vital skills development, better equipping new entrants for the sector’s specific demands. While these steps are essential, they represent only part of the solution.
It is equally important to engage senior engineers before their expertise are lost to retirement. Their experience is invaluable in addressing the sector’s challenges and should be fully leveraged. At the same time, the industry must collectively advocate for a review of IR35 regulations, which currently misclassify many roles and restrict professionals’ earning potential and mobility.
With 36% of engineers unclear on the determination process, many cannot effectively contest wrongful classifications. Reforming IR35 would reduce complexity, unlock workforce flexibility, create more opportunities, and save millions across the sector, although this is most likely a longer-term goal.
Another significant obstacle is the water industry’s poor public image. The Utility Week and Marsh McLennan study highlights how negative public perception, could be discouraging potential recruits. Tackling this challenge demands transparency, proactive communication, and a unified approach to promoting career opportunities – a fundamental cultural shift away from the sector’s current siloed approach.
A Sector-Wide Responsibility
The Independent Water Commission’s Final Report’s direction, from bolstered regional governance to streamlined regulatory oversight, is both timely and promising. Yet, for these reforms to translate into durable progress, workforce readiness must be treated as the linchpin it is.
Delivering on this vision will necessitate genuine collaboration across utilities, regulators, supply chains, educational institutions, and government. Only by aligning structural reform with people‑centred strategies can we ensure that the ambitions of regulation and infrastructure renewal are delivered.
murraymcintosh.com
