UK solar industry loses 12,500 jobs in a year

Decarbonising, Employment in the UK domestic solar industry has reduced by approximately one-third in the last year. It is thought to be a result of reductions in subsidies and policy interventions. The job losses are expected to continue.

The above findings were published in a survey carried out jointly by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Solar Trade Association. It estimated 12,500 jobs have been lost since the policy changes by the UK government on 22 July 2015.

The report named “Seeing through the gloom” received 238 responses. Those companies together employed a total of 5,362 people last year and now in the current year employ 3,665. This is a reduction of approximately 32%.

The findings go against Andrea Leadsom, former Energy Minister’s comments back in March:

“We are aware that large-scale solar projects are coming forward without subsidy, so it is simply not true to say, as she did, that there are thousands of job losses and that there will be thousands more. There is no evidence for that."

Former secretary of state, Amber Rudd was more sympathetic on the subject of job losses. She added that her department was “continuing to watch” the solar industry. She recognized that the industry was facing a “difficult time”.

The report did highlight some positives. 31% of respondents said that they expected to make additional redundancies over the coming year, but half said they expected employment to remain the same. One fifth reported feeling more “upbeat” and would be looking to hire further.

John Dashwood, head of renewables, said there had been a “structural shift” in the solar industry over the past year. He called for companies to consider alternative products, services and markets to both survive and grow.

Dashwood said:

“The solar industry undoubtedly faces some serious challenges, but it has already proved resilient and adaptable.” STA head of external affairs, Leonie Greene warned that increased business rates for solar investors could harm the industry further. He said:

“There are many good economic reasons to back the British solar including minimising the cost of decarbonising our power supply to retain competitiveness, while creating exceptionally large numbers of jobs. Our economy faces a major challenge post Brexit; if we want to prosper in future we must strengthen the UK stake in booming global markets – they don’t come bigger than solar.”