Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund - Equality Impact Assessment

Background

As part of the Regional Skills Pilot Fund, the UK Government’s Office for Clean Energy Jobs (OCEJ) made funding available to four UK areas to pilot regional skills interventions that support clean power by 2030. The OCEJ made funding available to the Scottish Government for an Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire skills pilot.

The Scottish Government decided, in agreement with OCEJ, to direct the funding towards the development and delivery of an Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund (O&G TTF) to deliver targeted, personalised career advice and support to oil and gas workers who are looking to move into sustainable energy jobs, as well as funding for training that may be required to do this. SDS is the delivery partner.

The Oil and Gas TTF Pilot, launched in 2025, directly affects existing oil and gas workers based in Aberdeen City / Aberdeenshire who chose to apply. The eligibility criteria and delivery processes were influenced by the initial EQIA process.

This policy is an upscale of the pilot Transition Training Fund, referred to as ‘the Pilot’. The Transition Training Fund which is commencing in 2026 is referred to simply as “TTF” from now onwards will directly affect existing O&G workers based in Scotland who choose to apply. The eligibility criteria, which has been influenced by the design process, and discussion with delivery partners, has widened from the Pilot as follows:

• geographical coverage is for O&G workers based anywhere in Scotland
• expanded ‘destination’ sectors include advanced manufacturing, life sciences and defence, plus a broader definition of wider decarbonisation of the economy.

Based on the available budget and costs associated with the Pilot, it is estimated that TTF, during financial year 2026-27 could support up to 1300-1800 individuals, dependant on levels of interest.

Findings from the Pilot show that the average cost of training has been lower than expected, leading to a higher number of participants accessing the fund. This trend may continue into the upscaled TTF into 2026-27 however, because of some scope alterations, this is uncertain at this stage.

Additional detailed development will be undertaken to consider options for bulk booking training courses, to further reduce average costs and open availability to more participants. Monitoring will be in place to allow assessment of operational efficiencies and alterations during the delivery stage.

For individual recipients, the impact is expected to be positive. By reducing the costs associated with retraining/upskilling, this fund will support recipients to increase their existing qualifications and skills, supporting them to move between energy projects and related sectors.