Skill Development Impacts
NNL works to develop technology, insight, and innovation across four focus areas:
As outlined in the 2021 Strategic Plan, NNL recognises that the skills and knowledge of its people fuels the laboratory’s purpose. To meet the aims of NNL’s four focus areas, it is committed to continuing to grow its ambitious and expert workforce, including a mix of complex capabilities the industry requires. Individuals trained by NNL not only go on to work at NNL but also the wider industry. Therefore, as well as contributing to the UK economy through its business operations, NNL supports the wider industry and by extension the wider economy through investment in staff training and the distribution of new knowledge and competencies.
Figure 5: Share of NNL’s workforce and UK population at NQF 2,3,4 and above
NNL’s workforce tends to be significantly more highly skilled than the UK population, and the population of the North West. As seen in Figure 5, 74% of NNL’s employees held NQF level 4 or above (equivalent to having completed at least one year of higher education) in FY2022, compared to 47% across the whole UK population. Similarly, 73% of NNL’s North West employees held a NQF level 4 or above, compared to the average 41% across the entire region. Furthermore, as seen in Figure 6, 23% of NNL’s UK workforce held NQF level 8, equivalent to a doctorate, compared to just 2% of the population across the UK.
In FY2022, NNL spent £2.3m on the training of its staff. NNL’s offering of training programmes includes apprenticeships, a graduate programme and a post-doctoral programme, as well as the sponsorship of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students across a variety of universities in the country. The success of these programmes is demonstrated by a number of awards; for example, for four years in a row an NNL graduate has won an award at the Nuclear Skills Awards (including winning in 2021 and 2022), while one of NNL’s scientific apprentices won the title of UK Nuclear Apprentice of the Year in 2022.
Figure 6: Distribution of skill levels across NNL’s UK workforce, using NQF levels
NNL’s development programmes:
The Apprenticeship Programme employs apprentices on a permanent contract. Apprentices work on projects spanning NNL’s four main focus areas and spend time with an accredited training provider to develop their technical skills, while also working alongside a team of NNL experts. In FY2022, 56 apprentices worked at NNL. 40% of these (22) were female. The success of NNL’s Apprenticeship Programme is reflected in its high retention rate, with 95% of eligible apprentices entering a role within the business or progressing with their studies in FY2022.
Within the Graduate Programme, graduates spend 2 years working on challenging projects and learning from industry experts. Graduates are employed on a permanent contract, and are therefore supported to seamlessly transition into their next role after the scheme. In FY2022, 20 graduates were completing the Graduate Programme at NNL. Of these, 40% (8) were female. A testament to the success of NNL’s graduate programme is its high retention rate, with 85% of programme participants still at NNL at the end of the financial year – either remaining in the programme or taking up a role within the business at the end of the scheme.
The 2-year Post-Doctoral Development Scheme is aimed at researchers holding a PhD in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, and enables them to transition to industry experts, applying their academic skills in an industrial environment. Researchers work alongside some of the leading authorities on nuclear operations, waste management and decommissioning and fuel, reactor and reprocessing technology. The Postdoctoral Development Scheme supports researchers in becoming subject matter experts, giving them a role in a technical team and delivering real customer projects. In FY2022, 19 researchers took part in the Post-Doctoral Scheme. Close to 40% of these (seven) were female. Once again, the scheme’s success is shown by its high retention rate, with 95% of post-docs either continuing with the scheme or taking up a role within the business at the end of the scheme in the same financial year.
Over the last five years, NNL invested over £25m in 47 universities supporting PhDs, PDRAs and contract research. In FY2022 alone, NNL sponsored 156 PhDs and PDRAs across 24 universities in the UK. The top 3 universities with most PhDs sponsored are all located within the North West, with NNL sponsoring 43, 16 and 16 PhDs/PDRAs at the University of Manchester, Lancaster University and the University of Liverpool respectively.