Scotland: Re-skilling through the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund

This case study examines the Scottish Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund, a three-year program launched in February 2016 to support workers affected by the oil and gas sector's recession. The fund provided grants for reskilling in high-growth fields, helping 4,272 workers and informing the subsequent £25 million National Transition Training Fund launched in October 2020.

• The Scottish Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund operated from February 2016 to March 2019 with a budget of £12 million ($17.2 million). It provided grants of up to £4,000 (approximately $5,700) to workers who had lost their jobs since 2015 or were at risk of redundancy, though the average cost per participant was approximately £2,400 ($3,400).
• The program surpassed its goal of re-employing 1,000 workers per year, assisting 4,272 people by March 2019. While employment rates were high—with one source stating 89% of participants were employed—a significant portion of these workers remained in the oil and gas sector, with estimates ranging from 47% to 53%.
• Training was delivered via two paths: an 'individual route' tailored to the applicant's wishes and labor market needs, and a 'procured route' targeting specific skills shortages in fields such as welding, railway engineering, wind turbine engineering, and truck driving.
• The program faced several challenges, including a lack of funding for overhead costs like food and travel, unrealistic salary expectations from workers accustomed to high oil and gas wages, and poor data collection, as only 36% of applicants voluntarily shared their employment status three months post-training.
• The success of the initial fund informed the creation of the £25 million ($32.5 million) National Transition Training Fund in October 2020. This newer initiative prioritizes workers from declining sectors, including aviation and oil and gas, with a goal of helping 10,000 people aged 25 and over.

APA

World Resources Institute (2021). Scotland: Re-skilling through the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund. https://www.wri.org/snapshots/scotland-re-skilling-through-oil-and-gas-transition-training-fund

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Scotland: Re-skilling through the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund. 2021. https://www.wri.org/snapshots/scotland-re-skilling-through-oil-and-gas-transition-training-fund.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Scotland: Re-skilling through the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund |date=1 April 2021 |url=https://www.wri.org/snapshots/scotland-re-skilling-through-oil-and-gas-transition-training-fund |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2021scotland, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Scotland: Re-skilling through the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2021}, month = apr, url = {https://www.wri.org/snapshots/scotland-re-skilling-through-oil-and-gas-transition-training-fund}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }