BLOG – A Just Transition Needs Just Jobs: Protecting Retrofit Careers at the Frontline

The need for Retrofit Jobs & Careers

As Greater Manchester moves forward with its ambitious Housing Strategy for 2025-2035, we’re entering a crucial moment for the region’s transition to a greener, fairer future. The vision is clear: warmer, more energy-efficient homes; lower carbon emissions; and local jobs that create real social value.

Already, more than 10,000 homes have been retrofitted across the city-region, with plans to retrofit 60,000 more by 2030. Alongside this, Greater Manchester aims to train 1,140 people into green jobs, an exciting signal of intent and a clear commitment to a just transition.

But in recent months, we’ve experienced another story unfolding on the front-line, one that threatens to undermine this progress if left unchecked.

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The Human Cost of Short-Term Funding

The UK’s retrofit programmes are often built on short bursts of funding tied to political cycles or limited pots of grant money. When the funding runs out, the work stops. Skilled retrofit workers, project managers, and community engagement teams face redundancy. Then, when the next funding wave arrives, there’s a scramble to rebuild teams and recruit again.

This stop-start model comes with a human cost with people who have recently entered the green workforce typically facing the biggest risk of redundancy.

This was the case with two young people we supported on our Green Pathways programme in 2025. They both completed the pre-employment training with flying colours and once in work, their employer was really impressed with their performance. Once the paid work placement was complete and with a healthy pipeline of funded work available, the employer was able to offer them both full-time roles.

Unfortunately, just a few months later, due to a pause in funding, the company was forced into liquidation and both young people were made redundant. In this instance we were able to step in and provide the young people, who by now had developed some high quality experience, with supporting finding alternative work, however this isn’t the case for everyone effected.

Although redundancy is challenging for anyone to face, the people Groundwork support into employment are some of the most vulnerable and at risk.  

The current situation sends the wrong message to the people Groundwork support – that “green jobs” aren’t reliable, and the sustainability sector doesn’t offer long-term security.

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A Call for Stability

If we are serious about delivering 60,000 retrofits and building a green workforce for the future, we need funding models that reflect the long-term nature of the challenge. That means moving away from short-term delivery cycles towards multi-phase, sustained investment that provides career stability and allows organisations to plan ahead.

We’re calling on local, national, and private funders to embed career stability as a funding requirement. That means asking:

• Will this project create secure jobs, not just short-term contracts?
• Will it build long-term local capability rather than temporary capacity?
• Will it leave a legacy of confident residents who know how to use and maintain their new technology?

A green economy cannot be built on stop-gap measures. It must be consistent, credible, and grounded in the communities it serves.

As a devolved region, we have already made some positive steps with initiatives like the Public Building Retrofit Fund and the Net Zero Housing Retrofit Framework Agreement but we should be able to create a more locally led, independently resilient retrofit ecosystem, one that can continue delivering no matter the national political mood.

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A Final Thought

It’s important to recognise that it’s not just the people in retrofit jobs who experience the effects of this approach. If we want to successfully transition to a low carbon economy, where property retrofit is embraced, support for change needs to driven from within communities. Uncertainty within the system and a constant turnover of staff erodes trust. Residents who’ve just had their homes retrofitted see familiar faces disappear, follow-up support vanish, and confidence fade.

At a time when public trust and behaviour change are essential to the success of the Net Zero transition, this cycle of instability is extremely risky.

Our success in Greater Manchester will depend on whether we can build systems that local people understand and have confidence in, and that outlast the funding cycles and politics of the day.

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