Thousands of jobs to be created as government announces multi-billion-pound investment to build Sizewell C
10,000 jobs, including 1,500 apprenticeships, to be created as the government announces multi-billion investment to build Sizewell C.
- Chancellor to confirm funding at the GMB Congress ahead of Spending Review, as Energy Secretary vows ‘golden age’ of nuclear.
- Investment to deliver clean power to millions of homes, cut energy bills and boost energy security.
- Government commits over £6 billion of investment to nuclear submarine industrial base to deliver on Strategic Defence Review.
Ten thousand jobs will be created as the government announces a £14.2 billion investment to build Sizewell C nuclear plant as part of the Spending Review, ending years of delay and uncertainty.
The Chancellor is set to confirm the funding at the GMB Congress later today ahead of the government’s Spending Review, as the Energy Secretary vows a ‘golden age’ of nuclear to boost the UK’s energy security.
The government’s investment will go towards creating 10,000 jobs, including 1,500 apprenticeships, and support thousands more jobs across the UK.
The company has already signed £330 million in contracts with local companies and will boost supply chains across the UK with 70% of contracts predicted to go to 3,500 British suppliers – supporting new jobs in construction, welding, and hospitality.
The equivalent of around six million of today’s homes will be powered with clean homegrown energy from Sizewell C. The investment in clean, homegrown power brings to an end decades of dithering and delay, with the government backing the builders in the drive for energy security and kick-starting economic growth.
The announcement comes as the government is set to confirm one of Europe’s first Small Modular Reactor programmes. This comes alongside record investment in R&D for fusion energy, worth over £2.5 billion over five years. Taken together with Sizewell C, this delivers the biggest nuclear building programme in a generation.
Clean, home-grown power at Sizewell C will help drive the UK’s energy security, as part of the government’s mission to protect family finances by replacing the UK’s dependency on fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators with homegrown power that we control.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said:
Today we are once again investing in Britian’s renewal, with the biggest nuclear building programme in a generation. This landmark decision is our Plan for Change in action.
We are creating thousands of jobs, kickstarting economic growth and putting more money people’s pockets.
Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband said:
We will not accept the status quo of failing to invest in the future and energy insecurity for our country.
We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, because that is the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis.
This is the government’s clean energy mission in action- investing in lower bills and good jobs for energy security.
Sizewell C
Sizewell C will provide 10,000 people with employment at peak construction and support thousands more jobs across the UK, including 1,500 apprenticeships. The company has already signed £330 million in contracts with local companies and will boost supply chains across the UK with 70% of contracts predicted to go to 3,500 British suppliers – supporting new jobs in construction, welding, and hospitality. Jobs in the nuclear industry pay well above national averages and the government is committed to working with nuclear trade unions such as the GMB, Unite, and Prospect, who will continue to play a pivotal role in building the industry.
Despite the UK’s strong nuclear legacy, opening the world’s first commercial nuclear power station in the 1950s, no new nuclear plant has opened in the UK since 1995, with all of the existing fleet except Sizewell B likely to be phased out by the early 2030s.
Sizewell C was one of eight sites identified in 2009 by then-Energy Secretary Ed Miliband as a potential site for new nuclear. However, the project was not fully funded in the 14 years that followed under subsequent governments.
The government’s nuclear programme is now the most ambitious for a generation - once small modular reactors and Sizewell C come online in the 2030s, combined with Hinkley Point C, this will deliver more new nuclear to grid than over the previous half century combined.
Small Modular Reactors
Great British Nuclear is expected to announce the outcome of its small modular reactor competition imminently, the first step towards the goal of driving down costs and unlocking private finance with a long-term ambition to bring forward one of the first SMR fleets in Europe.
The government’s nuclear resurgence will support the UK’s long-term energy security, with small modular reactors expected to power millions of homes with clean energy and help fuel power-hungry industries like AI data centres.
This follows reforms to planning rules announced by the Prime Minister in February 2025 to make it easier to build nuclear across the country - changing the rules to back the builders of this nation, and saying no to the blockers who have strangled our chances of cheaper energy, growth and jobs for far too long.
The government is also looking to provide a route for private sector-led advanced nuclear projects to be deployed in the UK, alongside investing £300m in developing the world’s first non-Russian supply of the advanced fuels needed to run them.
Companies will be able to work with the government to continue their development with potential investment from the National Wealth Fund.
Fusion Energy
The government is also making a record investment in R&D for fusion energy, investing over £2.5 billion over 5 years. This includes progressing the STEP programme (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production), the world-leading fusion plant in Nottinghamshire, creating thousands of new jobs and with the potential to unlock limitless clean power.
This builds on the UK’s global leadership to turbocharge economic growth in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, while helping deliver the UK’s flagship programme to design and build a prototype fusion power station on the site of a former coal-fired plant.
Defence
To secure the UK as a leader in both civil and defence nuclear, the government will also be investing £4 billion over the next decade in the Plymouth naval base as well as continued long-term investment in our Defence Nuclear Enterprise and its industrial base, as this is critical for our national security while also being a significant generator of economic opportunities, jobs and growth across the entire country. Further investments in the defence nuclear sector include over £6 billion over the Spending Review period to enable a transformation in the capacity, capability and productivity of the UK’s submarine industrial base, including at BAE Systems in Barrow and Rolls-Royce Submarines in Derby – to deliver the increase in the submarine production rate announced in the Strategic Defence Review.
In addition, we will embark on a multi-decade, multi-billion redevelopment of HMNB Clyde, with an initial £250 million of funding over 3 years, supporting jobs, skills and growth across the West of Scotland.
The government will also invest over £420 million of additional funding in Sheffield Forgemasters, securing 700 existing skilled jobs and creating over 900 new construction roles.
Julia Pyke and Nigel Cann, Joint-Managing Directors of Sizewell C said:
Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for Sizewell C, the UK’s first British-owned nuclear power plant in over 30 years. It’s a privilege to be leading a project that will create over 10,000 jobs, secure Britain’s energy future and revitalise the UK’s nuclear industry.
We aim to showcase British infrastructure at its best – delivering a cleaner, more secure energy future for generations to come.
Warren Kenny, GMB Regional Secretary, said:
Sizewell C is absolutely vital if the UK is to hit net zero.
Nuclear power is essential for clean, affordable, and reliable energy - without new nuclear there can be no net zero.
Sizewell C will provide thousands of good, skilled, unionised jobs and we look forward to working closely with the government and Sizewell C to help secure a greener future for this country’s energy sector.
Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, said:
Delivering this funding for Sizewell C is a vital step forward, this project is critical to securing the future of the nuclear industry in the UK.
New nuclear is essential to achieving net zero, providing a baseload of clean and secure energy, as well as supporting good, unionised jobs.
Further investment in SMRs and fusion research shows we are finally serious about developing a 21st century nuclear industry. All funding must be backed up by a whole-industry plan to ensure we have the workforce and skills we need for these plans to succeed.
Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said:
This new nuclear programme will give the country the jobs, the economic growth and the energy security we need to ensure a secure and reliable power supply for the future. This announcement shows the government is serious about new nuclear, and realising the economic benefits that come with it, and will be welcomed in communities the length and breadth of Britain.