Becoming Network Rail's top performing S&T skills provider
Network Rail's situation
With a partnership dating back a decade, Matchtech and Network Rail’s relationship is built on trust, transparency, and high-performance. We have consistently outperformed competitors by maintaining high levels of candidate placements, ensuring compliance, and providing a skilled workforce to Network Rail infrastructure projects.
In 2021, Network Rail’s Signalling & Telecommunications (S&T) framework was up for retender. At that time, they were facing the following challenges:
1. Skills shortage
The S&T sector faces a critical skills gap, particularly in signalling roles where IRSE licensing and specialised competencies are mandatory.
2. Compliance complexity
Strict compliance requirements, including Authority to Work (ATW) documentation, competency validation, and the introduction of IR35 legislation leading to inflated contractor rates, which influenced recruitment and retention.
3. Diverse requirements
Each depot has distinct competency needs, requiring a flexible and tailored approach to workforce management.
Following our competitive tender submission, Matchtech were re-appointed as one of of six suppliers delivering over a five-year term to 39 depots nationwide. We provide talent from multiple subskill areas, including:
Assistant Installers/Operatives
Installers/Technicians
Install Team Leaders
Points Fitters
Signalling Maintenance Testers
Signalling Supervisors
Installers/Operatives
Installers/Technicians
Install Team Leaders
Points Fitters
Singalling Maintenance Testers
Signalling Supervisors
How we've helped
To effectively address Network Rail’s challenges, we ensured we were working to:
1. Maintain compliance with Network Rail’s legal and health & safety requirements
2. Bridge the skills gap through targeted upskilling initiatives to support Network Rail’s operations
3. Improve workforce visibility and engagement through regular on-site visits
4. Build and sustain a high-performing international talent pipeline
To achieve these objectives, we implemented the following measures:
Compliance and Health & Safety
Operating within a strict framework within IR35, we ensure we’re meeting Network Rail’s stringent Compliance and Health & Safety requirements by:
- Checking each worker holds the correct competencies showing on their Authority to Work (ATW). These are checked and stored internally, but we have also engaged an external assessor to further validate these documents.
- Providing real-time fatigue monitoring through Fatigue 360, ensuring compliance with Network Rail’s 14-hour door-to-door work limit and induvial depot requirements. Fatigue 360 also tracks average hours, online timesheets, and provide fatigue reports which are managed by the Compliance and Health & Safety teams.
- Introduced online timesheets and compliance reports for enhanced transparency and efficiency.
- Working closely with BK3 to host assessment days, helped fund contractors through recertification to remain compliant and worked with Network Rail to ensure everything has been moved onto Sentinel correctly.
Workforce upskilling & development
Matchtech have invested in training programs to upskill candidates and address skill shortages in collaboration with Network Rail and training provider, BK3. Additionally, if we identify a promising candidate that lacked full competencies, we work with Network Rail to gain references from other depots, asking if they will appoint them if they are upskilled. This enables us to tailor upskilling programs to meet depot-specific requirements, ultimately providing Network Rail with a fully qualified candidate at no further cost to them.
Workforce engagement & depot management
Network Rail’s Account Manager, George Hunter, conducts twice weekly depot visits across all five regions covered by Network Rail. This is to ensure compliance and safety, help with workforce planning, provide PPE audits and seek to understand where we can assist further (i.e. with additional contractors or upskilling of existing contractors). During visits and delivery, each depot is treated as an individual client to align with unique competency needs.
Sourcing international talent
We’ve partnered with Network Rail on the NR01 framework to recruit permanent overseas talent. We have focused on sourcing suitable candidates from Africa by running a LinkedIn campaign and searching for transferable skills on their CV, as well as evidence of certificates that Network Rail confirmed they would be happy to accept. Following their placement, we will be providing them with upskilling support to help their career development.
The results
Having a partnership dating back a decade, Matchtech and Network Rail have made significant development in several nationwide frameworks. Now several years into the S&T framework, we have further solidified ourselves as a compliant and trusted partner, as proven by the following results:
fills in 2024
live contractors
investment in training programmes
Becoming Network Rail's top performing supplier: Matchtech were recognised as the highest-performing supplier among six appointed vendors. We successfully placed over 700 contractors in 2024, with 85 live contractors, which is c.70% of total vacancies released.
Closing the S&T skills gap: We’ve directly contributed to closing the S&T skill gap by upskilling candidates in collaboration with BK3 and Network Rail. We’ve invested £100k in training programmes to upskill contractors across multiple depots, including:
York
Upskilled eight contractors at the York depot on essential competencies including:
- Basic Signaling 1 and 2
- Mod 5
- SMTH
- IRSE Licensing
- Manual Handling
Woking
We sourced four contractors as Operatives at the Woking depot and upskilled them to Technicians by providing training including:
- HW Points
- EBI 200 Track Circuit
York
Upskilled eight contractors at the York depot on essential competencies including:
- Basic Signaling 1 and 2
- Mod 5
- SMTH
- IRSE Licensing
- Manual Handling
Woking
We sourced four contractors as Operatives at the Woking depot and upskilled them to Technicians by providing training including:
- HW Points
- EBI 200 Track Circuit
Sourcing international talent: We have made significant strides in attracting overseas talent to support Network Rail’s long-term workforce strategy. To date, we have shortlisted 20 candidates, with 12 interviews and 4 offers. We have received exceptional feedback from Network Rail, as seen in the following testimonial:
“George has been a real trooper in the Overseas Recruitment Project given it was a new initiative for all involved and became more and more complex as we got deeper into the deliverables.
His ability to communicate, namely remaining in regular contact with all stakeholders, especially the candidates has enabled the initial interest in Network Rail to remain strong culminating in four candidates currently going through the early-stage Sponsorship process.”
- Colin Minto, Recruitment Business Partner at Network Rail
Through strategic workforce planning, compliance excellence, and targeted upskilling initiatives, we have established ourselves as the leading supplier of S&T skills for Network Rail. Our commitment to innovation and candidate development ensures a sustainable talent pipeline, helping Network Rail overcome critical skill shortages and operational challenges.
Find out more about our wider sector, skill and service provision in our company booklet here.