• Verdant estimates planned UK data centres could support about 10,400 permanent jobs by 2035, well below the roughly 40,200 it attributes to techUK
  • TechUK and the government dispute the analysis, highlighting disagreement over how permanent jobs and wider economic benefits should be counted

The fact

Environmental think tank Verdant challenged employment forecasts for Britain's planned data-centre expansion on 9 September, estimating that proposed facilities could support about 10,400 permanent operational jobs by 2035.

Verdant compared that figure with a techUK projection of roughly 40,200 jobs. It argues that estimates based on older facilities may overstate staffing at newer, larger data centres. Its analysis draws on public planning and employment information for 20 proposed developments and focuses on permanent operating roles rather than temporary construction work.

TechUK disputed the methodology, saying the sample was too small and failed to capture the wider economic activity supported by data centres. A UK government spokesperson also rejected jobs-per-megawatt comparisons and pointed to broader economic and national-security benefits.

Verdant has called for a pause on new development until a national framework addresses electricity, water and planning. That is the think tank's recommendation, not government policy.

The assessment

The disagreement is partly about what counts as a data-centre job. Permanent staff working at a facility, construction workers building it and jobs supported elsewhere in the economy are all real forms of employment, but they tell a council different things about what a project will bring to its area.

That distinction becomes important when developers make the economic case for projects that also need significant amounts of land, electricity and water. A headline jobs figure is much more useful when it shows how many roles will remain at the site after construction and how many belong to the wider economic impact of the facility. Verdant's estimate does not settle that debate, but neither do broader industry forecasts on their own.

For BTW readers, clearer project-level figures would make these claims easier to judge. Separating permanent jobs, construction work and wider economic benefits would give planners and communities a better picture of what each development is expected to deliver.

What to watch

Watch for responses from techUK, developers or the government that provide comparable project-level employment figures. Planning applications that separate permanent staff from construction jobs and wider economic estimates would make it easier to see where the competing forecasts genuinely differ.