Natalie Campbell, Co-CEO of Belu Water
How can we prepare people to adapt to a new world of work? This is the key task of Skills England, a new body launched earlier this year by the Department for Education.
Currently set up in “shadow form”, Skills England will be incrementally established over the coming months, with an official launch next year. Aiming to unify the country’s skills landscape, it will offer a crucial new -platform for employers. I hope to see it present bold ambitions for the UK, tapping into regional strengths and understanding where emerging opportunities and challenges lie. But it will only be successful if it works hand-in-glove with the whole system.
Skills England must not fall into the trap of focusing only on apprenticeships or tech. For a thriving, modern economy, all skills across all ages are important. With 62 per cent of UK organisations found to be facing skills shortages, we need robust talent pipelines to feed professions across the spectrum. And with sectors such as hospitality and manufacturing often hit the hardest, this should be as much about training the next generation of chefs and engineers as it is about equipping tomorrow’s leaders.
With 62 per cent of UK organisations found to be facing skills shortages, we need robust talent pipelines for all professions
Skills can be learned in many different ways and settings. But it’s not just about technical ability—it’s also important to prioritise the softer skills that create strong systems thinkers and confident decision-makers. To -catalyse a growth economy, we need inclusive environments that encourage curiosity and lifelong learning, all the way from primary school to retirement. Young people should be encouraged to seek out work experience, whether through a placement or Saturday job. We also need to strengthen academic and applied learning within the further and higher education sectors.
A coordinated approach between government, industry and academia is essential. Each has its own role to play, but they must be reading from the same script, with a clearly defined mutual purpose, vision and strategy.
Businesses should be encouraged to invest in skills development, form partnerships, and to adopt an entrepreneurial and iterative “test and learn” approach. Government should incentivise but not legislate this, and Skills England should work directly with businesses, large and small, to develop training that meets recruitment needs in all sectors.
While the government should set the template and provide the seed funding and authority to convene and act, that’s as far as it should wade in. If this new entity is tied down with politics, or if the wrong launch team is brought in—eg political hires over visionary, talented hires—then this agenda could fail on day one.
I look forward to seeing the rollout of Skills England continue, future-proofing the UK’s workforce and fuelling the next chapter of economic growth across the country.
Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair at the Federation of Small Businesses
Apprenticeships help small businesses grow by tackling skills shortages and giving young people their first step into employment. Whether it’s retail, tech, manufacturing or a creative business, they allow companies to shape training to fit their business, enabling apprentices to be immediately productive, swiftly contributing to the organisation and the economy.
While the advantages are clear, small businesses often face challenges when taking on apprentices. With a new government at the helm, and changes afoot in the skills landscape through the creation of Skills England, there’s an opportunity to refocus the system and put small firms at its heart.
Small employers often lack time and resources, and the admin involved in hiring an apprentice can be overwhelming. Putting things in place to help offset that, such as increasing the amount of funding for training costs, or re-implementing higher incentives, would be a huge help.
Current funding from government, which contributes 95 per cent or 100 per cent towards apprenticeship training costs for non-levy-paying businesses, is a crucial benefit and must be protected.
Our recent research revealed that only 2 per cent of small business employers would take on apprentices if they had to fund training costs themselves. Of those small firms that already employ an apprentice, 89 per cent say it would be less likely or impossible to take on more if the government’s contribution is removed or reduced.
Small employers often lack time and resources—and the admin involved in hiring an apprentice can be overwhelming
We’re often told by our members that as well as burgeoning costs, the added admin associated with taking on an apprentice can be off-putting.
We’d like to see the current £1,000 incentive for employers hiring an apprentice under the age of 19 to be updated to a £3,000 incentive for those hiring an apprentice under the age of 25, exclusively for SMEs. Our research found that 73 per cent of small employers that currently have an apprentice say the larger incentive would encourage them to take on more in the future.
With take up of low-level apprenticeships continuing to dip, we would also like to see Skills England set a target to increase them, year on year. Refocusing on increasing the number of level 2 and 3 apprenticeships, traditionally undertaken by small firms, will be hugely beneficial and in turn provide more options for young people.
We need to see the growth and skills levy (which is replacing the apprenticeship levy) drive forward productivity in the economy, increasing the co-ordination within the skills system—and crucially helping to close the chronic skills gaps that still exist.
By investing in apprentices, small businesses not only contribute to the development of the future workforce, but also gain the skilled employees they need to stay competitive. With the right support from government, small firms can unlock the full potential of the -apprenticeship system.
Shevaun Haviland, Director general of the British Chambers of Commerce
People are at the heart of every business. But for firms to thrive, they need people with the right skills. For too long, the UK economy has faced a deep-rooted skills crisis—even before the fundamental changes brought about by the pandemic and Brexit.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)’s regular surveys of businesses show a challenging picture in terms of recruitment, with firms fearing the situation will get worse before it gets better. Our quarterly -recruitment outlook in October revealed that more than three-quarters of businesses trying to hire staff had faced -difficulties.
Businesses recognise the need to invest in skills. They want to train and invest in their workforce, but there are often too many hurdles in the way. Change needs to happen locally and nationally—and in a joined-up way. That is how to ensure that people can access the training they need for the great jobs employers are creating in every part of the country.
Local skills improvement plans (LSIPs), first introduced around three years ago, are a major part of the solution. Bringing together employers, training providers and other key stakeholders, they are stimulating and aggregating demand for training. LSIPs are ensuring local economies can plan for their medium-to-long-term skills needs. Across the country, tens of thousands of businesses are already engaging with Chamber-led LSIPs, and tremendous momentum is building. Long-term investment in LSIPs will help boost more private sector investment in skills.
The growth mission relies on preparing young people for the modern workplace, and on helping our workforce retrain and upskill
As well as local coordination of skills, we have to be better at planning nationally. The creation of Skills England is a positive step, but it cannot work in isolation. We need a cross-departmental plan that prioritises skills aligned to both the government’s growth mission and its industrial strategy. At the same time, that strategy needs to maximise the opportunities, ideas and local solutions that devolution can bring.
Rapid advances in technology, net-zero priorities and other workplace changes are shaping the kinds of skills that employers will be looking for. It is crucial that the employer voice is central to policy creation and implementation, both locally and nationally.
The government’s growth mission relies on preparing young people for the modern workplace, and on helping our workforce retrain and upskill. That will require greater flexibility and agility in the skills system. Businesses need the new growth and skills levy to deliver. We need the reassurance of a simple, stable and coherent system that employers will want to buy into.
The early signs are good, but there’s an increasing urgency to all of this. Business stands ready to play its part. Working in partnership, we can tackle the skills challenges and unlock the opportunities.
