By Jane Gratton
In recent years, businesses have been struggling to find the best talent to drive their firms forward. This has kept productivity low and hampered growth.
With local skills improvement plans (LSIPs), we are starting to change that. LSIPs are bringing employers and training providers together locally to identify solutions and plan for change.
The digital revolution and the move towards net-zero are creating massive change in the workplace. That’s why it’s so important that LSIPs are amassing this huge amount of granular-level data on the skills employers need to adapt.
LSIPs will enable businesses, providers and funders to offer people the right opportunities to train, upskill and reskill to access, and be successful in, an evolving workplace.
Employer-led
The crucial factor is that LSIPs are employer-led and locally owned. They are helping firms to identify and articulate the skills they need now, and those for the future.
The aim is to ensure that investment in skills - by government, employers, training providers, careers services and individuals - is properly aligned to achieve the best outcomes for everyone.
LSIPs will make technical education and skills provision more responsive to the changing needs of employers and the local economy, unlocking economic growth.
If we get it right, the potential of LSIPs is phenomenal. The early signs are really encouraging.
Many employers are coming together for the first time to talk about their skills needs with training providers and other stakeholders.
LSIPs are creating that collaborative approach, which is fundamental, if we are to deal properly with the skills challenge we face.
Firms are telling us that LSIPs feel different – and that’s hugely exciting.
Employer needs are being highlighted at all skill levels, from entry level to management. As well as clear gaps in technical skills at levels 4-5, there is growing demand for digital, numeracy and other transferrable skills.
The crucial role of apprenticeships and T Levels, and other vocational training is clear. And firms are interested in shaping how training is being delivered, with access to modular learning becoming increasingly important – and calls for less complexity and more flexibility in the apprentice levy system.
Raising expectations
LSIP engagement has raised the expectations of employers, who are looking for tangible change on the ground.
By bringing businesses and providers together, employers are beginning to understand their role and contribution in shaping a skills system that works for everyone.
LSIPs are highlighting the training and skills provision already on offer. It’s not always about reinventing the wheel – sometimes it is about raising awareness and getting the right stakeholders together.
LSIPs are highlighting the need for employers to view training as an investment in the workforce that will generate an ROI for the business, and encouraging them to co-invest, alongside publicly funded training.
The chamber network
The accredited chamber network is at heart of the LSIPs revolution.
In 2019 the British Chambers of Commerce convened a Workplace Training and Development Commission to help firms address their skills shortages. The inquiry revealed a massive disconnect between local employers and the skills system. The solution was clear. Business needed to have a stronger voice in skills planning at a local level.
We needed to make sure that the training courses provided led to the skills firms were crying out for. LSIPs are the answer, but this transformational change will not happen overnight.
The 8 Chamber–led LSIP trailblazers demonstrated the employer appetite for skills planning. Today, 32 of the 38 LSIPs across England are led by chambers of commerce.
Businesses are engaging in a variety of different ways. Whether that’s through in-depth conversations, one-to-one meetings, focus groups, roundtables, workshops or surveys.
But more than that, chambers have the boots on the ground that enables us to ask about skills needs when we speak to businesses about a variety of other issues, including trade and exporting, start-up, scale-up, mentoring, marketing and other business support.
It is an ongoing process that identifies business growth ambitions and the people and skills they need to achieve them.
As well as developing a skills plan for a local economy, our ambition is for LSIPs to help all employers develop their own workforce skills plan and to be proactively engaging with providers to address their workforce skills needs. Developing a high-performance learning culture will help businesses who have only focused on recruitment in the past.
Political ask
The LSIP initiative is the right one to help businesses and individuals get the skills they need for a rapidly changing workplace.
We need commitment from our politicians that LSIPs are here to stay. They must be part of a national long-term, stable, coherent skills system that gives businesses the confidence to invest in their workforce.
We need a long-term political commitment to LSIPs, for at least the next 10 years.
Jane Gratton is Deputy Director Public Policy, British Chambers of Commerce