WIREDGOV

Boosting growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity are at the centre of new proposals to localise employment and skills services launched by the Local Government Association.

The LGA says it stands ready to work with the Government to discuss how this offer can help deliver its missions to boost growth and break down barriers to opportunity and its manifesto commitments to support more young people and adults into work and deliver a highly skilled workforce.

LGA analysis showed £20 billion is spent on 49 national employment and skills related programmes which can often lead to disconnected, ineffective support for service users and, in addition, employers find the system confusing and inflexible. 

Its new proposals, included in its Local Government White Paper, consist of three new interlinked offers to replace this system, improve outcomes for young people, adults and local employers, and will improve social mobility and get our local economies moving.

They are:

• Youth Pathways to help young people (16-24) who are at risk of being, or are ‘not in employment, education or training’, or at risk of NEET, find their first job or put them on a career path and tackle rising economic inactivity in this age group.
• Working Futures for adults who are disadvantaged in the labour market and who need personal support to find work or better work by engaging long-term unemployed and economically inactive people, providing pathways back to the workforce.
• Skills for All to provide a better match of skills supply and demand, a skills and learning offer which promotes lifelong learning and is linked to local careers advice and jobs by simplifying work placements to deliver new skilled employees and combat labour shortages.

The LGA says a range of measures are needed to kickstart this process including a joint national board, a new Joint Unit, a new ‘duty to co-operate’, an urgent review of the devolution deal process, and a multi-year plan for roll-out of devolution. The offers should be planned and through outcomes focused Local Employment & Skills Agreements (LESAs) reflecting the different needs of local areas and delivered across England for a minimum of three years. They will initially be funded through existing programmes and devolution deals and within a clear national framework.

Councils are confident that with a coherent and speeded up devolution plan along with powers and funding to work with partners, they can remove barriers to opportunity and reduce the number of young people not in education or training as well as working age adults who are long term unemployed or who have left work altogether. This can be achieved by better connecting people with employers, bringing down vacancy rates.

This will help plan for skills needs in our economy and also to bring back a culture of lifelong learning that provides steps to higher level skills and addresses economic inclusion. 

These proposals will move us towards a fully devolved and integrated Work Local model. Previous independent cost benefit analysis revealed that across a local area, pooling budgets and working collaboratively has the potential to increase by 15 percent the number of people moving into work and improving their skills, thus delivering benefits to people and places, reducing costs to the public purse and contributing to the Governments mission for growth.

Cllr Martin Tett, Chair of the LGA’s People & Places Board, said:

“Supporting more people into work, addressing skills gaps, and boosting inclusive economic growth, delivered through a service that is more efficient and reduced silos will be a key priority for the government.

“To achieve this, they must commit to a reformed and ambitious employment and skills offer, linked to local services and meeting local needs, which can identify where people need support and tailor that support to them.”

Cllr Liam Robinson, Chair of the LGA’s City Regions Board said: 

“Our proposals are key to providing a better offer to individuals and employers by enabling councils to use their local knowledge to reach into communities across England. Local government is ready to make these plans a reality and to work with the Government to achieve its key missions for growth and opportunity.

“It is crucial to move away from the current fragmented and centralised approach over employment and skills so we can tackle long-term unemployment, economic inactivity and ensure employers across all sectors are able to recruit.”

Notes to editors

Work Local offer.

The LGA’s Local Government White Paper sets out how a reset relationship between central and local government is the only way whoever forms the next government can tackle the challenges facing the country. It includes analysis showing councils in England face a funding gap of £6.2 billion over the next two years.

An LGA analysis of 49 employment and skills programmes in England estimates that they spend a combined £20 billion a year.

The LGAs Work Local cost benefit analysis found that pooling budgets and working collaboratively has the potential for a 15 percent increase in the number of people moving into work and improving their skills.