Creating the Education, Work and Skills opportunities our residents need

As we learn to live, learn and work in an economy and a society recovering from the impacts of Covid and facing other challenges ahead, post-COVID economy, we need to ensure that employers can get the skills they need, now and in the future, and that our residents can access opportunities and develop the skills they need for life, for work, and to help them progress.

An appropriately skilled workforce is available locally to meet the immediate and emerging needs, and that the talent pipeline is in place to future-proof jobs, businesses and workers with the agility and resilience needed in a shifting labour market.

We want organisations across the city region to deliver social value that helps to open up those opportunities, that tackles barriers and labour market inequalities for all our residents, and that contributes wider benefits to our people and our place.

This might mean inspiring our young people about their future career choices/prospects, offering opportunities to adults who might otherwise struggle to enter or sustain employment, or working with the education, skills and work system to help improve carbon literacy and embed sustainable business models/practices, and helping them to understand the opportunities available to them across all industries.

We want to create opportunity for all, through good jobs and an Education, Skills and Work system to match.

Greater Manchester’s Local Skills Report and Labour Market Plan (PDF, 1.8MB)

We want to drive an integrated education, skills and work system for Greater Manchester, through strategic leadership and commissioned services and programmes, that will help all of our residents to get on in life and in work and help our businesses and our place to thrive. Greater Manchester’s Employment and Skills Advisory Panel publishes an annual Local Skills Report and Labour Market Plan that aims to deliver a system that:

• Young people leave education and training ready to succeed in the labour market, with a balance of academic, technical and ‘life ready’ skills
• Adults can acquire the skills, mindset and support they need to fulfil their career potential and adapt to changing employer needs throughout their lives, from entering employment for the first time through to highly skilled careers and retraining
• Employers have access to a system that is flexible, resilient and adaptable, and which meets their needs in the rapidly changing 21st century world of work, driving a sustainable economic future for GM in which companies compete on the basis of high productivity, good quality work, and excellent employment practices
• Residents are supported by a welfare system, under Universal Credit, that provides access to good work for those who can, support for those who could, and care for those who can’t.

Your organisation can be part of this work.

Suggested actions

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• Support your employees / members / volunteers to influence the careers education that young people receive within schools/colleges through the Bridge GM Careers Hub and develop links with the wider Bridge community to directly support young people and contextualise learning
• Use the resources at Bridge GM to support your employees / members / volunteers to work with schools and colleges to help them develop their capacity and workforce, through activities such as industry knowledge exchange and CPD support for teachers/trainers, sharing expertise around carbon literacy/sustainable business practices, helping to embed core work readiness and the careers agenda as part of the Enterprise Adviser Network
• Explore the potential to recruit apprentices into your organisation
• Host a Traineeship or T Level placement for a young person in Greater Manchester
• Explore the support available through the GM Working Well programme and signpost
• Support re-skilling in sectors heavily impacted by Covid-19 through bootcamps or other training programmes, for example through Free courses for jobs.
• Access local business networks and local authority support / brokerage, or the Growth Company Employment for advice on employer/employee support
• Reach out and share the skills that you have in your organisation into the wider business sector and with VCSE organisations. For example: offer support to self-employed people through Enterprising You
• Pledge opportunities through GM Apprenticeship and Careers Service for young people, including experiences of the workplace and apprenticeships, to support young people to have a line of sight to their future and realise their potential
• Provide careers support/ work experience/ mentoring to build digital skills and promote digital inclusion, through the GM Skills for Growth programme
• Engage with GM’s Good Employment Charter and pledge to become the UK’s first Real Living Wage city-region
• Explore more inclusive employment practices, for example, by implementing ideas from Greater Manchester’s Age Friendly Employer Toolkit, supporting people facing employment barriers due to health conditions or disabilities, or by signing up to the government’s Disability Confident Scheme