Too often, people who want to build new skills face barriers to getting the training they need.

Our adult education system is underfunded, with recent funding settlements barely compensating for successive reductions in budget for the further education sector. Learners that stand to benefit most from this training often don’t have access to subsidised courses, grants, or welfare benefits while they study, meaning that direct and indirect costs can be prohibitive. Rigid training structures can mean that parents and carers are unable to take part in training that fits with their personal circumstances. And access to careers advice remains poor, with both our research along with other studies (see here and here) finding that job centre support often encourages individuals to take any available job, as soon as possible, rather than working with Universal Claimants to develop their long-term prospects.

Employers across the country have struggled to address skills gaps and mismatches which have progressively deepened over time.

Compared to many other OECD countries, decision making on skills in the UK is, like many other policy areas, highly centralised. Many argue that greater devolution on skills, to local areas, will be crucial to drive essential improvements in the system, making sure that training better reflects the needs of residents and employers, and fits in with other support services available in the community.

Two Combined Authorities in England have been driving progress in this area. Both the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) already hold responsibility for their respective Adult Education Budgets and work to integrate a range of different groups within their local skills eco-systems, including learners, providers and business. In the Levelling Up White Paper, published in February last year, the government committed to negotiations on trailblazer devolution deals with both authorities, to act as a blueprint for other areas to follow. These deals – subject to ratification – will now deepen the powers available to both authorities and include reforms to their funding mechanisms.

The recent budget set out plans to extend those powers in a boon to both areas, with the announcement of multi-year funding settlements to be provided at the next Spending Review, due in 2025.

The Chancellor also announced further details of the ‘trailblazer’ devolution deals for both areas, which include interesting skills policy provisions:

· Greater flexibility around skills bootcamps to provide provision to meet local need, such as intensive courses related to sectors facing shortages. By 2023/2024 both areas will be able to use up to 30% of their bootcamp budget on developing new bootcamps, rising to 100% by 2024/2025

· Increased flexibility on subsidised training. The free courses for jobs budget currently funds training on specific courses for individuals who don’t hold a qualification at Level 3, but GMCA and WMCA will now be able to allocate half of this budget on the courses they identify as necessary in order to meet local skills needs

· Both authorities will become ‘central convenors’ of careers provision in their regions, with the aim of better joining up existing careers provision such as the National Careers Service and local careers hubs by tailoring provision to local needs

· Additionally, both areas will also co-design future employment support programmes.

One immediate benefit of these announcements is that processes will immediately become simpler for providers and learners alike. Currently, Government invests around £20 billion on 49 national employment and skills-related schemes across England each year, managed by multiple different Whitehall departments and agencies.

Allowing for the Free Courses for Jobs budget for Level 3 qualifications to be spent locally is a particularly welcome step. Previous research from the Centre for Progressive Policy found a chasm between the courses needed to help fill skills gaps locally and the supply offered by providers, in England. Combined Authorities can play a strategic role to address this, brokering opportunities through bringing together employers, skills providers and other stakeholders, to help ensure that courses offered more closely reflect local training needs.

This is vital - evidence suggests that obtaining qualifications at Level 3 can improve adult earning for those individuals by about 9%. Regional authorities clearly have a huge role to play in assessing which courses should be subsidised, as this can be a key step in helping to tackle regional inequalities.

The step to allow both the GMCA and WMCA to marshal careers advice to meet local skills gaps holds real potential. Currently, there is very little available to adults in this regard, with the National Careers Service focussing predominantly on ‘priority groups’ such as older workers and single parents.

This announcement marks an opportunity for both the GMCA and the WMCA to develop a more visionary approach to careers support. There is a need for careers advice to be joined up with the full range of local partners and initiatives, including apprenticeships and business support services, to provide a better service to learners. Crucially too, careers advice should be universal in scope and available to all.

This move towards devolution of skills policy is welcome. Offering combined authorities the opportunity to set multi-year budgets will undoubtedly make planning easier and enable strategic decisions to better meet training needs and skills gaps.

That being said, there remain a large number of bodies that will now need to work alongside each other. These include: Job Centre Plus districts, Education and Skills Funding Agency regions and the new LSIP footprints.

Policy makers and providers should collaborate to develop a more integrated approach to ensure that those who face the greatest barriers to training are supported to build new skills in a way that works for them.

Related Blogs

• 

  Frosty Days, Festive Ways!

• 

  Taking student issues to Parliament

• 

  The financial career landscape

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed by our bloggers and those providing comments are personal, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lancaster University. Responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained within blog posts belongs to the blogger.