Skills White Paper Published
Last night, the Government published its Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, setting out its plans for reform, in line with its intentions to build the necessary skills to get and keep people in work and ultimately, to boost economic growth.
The Paper sets out the most pressing challenges currently being faced: there is a growing proportion of vacancies caused by skills shortages (27% as of last year), and almost 1 million 16-24 who are not in education, employment and training (NEET).
With this in mind, the Paper largely focuses on bringing together employers, skills providers, and the further and higher education sectors, with the overarching aim of creating a more agile system which can adapt to evolving skills needs, with particular reference to the priority sectors under the industrial strategy, construction, and health and social care.
There are, however, a number of reforms which are of relevance to the retail industry, including the following:
- From April 2026, employers will be able to use the Growth and Skills Levy to fund short courses. Initially, these will be available in areas with the most 'critical skills gaps', namely digital, AI and engineering - with Skills England responsible for reviewing and expanding this offer based on employer need. This follows extensive campaigning from the BRC to improve the flexibility of Levy funds, and is a welcome step in the right direction.
- Following initial success of the Sector Based Work Academy Programme (SWAP), the initiative will be expanded. Further funding for 100,000 places on the Programme - which provides on the job experience, pre-employment training, and concludes with a guaranteed job interview - is confirmed in the Paper.
- Government will also engage with employers further on Skills Passports, with the potential to introduce this offering to other sectors. Following a broadly similar structure to SWAP, with the addition of a recognised qualification, or 'passport', at the end, they had initially been trialled in the hospitality and clean energy sectors.
- In an attempt to increase employer investment and engagement, government will create sector Jobs Plans in collaboration with employers and industry bodies (beyond those in the Industrial Strategy).
- As announced previously, young people receiving Universal Credit for 18 months will be offered paid work as part of a new Youth Guarantee. It is expected that further information on eligibility and the role of employers will come in the Budget.
- The introduction of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, which gives adults the opportunity to use student loan funding (up to the equivalent of 4 years' tuition) until the age of 60 for training and upskilling opportunities. The above short courses will also be in scope for this.
We will be back in touch with any further details and will continue our engagement with government on the above areas.
Share your views: please get in touch with Ben on ben.george@brc.org.uk
