Great Yarmouth Skills and Employability Strategy 2024-2029

Action A: Action for employers to guide and influence the local skills system. National policies have led to qualifications being designed in partnership with employers. There needs to be an ongoing dialogue between local employers and our schools, colleges and skills providers to set out which skills - and at what level - they need in order to tackle local skills gaps before they become a problem. For many smaller businesses, this may require support for 'workforce planning' that recognises that obtaining technical qualifications can take a long time. In the short-term, collaboration may be required to attract higher-skilled workers into the Borough, alongside longer-term work to improve the level and relevance of our residents' skills.

Action B: Action to enhance careers advice and guidance.It is essential that employers work with schools to inspire our young people and encourage them to see learning and qualifications as a way to access more secure, better-rewarded jobs - as well as meet future skills gaps. Employers and sector representative bodies (the groups that represent different industries) can help enhance local careers, information and guidance in partnership with skills providers, educators and those working in our communities - improving the quality and breadth of careers advice. This could include meaningful and inspiring work placements, site visits, mentoring, careers fairs and 'taster' days. There is also an opportunity to provide these kinds of activities to adults and older workers - including those at risk of redundancy.

Action C: Action to extend social mobility.There is a need to foster a more inclusive labour market where young people from deprived or disadvantaged backgrounds - or those where their families' are unable to support them or lack social connections - can access opportunities and reach their full potential. There is a clear role for an ongoing dialogue with our employers to inspire, support and mentor young people and build on what families and schools are able to provide, themselves.

Action D: Action to embed good employment practice.Our employers must ensure that learning is embedded into workplaces, enabling workers to develop their skills without having to change job or return to college. Workplace talent streaming can identify employees and either develop existing skills, or re-skill them - obtaining new skills or qualifications. They can also adopt good practices that provide more secure working environments that recognise and support equality, diversity, wellbeing, in-work progression - i.e. development and promotion - and appropriate reward, in terms of wages and other incentives, as well measures to support older workers looking to re-enter the labour force. It's been found that employers need to see clear return-on-investment - the longer-term benefits exceeding the short-term costs - in order to do this, despite clear links between workforce development and higher productivity, improved staff recruitment and retention and competitiveness.

Action E: Action on 'basic' and 'soft' skills.There is a need to widen residents' participation in obtaining 'basic' skills - such as English, English for speakers of other languages and maths. There's also a need to enhance access to support for 'soft' skills - the general skills and people skills that most employers look for when they're recruiting - and 'digital' skills to meet employers' requirements and enable employees to progress within those organisations and go on to obtain higher skills. There are clear opportunities for skills outreach - taking learning opportunities out into our communities and workplaces.

Action F: Action on 'green' skills.'Green' skills are required to support our businesses and communities reduce their environmental impact and carbon emissions in line with our national 'net zero carbon' ambition. The low-carbon economy - 'greener' goods and services - will become more important and provide a range of opportunities for our residents and businesses. These include more-specialist higher-value jobs to install and maintain things like energy-efficient heating systems in our homes, energy generation, electric vehicle (EV) charging and energy storage. More general 'green' skills will be required as individual businesses seek to reduce the carbon footprints of their workplaces and operations in order to meet their customers' expectations.

Action G: Action to tackle economic inactivity. Around half of our economically inactive residents - people not in employment who are not seeking work - have long-term health conditions, mental and physical disabilities. Flexible skills and employability projects and activities are required to bring these residents closer to the labour force, including a work-readiness and supported-employment approach for adults and older residents, with more online and out-of-hours learning options that fit around family life.

Action H: Action to help residents access employment. Projects and activities to support the unemployed and economically inactive adults into paid work - personalised support across the full range of employment skills linked to local employers' needs. Approaches might include coaching, mentoring, confidence and resilience-building, workplace behaviours, work experience, job-matching, job searching, CV design and interview preparation alongside introductions to providers of support for 'soft' and 'basic' skills.

Action I: Action to ensure that no-one is left behind. It's recognised that skills and employability projects and activities are not always joined-up, which can make them difficult for residents and employers to understand and participate in. There is a clear need to continue monitoring skills provision for - and uptake by - those at greatest risk of falling through the net; marginalised or disadvantaged residents and communities, especially those with specific educational needs and/or disabilities (SENDs) and those not in education, employment or training (NEETs).