The Local London Careers Hub team works closely with schools across all nine of our boroughs, this includes supporting young people in special schools to ensure every young person can make their best next steps.
Over 200 students at Willow Dene, a special school in Greenwich, got to focus on their futures with some exciting employers, during three days dedicated to career planning.
Developing three “power days” focussing on careers
In March we were delighted to support Willow Dene, a special school in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, to host three “power days” focussing on career learning and pathways.
Led by Mark Clayton, Assistant Headteacher and Careers Leader at Willow Dene, the concept of the power days was developed to give students across the school an opportunity to focus on their future pathways and careers. Different age groups enjoyed tailored activities with the first day dedicated to learners in key stages 1 and 2, the second to students in key stages 3 and 4, and the third day for key stage 5.
Working with Mark and some fantastic employers, our team designed the days to encourage the students, who have a range of needs including Autistic Spectrum Condition and severe and complex medical needs, to consider a broad range of future options.
Activities on the three days were interactive, engaging, and provided experiences for students around their needs, including work experience that was provided by their sixth form business ventures.
Working with brilliant businesses
Organisations including Unity Works, Ask Apprenticeships, St John’s Ambulance, Elevate Mentoring Programme and Morgan Sindall, ensured that students got insight into the world of work, apprenticeships and skills from a broad range of potential employment sectors.
Ask Apprenticeships ran engaging activities for students including their Games Arcade, which is a suite of fun and interactive games for students to explore and learn about apprenticeships, individually or in groups. This gave students a chance to hear about the type of apprenticeships on offer. Interest was sparked, and staff will continue to support students to search for different apprenticeships as a follow-up activity.
St. John’s Ambulance ran First Responder workshops for all year groups to help students learn vital first aid skills. Not only is health and care a huge employment sector in this part of London, but first aid could be an extremely beneficial life skill for students as they move into adulthood.
Elevate Mentoring, a long-term partner of Willow Dene, shared their mentoring programme with students, and encouraged them to think about their strengths and skills.
On the final day, Morgan Sindall visited the school to run a construction workshop. Using spaghetti and marshmallows, children worked as a team to design a strong building and loved the practical nature of this activity!
“It was an absolute pleasure delivering a spaghetti challenge at Willow Dene; the participants took part with enthusiasm and determination to build the tallest tower. We are always keen to support every part of our community, to try and encourage people to join the industry and we appreciate the opportunity given to us.” A member of the Morgan Sindall team commented.
“We thoroughly enjoyed our careers power day, the children loved thinking about their strengths and interests and linking them to future career pathways!” Said Malgorzata, Badger Class Teacher.
Get involved
If you would like to help broaden young people’s career aspirations across our boroughs, please contact our Careers Hub team: careershub.east@redbridge.gov.uk
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We are delighted to launch ‘Mind the Skills Gap’ – An employer-led plan for improving skills and training in our sub-region.
Centred on employers’ needs, ‘Mind the Skills Gap’ is an employer-led plan for improving skills and training in the Local London sub-region. A product of in-depth research into employment skills in the Capital, it is the first step to closing those gaps, aligning training and courses to meet employers’ needs; improving productivity, and helping more Londoners into good work.
This comes at a crucial time for employers and Londoners, with 27% of Local London employers reporting existing gaps in skills and capacity in their workforce and 70% of those with hard-to-fill vacancies attributing that difficulty to skills shortages. This is holding back people from getting into work, stopping businesses from growing and putting a brake on economic recovery.
Local London’s ‘Mind the Skills Gap’ highlights the specific needs and priorities of employers in Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest, along with actionable proposals for addressing them.
The importance of a sub-regional approach is underscored by the impact of Covid and cost of living on unemployment which is more pronounced in boroughs in the Local London sub-region. Unemployment benefit claimant figures track between 0.4-0.9% higher here than the capital as a whole. There is no ‘one size fits all’ answer in London to address these challenges; a more localised approach is required.
Consolidating the views of hundreds of local businesses, employer representative groups, training providers and other stakeholders in these nine boroughs, the plan articulates employers’ current and anticipated skills needs. Going further, it maps a path for prioritising changes to training courses and skills system required in the sub-region to help ensure post-16 skills and technical education is more responsive to local labour market needs.
Compiled by independent research agency, Institute for Employment Studies (IES), Local London’s ‘Mind the Skills Gap’ plan forms one of the four sub-regional annexes to the pan-London Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) developed by Business LDN and approved by the Secretary of State for Education in August 2023.
This deep dive into the skills needs in this part of London revealed five priority sectors: Construction and engineering, Digital and creative, Health and social care, Manufacturing, Distribution and logistics, and highlighting eight cross-cutting themes including green and digital skills.
Green skills – an exciting future
The number of green jobs in the Local London sub-region is projected to nearly double between 2020 and 2030, reaching 61,000 jobs, and then nearly double again to 110,000 jobs in 2050.
Addressing the digital divide
Digital skills was a recurring theme and training is required at all levels to meet the current and future needs of employers, from being able to apply for jobs to specific job-related needs.
Fifteen actionable priorities round out the plan for improving the skills landscape. Employers, training providers and other stakeholders are invited to engage with the implementation of the plan to ensure recommendations continue to be employer-driven.
Cllr Baroness O’Neill of Bexley OBE, Chairman of Local London and Leader of London Borough of Bexley said “This employer-led approach has identified real-life skills needs and the key changes required to make local training provision responsive to market needs.
Of course, this plan will not solve every issue within the skills system, which is why, at this stage, we are focussed upon specific priority sectors and cross-cutting themes. But this is more than just a report, it is the beginning of the process, a process that will evolve in response to an evolving skills market.
Mind the Skills Gap – the Local Skills Improvement Plan for our sub-region – is a fantastic opportunity to align training to meet the needs and priorities of employers in our nine member boroughs, to help more employers to fill their skills gaps and more Londoners into work and support growth in our sub-region.”
Join us
Local London will be hosting a free online event on Thursday 14 September 12:30-2pm to share Mind the Skills Gap – our annex to London’s Local Skills Improvement Plan. Experts will lead discussions on the report’s findings as well as next steps and opportunities for employers and stakeholders to be involved in tackling skills gaps in this part of London.
⇒ Sign up for the event on Eventbrite
Read the report
⇒ Read Mind the Skills Gap – Our employer-led plan for improving skills and training in our boroughs. An Annex to London’s Local Skills Improvement Plan.
To be involved in developing and implementing the LSIP for Local London contact: lsip.locallondon@redbridge.gov.uk
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Notes to editor:
Local London is one of London’s four sub-regional partnerships, delivering programmes and advocating for its member boroughs where a neither London-wide nor borough-level approach is appropriate.
Local London’s nine member Boroughs are: Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. Working together, our boroughs have a stronger voice on common issues.
Commissioned by Government, the pan-London Local Skills Improvement Plan delivered by BusinessLDN and incorporating plans for each of London’s four sub-regions was approved by the Secretary of State in line with the approval criteria set out in the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, and in accordance with the LSIP statutory guidance.
‘Mind the Skills Gap’ covers the priority needs and recommendations for our nine boroughs and forms part of the pan-London Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP).
Research undertaken by IES (Institute for Employment Studies) on behalf of Local London found that 27% of Local London employers reporting existing gaps in skills and capacity in their workforce and 70% of those with hard-to-fill vacancies attributing that difficulty to skills shortages.
The picture is different when considering London as a whole, but shows that skills shortage are a common issue for employers, although the priority sectors differ across the Capital. According to BusinessLDN, a survey of more than 1,000 London business leaders and HR managers, carried out by Survation, found that three-quarters of firms (77%) are reporting open vacancies and of those two-thirds (65%) are struggling to fill them. It found the biggest challenge to recruitment is a low number of suitable applicants with the required skills, cited as a problem by 57% of firms.
Green skills – an exciting future
Research by WPI Economics suggests that the number of green jobs in the Local London sub-region is projected to nearly double between 2020 and 2030, reaching 61,000 jobs, and then nearly double again to 110,000 jobs in 2050. Even with some jobs lost through the transition to net zero, there would be a projected increase in net jobs of 7,000 by 2030, with opportunities created through green construction, the Thames Estuary hydrogen ecosystem and moving more light freight on the Thames.
Joining up with this, the Green Academies Partnership – a group of colleges under the Local London Green Jobs and Skills Partnership – has begun reshaping their teaching and training and updating update their facilities in preparation for employers’ recommendations made in this local skills improvement plan.
Addressing the digital divide
Digital skills was a recurring theme and training is required at all levels to meet the current and future needs of employers, from being able to apply for jobs to specific job-related needs. Employers in health and social care were much more likely than other sectors to report computer literacy and basic IT skills shortages.
Findings recognise that some people would prefer to learn face-to-face or need o because they don’t have the digital skills to support online learning. Whilst others may prefer online learning, especially as it may fit better with their working pattern or other constraints.
Employers called attention to the specific needs in advanced digital training around cyber security, data analytics, and AI, with the health and digital sectors having particular demands for people with advanced digital skills.
The sub-region’s thriving creative sector will require people with high digital literacy driven by the Thames Estuary Production Corridor, film studios in Barking and Dagenham (which will create around 1,800 jobs), Troubadour Meridian Water Studios in Enfield, and creative industry developments in Bexley, Silvertown and Woolwich.
ESOL – a skills need cutting across all sectors
Some boroughs in Local London have very high population born outside the UK (54% in Newham, over 40% in Barking and Dagenham, Enfield and Redbridge). ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) is in high demand at some further and adult education colleges (e.g. 50% of all learners at Newham College) and there are difficulties getting enough teachers. ‘Mind the Skills Gap’ highlights new recruitment solutions including training unemployed people to be ESOL tutors – an idea being piloted in West London – and recommends colleges develop ‘ESOL for work’ courses tailored to help people find roles in different sectors such as construction trades, textiles manufacturing and health/care.
For media enquiries contact helen.mckay@redbridge.gov.uk / M: 07796 837 411
People are being urged to help shape exciting plans for improved, fast public transport services connecting Ebbsfleet, Dartford, Slade Green, Erith and Belvedere with Abbey Wood.
The proposals would provide faster connections into London and to other parts of Kent. They would make journeys by public transport quicker and more attractive and reduce the need for trips by car.
Cllr Jeremy Kite, Leader of Dartford Borough Council said: “The C2E Partnership are at a stage where they would like to know residents’ views about five potential options.
“Three of the options are for extending the Elizabeth line from its current planned terminus at Abbey Wood towards Dartford and Ebbsfleet. One is to improve existing rail services to connect into the Elizabeth Line at Abbey Wood and one is to provide a new bus rapid transit, building on the Fastrack network in Kent.
“By giving their views, residents can influence which options are taken forward for further development. So I encourage everyone to have their say by visiting the consultation link before it closes on 28 February.”
Cllr Teresa O’Neill OBE, Leader of the London Borough of Bexley and Chairman of the C2E Partnership commented: “This is a really important opportunity for residents and businesses to give their views on how important improved public transport links are to them. While there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment on the future of public transport, we know that better links will be fundamental to our plans to bring forward new high quality homes and jobs which can be accessed in safe, sustainable ways”.
“By responding to this consultation, residents and businesses can demonstrate to Government how important new public transport links are to the future of this area”.
You can respond to the consultation here:
The consultation closes on 28 February 2021.
Notes to editors:
The C2E Partnership was formed in 2016 as an informal group of authorities to promote an extension of the Elizabeth line beyond its current planned terminus at Abbey Wood towards Ebbsfleet. It is comprised of stakeholders that represent local communities in the area including:
- London Borough of Bexley
- Dartford Borough Council
- Gravesham Borough Council
- Ebbsfleet Development Corporation
- Kent County Council
- Thames Gateway Kent Partnership
In 2019, Government allocated funding for a major study to assess and develop a range of different transport options (including both Elizabeth line extensions and lower cost options) in order to support new housing and employment growth along the corridor. The C2E Partnership is responsible for the delivery of this study.