In March, we were delighted to join partners delivering Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) across London at Business LDN’s Skills Summit 2025.

Now in its second year of delivery, London’s Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) are employer-led and data-driven blueprint for aligning training and education with current and future business needs.

The Skills Summit brought together 200 business leaders, education and training providers, government stakeholders and London’s sub-regional partnerships to celebrate the collaboration that employer-led and data-driven LSIPs have created to help close skills gaps across London.

Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern, Minister for Skills, and Mete Coban MBE, Deputy Mayor for London for Environment and Energy addressed the Summit, which explored how businesses, training providers and public sector bodies can progress the transformation of skills and training in London in an era of change and new ambition.

Speaking at the event Forogh Rahmani, Director of Local London outlined the importance of the LSIP for the sub-region: “Our LSIP is the result of research with businesses and stakeholders across our nine boroughs, highlighting five key sectors and eight cross-cutting themes that we are addressing to help close skills gaps. Through the Skills Providers Network, colleges and training providers are responding positively to employers needs, developing courses and learning solutions that make the most of local resources to prepare people across our boroughs for work in high-demand and growing sectors. This is strengthening relationships and ultimately helping people gain the job skills they need to enjoy exciting careers here.”

Our team at the event: Cathy Duncan, Forogh Rahmani, Philip Doyle, with Chris Burr, Group Director - Partnership and Strategy, and Philip Bourne Digital Consultant from London South East Colleges

Joined by Chris Burr, Group Director – Partnership and Strategy, and Philip Bourne Digital Consultant from London South East Colleges, we shared what is happening in our boroughs with the pan-London audience. This includes the development of high-tech immersive learning suites implemented across 20 Collaborative Delivery Partners (CDPs) that will help colleges share resources and better prepare learners for work in key sectors.

Attendees also gained valuable insights into the innovative strategies and partnerships that are shaping the skills landscape in the sub-region through the Local London Skills Providers Network.

The LSIP initiative has been confirmed for another three years with a refresh planned for autumn 2025 under the oversight of Skills England, which aims to build a coherent picture of skills gaps across the country and how they can be addressed.

Find out more about our LSIP work: www.local.london/lsip

Watch the film: https://youtu.be/aOAbu9XU1ik

Across the sub-region, partners are working together to help close the skills gaps prioritised in our LSIP (Local Skills Improvement Plan). Whilst we are engaging with employers to ensure that the plan delivers their needs, our partners at the Local London Skills Providers Network are bringing together training and education providers to respond to the LSIP.

Through the network, training and education providers are developing new ways of teaching skills to meet business needs.

This was showcased at the Working at Heights business breakfast hosted recently by Capital City College and the Local London Skills Providers Network for employers in industries where safety at height is critical, ie construction, building maintenance, electrical work, cleaning, and wind turbine operations.

Photo of students at Enfield facility where they are learning how to work safely at heights suspended by harnesses.

In partnership with 3T, a leading training provider in the global offshore market, Capital City College and the Skills Providers Network have developed a suite of industry-specific courses to address gaps directly supporting LSIP priorities in construction, engineering and green jobs. These include:

Working at Heights course.
Advanced rescue training.
Industry-standard rope access training.
Fire awareness.
Control of hazardous energy.
Specialist first aid training for height-related work environments.

The event also included a fascinating tour and demonstration of Capital City College’s state-of-the-art rope access facilities (pictured) and wind turbine maintenance workshop in Enfield, where students gain vital practical experience in maintaining and servicing wind turbines.

This free training offers local people access to hands-on upskilling opportunities in the growing green jobs sector that align both with our LSIP priorities and the UK Government’s net-zero targets.

Find out more

Discover our LSIP for the sub-region

Discover the Local London Skills Providers Network

News

24th April 2025
Back to All News

Employer shares experience of Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes

LSIP

We recently hosted the second in a series of webinars designed to support micro, small and medium-sized businesses in London to find and develop existing talent.

Over 70 people joined the online session which focused on Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), an initiative helping employers bridge skills gaps while providing jobseekers with essential training and employment opportunities.

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We recently hosted the second in a series of webinars designed to support micro, small and medium-sized businesses in London to find and develop existing talent.

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The event was highly interactive. Attendees from businesses across London, public sector and education partners posed live questions to a panel of experts representing all perspectives of this collaborative approach to addressing employers’ skills needs, including:

Roy Pearce and Lauren Rogers from L&Q, a leading housing provider, shared their perspective on using SWAPs to address skills shortages and enhance social impact in their business.
Divine Bonsu, who joined L&Q through SWAPs, provided a first-hand account of her journey, offering valuable insights into how the programme has shaped her career.
Adrian Gabriel-Lovell, Operations Manager, and Abigail Fernandes, Employer and Partnership Manager from Jobcentre Plus who explained how SWAPs connect jobseekers with training providers and helps employers to create direct pathways into work.
Paul Mason Hughes, Community and Partnerships Manager at New City College, discussed how educational institutions can collaborate with employers to ensure training aligns with industry needs.
Cathy Back, LSIP Employer Engagement at Local London, outlined how employers and training providers are addressing local skills gaps through SWAPs and other initiatives.

“It was an excellent webinar. My knowledge of SWAPs has increased, and it was great to hear the success stories of the SWAP” commented one attendee after the event.

Watch the webinar

The webinar was delivered as part of the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), a pan-London strategy funded by the Department for Education and delivered by Business LDN in collaboration with London’s four sub-regional partnerships (SRPs): Local London, South London Partnership (SLP), Central London Forward (CLF), and West London Alliance (WLA).

The London LSIP aims to create employer-led training initiatives that address workforce development needs across the capital.

Sign up to the next event in the series

1-2pm
26 February 2025

Join South London Partnerships and South London Careers Hub to explore: How do we give young people meaningful experiences of the world of work and inspire the next generation? Book your place at the next FREE webinar in the series.

Sign up to the next event in the series

For more information on upcoming webinars and workforce development initiatives, explore our website or get in touch with lsip.locallondon@redbridge.gov.uk if you would like access to the webinar recording.

Discover our latest newsletter and Skills Special www.local.london/news/newsletter

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We recently hosted the second in a series of webinars designed to support micro, small and medium-sized businesses in London to find and develop existing talent.

SWAPs can create a skilled workforce for businesses of any type. Employers and training providers create short sector-specific upskills training programmes for unemployed people, giving them the right skills to find jobs in that sector.

Roy Pearce and Lauren Rogers from L&Q, a leading housing provider, shared their perspective on using SWAPs to address skills shortages and enhance social impact in their business.
Divine Bonsu, who joined L&Q through SWAPs, provided a first-hand account of her journey, offering valuable insights into how the programme has shaped her career.
Adrian Gabriel-Lovell, Operations Manager, and Abigail Fernandes, Employer and Partnership Manager from Jobcentre Plus who explained how SWAPs connect jobseekers with training providers and helps employers to create direct pathways into work.
Paul Mason Hughes, Community and Partnerships Manager at New City College, discussed how educational institutions can collaborate with employers to ensure training aligns with industry needs.
Cathy Back, LSIP Employer Engagement at Local London, outlined how employers and training providers are addressing local skills gaps through SWAPs and other initiatives.

“It was an excellent webinar. My knowledge of SWAPs has increased, and it was great to hear the success stories of the SWAP” commented one attendee after the event.

Watch the webinar

The London LSIP aims to create employer-led training initiatives that address workforce development needs across the capital.

Sign up to the next event in the series

1-2pm
26 February 2025

Stay up-to-date with the LSIP

Discover our latest newsletter and Skills Special www.local.london/news/newsletter

Our Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) Progress Report, published today, provides an update on how businesses and training providers are working together to bridge major skills gaps in our sub-region.

Great strides have been taken in the first year since the launch of ‘Mind the Skills Gap’ our plan for improving skills across our sub-region. Support from employers, education and training providers and government at all levels has ensured that recommendations in the plan are being realised.

Anyone invested in skill development and implementation efforts and how these support the wider economy in Local London will want to read this progress report and get involved in developing training that meets career needs.

⇒Read the Progress Report 2024 for year one

Highlights from year one and future initiatives

This first year progress report offers insights into ongoing initiatives and opportunities for involvement and highlights exciting changes already underway in training and education in our sub-region, including:

Sector deep dives on skills gaps.
Chamber of Commerce collaboration.
LSIF (Local Skills Improvement Fund) activity around green and digital projects.
Responses to the LSIP by individual education and training providers.

Why do we need to address skills gaps?

Our sub-region is the fastest growing part of the capital and has huge potential for inclusive growth that benefits all our boroughs’ residents. Yet, unemployment in our sub-region tracks higher than the national and London averages.

Alongside this, compared to other parts of London, employers in south east and north east London continue to have more pronounced concerns about skills shortages among their existing staff, and worries around skills challenges.

How we are closing local skills gaps

To help tackle these challenges, we are bringing together stakeholders in the sub-region to implement the findings in our employer-led LSIP and are making the case with partners for the devolution of skills funding.

‘Mind the Skills Gap’ our LSIP for this part of London, and this year one progress report have been created for a diverse audience with an interest in aligning skills and training provision with employers’ needs. This includes employers and businesses in the sub-region who are already involved, as well as those who have yet to engage with the LSIP.

Reflecting research into skills needs across our nine boroughs, our LSIP is part of the pan-London LSIP produced by Business LDN in September 2023 for the Department for Education. Priority needs for addressing skills shortages in this part of London centre around five key sectors:

Construction
Digital and Creative
Health and Social Care
Manufacturing
Distribution

Our research also identified eight shared themes: green skills; digital skills; support (including ESOL); skills provision; information and advice; cooperation and engagement; funding; and tackling inequality.

Learn more about our LSIP: www.local.london/lsip

Find out more and get involved with our LSIP

Local Businesses and Employers

Local businesses are encouraged to engage with the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for the Local London sub-region by assessing their workforce development needs in alignment with LSIP objectives.

We openly invite businesses to participate in recruitment fairs and careers events across our boroughs, as well as inspiring students to broaden their career aspirations as ‘enterprise advisers’, ensuring these efforts are consistent with the LSIP’s strategic goals.

Through our extensive network of colleges and training providers, we facilitate potential partnerships and collaborative programs with employers aimed at addressing local skills gaps.

Discover more about how we work with businesses: www.local.london/businesses

Watch our video to learn more about becoming an enterprise adviser:

Local colleges and training providers

Colleges, training providers and technical institutes will find a comprehensive overview of the work to date to develop courses and facilities that better meet developing employer-needs in this progress report.

For further information, visit: www.locallondonskillsproviders.com

To help tackle unemployment across the Local London sub-region, we have produced a series of guides to help older residents explore their career options.

Whether looking to change sectors, retrain or start a career, the ‘50 Forward’ leaflets provide an insight into priority job sectors with vacancies in our nine boroughs, and aim to get local people into well-paid, long-term work.

Taking its name from the growing need to support people aged 50 and over to return to work, or change sectors, the ‘50 Forward’ leaflets aim to shine a light on their transferable experience and skills that can be used in new careers and opportunities available in London.

Each of the leaflets in the series focuses on one of five sectors that have large recruitment needs in this part of London, as identified by employers in our Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), namely:

Construction and Engineering.
Digital and Creative.
Health and Social Care.
Manufacturing.
Transport and Logistics.

The ‘50 Forward’ leaflets are part of our Integration Hub’s work to connect residents with employers and businesses, and local employment services.

While the leaflets have been designed and co-produced with people aged 50 and over, the information on the sectors could inspire people of any age considering returning to work or changing careers.

How to get your free guide

Printed copies of ‘50 Forward’ can be ordered via workconnections@redbridge.gov.uk or picked up from any of our borough’s employment and skills services.

To obtain digital copies please visit the Local London Work Connections website.

The site is growing and hosts information and resources to help people get into work, including experienced workers, young people and people with disabilities (physical and/or learning).

New research, funded through the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) for the Local London sub-region, has highlighted how a lack of knowledge and understanding of the green and digital job sector is preventing people from taking up a wealth of opportunities in the sector.

Local London Green and Digital Skills Partnership logo

Figures from the survey of over 1,000 Londoners aged between 16-25-years-old reveal that despite half wanting to pursue a career in the green sector, almost a third (29%) have little to no knowledge of what green skills mean.

Furthermore, they felt there were large barriers to entry including not knowing where to begin (42%) and feeling that they wouldn’t be able to earn enough in the field (37%), while a third (33%) mistakenly believed there were no job opportunities where they lived.

In fact, research by WPI, economic consultancy, highlighted that green jobs in London are set to double by 2030. With many companies struggling to fill vacancies, there are huge opportunities for young Londoners training to enter this workforce.

Welcoming the research Sarah Murray, Director of Local London commented “The findings from this LSIF-funded survey confirm the important role education has to play in preparing young people for the predicted boom in green and digital jobs. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners to ensure training provision meets employers’ needs.”

The government-funded Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) supports local education and training providers to develop and deliver training that directly addresses the needs of local employers and businesses as identified in the sub-region’s Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP).

Local London is working with employers across the sub-region’s nine boroughs to ensure the LSIP continues to meet market needs. Much of the work the sub-regional body does to help adults into employment and help young people understand all their career options focusses on these priorities.

Boosting local learners’ green and digital skills

From the education perspective, a new investment of £6.5m from the Government’s Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) has been secured by a group of 23 further education, higher education and skills providers in North East and South East London, led by London South East Colleges. This will be used to put local learners in the best possible position to secure jobs in the green and digital sectors.

This investment will see current and future learners across the Local London sub-region benefit from new state-of-the-art facilities, along with the development of new courses and qualifications, new approaches for collaborative teaching, and digital and green skills training for teaching and non-teaching staff.

⇒ Read the full press release on the Green Jobs and Skill Partnership website.

Digital jobs video

Watch this video developed by the Local London Green Jobs and Skills Partnership, focusing on the lack of understanding around the digital sector and dispelling some common myths and misconceptions.

Find out more

⇒For more information on LSIF, visit: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education

⇒Find out more about the Local London Green Jobs and Skills Partnership

⇒Find out more about our employer-led local skills improvement plan

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.

⇒ Read the pan-London LSIP.

To be involved in developing and implementing the LSIP for Local London contact: lsip.locallondon@redbridge.gov.uk

———- End —————-

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

London’s leading business groups have published an ambitious plan to tackle skills shortages, address inequality and boost labour market inclusion in the capital, following the biggest data deep dive on the issues the capital has ever seen.

The London Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) sets out a blueprint for getting more Londoners into better, higher-paying jobs by better matching training provision to employer demand. It has been led by BusinessLDN, in partnership with Federation of Small Businesses London (FSB London), London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), and CBI London, with the backing of the Mayor of London and funded by the Department for Education.

The LSIP identifies the need to help employers navigate the complex and fragmented skills system. It also highlights four cross-cutting themes that should be prioritised to future-proof the capital’s jobs market: digital skills, green skills, transferable skills and labour market inclusion.

Its recommendations include launching a new one-stop-shop to support job-seekers, creating a London Recruitment and Skills Support Hub to help businesses navigate the fragmented skills landscape and steps to boost digital and green skills across the capital.

Annexes highlighting priorities and recommendations across different parts of London have been led by each of the capital’s sub-regional partnerships: Local London, South London Partnership, Central London Forward and West London Alliance.

Skills – the biggest challenge to recruitment

Skills shortages are a drag on London’s economy and put the capital’s position as a world leading city at risk. A survey of more than 1,000 London business leaders and HR managers conducted earlier this year by the four groups developing the LSIP found that three-quarters of firms (77%) were reporting open vacancies and of those two-thirds (65%) were struggling to fill them. More than half (57%) cited a low number of suitable applicants with the required skills as the biggest challenge to recruitment.

While London’s workforce has the highest levels of qualifications in the country, businesses are facing severe skills gaps and struggling to recruit, retain and upskill staff to meet the requirements they need. The capital’s unemployment is around 1% higher than the national average and 21.9% of the labour market was economically inactive for the three months ending January 2023 according to the Office for National Statistics.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan commented “This is an extremely important plan as we work to develop the workforce our economy needs now and in the future, and build a better, more prosperous London for everyone.

“Skills shortages are a barrier to growth and I am pleased that we are teaming up with businesses to ensure Londoners have the skills they need to get on and succeed.”

John Dickie, Chief Executive at BusinessLDN, said “The capital urgently needs to tackle skills shortages to get more Londoners into jobs, reduce inequality and ensure businesses can access the people they need to grow. This roadmap sets out steps to future-proof London’s labour market by ensuring our skills system is fit for purpose as the transition to net zero and rapid technological change reshapes the jobs market. We will use the LSIP’s next phase to bring together London government, business and training providers to close the skills gaps holding back our economy by turning this plan into action.”

Sarah Murray, Director for Local London said “We are delighted to have contributed to the pan-London LSIP. This is the most in-depth research there has been into addressing skills needs and has revealed there are issues that are common across the capital and different in its sub-regions, highlighting the need to consider the capital as more than one homogenous city.”

Over the last year, the BusinessLDN LSIP team engaged with more than 1,000 employers, training providers and key London stakeholders to assess the London labour market and its key challenges.

⇒ Discover the report and detailed recommendations to improve London’s skills system for employers, job-seekers and training providers.

⇒ Find out more about our LSIP work and how to be part of the ongoing conversation

St Pauls on a suny day with Londoners and tourists going about their days

Find out more