Why hasn’t skill policy in England ever solved skills shortages? The never-ending story of governance and skills policy reform.
Skill shortages harm the productivity and economic growth of countries as organisations do not have the appropriate workforce to exploit new technologies or processes. Despite the identification of these gaps, job-related training in low and middle-level skills has seen a unique decline in England compared to other advanced economies. What is behind this trend?
New advances in technology and processes are expected to revolutionise how organisations operate. However, investment in these technological advancements is undermined by a significant lack of the necessary skills to exploit them. This shortage is felt more strongly in lagging regions or ‘left behind places’ where low supply of skills is combined with a low demand for skills, becoming a low-skills low-wage trap. Equally, even in more successful regions, given the rapidity of incoming changes it is expected that workers will need to upskill and reskill throughout their working lives. If the UK does not wish to be left behind by other advanced economies, it is essential that skills policy successfully upskills and reskills workers to meet the demands of the 4IR. However, the ability of England to do so is severely undermined by a legacy of governance and skills policy churn and reform.
The introduction and subsequent dissolution of various schemes, including Individual Learner accounts, the Future Jobs Fund, New Deal, Advanced Learner Loans, and traineeships, underscore the lack of stability in English skills policy across governments. The obstacles to effective skills policy are deeply rooted in the local governance structure of the UK. The country is one of the most fiscally centralized in the developed world, with weak regional and local institutions. More plainly, local government in England has little power and is heavily reliant on Westminster for funding. This centralization has limited the adaptability of skills policy to local contexts, as central government has controlled the design and delivery of skills policy. The lack of local capacity and insights from important local stakeholders has meant that skills policy has not been tailored to adapt to local needs.
Equally, the governance reform journey in England has been characterized by persistent piecemeal reconfiguration and rescaling, primarily driven by economic and technocratic considerations. Despite initial success in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and London, devolution attempts by Labour lost momentum after the 2004 Northeast Regional Assembly Referendum. Subsequent changes in governance structures were often imposed centrally. This included the abolition of the Regional Development Agency’s Agencies (RDAs) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) introduced under Blair, and their replacement by business-led Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and the Skills Funding Agency in the 2010s. Unfortunately, these LEPs were criticised for being ineffective at engaging with local employers, and their intended abolition was announced in 2023. More successful (so far) was the establishment of 10 combined authorities (CAs) following several devolution deals.
While LEPs were responsible for developing local industrial strategies (including plans for local people), they never had control or input over local skills policy. In contrast, since 2018, 9 of the CAs have been given devolved powers over adult education functions, including control over Skill Bootcamps. It is hoped that CAs will be better positioned to adapt interventions to each unique local context. In turn, the employer representative bodies (ERBs) introduced in 2022 will be responsible for producing and reporting on their areas local skills improvement plan (LSIP). How and who ERBs will interact with to influence local skills policies will likely vary across areas, as in areas of England not under the select 9 CAs, the Department of Education remains in control of adult skills policy. These changes are representative of growing recognition within government that local government must be empowered to engage with local stakeholders and deliver local industrial and skills policy.
In unravelling the intricate history of skills policy and governance reform in England, the historical legacy of churn and piecemeal reform has left government underequipped to tackle England’s skill shortages. As the country strives to meet the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the need for a coordinated and adaptive approach that empowers local actors to shape effective skills policies will be essential. Nevertheless, whether CAs will be the elixir to England’s skills policy and local governance woes or join the churn remains to be seen.
Author’s profile
Laura Smyth is a part-time researcher and PhD student working for the Centre for People-led Digitalisation and based at the University of Bath. The Centre for People-led Digitalisation is dedicated to creating a needs-driven processes to support industry in realising the potential of a people-led approach to digitalisation.
Laura’s research is focused on examining adult (digital) skills policy designed and implemented within England since 1997. This includes analysis of historic and contemporary skills polices and initiatives available across England and exploration of the factors that have affected skills policy outcomes across regions.
If you would like to know more about this research, please email p-ld@bath.ac.uk.
