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Bridging the Technician Skills Gap: From LEPs to ERBs
From LEPs to ERBs: Strategies for Addressing Technician Skills Shortages considers how local employer bodies might alleviate the persistent shortage of skilled technicians and its ramifications for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
This new report commissioned by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and written by Tara Shirazi, builds on Carmen Nicoara’s thesis, Skills for the future? An analysis of LEPs’ ability to influence the production of technician skills for 21st century advanced manufacturing.
The report examines the role of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in addressing regional skills gaps, specifically in the context of the advanced manufacturing sector. LEPs were initially established to facilitate partnerships between local authorities and private enterprises. However, they struggled to effectively address technician skills shortages due to limitations in governance, resource allocation, and engagement with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs}. Consequently, the report explores whether Employer Representative Bodies (ERBs) may be in a better position to enhance employer involvement in apprenticeship programs and workforce training.
The report identifies several systemic barriers impeding SME participation in apprenticeship initiatives, including constrained financial capacity, high attrition rates among apprentices, and the complexities associated with navigating evolving apprenticeship standards. To mitigate these challenges, the report advocates for the establishment of "employer clubs" — consortia of SMEs that collaborate to share resources, manage apprenticeship programs collectively, consequently reducing individual burdens. This collective approach aims to make training initiatives more economically viable and administratively feasible for smaller enterprises.
Furthermore, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation's research underscores the necessity of fostering robust collaboration between further education providers and employers, coupled with targeted policy interventions. These could include subsidies for apprenticeship programs, simplified administrative procedures, and grants for training equipment, interventions designed to alleviate the financial and logistical constraints faced by SMEs in engaging with technical training. By implementing these strategies, the report argues, England can cultivate a more dynamic and resilient skills ecosystem — one that aligns educational outputs with industry demands and supports the long-term growth of the advanced manufacturing sector.
The report should be of particular interest to Skills England as it seeks to drive up employer investment in training. It also demonstrates the importance of networking individuals at a local level, which should be one of the drivers for devolving the delivery of skills.
This paper suggests a mechanism by which MCAs and ERBs might encourage more SMEs to take on apprentices through the creation of employer clubs. These clubs can serve as hubs for collaboration, offering SMEs access to shared resources, guidance, and best practices, while simplifying the complexities of apprenticeship schemes, but perhaps more crucially they create a collective response to local skills shortages.
For more in-depth insights and detailed recommendations, download the full report [PDF].