The LGA has set out guiding principles on equality and diversity in employment and skills
Councils and the LGA have long made the case that greater local leadership of public services has the potential to make us all more prosperous and united by tackling the regional and local inequalities that unfairly hold back communities.
There is a both an economic and social case for this, because while we are one of the biggest and strongest economies in the world, we are also one of the most unbalanced.
The Government’s 2022 White Paper, ‘Levelling Up the UK’, states that ‘not everyone shares equally in the UK’s success. While talent is spread equally across our country, opportunity is not’.
Economic inclusion is essential for building strong and resilient communities, reducing inequality and poverty, and promoting economic growth.
Councils, as leaders of place, can play a key leadership role in supporting economic inclusion, both as employers and enablers of economic growth.
This important role includes supporting everyone – regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, caring responsibilities, ‘children in care’ or offending background – to achieve their full potential in education and employment.
The LGA’s Work Local campaign sets out our ambition to work with government to unlock talent by spreading opportunity to all parts of the country.
This is critical for the economy and local areas, as significant skills gaps are predicted by 2030.
LGA analysis of the employment and skills landscape has also revealed that equality and diversity are not completely reflected in jobs, skills and training opportunities – stark inequalities are prevalent for both people and places.
We know that many councils are already working hard to tackle these inequalities. However, more remains to be done to address longstanding and systemic issues to ensure a more inclusive and equitable local economy.
So, last autumn, as part of the LGA’s Work Local and levelling up ambitions, we set out to better understand the challenges of employment and skills inequalities for people and places; and explore how the role of councils in supporting equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in employment and skills could be advanced to help unlock talent and level up local areas.
To build on our initial research and evidence base, we hosted a series of roundtables between December 2022 and January 2023, to hear directly from local government.
The roundtables explored how councils are working to improve equality and diversity in employment and skills outcomes to encourage economic inclusion for their communities.
The discussions provided a snapshot of the challenges and how these are being addressed. ‘‘Equality, diversity and inclusion focus group: thematic summary’, provides details of the conversations.
The roundtables identified several themes that underpin councils’ ability to support greater inclusion across their employment and skills programmes. These included: the specific needs of individuals and lack of data; fragmented funding; digital connectivity; transport connectivity; the role of employers and businesses; and partnership working.
Building on our analysis and discussions with the sector through the roundtable events, we have now published a paper setting out six guiding principles to realising economic inclusion in employment and skills, and the key role we would like to see councils play.
The ‘LGA guiding principles underpinning equality, diversity and economic inclusion in employment and skills’ are:
- Economic inclusion strategies, action plans and initiatives informed by data on individual needs and local labour market intelligence can be more effective.
- Investment in infrastructure is vital to fully achieve economic growth and inclusion in people and places.
- Local government should foster collaborative internal and external partnerships to maximise economic growth and inclusion.
- Local government should assist businesses and employers to support good work practices to maximise economic inclusion in local areas.
- Local government should promote workforce equality, diversity and economic inclusion as an employer.
- Local government should monitor and evaluate progress to ensure economic inclusion is achieved for everyone.
In practice, this might look like: promoting equal access to sustainable employment or skills opportunities; creating job opportunities for all to benefit from; ensuring council workforces better reflect local communities; assisting businesses to provide training and skills opportunities for everyone; and promoting policies that help create a more inclusive and equitable local economy.
Taken together, and building on the excellent work already under way in many places, councils can help people to achieve their full potential and create the conditions for inclusive and sustainable local growth.
Moving on Up
East Sussex County Council
East Sussex County Council, like most councils, has seen an exceptional rise in homelessness in recent years. Some of this was due to the pandemic, with a shrinking local economy and employment. More recently, the cost-of-living and Ukraine crises have further exacerbated homelessness in the county.
Many of those experiencing or at risk of homelessness are unemployed, underemployed or earning significantly lower wages and, with limited rental housing stock available, this makes it a challenge to find suitable accommodation.
The council’s response has been ‘Moving on Up’, a programme of bespoke employment support for individuals in housing settings or at risk of homelessness. The objective was to help residents develop skills, explore employment and, if a job was secured, move into independent accommodation.
The programme offered a combination of: bespoke mentoring; mini-interventions and learning tasters, as stepping stones to work; access to the Department for Work and Pensions’ sector-based work academy programme; a job-matching service; a ‘moving on’ incentive payment, to cover deposits and furniture (average £2,500 each); and help with accommodation searches.
Over 12 months, 450 people were referred onto the programme. All were given referrals into training programmes or direct support through Moving on Up. Within a year, 39 found jobs with embedded training, 20 people had moved into independent accommodation, 161 had participated in short learning interventions, and 103 who progressed to formal learning earned level 1-3 awards and qualifications.
Careers in the creative industries
Coventry City Council
The Creative Employability Programme, managed and delivered by Coventry City Council, worked with young people to develop a welcoming and inclusive space for those who use the council-run Job Shop.
The programme – funded by the National Lottery Community Fund – delivered creative industry-focused employment skills.
This gave young people an opportunity to explore their own creative practice, gain insight into the industry, and explore opportunities.
Many young people are either excluded from or struggling to achieve their aspirations in the Coventry labour market, and need personalised mentoring support to address additional barriers created by the pandemic, including increased mental ill-health, low confidence, isolation, discrimination and low income.
The challenge was to make existing services delivered by the council and local partners more accessible and attractive to young people.
The Creative Employability Programme gave young people the opportunity to work with a mentor from Arty-Folks, a local community-based project, to design, develop and create a piece of art.
Wraparound support included employability skills, confidence and motivation, team building, effective job search, and self-employment support.
The supervised programme led to referrals into further support, as identified by the young people working with job coaches and local delivery partners, including to training providers and careers advice.
Most of the young people progressed into education or training in the creative industries, including one who was given the opportunity to run a creative workshop on the project. Five participants signed up for a programme with Imagineers, a local arts education project, and some are now studying art-related courses at university.
- For more information, please see ‘LGA guiding principles underpinning equality, diversity and economic inclusion in employment and skills’. The LGA will be hosting a webinar on ‘The role of local government in supporting economic inclusion: unlocking talent to level up’ on 3 October. The event will reflect on learning from the LGA’s recent work on economic inclusion, look at good practice case studies on how the sector is tackling some of these inequalities, and host a Q&A session with a panel of expert speakers.