With the Government keen to promote growth amidst a shrinking economy, Employer Representative Boards and employer voice has never been more important

Rachel Reeves must feel she has been dealt a difficult hand at the moment. With the UK economy unexpectedly contracting by 0.1% in January, the OECD reducing the UK’s growth estimate for 2025 to 1.4% and the effects of Donald Trump’s tariffs creating a ricochet effect across the global economy, Ms Reeves must feel she has a mountain to climb. At the time of writing, her much anticipated Spring Statement is still unknown: will this add an additional chink of uncertainty?

As any firm will know, uncertainty is not a friend to business. However, one constant – albeit with arguably inconsistent results in times gone by – has been that successive governments have attempted to drive growth through the skills agenda.

And its right they should. By creating the right environment for learning and support systems to flourish – both locally and nationally, learners become part of the talent pipeline, with the power to drive, positively change and boost economies. However, to supercharge change, businesses need to be firmly in the driving seat articulating their needs, with the system ready to act.

Enter the Employer Representative Bodies – or ERBs, who act as the voice of business within this important skills ecosystem.

As the ERB for the Liverpool City Region, Liverpool Chamber has been working closely with city partners, including the Combined Authority, colleges, independent education providers and regional Chambers, to ensure the skills mix in Liverpool is the right ‘formula’ – not only in relation to what the local economy needs now, but also what it is likely to need in the future to stay competitive and enhance growth.

Businesses across varying sectors, from construction, manufacturing and logistics to professional business services and the visitor economy, have fed into Industry Learning Partnerships (ILPs) for their sectors, telling us where they feel the barriers are when it comes to growth and skills development. Collectively, they have suggested tangible actions for improvement across a range of areas – paving the way for enhanced talent pipelines, increased productivity and twenty-first century careers’ support.

Such insights from businesses in Liverpool are critical in ensuring its Learning and Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for the city region is fit for purpose and truly reflects business needs: without this rich insight, planning is simply guesswork based on projections, rather than the state of play ‘on the ground’ at any given time (and if recent geopolitical events are anything to go by, having the agility to respond to real-time information and change is becoming ever more relevant!).

Although the Government has made positive moves towards identifying sectors it feels are catalysts for UK growth through its recent Industrial Strategy Invest 2035, it must also, either directly, or via growth sector supply chains, make sure it listens to – as well as supports – those businesses that are perhaps not overtly a ‘neat fit’ across the eight categories identified (i.e. advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, creative industries, defence, digital and technologies, financial services, life sciences, professional and business services) as well as those sectors and businesses that fall within them. With Whitehall committing to, “design…. [future sector plans] in partnership with business, devolved governments, regions, experts, and other stakeholders, through bespoke arrangements tailored to each sector,” it is essential that in doing so, the overarching vision for the UK does not cloud, or overlook, the economic strengths of a particular region.

As the Devolution agenda gains momentum, Liverpool already has the advantage of being a tried-and-tested Combined Authority area, flanked by the Combined Authority area in Greater Manchester – meaning much of the ecosystem for success is already in place to not only support, but also promote seamless joint working to stimulate economic momentum. Through the work of the ERB and via the LSIP, in conjunction with the Combined Authority, the Liverpool City region has already laid firm foundations for what successful public-private working can look like to drive growth, as new plans and ways of working take shape here in the North West.

ILPs have revealed a number of areas where both the education sector and local businesses can work together to co-create solutions to add fuel to the region’s – as well as UK’s – growth ambitions. It is perhaps unsurprising that a call for digital and IT skills development crosscuts the feedback of many sectors, in particular in relation to data analytics and AI. However, equally noteworthy are the points raised that are anything but new – such as the need for strong communications skills, adaptability and resilience, solid leadership and management capabilities and a more streamlined approach (and access to) careers advice. As a more junior policy manager working in the skills and employment space some 15 years ago or so, the narrative was incredibly similar – and having returned to Chambers many years later, it has surprised me how similar the challenges and stories are from businesses across these areas.

Whilst skills and education have been – politically – subject to much change, this perhaps underlines why ERBs, with a constant and trusted business voice at their core, need longevity of funding to support and build on the LSIP. Businesses are the glue that ensures skills provision is responsive, appropriate and meets the demands of the economy at any given time. Furthermore, with the winding down of the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and the creation of Skills England as a proposed Executive arm of the Department of Education (DfE), it is absolutely key that new arrangements allow employers the voice and flexibility to challenge where a standard or assessment plan is not fulfilling their requirements, should this is needed. With Skills England becoming the thirteenth skills body in fifty years, it is essential that employers not only have a central role as agents of growth over the long-term, but that there is consistency for them too, in an economic context which is, currently, perhaps less than certain.

Following a recent meeting with Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, regarding industrial policy and skills, he wrote and confirmed that, “the multi-year settlements the Government will agree as part of the Spending Review will provide both business and tertiary education providers the certainty they need to make investment decisions in the Liverpool City region, and across the country more generally.” Whilst we watch and wait for the Spending Review, one thing is certain during this rather choppy economic period – certainty and longevity in approach around skills, with the voices of Liverpool businesses clearly articulated in the system, will help unlock the region’s – as well as the UK’s – potential.

To find out more about the LSIP project, express an interest in joining one of the sector-specific ILP groups, or chat to us further about skills needs in your business, please do register your interest via www.liverpoolchamber.org.uk/local-skills-improvement-plan/