“Everyone deserves the opportunity to fulfil their potential by upskilling or retraining to find and progress in jobs, with local councils best placed to connect them, working alongside businesses and our vital training organisations."
Responding to a Commons Work and Pensions Committee report calling for more employment support to address economic inactivity, including widening support to help people who are not on benefits into work, Cllr Kevin Bentley, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s People and Places Board, said:
“Everyone deserves the opportunity to fulfil their potential by upskilling or retraining to find and progress in jobs, with local councils best placed to connect them, working alongside businesses and our vital training organisations.
“As this report recognises, each area has its own unique labour market including a mix of jobs, qualification levels, unemployment and vacancies, therefore it makes sense to devolve responsibilities for addressing these to local authorities.
“We need to move away from a top-down, centralised approach. Given the right powers and resources over employment and skills funding for every place, councils could build on their track record of helping to get people back into work - including those who are furthest from the jobs market - and plugging growing skills gaps.
“Using their unrivalled local insight, knowledge and proven record in delivering more for less, local leaders want to unlock this potential talent and get the best value for money from the billions currently spent on various national disjointed schemes.”
Notes to Editors
A cost-benefit analysis shows a place-based, Work Local approach has the potential to increase by 15 per cent the number of people improving their skills or finding work at lower cost.