Local Government Economic Development Workforce Strategy and Action Plan

Councils appear to be struggling with persistent vacancies, skills shortages and increasing retention challenges. Without strategic intervention these workforce challenges pose a risk to the successful delivery of growth, prosperity and place making ambitions.

The sector must invest in data infrastructure, workforce capability and career development by strengthening action on workforce planning, succession planning and leadership development.

Purpose, Scope, Ownership, Methodology

Purpose

This strategic workforce plan has been developed to open constructive conversations with key stakeholders about the workforce challenges facing economic development professionals across the sector. By fostering collaboration between the Local Government Association, councils, professional bodies and education providers the plan aims to build a shared understanding of both current pressures and future workforce needs.

It also provides a practical framework to support local government employers in attracting, retaining and developing talent. We are seeking a partnership approach to deliver it. 

For current employees and those considering a career in local government, it gives an insight into our priorities and demonstrates our commitment to addressing strategic workforce issues.

Scope 

This workforce strategy focuses on the economic development profession within the local government sector, addressing strategic workforce challenges and opportunities to ensure a sustainable, skilled and adaptable workforce. It covers current workforce demographics, supply and demand factors, the impact of policy and legislation including other changes on future skills needs, as well as identifying gaps in the information and data available. 

Ownership

This strategy and action plan is a collaborative effort led by the Local Government Association (LGA) in partnership with councils and key stakeholders. The strategy and action plan has a national focus for action and provides a resource for councils to tailor to their strategic workforce planning needs.

The National Local Government Workforce Planning Network serves as the primary platform for consultation, knowledge-sharing and ongoing engagement on workforce planning matters, ensuring continued collaboration and responsiveness to emerging challenges and opportunities.

Methodology

This plan was developed through a collaborative process, shaped with and for the sector, to ensure it reflects the real-world challenges faced by local government. 

Sources of primary data included the LGA workforce survey, as well as specific workforce capacity reports where available for the identified critical shortage areas. This data provided insights into the strengths, gaps and emerging trends within the workforce, laying the foundation for a targeted approach.

Secondary information and data arising out of a series of Economic Development Skills Partnership Hub sessions was analysed, and sector expertise was further engaged in a series of consultation and feedback workshops on the draft strategies.

Strategic context and vision for the Economic Development workforce

The current operating environment for local government is increasingly complex, with challenges emerging across multiple areas. Financial pressures continue to intensify, while rising demand for services, ongoing legislative changes, climate adaptation, rapid technological transformation and an ageing workforce add further strain. 

The UK government has recently announced the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy. This has significant implications for local government, particularly in terms of funding, planning, and regional development. Local councils are expected to be central partners in delivering the strategy’s goals. This expanded role will require councils to act as "convenors of place", shaping local economies through planning, business support, and infrastructure development.

Economic development teams will need to:

• coordinate local growth plans aligned with national sector priorities.
• facilitate partnerships between businesses, education providers, and infrastructure agencies
• support regeneration and investment initiatives in Industrial Strategy Zones.

There will be an increased demand for skills and capacity. The strategy’s emphasis on inclusive growth, innovation, and sectoral development will place new demands on local economic development teams:

• teams will need specialist knowledge in high-growth sectors like clean energy, life sciences, and digital technologies
• there will be a need for data analysis, investment readiness, and strategic planning capabilities
• councils must also manage integrated responsibilities from former Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), adding to their workload.

However, many teams are currently under- resourced, with some consisting of just one officer. 

Local government plays a lead role in fostering inclusive, sustainable and prosperous local economies. Economic development professionals are at the heart of this mission, driving investment and maximising opportunities that tackle social, regional and economic disparities, supporting local businesses and fostering innovation to boost productivity. Sustainability and net-zero targets are increasingly central to economic strategies, influencing investment decisions and development priorities.

Workforce vision for the local government economic development workforce

Through the Economic Development Skills Partnership Hub sessions, participating councils collaborated to develop a shared workforce vision that inspires professionals, supports recruitment and retention and drives positive change within economic development services in local government.

Workforce Vision: 

To establish an economic development service and workforce within local government that drives growth, fosters creativity, and builds strong partnerships. We are committed to being professional, business-focused, strategic, and customer-focused and positively impacting the community. 

 Core Principles: 

• Growth: Promoting sustainable economic growth that benefits the entire community.
• Creativity: Encouraging innovative solutions and creative approaches to economic development challenges.
• Partnership: Building strong partnerships with businesses, community groups, and other stakeholders to achieve common goals.
• Professionalism: Demonstrating exceptional competence, reliability, and respect in all economic development activities.
• Business-focused: Prioritising local businesses' needs and growth ambitions to foster a thriving economy.
• Strategic: Providing clear and strategic direction to drive economic development initiatives.
• Customer-focused: Ensuring services are designed to meet the needs of businesses and the community.
• Positive Impact: Creating meaningful and lasting positive impacts on the local economy and community. 

 Desired outcomes: 

• Strategic Direction and Partnerships: Providing strategic direction and working across various areas and partnerships to support an inclusive and growing economy.
• Develop Flexibility and Agility: Demonstrating flexibility and agility to drive outcomes that support economic growth and inclusivity.
• Design a One-Stop Business and Skills Support Hub: Establishing a hub that supports growth ambitions, encourages peer-to-peer networking, and provides support groups.
• Future-Proofing Businesses: Encouraging inward investment and helping businesses prepare for future challenges.
• Growth in Headcount and Value: Increasing the service’s headcount through demonstrated value and growth in businesses and investment.
• Thriving Local Economy: Supporting a local economy with high employment levels, tourism, and a growing business community.
• Technology Competence: Ensuring staff are competent in using technology to enhance service delivery.
• Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth: Supporting the place in achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth with a proactive approach to future challenges.
• Utilising a Wide Range of Skills and Approaches: Leveraging diverse skills and innovative approaches to drive economic development.
• Engagement from All Demographics: Encouraging engagement from all demographics, including younger people and individuals with disabilities, to see economic development as a viable career path. 

By embedding these principles and striving for these outcomes, we aim to create an economic development service and workforce within local government that meets and exceeds the expectations of the communities we serve.

• The economic development workforce within local government is a multidisciplinary profession, encompassing experts in urban planning, business development, policy analysis, regeneration and investment attraction. Their expertise spans infrastructure, skills development and environmental sustainability as well as working in cross-sector collaboration on priorities such as health and poverty reduction.
• As the previous guide notes, what makes a national analysis complex is the significant variation in the scope of economic development services, their priorities and the expertise required. However, four key drivers were identified as shaping the context of economic development services and the skills needs of the workforce:
• Devolution and integration of local economic partnerships (LEPs)
• Greater flexibility in the post-Brexit domestic replacement for EU structural funding
• Continued pressure on local government budgets
• Recruitment, retention and delivery capacity.

The councils participating in the Economic Development Skills Partnership Hub sessions provided benchmarking data on demographics (age), current vacancy rates, apprenticeships and agency usage. 

Age

• 54 per cent of economic development professionals were over 50, in line with data on the local government workforce as a whole. This indicates an imminent wave of retirements and potential loss of expertise over the next 10-15 years.
• 6 per cent were under 30 highlighting a shortage of early-career professionals.
• The largest concentration of professionals was in the 50-59 age group suggesting valuable experience and knowledge may be at imminent risk as this group approaches retirement or seek progression.
• CEDOS noted that several councils were concerned not only with replacement of these skills and knowledge, but also the ability to deploy an ageing workforce flexibly to meet rapidly evolving demands. 

Diversity

• Specific statistics on diversity for the local government economic development workforce are not readily available.
• The CEDOS report concluded that there had been little direct research into the specific barriers affecting recruitment from diverse communities, or whether sufficient opportunities exist for individuals from a broad range of backgrounds to enter the profession.

Workforce mobility – vacancies, agency use, recruitment and retention

Vacancies

• While specific vacancy data is unavailable, a benchmarking exercise conducted by participants in the Economic Development Skills Partnership Hub revealed that regeneration roles were the most frequently advertised vacancies.

Agency use 

• Spending on agency amongst the Economic Development Skills Partnership Hub participants ranged from £12,000 to £43,981.
• The participants most relied on agency staff to fill the role of Sales and Information Assistant.

Recruitment

• The Local Government Workforce Survey (English local authorities) found that recruitment and retention challenges were widespread, with nearly all councils reporting difficulties with attracting and keeping staff.
• The CEDOS report highlighted that recruitment challenges were most pronounced in roles requiring highly specialised skills. The most affected areas included Transport and Land Use Planning, Economic and Transport Modelling, Project Management, and expertise in Business Support, Business Finance and Inward Investment.
• The research concluded that there was a mixed picture regarding recruitment with some councils reporting that vacancies were difficult to fill in that there had been no suitable applicants with the right skills and knowledge for the role.
• Rural areas and larger geographic counties reported being particularly affected, as high travel demands, and low population densities limit the available labour pool.

Retention

• CEDOS noted job stability, a strong pension offer and favourable terms and conditions, the traditional employment benefits that help with retention, can be lacking in economic development services due to the nature of its short-term, project-based funding. This creates a ‘revolving door’ of opportunities, increasing reliance on interim consultants for positions that are becoming harder to fill.

Skills

• Skills shortages were reported to be most pronounced in the development and delivery of capital programmes and projects. Gaps were identified across the entire process, from project planning and financial appraisals to procurement, project management, and performance evaluation. In addition, the ability to work within political environments was identified as a key skill for the profession.
• To effectively deliver the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, local council economic development teams will need a robust mix of technical skills, strategic knowledge, and collaborative capabilities. 

Qualifications and training

• Anecdotal feedback from CEDOS members suggested that many employees enter the profession through diverse pathways, often without a formal grounding in economics, business development, planning, regeneration or industrial geography.
• In general, core Economic Development posts do not come with any significant prerequisites such as specific degree level qualifications or membership of any professional bodies.
• Within some councils the function of economic development sits closely with wider functions, like Planning and Transportation, which do themselves generally require professional accreditation or qualifications.
• Economic Development degree programmes appear to be predominantly available at a postgraduate level. However, most universities offer broader courses in economics, planning or regeneration with economic development as a module. 

Career grades / frameworks

• CEDOS noted that the profession offers a range of entry levels, but that career progression had become more challenging for local government in general, and for economic development specifically, especially for graduate positions, due to flatter structures and short-term funding.
• The broad skill sets required for economic development have also contributed to the lack of well-defined career paths. There is often a blurring of distinctions between economic development and other services, notably regeneration. 

Composition of the external market and talent pool

• The UK labour market remains tight, with local government competing with the private sector (consultancies, developers and financial institutions) as well as community and not for profit partnerships.
• CEDOS noted that economic development professionals move between public and private sectors and that their skills are in high demand.

Apprenticeships

• Apprenticeships are important to address workforce supply as part of talent development and to bridge skill shortages in terms of workforce demand.
• LGA research found that apprenticeship starts in local government have stayed at the same level for three years running. Nearly half of councils that did not currently have apprentices, had never employed them.
• Councils participating in the Economic Development Skills Partnership Hub reported engaging with a diverse range of apprenticeship programmes, including Customer Service Practitioner, Level 5 Operations/Departmental Manager, Business Administrator, Archivist and Collections Manager, Chartered Manager and the level 7 Senior Leader.
• The economic development profession lacks a specific apprenticeship route. 

• Providing a broad overview, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report explores how major global trends are reshaping jobs and skills and outlines the workforce transformation strategies employers intend to pursue between 2025 and 2030.

General future workforce trends

• Broadening digital access is expected to be the most transformative trend driving both the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles, and fuelling demand for technology related skills, including AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity, and technological literacy, which are anticipated to be the top three fastest growing skills.
• Economic conditions, including slow growth and the increase in the cost of living, is ranked as the second trend, which is expected to increase the demand for creative thinking and resilience, flexibility, and agility skills.
• The third trend is climate change mitigation driving roles such as renewable energy and environmental engineers, as well as an increased focus on environmental stewardship.

Jobs and skills implications

• The survey predicts that frontline job roles, such in the care economy and education, will see the largest growth whilst technology roles are the fastest growing.
• Regarding skills, workers can expect that two-fifths (30 per cent) of their existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the 2025-2030 period.
• Analytical thinking remains the most sought-after core skill among employers, followed by resilience, flexibility and agility, leadership and social influence skills.
• Skills gaps are widely regarded as the greatest barrier to business transformation, and the scale of workforce upskilling and reskilling required in response is expected to be substantial.

Workforce challenges and mitigation

• With just over half of employers (52 per cent) anticipating allocating a greater share of their revenue to wages, pay competitiveness will remain a significant challenge for local government employers. The identification and implementation of effective recruitment and retention initiatives and incentives continue to represent critical strategic priorities for the sector.
• The majority (85 per cent) of employers surveyed plan to prioritise upskilling their workforce, with 70 per cent of employers expecting to hire staff with new skills and 50 per cent planning to transition staff from declining to growing roles. Strategies to expand talent availability by tapping into diverse talent pools and the adoption of diversity, inclusion and equality initiatives are set to continue to rise.
• Supporting employee health and well-being is expected to be a key focus for talent attraction alongside effective reskilling and upskilling initiatives, improving talent progression, and creating promotion opportunities.

Future skills needs for the economic development workforce

• The sector reported that the demand for specialised skills continues to evolve, however, the diversity of functions, priorities and requisite expertise makes it difficult to define clear career pathways.
• A key theme revealed by CEDOS research, was the growing placemaking role, requiring collaboration across public, private and community partners. This shift demands strong engagement, consultation, evidence-based decision-making and influencing skills.
• An analysis of specific future skills needs was developed through work undertaken by the LGA with the Economic Development Skills Partnership Hub.
• In summary, the rise of digital economies and innovation calls for specialists in digital strategy and technology adoption. Likewise, sustainable and inclusive growth requires professionals skilled in sustainability, social equity and community engagement. The sector desires to lead on placemaking, regeneration and skills development, and to provide enhanced support for SMEs and start-ups necessitating economic revitalisation, urban planning, labour market analysis, business mentoring, project management and financial planning skills.

This section outlines the key gaps between the current local government economic development workforce and the vision for its future. In collaboration with the Economic Development Skills Partnership Hub participants, the LGA conducted a detailed analysis of workforce challenges. To support this PESTLE and SWOT exercises were used to identify and categorise these challenges.

Data

• Data-driven workforce planning is challenging due to limitations in data availability, which hinders a comprehensive understanding of the current capacity and capability of the economic development workforce and impacts on the effectiveness of strategic decision-making.  

Service delivery

• Managing large geographical areas with limited staff resources poses substantial difficulties for effective service delivery.
• The potential impact of current local government restructuring on job security may discourage candidates from pursuing careers in local government, creating uncertainty within the sector.
• Services will need to access more specialist skills in the future which would benefit from stable, longer-term funding to maintain a base of knowledge and expertise.
• The ability to work within political environments is a crucial skill within a broad skill set that also includes specialised technical expertise and well-developed sector knowledge.
• As service transformation reshapes delivery models, it will necessitate the redesign of roles, and the evolution of skill sets to align with new ways of working.

Recruitment and retention

• Economic development services vary greatly in what they do, what they view as important and the skills and knowledge they require. This can make it hard for others to understand their role and makes career progression less distinct than for other local government specialisms.
• Mid-career turnover is a particular difficulty and there is a need to respond to evolving career paths, non-linear, flexible trajectories (“squiggly careers”) that prioritise skill development and adaptability.
• Funding models tend to be short-term/project-based opportunities that present recruitment and retention difficulties.
• An ageing workforce poses the risk of knowledge loss. Succession planning is increasingly critical due to the ageing workforce, coupled with difficulties in attracting younger talent to replace retiring staff.
• Managing different generations within the profession, with varying expectations and attitudes towards change and technology, can be challenging.
• Promoting the achievements and benefits of local government work was seen as vital to counter negative perceptions. The difficulty in attracting younger recruits speaks to a need for innovative recruitment strategies and engagement with pre-employment and early careers campaigns.
• Strong leadership, that actively promotes organisational values and fosters a positive work culture, was seen as essential for strengthening staff retention.

Skills development

• Key priorities include expertise in supporting sustainable and inclusive economic growth, advancing place-making specialisms, strengthening capabilities in the digital and innovation economy and enhancing advisory support for SMEs and startups.
• Devolution is driving the case for increased joint working across economic development services and there is a need to become increasingly commercial to generate new sources of revenue. This will require skills in innovation, assessing and managing risk and the ability to translate approaches from other fields.

Improve data

Strengthening workforce data collection will improve decision-making, diversity, and talent retention. 

• Strengthen workforce planning – Address data gaps to enhance forecasting and evidence-based strategies.
• Improve diversity insights – Collect better data on disability, neurodiversity, LGBTQ+ representation, and socio-economic background to inform inclusive policies.
• Track retention – Gather data on trends with a focus on graduate retention and mid-career moves.
• Monitor skills shortages – Use real-time data to identify gaps and engage training providers to align workforce development with sector needs.

Strategic workforce planning 

Effective workforce planning requires strong partnerships and shared expertise.

• Workforce analytics and benchmarking tools – Improve access to timely sector specific workforce data.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders – Facilitate work with regional employers, professional bodies and training providers to address workforce challenges and skills needs.
• Enhance horizon scanning – Anticipate emerging trends and assess their potential impact.
• Facilitate sector-wide partnerships – Promote best practice sharing and joint workforce development initiatives to strengthen talent pipelines.
• Identify and support innovation – Support and collaborate with trailblazers eager to pilot innovative solutions and drive change.

Strengthen recruitment 

Attract a skilled and diverse talent pool by enhancing the appeal of local government roles, improve early entry options and the supply of specialised expertise.

• Increase outreach efforts – Promote LGA work experience, careers resources and branding campaigns that target early-career options and support work experience in local government.
• Establish apprenticeship routes – Work with ADEPT, IED and education providers to map modular approach and establish feasibility of a specific apprentice route.
• Review demand/supply factors for roles with acute resourcing difficulties – Promote capacity resources, work with councils and key stakeholders to mitigate recruitment challenges, promote modern recruitment methods and practices.

Enhance retention

Clear career pathways and supportive workplace policies will improve staff retention and support council ‘grow your own’ schemes. 

• Career grade policy – Provide a model for structured progression for junior staff to the ceiling grade.
• Promote clear career pathways – Promote career pathways and advancement routes to support long-term growth.
• Encourage retention incentives – Collaborate on national CPD standard, promote succession planning, flexible working and age-friendly policies.
• Highlight public sector career benefits – Promote stability, community impact and career fulfilment in economic development roles.
• Invest in internal development programmes – Source funding for internal development programmes and constantly deliver a refresh of the content to ensure the workforce development stay current. Ensure equal development opportunities.

• Adur & Worthing District Council
• Bolton Council
• Conwy County Borough Council
• Lancaster City Council
• Liverpool City Council
• Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
• North Yorkshire Council
• Plymouth Council
• Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
• South Kesteven District Council
• Stoke-on-Trent City Council
• Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
• Warwickshire County Council
• Watford Borough Council
• Wealden District Council
• West Dunbartonshire Council