Work Local: Our employment and skills offer to a new Government to boost inclusive growth (2024)

This prospectus builds on our Work Local vision. We recommend a new Government moves towards a devolved employment and skills service through three interlinked offers: 

1. Youth Pathways to help young people (16 to 24) ‘not in employment, education or training’, or at risk of NEET, find their first job or put them on a career path. 
    
2. Working Futures for adults who are disadvantaged in the labour market, and who need personal support to find work or better work.
    
3. Skills for All to provide a better match of skills supply and demand, a skills, and learning offer linked to local careers advice and jobs, and promote lifelong learning. 

The three offers will be locally planned and commissioned through outcome-focused Local Employment & Skills Agreements (LESAs) reflecting the varied needs within an area and its communities, and the respective roles of local government, all set within a clear national framework. We will set out more detail on LESAs in coming months. As a first step the offers will use existing programmes and devolution deals. These will be part of local government’s place shaping roles including to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth and focus on prevention. As democratic leaders of place, trusted convenors and with wide ranging expertise, local government is uniquely placed to lead this. Given the financial challenges facing it, sensible steps must be taken to implement our proposals. 

Existing devolved authorities and their constituent councils have already made significant strides over recent years to negotiate deals and deliver tangible benefits. With their collective expertise, they can deliver more and at a quicker pace. For other parts of England there should be a review of the devolution deal process to put it on a more ambitious path. 

Local and national leadership is needed to realise these plans, and learning from other countries shows a strong national framework is needed. It should define responsibilities (including any new statutory powers), determine strategic aims, agree outcomes, performance standards and a new funding settlement. 

We believe our offers will promote social mobility can deliver more effective use of resources with a sharp focus on cutting out duplication and reducing administration costs. To start the journey requires three critical steps to be taken early in a new government: 

1. Dialogue, planning and leadership: Establish a joint national board, chaired by a Minister, tasked with overseeing employment and skills devolution to local government; a new Joint Unit, staffed by civil servants and local authority officers, to co-ordinate detailed planning; expand partnership working with the local NHS. 
    
2. Early practical actions: A new ‘duty to co-operate’ to encourage partners to work together to improve services; a programme of joint working and co-location of Jobcentres and councils; reform and develop DWP’s planned ‘Universal Support’; urgently review the devolution deal process. 
    
3. Building for the future: A realistic multi-year plan for roll-out of devolution; an early call for new initiatives/pilots; develop best practice exchange to drive improvement; form new policy, planning and delivery networks to promote dialogue and learning. 

Many other actions are needed but by establishing the right dialogue and taking early action, the LGA believes Work Local can be a reality within five years. 

Economy, jobs and skills will be at the forefront of a new Government's priorities. Local government leaders want to encourage inclusive, sustainable, and thriving local economies where people want to live and work, and where employers want to invest. Central to this should be a reformed and ambitious employment and skills offer, linked to local services and meeting local needs. 

This new prospectus builds on our 2022 Work Local proposals and recommends practical steps a new Government can take to move towards a more effective and devolved service. We recognise the advances in digital delivery of public services, and these will need to be taken fully into account in the detailed design of our proposals. 

The LGA will build on this prospectus to set out how a devolved service can operate across England through the proposed Local Employment & Skills Agreements (LESAs). There are detailed and complex issues to consider. We will work with local government and partners to develop practical proposals for a new government. 

These proposals are intended for discussion and debate in the run up to a detailed co-design process with a new government. 

What did ‘Work Local’ propose? 

‘Work Local’ made clear recommendations for a coherent framework for employment and skills devolution, with national and local government combining their strengths. As well as being democratically elected and trusted convenors of partners, all of local government has unparalleled knowledge on how to improve employment, skills and careers services. We are uniquely placed to lead and coordinate this. 

Our analysis showed £20 billion is spent on 49 national employment and skills related programmes. These are fragmented and complicated and no single organisation coordinates the system nationally or locally. This leads to disconnected, ineffective support for service users and, in addition, employers find the system confusing and inflexible. This is an inefficient use of public resources. 

This is why ‘Work Local’ called for devolved employment and skills services that join up with local support. It proposed giving elected local leaders a single pot of funding to design and commission a ‘one stop’ all-age service bringing together careers advice, employment support, training and apprenticeships, and business support. This approach would deliver greater benefits while reducing costs to the public purse. 

The gains to be had from a fully devolved and integrated Work Local model are considerable. Previous independent cost benefit analysis revealed that across a local area, pooling budgets and working collaboratively has the potential to increase by 15 per cent the number of people moving into work and improving their skills, thus delivering benefits to people and places, and reducing costs to the public purse. 

‘Work Local’ has had a significant impact on public policy and paved the way for the building blocks of further devolution. For example: 

• Employment and skills are firmly embedded in current devolution deals and are being extended and deepened. 
• Local Enterprise Partnership functions (growth and career hubs) are being integrated into local government structures. 
• Local government grant funded to deliver national schemes including ‘Multiply’ (adult numeracy) and the planned ‘Universal Support’ (back to work support) from this year.

This is a good start but instead of a piecemeal approach to devolution, a new government will have the opportunity to be more ambitious. However, from the outset we recognise reforms should be able to show: 

1. Localised services can make a difference everywhere, and in every council right through to local communities.
    
2. There will be improved services and outcomes for local people. 
    
3. Gaps in income and employment will be closed for a more inclusive economy. 
    
4. Increased efficiencies and better value for money. 
    
5. Services are more joined-up and less siloed and connect with community services.
    
6. A clear path for change by co-planning delivery involving every level of local government. 

This is achievable. Despite the acute financial challenges on local government, we continue to deliver national employment and skills programmes and funds at short notice and little resource, often requiring the sector to move resource from one initiative to the next. Through the pandemic, we distributed grants to local businesses and mitigated the worst effects on local people, a role which continued through cost-of-living pressures, proving local government is both trusted and vital to delivering services to vulnerable communities. Sensible steps will need to be taken to implement our new proposals which offer a more effectively planned and efficient way of working. 

An important principle for local government will be to show how devolved budgets can work together with other support services. Responsive and personalised services need to address other challenges people face, such as child poverty, the need for childcare and other caring support, and disability and health problems. Only local government can join up these services. Our approach offers preventative measures that can build financial independence across families and communities impacted by low skills, poverty, underemployment, and unemployment.

Our proposals are three interlinked offers: 

1. Youth Pathways will ensure young people (16-24) ‘not in employment, education or training’ (NEET), and those at risk of NEET, can secure and retain their first job, progress in work or get back into learning.
    
2. Working Futures is for adults who experience disadvantage in the labour market – those out of work for a long time, often with disabilities and health conditions, who need the personal support to find work or better work, including by increasing their skills. 
    
3. Skills for All will provide a better match of skills supply and demand and promote lifelong learning. Employers will be more productive and inclusive, and residents will have access to skills and learning linked to local career advice. 

These will pave the way for modern, localised offers across England, improving access through digital channels in line with technological advances as well as guaranteeing support for those who need a personal approach. The foundations for these offers are already in place and build on local government’s existing or forthcoming responsibilities and powers. These include business support and economic development; integrated LEP functions (growth and career hubs); devolved and discretionary employment and skills services; employment and youth hubs; statutory duties for young people’s learning; adult and community learning; devolved adult education budget; Multiply, Universal Support and UKSPF. It also provides an opportunity to clarify local government’s statutory responsibilities for these services. 

These three offers will be locally planned and commissioned to fit local need through robust Local Employment & Skills Agreements which will reflect the respective roles of local government. Local areas have different needs, so delivery of the offers will be different in places but all within a clear national framework that sets standards. This should be a vital component of local government’s wider place shaping role including though local inclusive growth strategies backed up with long term funding, which we are keen to develop with Government. 

Existing Mayoral Combined Authorities, the Greater London Authority, and their constituent councils have already made significant strides over recent years to negotiate deals and deliver tangible benefits. With their knowledge, expertise, and capacity, they can deliver more and at a quicker pace. There should be a clear plan for them to lead the way in developing the systems and learning needed for devolution to all councils. For other parts of England, we recommend an urgent review of the devolution deal process to put it on a more ambitious path. 

This prospectus sets out how we can start to plan a new, more responsive system for our communities and employers. We recognise the competing priorities and budgetary challenges a new Government will face, which is why the LGA will be setting out a phased programme of reform over the next five years. 

Youth Pathways will support all 16 to 24 year old young people who are ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) or who are at risk of becoming NEET into their first job or put them on a career path. 

Why is Youth Pathways needed? 

There are currently almost one million 16 to 17 year olds who are not in learning or a job. Youth unemployment is always a blight on young people, and it is now starting to rise again, while economic inactivity for 18 to 24 year olds has seen a worrying increase in recent years. There is a danger of a lost generation of young people which will inevitably have implications for local and national public services in future years. 

Councils already have statutory duties to plan 16 to 19 provision; identify young people up to 17 not in education and training; support young people up to 25 who have special educational needs and disability (SEND). They are corporate parents for care leavers and others with care experience up to the age of 24. 

While councils understand the issues and needs of NEET young people, they have limited levers as provision is often commissioned nationally and local funding constraints put pressure on youth services and discretionary services. Working with local schools is also critical to providing the right support for those at risk of becoming NEET when they turn 16. 

Meanwhile three Whitehall departments are responsible for young peoples’ learning and employment (according to age and circumstance) with little coordination among them or with local areas. DfE is responsible for young people up to the age of 18, DWP for those aged 18 upwards if unemployed or on Universal Credit and DCMS for youth services and National Citizen Service. The NHS and Department for Health and Social Care are increasingly important, given rising mental health issues. 

Young people deserve a better joined-up offer, and a dedicated youth employability service is now vital – one that sees young people through from 16 to 24, connects them with jobs, learning and support they need locally, and brings in expertise of a range of partners. 

Why local government is best placed 

Local government could deliver a new Youth Pathways offer guaranteeing support for all NEET young people to their first job and put them on a career path. To do this will mean planning a local, coherent offer for NEET 16 to 24 years olds, which would also support those at risk of becoming NEET.

As Youth Pathways would support young people who are in receipt of Universal Credit, the service would replace all DWP employment provision for this group, but with benefits administration retained by DWP. A key partner will be jobcentres’ resource and expertise, including staff for youth employability, youth hubs and family advice. 

Many areas already work well together but a next step could be a ‘duty to co-operate’ everywhere, which could also include Academies. 

The foundations for local government to deliver Youth Pathways are already in place: 

• newly integrated Careers Hubs into local government structures from LEPs 
• range of statutory duties for 16-24 year olds education and training 
• joint planning and delivery of Youth Hubs with DWP including a digital offer 
• working with and funding local voluntary organisations providing youth services 
• specialist support for vulnerable and SEND young people that is either directly delivered or commissioned 
• work with local health services to tackle rising mental health problems 
• corporate parents to care leavers and those still in care. 

How will Youth Pathways improve lives? 

Youth Pathways will draw together existing national and local resources to deliver an integrated and personalised service, including access to relevant Working Futures provision. Whilst planned and commissioned by local government, Youth Pathways will be guided by a national offer to young people that will set standards. Examples of provision are: 

• in-depth assessment leading to a personal job and skills plan leading to training, a job, volunteering, and other opportunities 
• development and promotion of Apprenticeship pathways for young people, especially for vulnerable and under-represented groups 
• access to Further Education courses (including competencies and qualifications in English and Maths) and support whilst on a course 
• responsibility for developing a coherent place-based careers advice offer 
• co-ordinate and develop support for young people at risk of becoming NEET
• specialist support for SEND young people 
• referral to appropriate mental health provision and work with Mental Health Support Teams 
• a local service for information advice and guidance, in partnership with jobcentres, employers and higher education to set ambition for young people 
• promoting to employers and young people the benefits of work experience, internship, and traineeship opportunities 
• initiatives to provide a stable living environment and prevent homelessness. 

Every NEET young person should be confident Youth Pathways can guarantee: 

1. Advice and support with an in-depth assessment and a personal plan.
    
2. Suitable work experience with an employer and active job search support.
    
3. Training to a suitable qualification (even if on Universal Credit) which will improve their career aspirations. 

Working Futures will help people who experience disadvantage in the labour market and need extra support to find and progress in work. It will be accessible and open for everyone, irrespective of whether they are claiming Universal Credit. 

Why is Working Futures needed? 

The longer a person is out of work the harder it is to find, compete, and secure a job. It is even harder when people face additional personal barriers in the jobs market, such as caring responsibilities, housing, physical or mental health conditions and groups identified by the DWP. This can result in long-term unemployment or people giving up looking for work altogether and becoming ‘economically inactive’. 

Support from jobcentres and the DWP national providers is fragmented and struggles to connect with skills provision and other local services people rely on, resulting in many cycling in and out of work. Furthermore, it largely fails to engage a rising number of people who are out of work but don’t use jobcentres. Local government and other partners seek to address gaps in provision but do so in a vacuum of formal partnership. 

Alongside increasing labour market participation, we need to better anticipate our changing economy which will create different demands for the workforce, which means being more responsive for people and communities so no one is left behind. 

Working Futures aims to reform employment services for people struggling in the labour market. They may be out of work, in a low paid job or insecure work, or need to increase their skills to get out of in-work poverty. It will use the knowledge, influence, and powers of local government to commission and/or directly deliver a more integrated and personalised service dedicated to turning lives around. Local government would work closely with DWP and jobcentres, health services, skills partners, and others, so Working Futures provides new pathways to sustained employment and improved earnings. To design and manage better integrated services will require a new way of working with a duty to co-operate placed on partners. 

Why local government is best placed 

Councils can reach out to a broad range of potential Working Future customers through their own services and community venues (family hubs, libraries, children’s centres) and their voluntary and community organisations, social housing, and healthcare partners. To overcome multiple barriers requires the joining-up of different services and for these to be adequately funded. Local government is best placed to plan and co-ordinate the local delivery of employability services so it can be accessed alongside other services. 

Working Futures could start by providing a core service offer across the whole of England building on an improved ‘Universal Support’ (US) programme. Announced in March 2023, current plans are for US to be phased in from Autumn 2024 and grant funded to local government to plan and deliver. The DWP confirms it will be voluntary for people to join (they do not need to be claiming Universal Credit) and that it has potential to support 100,000 people per year including disabled people and those with health conditions and/or in a disadvantaged group. 

Building on an improved US programme, local government and the DWP could quickly lay the foundation for a wider Working Futures which can progressively encompass more pathways and serve more people. 

Some areas in England are already doing more and have been for many years. Their experience will be invaluable to inform the future shape of Working Futures. There should be a clear plan to progressively devolve funding and powers to councils who wish to pilot and trial the systems needed for full devolution. 

What Working Futures would include 

Working Futures will offer an open door to all those that need help and could benefit. DWP and other local partners will make referrals and local people can choose to join directly. This open door approach is crucial for encouraging economically inactive people to start the journey back to work. 

Once started on Working Futures local government will take responsibility for the provision of support and progression into a sustained outcome, but benefits administration will be retained by DWP. A top priority for Working Futures will be tackling the high numbers of people who are out of work and have a health problem and reinforcing the recognised positive impacts of being in work. As a first step every area should establish strong joint dialogue with Integrated Care Partnerships and Boards, with learning from the WorkWell vanguard partnerships for example, through an accelerated programme of partnerships. 

The task of joining-up services should mean removing inefficient funding silos. The main budgets supporting employability services are: DWP funds through jobcentres, nationally commissioned contracts (such as Restart), and new work and health programmes and UK Shared Prosperity Funds distributed through local government. 

The ambition of Working Futures is to commission and/or directly deliver a more personalised service to people experiencing disadvantage. This will mean local government will need to co-ordinate a wide range of functions and services, such as: 

• access to high quality assessment leading to personal plans using a new all age careers service.
• an option to co-locate Jobcentres and local authority premises 
• job search, job placement and support for self-employment 
• existing national contracts are accountable to Working Futures 
• replacing Restart when the current contracts finish 
• employer engagement for placements and recruitment 
• managed routes into specialist provision, such as for health and disability, ex-offenders, drug, and alcohol rehabilitation, etc. 
• access to new and better qualifications, including relevant job-ready training · help to resolve problems such as housing, childcare, financial advice, etc 
• in-work support, when appropriate, to promote sustained employment. 

The whole service needs to be driven by much broader aims rather than just ‘any job’ and ‘off benefits’. Instead, more emphasis needs to be placed on good and better work for each individual and aiding progression in skills, work, and careers. 

What Working Futures includes will initially vary to reflect the different starting points of areas. We want to ensure every area can provide a ‘core service’ but no area is held back in developing innovative local solutions. For example, some areas could pilot: 

• a single Working Futures Fund such as budgets from DWP (e.g. Flexible Support Fund), DHLUC, DfE and integrating ICB funds, and a Local Working Futures Agreement to test how funds can be integrated. In partnership with DWP, the pilots would test the aims, funding and flexibilities needed, and learn from existing single funding settlements where they exist. The learning would also feed into the proposed Local Employment & Skills Agreements which would govern a single system within a national framework. 
• taking responsibility for claimants who are subject to work search requirements 
• provision for people who are very long-term unemployed or who leave current DWP provision without a job 
• innovative partnerships with health services, building on WorkWell 
• how a fully merged jobcentre and local service might work. 

To ensure Working Futures is rolled out in a planned way, a strong national/local dialogue is needed. This will mean new structures and joint teams that will oversee the development of the Working Futures approach. 

How Working Futures improves lives 

Local government wants to address the long-standing barriers that prevent people progressing in their lives and are causing increasing numbers of people to become economically inactive. Working Futures will be designed to provide guarantees of: 

• high quality assessment leading to personal plans using a new all age careers service 
• support for job search, job placement, and access to training 
• access to specialist provision according to individual need 
• progression to a positive outcome – a job, better skills, improved health and wellbeing. However, we recognise it will take time to reform a disjointed de-personalised system. It is urgent we make a start to build a new innovative service that can back every individual to succeed. 

This is a dual offer for employers and residents. It will help employers of all sizes, public and private and in all sectors, be more productive and inclusive by addressing their workforce needs. It will provide all residents with access to advice and learning linked to career opportunities and promote a culture of lifelong learning. 

Why is Skills for All needed? 

Wide ranging economic and societal changes will require residents and employers to upskill and reskill. New technologies are powering digital, green, and automation revolutions which are changing the skills we need. This especially applies in new sectors like net zero as well as foundational sectors such as construction, health and social care, and retail. But too often our skills system fails to keep ahead of new technology or adapt to changes in local skills demand. 

Skills shortages are affecting employers across the public, private and voluntary sectors, holding back their ability to meet demand, recruit and grow. Failure to address labour shortages is predicted to cost the UK £39 billion a year. But too many struggle to engage with a myriad of national work placement and training offers with different eligibility, timescales and incentives. More can be done for the local business community to simplify the offers, deliver new recruits and upskill employees. 

Increasingly jobs demand higher level skills, as they lead to increased productivity and business growth and fewer people with low or no qualifications. At the same time, too many individuals are locked out of entering or progressing in their careers due to low or outdated skills. Nine million adults in England have low literacy or numeracy skills so improving basic skills can help people’s employment and career prospects and manage everyday life. This means we need to increase skill levels for everyone and everywhere. 

Demographic change means most of us will work for longer and change jobs more often. This requires updating our skills and access to good careers advice. But there are also personal and social advantages to learning – it can also boost confidence, address mental health and social isolation, and provide a safe route to higher level skills for economically inactive groups. 

These are just some of the reasons why continual improvement in skills is essential and why a coherent local skills offer is needed for residents and employers. 

Why local government is best placed 

Local government has a wealth of experience in adult skills. Across England, councils and their partners deliver adult and community learning to 500,000 people through 10,000 community venues including libraries, community centres and village halls. 

Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have already made progress through a devolved Adult Education Budget, and they should be permitted to go further by developing a single adult skills fund for their areas. 

Local government has in-depth knowledge of local employers of all sizes and sectors and councils work closely with bodies such as Chambers of Commerce. Councils support businesses and help create the conditions for inclusive growth using their economic development and planning functions. They are also now the ‘lead authorities’ for local growth funding and growth hubs following the closure of Local Enterprise Partnerships. 

Our education and skills focused place-based institutions have vital expertise, knowledge, and resource, but more collaboration is needed to deliver stronger local outcomes in a more integrated way. 

Many have also encouraged employers to be more inclusive by developing ‘good work charters’ or similar. The use of social value in public procurement has also shown how local government can work with business and promote community benefit. They have unparalleled knowledge of the current and future local employer base and the skills needed now and in coming years. This knowledge must be more effectively used in shaping the current Government’s Local Skills Improvement Plans. 

How will Skills for All improve lives and the economy? 

For residents, it will provide a more coherent skills and careers offer and at the same time promote a culture of lifelong learning. This includes: 

• An all-age careers advice service which partners mobilise around. This will include integrating careers hubs, a more localised National Careers Service and working with schools, employers, recruitment agencies, providers and others to give the best possible advice to their users. This would also provide onward referral on to Working Futures and Youth Pathways. 
• Guaranteed access for adults to a Level 2 functional skills offer – English, Maths and language acquisition with digital skills embedded – available in community venues, with onward advice on Level 3 qualifications. 
• Enable employer-led technical skills provision for priority sectors including through accessible and modular learning. 
• A comprehensive menu of local and online learning opportunities with signposting, advice and guidance for the general public and marketing to target groups, including for those on Working Futures and Youth Pathways. 
• A wide range of adult and community learning courses many of which may be income generating. 
• A coherent and complementary network of institutions and providers across their area to provide strong and clear progression pathways from one institution to another. This should include schools, further and higher education institutions, adult and community learning and independent training providers. 

For employers and the local economy, it will provide a ‘single front door’ with access to a range of services, and more attuned to the local economy and reflective of the communities where they are based. This includes: 

• Area-wide skills analysis and bespoke workforce needs analysis to individual businesses, and which can inform Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs). 
• Work with partners to use LSIPs to inform skills supply and maximise use of existing provision such as (pre) apprenticeships, bootcamps, SWAPs, T-level placements, DWP employment programmes.
• Employer outreach staff to promote the benefits to employers of in-work training for their existing workforce and identify vacancies, opportunities and develop capacity to support new and existing work placements. 
• A free brokerage service to match employers with individuals coming through Youth Pathways and Working Futures. 
• A route to influence local careers advice in schools, colleges and universities and organise Jobs Fairs to recruit staff. 
• A single point of contact for inward investment and major schemes · maximising the impact of social value by contractors. 
• Co-ordinate responses to large-scale redundancies by maximising efforts by Government and local partners. 
• Offer advice to employers on workforce issues such as upskilling, workplace adjustments, well-being, inclusive recruitment, mentoring and networking. 
• Enterprise support by providing advice and funding for self-employment and start-ups, including community businesses. 

To develop the adult skills offer, some early strategic decisions will be needed by a new Government: 

• Giving councils without a devolution deal a ‘Community Skills’ function to plan the adult skills offer for Level 2 and below .
• Allowing MCAs and GLA to manage a single adults skills fund.
• Initiating a review of the design and delivery mechanism for Local Skills Improvement Plans and associated commissioning.
• A root and branch review of the Apprenticeship Levy and how it could promote local investment in apprenticeships. 

Leadership is needed to realise these plans at national and local levels. This is one reason why national government will need to provide a strong national framework for co-designing and co-planning each of the offers. Both national and local government, working together, need to ensure minimum quality offers wherever you live or do business. 

Much can be learned from other countries that have devolved employment and skills systems. All of them have in common a national framework that:

• ensures accountability and defines responsibilities 
• determines strategic aims of services
• sets performance standards 
• determines funding agreements 
• used a ‘test and learn’ approach when introducing devolution 
• defined actions in the case of national emergencies. 

Broadly, the stewardship role of national government will be six-fold: 

1. Provide strategic leadership and join up policy and funding across Whitehall and identify national priorities.
    
2. Ensure structures and reporting lines are in place to plan and deliver reforms on time and on budget.
    
3. Agreements with local government setting out performance expectations and the devolved funding from national government.
    
4. Set standards for delivery of services and to have appropriate inspection regime(s).
    
5. Ensuring mechanisms for peer learning between local government and building expertise at all levels.
    
6. Some functions may be best provided by national contracts, for example, a reformed National Careers Service and developing infra-structure for digital channels. 

This is an ambitious reform agenda but one that will deliver results and is affordable. Our three offers can be delivered by more effective use of existing resources and by a sharp focus on cutting out duplication and reducing the management of multiple funding programmes. 

Some reforms could deliver quick wins, but we recognise others will take time. We do not want to take undue risks when rolling out the offers and our local partners need to be fully engaged. Furthermore, our employability and skills institutions and providers in the public, private and voluntary sectors need to have certainty about the future management of the market. 

Central to the process will be the proposed Local Employment and Skills Agreements between national and local government. Involving other local partners, they will set out the integrated strategy, funding, and delivery plans for a minimum of three years. These will sit within a clear national framework that sets standards. However, as a first step the offers will make use of existing programmes, funding, and devolution deals; moving towards integrating and transforming current programmes in a jointly planned devolution programme. We will set out more detail in coming months about what these Agreements could look like. This will include how they would integrate with, for example, local industrial policy, plans to reduce child poverty, and public health. 

Consequently, there are some common and cross-cutting tasks that are needed for all three offers to be successful. 

Dialogue, planning and leadership 

1. There should be a joint national board, chaired by a Minister, tasked with overseeing the planning and launch of the offers.
    
2. A new Joint Unit staffed by civil servants and local authority officers should be established to co-ordinate and oversee the detailed planning.
    
3. Agree geographies that work best to plan and deliver these services. This is in place for devolved authorities and constituent councils. For councils outside of these areas, the planned delivery of Universal Support should be considered when determining responsibilities. 
    
4. Move towards three year funding settlements and a single budget. A start can be made immediately with a fully flexible single adults skills fund in devolution areas. 
    
5. Develop WorkWell Partnerships as they have long been needed. Vanguard Partnerships should be expanded and every ICP/ICB should be tasked with preparing for a national roll-out as a critical part of the Working Futures service.
    
6. A review of guarantees to different groups and communities, such as deprived communities, care leavers, areas with high child poverty, etc.
    
7. Consulting and listening to the views of stakeholders. There must be positive engagement as part of the design process and this will include service providers in the private and voluntary sectors. 

Early practical actions 

1. A new ‘duty to co-operate’ to require local and national partners to work together to improve services. 
    
2. A programme of joint working and co-location for Jobcentres and councils is a priority – forming the basis for a future ‘one-stop shop’ approach. 
    
3. The current arrangements for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund should be rolled over for 12 months to avoid disruption of provision in 2025. 
    
4. Early agreement on the overall design, specifications, and standards for services.
    
5. A full and urgent review of the devolution deal process and how it can unlock local expertise across England to improve employment and skills services. 
    
6. The current government will grant-fund local government from Autumn 2024 to phase in Universal Support. This provision is urgently needed. With reform and improvements, it can be launched early in 2025 as a vital pillar of Working Futures. 
    
7. Existing programmes and contracts, in most cases these could continue without disruption until the end of agreements/contracts. This has the benefit of minimising effort and funds spent on terminating contracts and avoiding the consequences on staff and provision. However, at the earliest opportunity all relevant contracted providers should be required to co-operate with local government in laying the foundations for the new offers. 

Building for the future 

1. A realistic multi-year plan for the roll-out of devolution to all councils, including a clear plan for Authorities with devolution deals to lead the way in developing the systems and learning needed.
    
2. An early call for new initiatives and pilots that areas wish to propose and that central government want to operate, including a single Working Futures Fund.
    
3. Develop a framework for employment and skills data to inform local policy and to measure impact, including access to HMRC data. 
    
4. Digital channels to be developed with a national template for local input and branding. 
    
5. Capacity building and advisors should be put in place, building on the WorkWell Partnerships model. 
    
6. Create new policy, planning and delivery networks to promote dialogue and learning and develop best practice exchange to drive improvement. This could include new data Observatories, existing What Works Centres, relevant training and qualifications, and other ways of exchanging knowledge. 

In conclusion, there will be many other decisions and actions that will be needed but by establishing the right dialogue, and taking early action, the LGA believes Work Local can be a reality in the coming years.

The proposed Local Employment and Skills Agreements will be the focus of further work by the LGA. We envisage this work will include the principles for future funding settlements, a framework for outcomes and evaluating and measuring impact, and governance at national and local level. 

These current proposals are intended for discussion and debate and the LGA welcomes views from all interested partners. The LGA will be continuing to develop the ideas and proposals in this prospectus – preparing local government to work positively and immediately with the new Government.