This week, prime minister Boris Johnson announced his intention to "build, build, build" our way out of the recession the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered. The tens of billions of pounds that the prime minister is investing in multiple infrastructure projects will create many much-needed jobs. However, he must not forget that the "rebuilding" must first begin with "reskilling".
It is anticipated that we might see unemployment almost quadruple from the beginning of the year, peaking at as much as 4.5 million by the end of 2020, the highest level in generations.
The FE skills sector will be front and centre in helping the country recover post-pandemic. We will need to retrain huge numbers of people, so they are able to move from industries such as retail and aviation that have been most badly impacted during the pandemic into those that are expected to grow –such as health and social care and infrastructure.
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Act now – or regret it later
While we welcome the prime minister's opportunity guarantee, to truly address the scale of the challenge ahead we will need a range of different interventions, not a single all-encompassing solution. We know that young people will be badly impacted by the downturn in the economy, but so too will large numbers of older workers. The government should now consider incentives for employers to encourage job creation and training programmes, we will also need short courses linked directly to local labour market needs and better insight on jobs available in a specific town or region.
The FE skills sector has been critically underfunded for the last decade and many colleges and training providers are now facing immediate financial collapse because of the pandemic at a time when we most need flexible provision to be available: we cannot allow this to happen. We are saying to the government that we cannot afford to get bogged down in lengthy debate. It’s time to act now for impact.
City and Guilds Group has today launched a piece of research that considers the impact of the pandemic on the UK jobs and focuses on how we can fund this huge reskilling effort and better support the FE sector. We are asking the government to redirect billions of pounds of unspent and underutilised skills funding to help the newly unemployed get back into work and ensure the country has the skilled labour force it needs for the future.
As part of the report, we polled 2,000 people from across the UK and found that, yet again, it was young people and the most disadvantaged in society who would bear the brunt of this pandemic. Those from lower socioeconomic groups are the most at risk of losing their jobs and told us that they were the least likely to have the knowledge, support networks and money needed to pay for training and get a new job.
To ensure that no one is left behind, we are also calling upon the government now to create "lifelong learning and employment hubs" in the areas with the highest levels of unemployment. These hubs would act as a one-stop skills and jobs shop, offering careers advice and guidance, access to courses to help plug skills gaps and, importantly, would provide close links with local employers offering people who accessed them the opportunity of getting a job at the end.
Unlocking much-needed funding
We absolutely cannot afford to get this wrong. The stakes are far too high. The future of a whole generation is at stake. We have the expertise and knowledge in the FE and skills sector to help the prime minister with his mission to rebuild the country – all we need is for him to unlock the much-needed funding to allow us to get on with making this happen.
The three key actions outlined in the report were:
- A call on the government to take immediate action and urgently redirect existing funding (adult education budget, national skills fund, national retraining scheme and this year’s underspent levy) for skills development as well as use funding levers at their disposal to save us from losing a whole generation of workers.
- A call on employers and education providers to work together to forefront digital transformation through digital skills investment and online learning tools, with the right investment from the government to allow this to happen.
- A call for the creation of lifelong learning and employment hubs to create a skills network that can match employer demand with the skills of those looking to get back into work
Kirstie Donnelly MBE is chief executive at City and Guilds Group
