In the past week or so, the Collab Group of colleges has set out an offer to government to support economic recovery. Colleges can provide a range of services that will be vital to see a recovery of the economy.

Our colleges are ready to support the set-up of “skills and jobs” hubs, and our colleges can play a role in providing advice and information to signpost unemployed people to opportunities that exist within local labour markets.

The work that colleges already do to support the long-term unemployed into work is well established. Colleges work regularly to deliver Department for Work and Pensions contracts through the Work and Health Programme and through projects through the European Social Fund and two of our members, Blackpool and the Fylde and City of Bristol, have “oven-ready” programmes in place, which we can leverage across the UK through our network of colleges.

Background: What the chancellor's plans mean for FE and skills

Opinion: How the skills and jobs hubs at colleges would work

Williamson: England to get 'German-style' FE system

A historic weakness

It will likely be the case, however, that many of the people facing redundancy and unemployment may not have had much or even any time out of work prior to Covid-19. They may have worked within an industry for their whole career – say, in retail or hospitality – where the demand for their skills and their services will take a long time to recover. Some occupations and sectors will never truly recover, and people will have to look for new opportunities in completely different sectors. Others may be able to move into a new occupation in the same industry, where they might need a few modules to upgrade skills, but may not need the long-term intensive study that runs alongside full qualifications.

The variety of situations and experiences mean that retraining approaches will need to be flexible. This underscores why skills-diagnostic assessments are so important. They can allow colleges to undertake rapid assessment that accounts for prior skills and learning in individuals and mapping those skills against vacancies in the local labour market. Where there are skills gaps, people can be signposted to further training.

Some people may need to undertake full qualifications, others may just need to undertake smaller modules to allow them to transfer into a new role where there is greater labour market demand.

But one of the historic weaknesses of the skills system in England is its lack of flexibility. The funding mechanisms to provide targeted and responsive training are limited. The National Retraining Scheme, piloting different approaches to upskilling, remained small in scope. And even though the Augar review recommended introducing a lifelong learning allowance that could be used to fund modular-based learning, the system as it currently stands is very rigid. We need funding mechanisms that are responsive and agile to support people through this crisis. What we currently have is anything but this.

Despite all the fanfare around the chancellor’s statement – and there was some really good stuff that was included – support for adults remained noticeably absent. For some adults, retraining will mean undertaking a brand-new full qualification. But will people really pursue further study if it could mean taking on more debt? It was good to see the chancellor commit to funding select level 2 and 3 qualifications for 18- to 19-year-olds. Why not extend that to everybody who wants to do a level 2 and 3 qualification in an area of high skills demand?

It could very well be the case that a more comprehensive offer around adult skills will come in the autumn and with the Comprehensive Spending Review process and the Budget.

In the interim, though, we need to ensure that all those impacted by the economic fallout from Covid-19 are protected and able to secure new opportunities in this unprecedented time.

Ian Pretty is chief executive of the Collab Group of colleges