FE News’ Post

📣CBI (Confederation of British Industry) has released its Business Manifesto, calling for crucial reforms within the first 100 days of the new government to drive sustainable growth and investment in the UK.💼 Key recommendations include: ✅ Revitalising the investor pitch for 'Brand Britain' ✅ Delivering a Net Zero Investment Plan ✅ Unlocking the power of UK regions ✅ Building a tax environment that drives investment ✅ Transforming the planning system ✅ Boosting the labour market & productivity Kate Shoesmith from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation strongly supports the call for Apprenticeship Levy reform, allowing levy funding for high-quality, modular training to enable more people, including temporary workers, to train and fill vacancies. 📚👷♀️ The next government must quickly address labour and skills shortages, which could cost the economy £39 billion per year if left unchecked. 💸 #BusinessManifesto #ApprenticeshipLevy #LabourMarket Read more about the CBI's manifesto and the REC's response at https://lnkd.in/efqFFzei

Off to UK Parliament for Education Questions this afternoon. The technical skills shortage is holding the UK back. There's no getting away from the scale of the challenge. As Make UK sets out, 36% of manufacturing vacancies are hard to fill because of the skills shortage. Apprenticeship starts are 170,000 below their 2017 level and Rishi Sunak admitted that T-levels haven't made much progress. That's why I asked Education Minister, Robert Halfon to set out the government's plan in the House of Commons just now. You can judge his answer for yourself. It doesn't quite match the feedback I receive in my constituency or around the country. The Labour Party will invest in skills as partners to business as part of our industrial strategy. My colleague, the Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson and her team have good plans to make sure the apprenticeship levy has the flexibility it needs so that more employers can use it. By enabling the levy to be used as a growth and skills levy, Labour will offer what businesses need rather than sticking to a formula that simply isn't working. Our Shadow Skills Minister, Seema Malhotra MP FRSA is on the case alongside Bridget and the rest of her team. I know from what businesses are telling me that by developing a policy together - government and employers - we really can realise the benefits to young people and to the economy of a high quality approach to skills. Labour Business Relations

🎙 It was a pleasure for my colleague Ellis Coughlan and me to sit down with John Cope, Executive Director of Strategy at UCAS (2020 – 2024), to discuss the Prime Minister's apprenticeship reforms that came into effect this month and to explore their likely impact on the skills sector. Read the full interview on our website below. 👇 🦾 "Higher-level skills are in short supply, highlighting the importance of increasing access to college, university, or an apprenticeship." https://lnkd.in/ei4AzwhJ

Whilst I’m an advocate for progressive and iterative policy, these amendments could risk restricting the utilisation of levy spend across differing demographics - closing career mobility routes for people already ‘within’ the workforce. More than ever careers are evolving to a ‘portfolio’ based model as people look to build skills across multiple disciplines. The introduction of the levy in 2017 has been key in this non-linear mindset, to the benefit of both industry and individuals. I agree an impactful levy strategy should be executed to negate an over emphasis on higher NQF levels but enforcing this could disproportionately effect those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who see degree level apprenticeships as a viable alternative to university (and it’s associated costs) as well as older colleagues who wish to pivot their career pathway through vocational development. In addition, standards highlighted such as the Level 7 Accountancy and Taxation Professional act as a key bridge from undergraduate success to postgraduate industry accreditation through the attainment of Chartered Accountancy Status. I applaud the government for not seeking to stand still and looking for ways to refine funding rules to encourage a greater flow of talent from secondary and further education to industry but any changes need to be cognisant of accessibility and balance.

After the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed in August 2022, the IRS continues to publish guidance and final regulations to effectively define the fine print of what was set forth in the IRA. This past week, the final regulations for the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements were published. Learn more by reading the full article by Bastian Stroemsheim. https://hubs.ly/Q02DPYg30 #renewableenergy #projectfinance #financialmodeling #batterystorage #taxequity #inflationreductionact #taxcredits #PPA #hybridstructures

An insightful piece as always from Alex. When reading through the details last night it did smell an awful lot like they have pulled some good headlines out of the bag without serious long term thought about their implementation. It is to be expected I suppose given the current political context but for years government has failed to deliver on overarching strategy and this seems to be a continuation of that theme. Growing up with a front row seat, and a direct stake in the world of SMEs it has long been frustrating to see the government fail to consider the contribution of this sector to the economy, particularly in manufacturing. Was there announced any true support for SME Manufacturers in this budget? If there was I didn't see it, and that would be indicative of a government that doesn't have a plan. Or at least, a plan that doesn't involve developing British Industry. As for Alex's point on the shortage of Tradespeople this is something we are already seeing in the historic vehicle movement with a dire skills shortage that could threaten the viability of the movement - as the people who originally maintained and engineered these vehicles in the day gradually retire or pass away. This is an opportunity however to open up new generations and demographics to skills development as Alex points out, and there are movements such as Dominic Taylor-Lane's Association of Heritage Engineers who are doing just that. If there is one thing there can never be enough of right now it is opportunity. Because after all, as I read somewhere recently, luck is simply the product of preparation meeting opportunity. Do take a look at Alex's analyses, she is very much worth a read.

My reaction to the #AutumnStatement today, on behalf of Family Business UK: “The Chancellor and Prime Minister have this week both been talking about making decisions for the long-term. And while there was good news for business in the statement around full expensing, there is still much more to be done. The full expensing announcement will help support more investment, but if we want to truly unlock long term growth we need remove the regulatory barriers businesses are coming up against and tackle long term issues. “A key example of this is the need to completely overhaul the Apprenticeship Levy. To deliver sustainable growth businesses need a workforce that has the skills for the jobs of the future. Family businesses want to invest in training young people and retraining those who need to move industries - but the Apprenticeship Levy system isn’t working. Without a plan to fundamentally overhaul the employee training landscape and create a system that can financially support and provide the funding and training for skills for the future, the Government will not see significant long term growth.” “Today’s statement marks the start of supporting long term growth – but we need to see more, across all departments, to make sure the ambition is reflected in real policy changes.”

Earlier this month Andy Haldane in the Financial Times suggested “solving the UK’s productivity and growth puzzle depends on collective action on employment and skills”. Upskilling is a key factor in driving economic growth and reducing supply side inflation, with research consistently proving that a workforce with enhanced skills is significantly more productive. In advance of the Chancellor’s Spring Budget on 6 March, AICPA & CIMA submitted a series of policy proposals to HM Treasury focused on UK skills. This includes the following proposals: 1.    Change the Apprenticeship Levy to an Apprenticeship and Skills Levy to enable employees and employers to access the funding for skills development, as well as formal qualifications. 2.    Introduce an apprenticeship insurance scheme for SMEs to help cover unexpected apprenticeship costs. 3.    Reform the Lifelong Loan Entitlement to allow those accessing it to use the funding for professional body education too. 4.    Introduce a rebuttable right to retrain. 5.    Introduce mandatory time off for training. It's time we invest in the skills that our workforce needs for the future. You can view all the skills recommendations we made to HM Treasury ahead of the Spring Budget 2024 here: https://lnkd.in/eSAhu9fg #UKSkills #EconomicGrowth #SpringBudget2024

Great to see our CEO Thierry’s thoughts / expectations for the spring budget. I’d like to build on his comments and give some of my own. The shortage of tradespeople in the UK is a growing concern for many businesses, especially as those with more knowledge and experience start to retire. Trades are still careers with some of the highest gender imbalance, and it would be amazing for more crafty, strong women to train up in trades where they could truly shine. I can imagine the lack of discourse around business tax releif, other than for those who invest in properties, is disappointing to Thierry here. Personally, I found the budget somewhat fair but no where near enough to genuinely help stimulate growth. The further cut to NI sound nice, but workers are still going to be worse off in real terms as salaries rise with inflation due to the frozen personal allowance. My generation will save maybe £500-£1k a year, that’ll help us get on the property ladder. It is also worth noting that this could potentially impact those of state pension age and above, further showing how the government has once again painted a facade of support when realistically abandoning the most valnerable. At least there is some support for working parents, and helping people return to work. Other wealth-building support such as the £5k ISA cap increase for investment in British businesses or adjustments to taxes on holiday lets and property investment, only truly affect those who have excess cash at the end of each month to invest. As long as taxation is at such a high rate comparatively to other countries spending will not increase and wealth will not be able to build. The only real positive I see for most people is the reduction in capital gains on residential properties, allowing more equity to be released from the sale of your home / investment properties. Yes, British pubs benefit from alcohol tax changes, and British companies may see a small boost in investment from the additional British ISA, but will this really have any meaningful impact on our current position in a technical recession? I also fear that the pledge to optimize public services may be under fulfilled. I’m sure we can all agree that the NHS and wider public services are in desperate need of the productivity plan so I would have much rather seen NIC remain and reduce direct income taxes through band adjustment, rate reduction, or unfreezing the allowance. With spending increasing at such a high rate year on year I do remain concerned for the UK balance of payments. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the budget and how it might impact you or the wider economy. https://lnkd.in/eSHpD7fA