Councils are struggling to fill vacancies and recruit the right talent; due to shortages in capacity and resources to make this happen; a very competitive marketplace; and lack in the supply of ‘qualified’ candidates to meet their needs. Being able to support local young people aged 16 to 19 years into thinking of a future career in local government through experience and learning (via T Level industry placements) is therefore more important than ever.
To do this there needs to be a work path for local young people to help them navigate a way into local council employment. A way to connect young people’s potential to skill gaps and careers in councils whilst building a social mobility ladder into work.
To do this there needs to be a systemic way of matching post 16 qualifications such as T levels with the future skills needs of councils as employers so we can build this future pipeline of Talent.
To start this process this half day face to face meeting aims to bring together council HR leads with representatives of the various local sixth form and FE colleges in the region.
The purpose of the meeting is to establish a partnership working group to improve how councils and local colleges and schools can work closer together to help more young people into employment in local government through T level industry placements.
Focusing on T levels this meeting will provide an opportunity to:
- Better understand the current government policy landscape on post 16 education and role of T levels (DfE/LGA)
- Better understand the role of FE and Sixth form colleges and how they support local employers (AOC/ALP)
- Learn from the Strategic Development Network (SDN) support programme to for employers.
- Discuss the needs of local councils as employers, what the skills gaps are and why they need to recruit more young people (EELGA / LGA)
- Learn from the successful outcomes of council/colleges by hearing from local students (Student/college/council)
- Discuss a possible solution on developing a future regional T level cohort of young people to introduce them to work in local government – LGA/regional employers
- Understand the importance of the Ambassador Network (DfE)
- Agree the next steps and any future meetings
A copy of the agenda will be available shortly.
Audience: We are inviting senior leaders from councils and FE colleges and sixth form schools to attend, and is by invitation only.
Please note: The venue is limited so this is on a first come first served basis. If the event is oversubscribed we may contact you if there are more than 2 people from the same organisation booked to attend.
If you have any queries please email Jayne Cole, Events Manager, East of England LGA, email; events@eelga.gov.uk
