Four Key Questions to Achieve Skills Success for U.K. Hospitality
Following two big skills-related announcements from the Government, UKHospitality skills director Sandra Kelly wrote for Propel about what this means for hospitality and how it can be a success.
A universal challenge
The most universal challenge for UK business, regardless of where they are based or the sector they are in, is that finding skilled staff is incredibly difficult.
It’s not a new problem. Skills have been on the agenda for at least a generation. But in some ways we are facing a unique employment crunch.
A complex mix of an ageing society, immigration policy, the end of free movement of people and the after-effects of the pandemic mean that competition for a tight labour market is getting hotter with layers of complication and expense in the system.
The result is an economy struggling to move ahead.
So it’s no surprise that the new Labour government have made the skills agenda a key element of their first 100 days.
At least two of the Governments five missions rely on getting this right. They want to create the fastest growth in the G7, and break down the barriers to opportunity. Neither are realistic without an approach to skills that provides accessible pathways to training for the next generation workforce.
There’s some high politics in the fact the Prime Minister spoke alongside the Secretary of State for Education to announce the new Skills England this week because these Missions are held centrally – this is a powerful, interventionist Downing Street.
But there’s a lot of practical policy here too.
Skills England will be formed from the bones of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and have the responsibility for creating a new list of levy funded training that matches the needs of employers.
So far so good.
In private conversation, the Government have given a bit more detail. They want a mix of flexible and modular in-work training, functional education for core skills like English and maths, and pre-apprenticeship training to launch careers. Can that plan work?
There are four exam questions that the hospitality industry can set them to achieve success.
First, to simplify the system. The job is to streamline thousands of qualifications to a number closer to 200 in the post-16 system with routes at level one and two into entry level job roles for highly accessible industries such as hospitality, and with routes at level three and beyond enabling progression in a sector that has unique opportunities for social mobility.
A complex system is a material barrier for employers to navigate around the day job, and just as importantly for many young people who are finding their feet and trying to work out their futures.
Second, to make sure that the flexible approach allows people who are in work to keep developing their essential employment skills and management capabilities and crucially invest in technical skills across the breadth of job roles that hospitality offers.
Third, to make sure that communities can come together to choose the skills they need locally – employers, colleges, councils and others need mechanisms to identify what skills are needed for the local economy. Skills England can play a role to ensure that national employers work with the Primary Authority principle to avoid costly duplication.
And fourth to make sure that the start of work or the beginning of careers is as simple as possible. In Hospitality’s case that means a universal entry standard that is portable, valued by employers and links to an apprenticeship as their career develops.
UKHospitality has been working with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Springboard charity and other stakeholders over the past year to design this universal entry standard ‘passport’ to get people into work. This Hospitality Skills Passport would also fit the bill for those just starting work as the pre-apprenticeship skills element of the new Growth and Skills Levy with apprenticeships as the direction of travel.
If the Government gets these four exam questions right, it will have genuinely created nation-wide entry points for the next generation workforce.
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