Local authority leaders have welcomed a call to move away from the current top-down approach to skills, and to provide communities with the funding and powers needed to boost employment.

A new report from the education think tank EDSK argues that staff shortages across the economy will not be addressed until the Government ends its reliance on top-down national initiatives.

The report – entitled Changing Course(s) – proposes that at least £1.1bn a year be given to devolved areas of England and local communities to help them tackle skills shortages and drive economic growth.

Tom Richmond, director of EDSK and lead author of the report, said: ‘If ministers are serious about tackling staff shortages, they need to empower local areas and individual employees as well as employers to drive forward investment in training and development.

‘This will require a new emphasis on coherent and coordinated solutions created by, and delivered by, local partnerships of employers, learners, combined authorities, training providers and other local stakeholders.’

The report proposes converting the National Skills Fund into a £1.1bn funding pot that is handed directly to devolved areas to reskill and upskill adults as well as supporting collaborative training projects between employers.

It also advises the Government to convert the apprenticeship levy into an ‘Apprenticeships and Skills Levy’ that will support a ‘National Apprenticeship Fund’ and a revamped National Skills Fund. The National Apprenticeship Fund would be able to give small employers cash grants of up to £5,000 for recruiting apprentices.

Responding to the report, Cllr Kevin Bentley, chairman of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) People and Places Board, said: ‘As this report highlights, we need to move away from a top-down, centralised approach to skills. Employment support should also be devolved to local leaders to get the best value for money from the billions currently spent by government on various disjointed national schemes.

‘Every area has its own unique labour market including a mix of jobs, qualification levels, unemployment and vacancies. Councils and combined authorities want to unlock this potential talent, using their unrivalled local insight and knowledge to bring employers, training providers and jobseekers together with their proven track record in delivering more for less.’

Cllr Bentley continued: ‘Our own Work Local analysis shows that by using existing investment more effectively – including the devolution of adult skills and more influence on apprenticeships, employment support and 16-19 funding – could lead to a 15% increase in the number of people improving their skills or finding work.

‘Given the right powers and resources, local government can help communities get through this cost of living crisis by creating new jobs, offering new training and spreading opportunities to more people, in our shared endeavour to level up the country.’