We explore the reforms needed to improve workforce productivity in Northern England
Northern England suffers from persistent gaps in both productivity and skill levels. The UK Government’s Levelling Up White Paper identifies skills as a crucial driver of regional economic disparities and highlights plans to increase skills training, raise educational standards, and put employers at the heart of the Further Education and training system. But how likely is it that these bold aims will be achieved?
Bringing together perspectives from northern employers, regional policy-makers, employer representative bodies and Further Education providers, this report calls for a fundamental rethink of skills policy and recommends ways to boost employer investment in skills and improve the way skills are used in the workplace.
The CIPD has run a number of free HR consultancy support pilots which have been successful in helping small businesses understand and address skills gaps. The evaluation of these pilots suggests that bespoke and flexible business consultancy support provided led to improvements in workplace relations, labour productivity and financial outcomes, and could help prompt further investment in business improvement among participating firms.
Download the report
Follow this pathway of practical tools to build and present an evidence-led business case for learning. Work through the three structured stages, one step and one conversation at a time.
In this blog, we look at four real situations where CIPD membership benefits make a practical difference, from starting out in HR to leading something you've never done before, and what to reach for in each one.
As organisations become more skills-focussed, what’s stopping capability from moving to where it creates the most value? And what’s the role of L&D in enabling that shift and helping organisations assess and deploy the skills they already have, while building new capability at pace.
Use these tools to build L&D's influence and impact, by strategically aligning skills and capability planning with wider organisational performance and outcomes.
Read our latest Labour Market Outlook report for analysis on employers’ recruitment, redundancy and pay intentions
Insights, benchmarking data and recommendations from the CIPD's latest survey on employee benefits
A manifesto for fair, skilled and innovative work, setting out CIPD’s recommendations for policy-makers to strengthen the Scottish labour market
A manifesto for fair, skilled and innovative work, setting out CIPD’s recommendations for policy-makers to strengthen the Welsh labour market