FE colleges and training providers across the West Midlands and Warwickshire are delivering on their promise to bridge the skills gap, improve facilities, reduce unemployment and create a workforce for the future, thanks to the Local Skills Improvement Fund.

Training local people in new and growing industries

£10.3 million pounds worth of Government funding was granted after the Local Skills Improvement Plan highlighted a skills gap and the need to train and upskill local people to work in new and growing industries, increase employability skills, and improve facilities and training.

14 colleges and training providers including Coventry College were funded to deliver the projects. Thanks to the well-established approach to collaboration among FE providers in the region, many more providers got involved with the projects. As a result, the benefits are now being seen by a greater number of employers and learners across the whole of the West Midlands and Warwickshire.

Identifying the best college or training provider to fulfil training needs

The 6 projects highlighted for the Local Skills Improvement Fund were:

1. Expanding the Electrification and Engineering offer
2. Building Capacity in Sustainable Construction
3. Wider Green Skills
4. Essential Digital Skills
5. Advanced Digital Skills
6. Employer Engagement

The providers and delivery partners for each project worked collaboratively, resulting in improved results. The employer engagement arm resulted in the launch of Skills West Midlands and Warwickshire, which is becoming a central point of contact for employers to identify the best college or training provider to fulfil their training needs.

The digital skills project resulted in many parts of the community be able to get online, research, improve their job prospects and even saw a bus reaching those hard-to-reach communities across the Black Country. It also encouraged learners to use brand new AI labs, and immersive hubs to further strengthen their IT knowledge.

Sustainable construction saw retrofit houses being built to encourage students to further grasp the future of retrofitting and the building of sustainable homes, as well as a heat pump training centre which will upskill heating engineers of the future.

Greenskills has a running theme through all the projects and has resulted in a Greenskills virtual hub, accessible to anyone, which holds a plethora of ideas and ways to improve sustainability throughout the region, starting with education.

The electrification arm has seen state-of-the-art labs open which will soon be available for local businesses to use to train up their staff in the latest technology.

A game-changer in accelerating progress on closing critical skills gaps

Solihull College & University Centre was the lead provider for the project and Principal Dr Rbecca Gater says,

“The Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) has been a game-changer in accelerating progress on closing critical skills gaps across our region. It has not only strengthened collaboration between education and industry but also enabled colleges and training providers to respond swiftly and strategically to employer needs — delivering high-quality upskilling opportunities that directly support economic growth.”

Project lead for LSIF, Miriam O’Leary says,

“It’s been an exciting journey and so encouraging to see these projects come to fruition. Collaboration has been key in this project and the funding has started to produce some excellent results. We are grateful to the Department of Education for recognising the need across the West Midlands and Warwickshire and I am sure this project will be reaping the benefits for the region for many years to come.”