Work Ready Lancashire goes live

The Lancashire LSIP has been working in partnership with the Lancashire Skills & Employment Hub and the Lancashire Careers Hub on the ‘Work Ready Lancashire’ project to help tackle one of the biggest priorities of local employers.

Employers have been consistent in expressing the importance of improving the employability skills and work readiness of people leaving education and entering the workplace. The research carried out for the LSIP report (2023) found that employers valued these attributes above all others.

Building on the work of the LSIP and other research the partnership surveyed employers to build a definitive list of the most important attributes and develop a common language.

A common language agreement fosters a unified understanding among young people, educational institutions, and employers in Lancashire regarding the essential skills needed for employment readiness. This approach has been developed to better support the young people of Lancashire to ‘Effectively Transition’ from education into the world of work.

Our approach is focused on the top ten work ready skills as identified by Lancashire employers as ‘necessary skills’ that all employers need and provides examples on how students can demonstrate these skills whilst in education and as they progress into the workplace.

By applying the ‘Learn, Develop, Apply’ approach outlined in our directory, young people will be able to gain and develop the necessary skills to make a successful transition into the world of work.

While initially set to be implemented in secondary schools there is already interest from FE institutions and beyond, with the potential of this common language being widely used across the county in careers support.

Work Ready Lancashire is a great example of how collaboration in Lancashire involving employers, providers and key stakeholders can respond to the priorities of employers.