There are 38 Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) across the country, all working with businesses, providers, and other local stakeholders to set out key priorities and actions to make sure that post-16 technical education and training providers meet the skills requirements of businesses for their existing and future workforce.

For each LSIP, a lead employer representative body takes responsibility for working with key stakeholders and driving forward the needs of the local area. Our area is Cheshire and Warrington, and the employer representative body is South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

LSIPs are funded by UK Government through Department for Education. They are intended to support post-16 technical education providers such as colleges and training providers to ensure the training they provide meets the needs of businesses.

The Cheshire and Warrington LSIP aims to:

• Work with businesses and providers to identify and respond to business training needs.
• Make provision more accessible for learners and businesses.
• Influence future developments in local skills delivery

We worked with stakeholders and analysed Local Market Intelligence data to identify our key sectors for the LSIP:

• Manufacturing (Including Engineering)
• Health and Social Care
• Life Sciences

Cross cutting themes across all sectors:

• Digital
• Low Carbon

We want businesses to engage with the LSIP to share their skills needs, challenges and success stories so that we can improve links with providers and influence future planned provision in the area. We want to encourage businesses of all sizes to be involved, please either email LSIP@sccci.co.uk or fill out our enquiry form here.

We are working with providers delivering post-16 training in Cheshire and Warrington and communicate through the Cheshire & Warrington Provider Network. If you would like to join the provider network and keep up to date with the LSIP, please contact Julie Shawcross at LSIP@sccci.co.uk

Our current findings from research and business engagement activities are recorded in our LSIP report and roadmap.

We want to ensure that people who are either in work or those entering the workforce in future have a better understanding of the skills required. We are working with Careers Education and Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) organisations and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to make sure that they are involved in the LSIP process and to enable job seekers to be better prepared for the world of work.

In addition, the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) has been established to help colleges and providers respond by developing new courses to meet key areas of need identified in the LSIP.

Whether you are a business, stakeholder, or provider, we would like to work with you! Please feel free to reach out to us to let us know how you wish to be involved by emailing LSIP@sccci.co.uk or filling out the enquiry form here. You will also find more information about providers, funded training, and events on our website www.cheshireandwarringtonlsip.co.uk 

The initial part of our work on the LSIP is summarised in the LSIP report which was approved by Secretary of State in October 2023 and is published on our website here. We are now working on our key priorities which are identified in our Roadmap. We welcome any comments and suggestions on both documents, please email us at lsip@sccci.co.uk 

As LSIPs are both a process and a plan, we are continuing to engage with businesses, providers, and stakeholders. We will do this through meetings, events and working groups to monitor the supply and demand of skills in Cheshire and Warrington. We will provide an annual update in June 2024 and June 2025 summarising key findings and progress against the current roadmap activities. The updated reports will be published on our website: www.cheshireandwarringtonlsip.co.uk  

We aim to support businesses to navigate the skills landscape, including how to access funded training such as Apprenticeships and Bootcamps.

1. We will provide signposting to key stakeholders and support that is available to businesses on our website: www.cheshireandwarringtonlsip.co.uk
2. We will broker links with the Cheshire & Warrington Provider Network to help businesses source a provider for their training needs.
3. We can help you to work through your training requirements and discuss suitable funded options, please click here to book a free 121 session.
4. We are forming sector working groups to continue to collate business skills needs in the following areas: Manufacturing, Health & Social Care, Life Sciences, Digital and Low Carbon. If you wish to be involved: please register your interest by emailing lsip@sccci.co.uk