People and Skills funding

People and Skills funding allocation: £1,582,599

Home to over 425,000 residents, West Northants is a place where every individual is invited to live their best life. This funding is a vital part of our strategy to enable all our residents to start, stay and succeed in local, sustainable employment. 

The ambitions for this allocation include:

• supporting a diverse workforce to succeed in local employment
• addressing unemployment and economic inactivity to enable residents to progress on their career journeys
• upskilling the existing workforce to continue to succeed
• supporting the skills ecosystem in the area, maximising the benefits of the education providers in the area

As set out in the UK Shared Prosperity Fund prospectus, the People and Skills investment priority seeks to address these challenges by investing in projects with the following objectives:

• reducing levels of economic activity, supporting residents and boosting the skills with cohesive, locally tailored support
• supporting local areas to fund gaps in local skills provision, supporting people progress into work through both qualification and non-qualification based routes

People and Skills projects will sit under one of 3 areas:

Skills for communities (programme under development)

The Skills for communities scheme provides grants for location-focused support (aligned with Local Area Partnership priorities) e.g. youth clubs, community groups and focussed on the most deprived areas. Aimed at moving people closer to the labour market. 

Local voluntary, community, not-for profit and social enterprises will be able to apply for grants to extend, enhance or introduce new projects to support learning and development at community level.

Skills for work (programme under development)

Activities to prioritise helping individuals improve their skills, supporting access to work and removing barriers to employment. Delivery is being planned and will be led by the Adult Learning team.

Skills for growth (programme under development)

Projects will target employers and people in work with raising skill levels and career development: benefiting the individual and supporting business growth. 

Organisations will be invited to quote for a series of projects under this area focusing on the skills needed for sustainable employment and productivity e.g. digital skills in the workplace and inclusive recruitment techniques.

How the £1,582,599 is divided between these three areas is yet to be determined.

Last updated 09 May 2024