Employment and Skills Plans (ESPs) are essential documents required for Local Authority (LA) approval to proceed with major construction projects. Building relationships and a deeper understanding of the requirements is essential. Failure to do so can lead to over committing, giving incorrect answers or failing to understand your commitments until too late.
This blog post shares some of the key angles that we use to deliver successful Employment and Skills Plans.
Local Authority Priorities
Different local authorities have different priorities, for example an unusually high number of lone parents or people without qualifications. With a deeper understanding of the LA’s priorities you can better target your ESP to tick the LA boxes.
Local Community Groups
By connecting with local community groups we can obtain a deeper insight into community needs. Generic interventions like playgrounds and meeting places many not deliver the best ‘bang for buck’ – this is an opportunity to demonstrate a deeper insight to the LA and improve your chances of approval.
A further benefit is that the community group can sometimes help to connect you to potential employees.
Local Colleges / Training Providers
We speak to local colleges and training providers to understand what courses they provide. Three potential benefits follow:
In addition, the local college / training provider may offer CSCS courses to allow candidates to work on site.
Aligning ESP to Both Client and Local Authority Requirements
To help strengthen the ESP, we look for overlap in requirements, or points of common ground between clients and local authorities. A common example is a requirement to strengthen communities. Whilst this might be expressed in different terms by different stakeholders, we try to identify commonality and place emphasis on this.
Previous Experience With Local Authority
Local Authorities tend not to publish a definitive list of their preferences and detailed priorities. Strive Development has worked with many different authorities and works hard to maintain relationships.
Previous experience gives us a head start with understanding Local Authority likes and dislikes, which saves time and maximises the chance of approval for the ESP.
Project Information
There is a huge spectrum of project types – everything from new build to refurb, urban to rural and a new focus on green technology. Understanding the different approach being taken will have a bearing on the ESP – for example the duration, number of workers, skills needed, etc. Construction experience is needed to blend this information into the overall ESP and ensure a realistic and achievable plan where targets can be met.
Innovative Approach
Recruitment has proved to be notoriously difficult in recent years. Innovative approaches are often need to source candidates. Strive has built up the skills and relationships with a variety of referral partners to source candidates in the most difficult of areas, helping our clients to maximise their chances of success.
We hope these points are useful. ESPs can be difficult to get right and avoid financial penalties. If you could benefit from advice and support with your ESP feel free to get in touch.
