7.1

Adults

Adult Advancement and Careers Service

Much of England's current adult careers policy stems from the Leitch Review of Skills, published at the end of 2006. The premise of Leitch is that the UK must develop its adult skills base in order to remain and progress as a global economic force.

A significant recommendation in the Leitch Review was the development of an adult careers service, which was taken up by the government. Under the former Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham, the service developed into an ‘advancement and careers' service, with the intention of supporting adults across different areas which might impact on their career development - such as training, employment rights, housing, health and childcare, for example.

This service is due to launch in Autumn 2010.

The current adult careers advice offer from the government comprises:

  • the Careers Advice Service: an online and telephone service staffed by qualified careers advisers
  • nextstep: a face-to-face service which offers interviews with qualified careers advisers at locations across England.

The situation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is somewhat different, with the devolved nations all offering their own, ‘all-age' guidance service. This means that careers advice is provided by the same service, no matter what your age or situation. There is a slight caveat to this - all higher education institutions in the UK offer their own careers advice services, which are not part of any national careers service (although there may be strong links).

The new service in England will be delivered through a combination of local and national initiatives, with a heavy emphasis on partnership working. Partners will include Jobcentre Plus and other agencies of the Department for Work and Pensions and local authorities.

The new service will be:

  • modern, responsive and personalised to the needs of individual customers
  • universal with 'no wrong door'. Everyone can access information and help about training, developing the right skills and finding sustainable employment
  • helping people tackle the main barriers to learning and training - lack of money and/or caring responsibilities.

Since 2008 the government has been trialling different styles of partnership and ‘advancement and careers' provision in 10 different areas in England, with an evaluation report on these pilots due in 2010.

Responding to the recession

A report from the Work Foundation investigates the impact of the recession on UK cities and has looked at how local leaders have responded and what can be done to minimise the impact of the recession and prepare for the upturn. It suggests that there is a relationship between skills level and job losses, cities with highly skilled populations have experienced the smallest increases in unemployment.

Findings from the case studies of the UK cities are used to identify examples of innovative local action being used to drive the recovery. Some of the findings include:

  • minimising the impact of the recession on local people by expanding apprenticeships, working to retrain the unemployed, tackling consumer debt, publicising job vacancies and addressing ongoing deprivation
  • monitoring the local economic situation, coordinating responses from multiple partners and looking at ways to reduce the tax burden
  • seeking to retain quality of place by reducing the physical decline of properties, improving access to housing services for those made homeless and helping the third sector cope with increased demand for services
  • using the economic crisis as an opportunity to retrain the unemployed, to conduct campaigns to encourage foreign investment and tourism, and to invest in local infrastructure in preparation for the upturn.

The report also provides recommendations for action by national government, RDAs, city regions and local authorities.

For more information please see the full report.