Local Skills Improvement Plans
Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) are employer-led plans that identify the skills and workforce needs of local economies and help shape education, training and workforce development provision. Introduced through the Skills and Post-16 Education Act, LSIPs bring together employers, training providers, local authorities, Jobcentre Plus and other stakeholders to ensure local skills provision meets employer demand.
Adult social care is frequently identified within LSIPs as a priority sector due to ongoing recruitment, retention and skills shortages. LSIPs help ensure that local training providers, colleges and workforce programmes develop learning opportunities that support the needs of care employers and the wider health and care system.
Key objectives
- Align local training provision with employer workforce needs
- Address local skills shortages and labour market gaps
- Improve access to training and employment pathways
- Strengthen collaboration between employers and education providers
- Support economic growth and workforce sustainability
LSIPs can influence:
- Development of adult social care qualifications and training programmes
- Apprenticeship provision
- Skills Bootcamps and vocational learning
- Recruitment and workforce development initiatives
- Partnership working between care providers, colleges and local authorities
By capturing the voice of care employers, LSIPs help ensure that local skills investment reflects current workforce challenges and future workforce demand.
Key benefits
...for Adult Social Care providers
- Greater influence over local training priorities.
- Improved access to skills and workforce development programmes
- Better alignment between education providers and employer needs
- Opportunities to help shape future workforce pipelines
...for the workforce
- Training that reflects real employer demand
- Improved access to qualifications and career pathways
- Better progression opportunities within health and social care
LSIPs are not a recruitment programme in themselves. Instead, they are a strategic workforce planning tool that influences how local education and training systems respond to adult social care workforce challenges. They help ensure that workforce initiatives, training provision and skills funding are aligned with local employer demand.
Read more on the Oxfordshire LSIP
