City seeks partners to deliver skills development programmes

Preston City Council is looking to recruit businesses to deliver its million-pound skills development programmes to benefit local people.

The council will invest some of the money secured from the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) in projects that will help benefit both local people and the city’s businesses.

In October, councillors agreed to allocate more than £1m of its £5.2m allocation specifically to target employability and skills.

This skills commissioning round will deliver general skills and training programmes to meet the needs of Preston residents and employers, and to provide intensive support to those furthest from the labour market.

It will also help people who are employed to acquire advanced skills to help them progress into better paid and more sustainable jobs.

Coun Matthew Brown, leader of Preston City Council, said: "A key part of our local economic agenda is supporting local people to gain high quality skills and training.

"It is something I am passionate about – whether that be people getting their first job, returning to the world of work or gaining new high-tech skills to enable them to seize some of the exciting opportunities coming down the line."

He added: "This programme aligns closely with our Community Wealth Building principles encouraging recruitment from parts of Preston with lower incomes into secure, better paid employment within our anchor institutions. 

"These new programmes go a long way to help us deliver further economic inclusion and we look forward to working with local partner organisations to provide this tailored support across all communities.”

The commissioning round has now gone live and will close at 5pm on Friday 15th December 2023.