Devolving skills funding won’t work if we create another layer of bureaucracy - Louise McClelland

But we should go further. Devolution, for all its strengths, raises harder questions than where funding will sit. Education and skills are a complex area, and how it’s managed will matter just as much as who controls the budget. Done badly, it risks creating another layer of administration, ushering in a system more convoluted than the one it aims to replace. Done well, it presents an opportunity to create a post-16 education system that meets the needs of employers throughout England.

Part of the challenge is that the public sector isn’t always able to move at the pace at which employers’ workforce needs change. Local and regional governments can’t design the new model on their own. Public bodies, employers, and education providers now need to come together to work out how funding, accountability and delivery will work in practice.

Skills policy is one lever, and an important one, but policy alone won't enable devolution of the skills budget to succeed. Employers need to remain actively involved in shaping and responding to it, working alongside an education system that is consistent, responsive, and connected to business needs.

When it comes to creating opportunities outside traditional economic hubs, businesses have more influence than they sometimes realise. We shape our local economies through where we invest, who we hire, who we train, and who we buy from.

It’s a collaborative effort. Every reform, whether devolved or otherwise, gives employers an opportunity to lean in alongside it. It's also a chance to take stock of how skills are approached internally and, where necessary, give recruitment and workforce development the strategic attention they deserve.

The talent is often already there, closer to home than employers assume. Rising Neet and inactivity figures aren't just a story about young people being left behind. They're a reminder of the untapped potential sitting in the same towns and cities employers say they can't recruit from.

Training and hiring are well within employers’ wheelhouses, but I won’t pretend that they’re without challenges. I lead a Tier 1 engineering firm, delivering major projects across the UK. In a competitive industry, skilled people are in high demand and getting recruitment wrong carries real commercial consequences.

That's exactly why you can't afford to ignore it. Businesses need skilled workers and, in many cases, have to take employee development into their own hands. I've often found the best place to start is with what you can control, however small that feels at first.

For us, that means looking beyond grades alone. Don't get me wrong, qualifications are important, particularly in engineering, but we also look for curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to learn. We’re prepared to take on someone with less experience if we believe they have the potential to become a highly skilled member of the team.

To support that approach, we’ve recently launched an in-house development scheme, which trains people from the ground up. In a specialised industry, we can’t expect colleges to produce candidates who are immediately ready for every role. Sometimes the best investment we can make is giving people the opportunity to develop those skills with us.

None of this is charity. Businesses that invest in training aren't doing something extra. They're building the workforce they'll need in the future, while strengthening the local economy at the same time.

It's not only larger employers taking this approach. North Yorkshire's SME Employer of the Year, Follifoot Riding Centre, has strengthened its talent pipeline by working with a local college to offer apprenticeships. It's a good reminder that businesses of every size can make a meaningful contribution to developing local talent.

But attracting people into the workforce is only half the challenge. Keeping experienced people is just as important. That means building benefits, career opportunities and employee value propositions that reflect what your workforce needs. In my opinion, recruitment and retention should never be treated as separate issues.

Giving mayors greater control over skills funding is a positive step. But success will depend on whether the public and private sectors can build a responsive system together – not simply move responsibility from one part of government to another. Employers, education providers, and government all have a part to play. If we want a stronger workforce in the years ahead, we all need to start building it now.

Louise McClelland is the CEO of Dowds Group.