Business plans
You can download our business plans and strategic objectives from this page.
Business Plan 2013-14
With a revised remit in 2011 / 12, we have seen a real change in how the UK Commission operates. We have a new strategy which is gathering momentum.
Our ambition is to transform how we invest in the skills of people as an intrinsic part of jobs and growth. We believe that success lies in securing a significant change in our current skills investment approach, moving away from a reliance on government setting and managing the agenda to one where we take bold and determined steps to encourage greater employer ownership of skills in partnership with employees and trade unions.
In 2011, the UK Commission launched a new vision for employer ownership of skills, setting out more specifically what form this approach needs to take. Since 2011 we have made encouraging progress. The UK Government has committed £340 million to test the vision through a co-investment pilot in England.
The pilot moves us towards a new model for making public and private investment in people work harder and achieve more; aligning investment in people to broader business decisions and ensuring employers get the talent they need to succeed. With an ambitious strategy in place, it is important to maintain the current positive momentum of our business activity. Therefore our approach in the business plan this year is to be quite focused keeping our Commissioner outcomes from 2012/13 and only modifying the short term deliverables where we need to for 2013/14.
We have worked with our Commissioners to define success checkpoints which set out our direction of travel and what differences we will seek to make on the longer term journey by autumn 2015. This will ensure we secure the right focus over the next year.
Download 2013/14 – Business Plan (PDF, 658 Kb)
Business Plan 2012-13
Published April 2012
Last year we oversaw a real change in how the Commission operates and progression of our new objectives. In practical terms, the outcome can be demonstrated in three different ways:
- We are now investing in skills solutions that have real impact on jobs and growth. Our new, investment-based relationship with Sector Skills Councils and others is fundamentally different from our previous model of grant-funding.
- Through our Commissioners’ insights, we are now testing the principle of ‘employer ownership of skills’ to leverage a better deal for the taxpayer, employers and individuals. We are piloting this approach in England with a substantial public investment of up to £250m, and we will be reporting on this work throughout 2012-13.
- We have produced the first-ever UK-wide employer skills survey, of 87,500 employers, enabling us to provide data and analysis on sectors and occupations across the UK. This kind of work is vital in helping our home governments understand long-term patterns and trends in employment and skills.
For 2012-13 our Commissioners are keen to sustain this momentum and have therefore evolved the four priorities of 2011-12 to four outcomes, seeking to inject further focus and impact into how the Commission works. The four outcomes are:
- More employers investing in the skills of their people
- More career opportunities for young people
- More collective action by employers through stronger sectors and local networks
- More employers stepping up and taking ownership of skills
Download the 2012/13 Business Plan (PDF, 1.4 Mb)
Business Plan and Strategic Objectives 2011-12
Published April 2011
Our Business Plan describes our activities for 2011/12. We are in an exciting period of change and development, and through our Commissioners have determined four major priorities for the year ahead:
- making and winning the economic case for a greater investment in skills
- enhancing the value and accessibility of vocational training, especially Apprenticeships
- galvanising industries and sectors to improve the skills of their workforces; and
- working with employers to maximise opportunities for unemployed and disadvantaged people.
As a social partnership, led by Commissioners from large and small employers, trade unions and the voluntary sector, our remit extends across the four home nations and, as a Non-Departmental Public Body, the Commission is accountable to the Secretaries of State for BIS and DWP and Ministers in HMT, DfE and the Devolved Administrations. The Plan describes how this year, we are focused on outcomes and impact and will support our Commissioner priorities through a robust evidence base, partnership working and a transformation our organisation to ensure delivery and accountability.
Download the Business plan and strategic objectives 2011-12 (PDF, 196 Kb)
Business Plan 2010-11
Published May 2010
Over the first two years of our existence, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills has sought to make a real contribution to policy and practice in the UK. We believe we have established credibility and recognition as an independent hub for skills policy formation and as an effective transmitter of strategic advice, compelling analysis and potential solutions to the governments of the UK.
As we recover from recession, we need more people in work and more people in productive work. We need more businesses, and more successful businesses, offering more and better jobs. And we need more and better skilled people to get us there and keep us there. There is little that is more important than equipping ourselves with the skills we need, for the jobs we need, for the successful businesses of tomorrow. As we recover from recession it also provides an unparalleled opportunity to focus more than ever on our ambitions for skills, jobs and the reform of our employment and skills systems.
Download the Business plan 2010-11 (PDF, 704 Kb)
Download the Business plan 2010-11 summary (PDF, 216 Kb)
Business Plan 2009-2010
Published May 2009
The journey towards our goal of being a ‘top eight’ country for employment, skills and productivity, with increasing social cohesion, will be an exciting one as we continue to make positive changes to the prospects, opportunities and performance of the UK workforce.
The UK Commission’s first strategic plan, published at the same time as this document, sets our vision, mission and priorities for the next five years and beyond as we seek to improve the economic competitiveness and social cohesion of the UK through increasing employment and skills of the working age population and balancing the needs of providers, individuals, employers and communities.
This business plan details the actions we intend to take to complete the first steps of our five year strategy. Much of it builds upon the excellent work started in our first year, taking a number of strands of work onto the next stage. But it also presents new work arising from the current challenging economic situation, from consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and from the findings of our own work in the past year.
Download the Business plan 2009-10 (PDF, 2.1 Mb)
Five Year Strategic Plan 2009-2014
Published April 2009
This document is the UK Commission’s corporate plan for 2009 – 2014. It sets out our high level priorities and strategic approach for the period 2009 – 2014.
Our five year strategy has been developed in the context of a global recession that may be the deepest in 75 years. The impact on the economy and society will be far-reaching. To secure economic renewal – to emerge from the recession stronger, more adaptable, more competitive – will demand bold and concerted action across all sectors. Our strategy, therefore, must focus not only on how to survive the recession, but on how we will thrive in the years ahead. We recognise and endorse the determination of the UK governments to create strong and sustainable economies built on world-class skills set out in the national skills strategies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and, most recently, in the British and English publications such as Work Skills and New Industry and New Jobs.
Download the Five year strategic plan 2009-14 (PDF, 1.2 Mb)
