PwC
PwC will foster collaboration amongst professional services employers to address the ‘talent crunch’ constraining SME potential to drive growth. The project will give streamlined access to funding direct to employers who will work with the best of Further and Higher Education in training delivery.
The skills challenge
Employers of all sizes in all sectors need access to a range business services skills to support and improve their businesses: payroll, audit, accounting, tax, IT and HR to name a few. For many smaller employers, having fast and reliable access to these skillsets has proved a challenge for years, a situation not helped by limited collaboration in the professional services sector and the real (and perceived) complexity of the ‘skills system’. This has led to a recognisable ‘talent crunch’ constraining SME potential to drive growth.
The solution
The PwC proposal is the creation of a skills ecosystem established and facilitated by PwC for all professional services occupations and employers in England. PwC will work with employers to define shared skills needs, develop and deliver the training programmes to address them.
The overarching objective is to foster collaboration amongst professional services employers to address the ‘talent crunch’. PwC will take overall responsibility for the ecosystem and the public funding flowing through it, giving streamlined access to funding direct to employers who will work with the best of Further and Higher Education in training delivery. Within the ecosystem there will be two distinct routes for employers to access training: in the first route PwC will support individual employers to identify their training needs and access provision to address those needs; in the second, specifically designed to meet the need of SMEs, PwC will manage an end-to-end service enabling employers to access the same high quality training that PwC provides for its own people. In developing this solution, PwC took feedback from the Higher Apprenticeship working groups including representation from over 30 employers: Detica, Challenge Consulting, UCLH and Right Management have all been involved.
Impact
This proposal will realise five critical outcomes: strong, sustainable talent pipeline; broad, diverse talent pool; workforce with the business skills employers need; new entrants possessing the business competence employers need; and, substantial SME engagement. The work will deliver benefits with an NPV of c£80m p.a.
SME employers will be able to access the same high quality training that PwC provides for its own people: More than half of PwC’s clients are SMEs – served by PwC offices across the UK. PwC’s support to those SME clients across all aspects of their businesses gives them real insight to the issues and barriers SMEs face in engaging with the skills agenda. Through this proposal PwC will leverage that insight, along with in-house expertise in the design and delivery of professional services training, to deliver an end-to-end service shaped to meet the needs of SME employers. PwC will itself play an active, substantial role in delivery, working with a carefully selected group of delivery partners.
Investment
Employer investment: £4,376,000
Employer Ownership Pilot Funding: £11,452,000
Total: £15,828,000
