Skills pledge
The development of a new pledge was set out in the skills strategy, Skills for Sustainable Growth. The Commission has developed proposals for an approach which fits firmly within our employer ambition strategy. We aim, in encouraging the development of pledges, to encourage increased investment in skills and to drive enterprise, create more and better jobs and support economic growth.
What is a pledge?
A pledge is a collective commitment by employers to take action to address skills issues. The pledge is applicable to private, public and voluntary sector organisations.
The purpose of a pledge is to raise employer ambition and investment in skills by providing a means to address specific skills issues with the aim of raising skill levels, making better use of existing skills and allowing employers to work collectively to do it.
Pledges can be formed in sectors, industries or geographic areas where employer collaboration is strong and where significant skills issues need to be addressed. The development of pledges must be driven by employers so that it has relevance to each individual company. Garnering strong employer support is critical to the successful delivery of a pledge.
The term ‘pledge’ is not fixed. Each sector or geographic area is free to use language that works for that group of employers. So, for example it could be referred to as an accord, a protocol or a charter. The “brand” needs to be dynamic to respond to business environment changes and to maintain its relevance.
A bespoke model
Our approach to the development and delivery of the new pledge means that there will be more than one model. This tailored approach allows for pledges at cross-sector, sector, industry and geographic level i.e. wherever employers perceive relevance. This means that:
- The type and scale of pledges will vary;
- The pattern of commitments will not be uniform;
- Take up may be higher in some sectors and geographic areas;
- There will not be ‘blanket’ coverage;
- Employers could choose to sign up to more than one pledge.
If you feel your sector, industry or geographic area can benefit from the development of a pledge and you require further information then please contact [email protected]
The pledges
You can view a list of all developed and developing new pledges on this website.
