技能发展：加强雇主生态系统的政策

Foreword We are deeply committed to advancing the profession that the world needs, developing professional accountants whosupport organisations across the UK and worldwide. One of the most significant challenges facing the UK economy isthe need for skills and talent. Not only does this lead to productivity limitations, but it risks making the UK a lessattractive place to invest and do business. While organisations across various sectors continue highlighting the talent crunch they face, the UK has also witnessed aproliferation of education pathways and skills development initiatives. These efforts undoubtedly expand opportunitiespresented to individual learners and organisations, but they also introduce further complexity, which can hinder effectiveengagement with the skills training system. At the same time, employers face an increasingly challenging talent market,often unable to attract individuals with the skills and experience needed, and, in many cases, increasing employeemobility is making it more difficult than ever to retain talent. Through engagement with key partners, stakeholders and members, we have developed key policy proposals to tacklethe challenge that the widening skills gap across sectors presents to economic growth and productivity. Together, theseproposals would provide a tangible incentive for organisations to upskill individuals to deliver the skills needed to growand prosper, while enabling individuals to navigate the skills landscape more easily and ensure they identify the careerpathway best suited to their individual goals and aspirations. As an organisation, our founding mission is to ensure open access to the accountancy profession and an entry point foreveryone. We remain dedicated to nurturing the next generation of forward-thinking professionals who will shape thefuture of finance and management, as well as offering every talented person everywhere the opportunity to experience arewarding career in our profession. Abdul GoffarDirector ACCA UK Executivesummary The UK skills and employment landscape resembles not so much a crossroads as Spaghetti Junction – fast moving,potentially confusing and with far-reaching implications for the choices made by governments about the direction oftravel. Industries from professional services to manufacturing face a critical talent shortage, exacerbated by anever-widening skills gap. Expansion in the range of education and skills provision, such as T Levels (DfE 2023a) and SkillsBootcamps (DfE n.d.), in addition to more established routes to qualification, such as apprenticeships or universitydegrees, has created a wider range of choices for both individual learners and employers. One of the unintended consequences of this expansion has been added complexity – leaving both employers andindividuals struggling to navigate upskilling opportunities, which are key to economic growth and productivity.Addressing this challenge requires a fresh perspective, together with policy support for organisations seeking to upskilltheir workforce. We make two policy recommendations to further these aims. Introduction of a Skills Tax Credit Pilot. While a boost to training would bewelcome by organisations across theeconomy, additional support is needed tostrengthen the entry-level pipeline availablefor employers. To enable this, we propose 1 2 This targeted incentive will empowerorganisations currently eligible for theEmployment Allowance to begin bridgingthe gaps they face in digital, sustainability a government-led baseline assessment of the careerguidance and support currently available in England. Inthe current landscape, guidance and support forindividuals and organisations is fragmented, with variablequality and availability across sectors and geographies. Anassessment would provide the government with the dataneeded to identify gaps or weaknesses in provision,improve underperforming regions and empowerindividuals to access new opportunities in an environmentwith fast-changing skills needs. and financial competence skills by offsetting up to £5,000of the cost of selected accredited training from their taxliabilities. By addressing the impact of chronicunder-investment in training, this approach would driveeconomic growth and productivity, the globalcompetitiveness of the UK as a country to do business in,and support individual staff retention and growth withinorganisations. Taken together, we believe this two-step approach could help employers to improve training for existing staff, whilecreating a wider pool of future talent. In addition to empowering individuals, this would help the UK to close wideningskills gaps across all sectors and ensure our careers service is well positioned to take advantage of the new age ofopportunities, from data and digital developments to the green economy. For further information: Joe FitzismonsSenior Manager – Policy and Insights, EEMA & UK ACCA Introduction As the global body for professional accounta