Stronger Together: The Case for Genuine Collaboration in Adult Skills

April 24, 2026Posted by: Charlotte

Stronger Together: Why Delivering Real Impact Needs Collaboration

The adult skills system in England is under pressure from all sides. Employers cannot find the workers they need. Training providers are delivering qualifications that do not always connect to real jobs. And thousands of adults complete courses each year only to find that the labour market door remains firmly closed.

This is not a funding problem, nor a motivation problem. It is a structural one. Too often, training providers and employers operate in parallel rather than in partnership. Providers design curricula based on funding frameworks and qualification standards. Employers define job requirements based on operational need. The two rarely sit down together until it is too late.

The consequences are visible all around us. Employers report persistent skills gaps even as investment in training continues. Vacancies go unfilled while economic inactivity remains stubbornly high. And adults who do retrain often find their new qualifications carry little weight with hiring managers who were never consulted about what they actually need.

Add to this the complexity of local labour markets, the uneven distribution of good-quality provision, plus the very real barriers that many adults face, and the picture becomes even more challenging.

What the system needs is not more provision. It needs better-connected provision. And that requires training providers and employers to do something that sounds simple but is surprisingly rare: to work together from the start, not as an afterthought.

If we are serious about creating fairer access to work - and ensuring employers can access diverse, job-ready talent - collaboration must sit at the centre of how we design and deliver adult skills provision.

Employer-Led Provision: From Vacancy Filling to Inclusive Hiring

Adult learners often engage in training with a clear outcome in mind: to secure employment, change careers, or progress in work. But too often, provision has been designed without a direct line of sight to real opportunities.

We recognise this and challenge it by placing employers at the heart of the system through the Social Recruitment Framework (SRF). Not just as end users of talent, but as active partners in shaping it.

When employers are meaningfully involved:

• Provision aligns with real vacancies, not hypothetical roles
• Learning reflects current workplace expectations
• Recruitment practices can be opened up to non-traditional candidates
• Learners gain both the skills and the confidence to enter work

This is where the SRF goes further than traditional models. It connects skills provision directly to inclusive recruitment practices, ensuring that opportunity is not only created, but accessible.

Designing with Purpose: Mapping Learning to Real Opportunity

One of the most practical ways collaboration comes to life is through mapping course content to employer need.

Within an SRF approach, this isn’t about narrowing learning. It’s about making it purposeful and transparent.

Effective partnerships enable:

• Clear identification of entry-level and progression roles
• Alignment of technical skills with sector-specific demand
• Embedding of employability skills such as communication, teamwork, and adaptability
• Learning experiences that reflect real workplace scenarios

Crucially, this also allows providers and employers to co-design pathways that remove unnecessary barriers: unrealistic experience requirements, inaccessible recruitment processes, or unclear progression routes.

When learners can see how their training connects to a real job, and believe that job is genuinely within reach, engagement and outcomes improve significantly.

Stronger Together: Partnership as a System, Not an Add-On

Collaboration should not be a one-off interaction or a tick-box exercise. It is an ongoing, structured way of working.

The most effective models are those where:

• Employers share current and future workforce demand
• Training providers adapt delivery in response to that demand
• Local authorities align funding with regional priorities
• Support organisations address barriers such as childcare, health, or transport

This creates a system where provision responds to the labour market, while also actively shaping it to be more inclusive.

In practice, this might include:

• Employers contributing to course design and delivery
• Flexible training models that reflect real working patterns
• Guaranteed interviews or work experience linked to completion
• Ongoing data sharing to track outcomes and refine delivery

This kind of joined-up approach is exactly what the SRF is designed to enable: turning fragmented efforts into a coherent, impact-driven system.

Measuring What Matters: From Participation to Progression

The success of adult skills provision cannot be measured by enrolments alone. The real measure is progression into meaningful, sustained employment.

An SRF-aligned, collaborative approach leads to:

• Improved job outcomes and retention
• Reduced recruitment costs and time-to-hire for employers
• Faster and more confident career transitions for individuals
• Greater workforce diversity and inclusion

It also builds trust. Among learners who may have been underserved by traditional systems, and among employers who begin to see inclusive recruitment not as a risk, but as a strategic advantage.

Creating Inclusive Opportunity Through Collaboration

At its core, the SRF is about widening access to opportunity.

Collaboration plays a critical role in ensuring that provision doesn’t just exist, but is accessible to those who need it most.

Through strong partnerships, programmes can be designed to:

• Support returners to the workforce
• Enable transitions between sectors
• Accommodate health conditions or caring responsibilities
• Open doors for under-represented groups

This is how we move from simply offering training to genuinely enabling participation and, ultimately, employment.

A Shared Responsibility, A Shared Success

The challenges we face: skills shortages, economic inactivity, inequality, are complex and interconnected. Addressing them requires shared ownership.

The SRF reinforces that:

• Employers are not just recruiters, but co-creators of opportunity
• Providers are not just educators, but connectors to employment
• Systems must prioritise outcomes, not just outputs
• Partnerships must be built on trust, transparency, and shared ambition

No single part of the system can deliver this alone. But together, the impact is transformative.

Conclusion: Collaboration Is the Difference

If we want adult skills provision to truly deliver, economically and socially, then collaboration must lead the way.

By aligning employers, providers, and support systems around a shared goal, and embedding the principles of the Social Recruitment Framework, we move beyond delivering courses.

Individually, we make progress. Together, we deliver impact.

Interested in how the Social Recruitment Framework could support your organisation? Let’s keep the conversation going.

Email me: [email protected]

I’ll also be at the Adult Skills Conference on the 10th June 2026 at Millennium Point in Birmingham. If you want to talk about this subject some more, I’d love to speak to you there!

April 24, 2026Posted by: Charlotte