What is the Local Skills Improvement Plan?

The Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) is a government-backed strategy designed to align post-16 training with what employers in Halton need, both now and in the future.

We are working directly with local businesses, colleges, and training providers as the LSIP aims to close skills gaps, create clearer pathways into good jobs and help businesses find the talent they need to thrive. The LSIP framework puts you, the employer, right at the heart of our skills system.

Being a part of the Liverpool City Region LSIP ensures that Halton’s local employers are represented and have a voice in shaping skills. Together to strengthen Halton’s position as a place where businesses can grow, recruit and innovate with confidence.

Listening to Halton’s Businesses

Halton Chamber has helped businesses of all shapes, sectors, and sizes have a say in shaping the LSIP. We reached out directly to over 400 businesses, through calls and visits, have hosted sector-based focus groups and followed up with one-to-one conversations for deeper insight. We share information widely through newsletters, social media, events, and local networks to encourage people to have a voice.

Companies across Halton have shared what they need to grow and the challenges they face around skills. Local employers have contributed strongly through our detailed survey, with Halton making up over 25% of all responses across the Liverpool City Region whilst representing around 9% of the area’s businesses. This LSIP therefore genuinely reflects Halton’s business community and puts local priorities firmly on the region’s skills agenda.

What We're Hearing About Skills in Halton

Across sectors, employers have been clear: the challenges they face are about skills, not just recruitment.

In logistics, businesses are looking for people with up-to-date IT capabilities, planning and organisational skills and technical competence in areas like vehicle maintenance and fleet systems. While driver shortages are well known, firms are also struggling to find staff with basic pre-employment and customer-facing skills.

In manufacturing, there’s a strong and growing need for digital fluency, data handling, and mechanical and engineering knowledge. Many businesses say they can train people up on specific machinery but they need candidates to arrive with core skills in place ready to build on.

Construction employers are seeing similar patterns: demand for traditional trades remains high but there’s increasing pressure to integrate green technologies, off-site methods and digital design. That shift brings new training needs and highlights the importance of upskilling across the current workforce, not just bringing in new starters.

Across all sectors, one message keeps coming back employability matters. Businesses want people who turn up on time, communicate well and understand how to operate in a working environment. These are the foundational skills that underpin technical learning and employers tell us they’re just as essential.

Place-based barriers continue to affect access to work too. Public transport that doesn’t match shift patterns, bridge tolls and even hyper-local reluctance to travel between Widnes and Runcorn are all factors employers are dealing with day to day.

These insights are helping shape how training is designed and delivered locally so that it works for employers, learners and the wider economy.

Industry Learning Partnerships

One of the positive outcomes from the LSIP is the development of Industry Learning Partnerships bringing together employers and training providers to focus on specific sector needs.

These partnerships are built around and encourage honest conversations: what skills are missing, what’s working on the ground and where training needs to shift to keep up with demand. Whether it’s shaping new course content, advising on equipment needs or identifying gaps in progression routes, these groups are creating space for business insight to drive change.

They’re also a great way for businesses to stay informed as well as involved with this vital work. And help give valuable insight relative to the time invested.

If you're interested in contributing to an Industry Learning Partnership in your sector, please get in touch.

Specialist networks are a great way to develop your business and network with like-minded people from your sector. Our Science and Manufacturing Network, International Trade Network and newly inaugurated Construction Forum are just some of the networks that can allow you to gain a deeper insight into your industry and the challenges and solutions posed. Halton Chamber is also an active participant in Halton’s Visitor Economy network.

How You Can Get Involved

The LSIP is not just a one-off report, it’s a live project that evolves with the local economy and the input of local businesses, this is what keeps it relevant and useful.

If you’re seeing skills gaps in your workforce, want to talk through specific challenges or have ideas for how training could better support your business, we want to hear from you.

This is our chance to influence local provision and get involved so courses reflect real business needs and together build a skills system that works for Halton now and into the future.

To get involved with local provision Local Skills Improvement Plan you can email us at info@haltonchamber.co.uk or call 0333 358 3430. We’d love to hear from you!

Download the Liverpool City Region Local Skills Improvement Plan Report 2023

Download the LSIP Progress Report – June 2025

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