Inclusive Talent Strategy consultation questions

The Inclusive Talent Strategy (ITS) is a key action of the London Growth Plan. It will set out how London will grow a skilled workforce and get more Londoners into high-quality jobs and make it easier for employers to get the talent they need. This will be done by developing an increasingly employer-led and integrated skills and employment system.

While the strategy is being developed by London’s government (the Mayor and the boroughs), our ambitions cannot be achieved by London government alone and requires a collaborative approach with partners across the capital and so, we are keen to hear from you.

This written consultation was part of wider engagement activity being undertaken by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and London Councils on the development of the Inclusive Talent Strategy.

The written consultation was intended for:

• skills, training and education providers and representative bodies
• employment support providers
• careers providers
• health and social care providers
• local authorities and Sub-Regional Partnerships
• employer representative bodies
• government bodies and departments
• community organisations / voluntary and community sector organisations
• charities and non-governmental organisations
• research organisations
• trade unions.

There are other dedicated ways for Londoners and individual employers to engage, although all were welcome to respond.

For this written consultation, you had to submit your response using the online consultation form.

This written consultation closed on Monday 21 July 2025 at 11:59pm.

London’s economy is growing, but not everyone is benefitting. The capital’s productivity growth has declined since 2008 and its stubbornly high unemployment rate (6.2 per cent in March 2025) shows that this growth has not translated into increased economic opportunity for all. Disabled Londoners, those with long-term health conditions, and some racially minoritised groups continue to face disproportionately high barriers to employment. Where you live in London can further impact your access to opportunity, with unemployment in Newham standing at 7.9 per cent, compared to just three per cent in Bexley.Reference:1 Meanwhile, employers across key sectors are struggling to fill vacancies due to persistent skills shortages.

The current system – spanning skills, employment, careers – is fragmented and difficult to navigate. Poor health and work-limiting health conditions are now one of the leading drivers of economic inactivity in London, with the city’s inactivity rate reaching 20.9 per cent in early 2025.Reference:2

It is vital that healthcare is integrated with employment and skills provision. The historically disjointed approach between these systems means too many Londoners are locked out of skills and employment opportunities, and too many businesses cannot find the talent they need to grow. The result is a labour market that is neither as inclusive nor productive as it could be. And there is too much wasted talent in the city.

The Inclusive Talent Strategy is London’s response to this challenge. It will set out a bold vision for a joined up system that enables all Londoners to participate in and benefit from the city’s growth. It brings together public, private and voluntary sector partners to build a fairer more productive labour market, one that works for people and employers alike.

At its core this Strategy aims to reduce poverty, boost productivity, and prepare Londoners for a fast-changing economy, while tackling long-standing inequalities. It is structured around a number of interconnected outcomes that together will create a skills and employment system that is:

• integrated across services and sectors
• inclusive of all Londoners
• responsive to the needs of employers, and
• resilient to future economic change.

The Strategy focuses on six overarching themes:

• integrate jobs, skills, health and careers services for Londoners
• grow and diversify workforces in growth sectors
• support Londoners facing barriers to work get into quality jobs and increase London's supply of workers
• give Londoners the skills to be resilient to big shifts in the labour market – AI, the transition to net zero – and fill the job opportunities these generate
• promotion of London’s skills sector internationally and making sure London remains attractive for the best talent in the world
• make London a centre of excellence for fair pay and good work.

This consultation is an integral step in shaping the final Strategy. It seeks views from a wide range of stakeholders and includes targeted questions relating to each of the intended themes of the draft Strategy.

Your insights will help ensure the Strategy is grounded in lived experience, shaped by evidence, and capable of delivering real change for Londoners and employers alike.

To truly unlock opportunities, we must break down the silos between health, employment, careers and skills. A more integrated system is vital for helping Londoners, particularly those with complex needs, move into, and stay, in good work.

To unlock London’s full economic potential, we must build a system that works better for people and businesses. Today, Londoners face a fragmented and complex landscape when trying to access careers advice, training, health support or job opportunities. Services too often operate in silos, and as a result, too many people, especially young Londoners, disabled people, and those from racially minoritised communities, are left behind. At the same time, businesses across key sectors face persistent skills shortages, holding back their ability to grow and innovate.

The London Growth Plan sets out an ambitious vision: to raise productivity growth by two per cent per year between 2025 and 2035Reference:3, increase real household income for the lowest earners by 20 per cent by 2035, and train the workforce needed for the green transition. To meet these goals, we must do more than just grow our workforce, we must connect people to opportunities through a smarter, joined-up system.

That means transforming how our skills, health, employment, and careers systems work together.

Right now, services across the system work separately and do not always talk to each other. Our vision is to create a better, joined-up skills and employment system that helps more Londoners into good jobs. That means a system that is:

• employer led and demand responsive – where employers regularly share what skills they need and where integrated training, careers and employment services respond with aligned training and employment pathways.
• built on strong and productive partnerships – between public, private, and voluntary sectors, delivering real solutions that work for local communities and businesses.
• easier to navigate – where Londoners and employers can clearly understand what support is available and how to access it.
• person centred and inclusive – where support is tailored to individual needs, including health and wellbeing, so that everyone, regardless of background and barriers, can access routes and support into good work.

Improving integration between work, health and skills

We are already taking action. Through London’s five Get Britain Working Trailblazers, we are testing new models to better integrate work, skills and health support, particularly for those facing complex barriers to employment, including economically inactive adults and young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).

This work is being led by the Greater London Authority, London Councils, and Sub-Regional Partnerships, in close collaboration with partners in the health system.Reference:4 Together, we are embedding health as a key component of employment and skills interventions, recognising that mental and physical wellbeing are fundamental to sustainable employment.

Overall, the Trailblazers are expected to increase economic participation, improve service integration, and develop a robust evidence base to inform future employment and skills policy, including how a new Jobs and Careers Service can work in London. They will also help to cement London’s leadership role in delivering locally tailored employment and health support and a consistent pan-London youth offer as part of a more integrated, person-centred system.

We are also scaling up efforts through the Connect to Work programme, which is a large-scale, supported employment initiative coordinated by London’s Sub-Regional Partnerships. It will also provide an opportunity to improve links with employers and deepen integration between employment and health services at scale in the capital.

There are also two WorkWell partnerships in London that are working to join up employment and health services. WorkWell is an early-intervention work and health support and assessment service, providing holistic support to overcome health-related barriers to employment, and a single, joined-up gateway to other support services.

These are some of the first steps we are taking to move from fragmentation to growth and are the early building blocks of a more coherent, more effective system. One that joins up health, employment, skills, and careers to give people real pathways into good work and gives businesses access to the diverse talent they need. By investing in integration now, we are laying the foundation for inclusive growth, greater productivity, and a labour market that truly works for all Londoners.

Key sectors are expanding, but too few Londoners are accessing these opportunities. We must ensure these industries reflect the city’s diversity and are supported by a talent pipeline that leaves no community behind.

London’s economic growth relies on the strength and diversity of its workforce, yet in many of the city’s fastest-growing sectors, too many Londoners are being left behind.

Key growth sectors identified in the London Growth Plan with skills shortages as a major barrier to growth are Creative industries and technologies, Financial, Professional and Business services, Experience Economy (including Culture, Hospitality and events) and Frontier innovation – Life Sciences, Deep Tech (which includes AI, quantum, tech and robotics) and Climate Tech. These industries can offer good, resilient jobs, but the workforce pipelines into them are not diverse enough, often failing to reflect the talent across London’s communities. This underrepresentation isn’t just unfair, it’s economically short-sighted.

In addition, London’s Local Skills Improvement Plan identified health and social care, and the built environment as priority sectors for the creation of talent pipelines, on the basis that they had a substantial and/or growing number of vacancies, with employers reporting acute skills challenges and growth as a potential to improve diversity and representation.

Research shows that if Black and racially minoritised Londoners had the same employment rates and access to higher-paid occupations as their White counterparts (adjusting for education), it would result in:

• a 16 per cent increase in the Black and racially minoritised workforce
• a 6 per cent increase in London’s total workforce
• £17.4 billion in additional economic activity through higher aggregate salaries.Reference:5

We also know that businesses with diverse workforces and inclusive cultures are more productive and innovative. The Mayor of London’s Workforce Integration Network programme works with London employers to transform their workforces through evidenced based approaches, research and in-depth business support. This includes a Design Lab programme which works closely with large employers to improve underrepresentation within their workforces.

To achieve inclusive growth, we must unlock this hidden potential; building talent pipelines into growth sectors that leave no community behind.

To deliver this, we must reshape the system to be:

• driven by employers: employers must be in the driving seat of the system, influencing skills, careers and employment provision so it meets real business needs
• inclusive by design: talent exists in every community. London’s future workforce must be built by actively addressing exclusion and supporting diverse Londoners into roles in priority sectors
• coordinated and clear: we must simplify the landscape for employers and learners, creating coherent entry routes into good jobs and meaningful careers.

Moving towards a more employer-led skills system

To achieve this ambition, and embed these principles in practice, we are proposing to establish and support the following:

• Sector Employer Boards comprising strategic employers and industry bodies would directly influence and shape the skills, employment and careers offer to better meet the needs of employers across their sector by embedding an active partner role in the system.

• A dedicated Pan-London Hub for each sector would put the direction of the Employer Boards into practice. It would do this by collaborating with system providers to shape the offer creating clear pathways for Londoners into work and supporting employers to better navigate the offer and access the support they require.

• Supported by a multi-sector hub in each sub-region coordinating the local offer, developing the local talent supply and providing support for SMEs and local business.

• Build on and develop place-based initiatives that support diverse and disadvantaged communities into key growth sectors in their areas, increasing awareness of careers in these sectors and creating clear progression pathways by working with key employers, training providers and other local anchor institutions.

• London’s Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) will also be refreshed in autumn 2025 and will identify key occupational priorities for the Inclusive Talent System, with the aim of increasing provision and variety of industry relevant skills. Employer-led activities under the Inclusive Talent Strategy will be informed by the refresh of the LSIP and will need to be agile to respond to any key changes. Like the LSIP, the strategy will also allow focus on different priorities to reflect local and sub-regional priorities within a pan-London framework.

A transition to an employer-led system will be supported by the piloting of three Sector Employer Boards for Construction (including Green construction), Creative industries and Life Sciences. Pilots would commence in autumn 2025 with further roll out of this approach from spring 2026. Employer Boards will also play a role in supporting other elements of the Inclusive Talent Strategy covered in other chapters, for example giving Londoners the skills they need to be resilient to big shifts in the labour market (Theme 5). 

We’re building on what works – there is already good practice and activity to build on. This includes collaboration between Further Education (FE) colleges and employers on a sub-regional basis, funded through the Local Skills Improvement Fund. Local initiatives, such as the Leading Inclusive Futures Through Technology (LIFT) programme, a cross-borough partnership between Camden, Hackney and Islington that supports residents into employment opportunities with local businesses in the tech, creative, and science sectors. Simultaneously broadening employment and skills attainment pathways for residents and facilitating diverse recruitment drives for businesses to incorporate new skills and talent.

We now need to scale this activity, embed inclusive principles across the system, and create a more accessible, coherent offer that enables all Londoners to contribute to, and benefit from, the city’s economic future.

Too many Londoners face systemic and overlapping barriers to employment. Tackling these inequalities requires targeted interventions that address the cost of living, accessibility of support, and persistent labour market discrimination.

The London Growth Plan makes it clear: for the capital to thrive, we need to increase economic participation and ensure more Londoners are in high-quality jobs. This means jobs that offer fair pay, a secure contract, opportunities for training and progression and decent working conditions. At the same time, businesses report persistent shortages of core and transferable skills, which impact productivity and economic growth.

For London’s economy to grow everyone who can work must be supported to reach their full potential. That means tackling the root causes of exclusion and delivering targeted interventions that address economic inactivity among marginalised and vulnerable Londoners.

But today too many people face barriers that prevent them from working or progressing including:

• long-term health conditions or disabilities
• lack of qualifications – 13 per cent of Londoners have none and over 1.4 million adults lacking basic English, maths, digital, or ESOL skills
• low confidence or a weak attachment to the labour market (particularly for young people)
• discrimination and structural inequalities in hiring and progression.

These barriers disproportionally affect certain groups, including women, Londoners from racially minoritised groups, those with English language needs, care leavers, people with experience of the criminal justice system and disabled and neurodivergent Londoners. Many face multiple barriers and intersecting challengers, making tailored support essential.
We must also remove practical obstacles that prevent people from accessing or progressing in work and improve their living standards, including the high cost of living, inadequate childcare, and poor transport connectivity.

Access to affordable, stable housing, reliable transport, and childcare is central to employment. The London Growth Plan prioritises:

• building more affordable homes, so people can afford to live where the jobs are
• expanding public transport, especially in outer London and connections to the wider South East, to increase the city’s effective labour market
• improving childcare affordability and availability, particularly for those in lower-paid or shift-based work. 

London government is working with employers and community partners to identify what levers exist to remove these barriers, and will consult widely on how to unlock these basic enablers of work.

London has already taken great strides to break down barriers to learning and employment support. The Adult Skills Fund (ASF) supports Londoners who are unemployed or employed below the London Living Wage and has strong reach into underrepresented groups:

• 69 per cent of learners in 2025 were women
• 63 per cent were from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background
• 16 per cent were disabled or had a learning difficulty
• 92,760 enrolments were in entry level qualifications.Reference:6

But more is needed. Too few learners progress from entry-level to higher qualifications or apprenticeships.

To address this we are considering:

• introducing a London Essential Skills Offer that ensures all Londoners can access a clear, structured product that Londoners can use to chart and support their progression in education and towards work. This will involve better signposting of learner entitlements and developing an effective way to bring these together in the form of a clear, easy to understand learner ‘passport’ that has employer recognition
• improved and coordinated English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) provision, including sector-specific vocational language learning
• embedding transferable and employability skills (like problem-solving and communication) so that they are integrated across essential skills programmes
• stronger pathways into higher-level training and occupations, supported through innovative commissioning.

London boroughs play a key role in local employment support. In 2024-25, 31 out of 33 London boroughs provided a local employment service, collectively supporting just under 45,300 residents. Since 2017, London boroughs working with providers have supported over 55,000 Londoners who are disabled, the long term unemployed, and those who lost their jobs during the pandemic, through the delegated Work and Health Programme (WHP).

Looking ahead, London boroughs, through the Sub-Regional Partnerships, will deliver or commission employment support for up to 13,400 Londoners annually under Connect to Work (working in groups through London’s Sub-Regional Partnerships (SRPs). Connect to Work, is a supported employment programme primarily for economically inactive adults.

This local infrastructure is complemented by the work of the voluntary and community sector; housing associations and commercial providers, who deliver services to some of the most disadvantaged groups in London.

Supporting Londoners into work is only half the solution. Employers must also take action to break down barriers to entry and progression. This includes:

• reviewing recruitment and workplace practices
• offering inclusive workplace adjustments
• working with partners to access diverse, job-ready candidates.

This relates closely to sections three and four of the Inclusive Talent Strategy. By combining practical support, like housing and childcare, with targeted skills and employment programmes, London can unlock the full potential of its workforce.

Supporting marginalised Londoners into quality work is not just a moral imperative, it is an economic necessity. It will drive productivity, strengthen communities, and ensure everyone can share in London’s growth.

London must lead by example in championing fair work, ensuring that all jobs offer decent pay, security, and progression. A thriving economy must work for workers as well as employers.

In London, many of those with a job are in low-paid work. Around 13 per cent of employee jobs are paid below the London Living Wage.Reference:7 Prevalent low pay undermines the financial stability of communities, pushing many working households into in-work poverty and unable to afford essentials.Reference:8

Insecure work further compounds this issue. Approximately, 7 per cent of London’s workers are employed on unstable or irregular contracts, offering little predictability or security in income. The rates of low pay and job insecurity are both higher than the UK average, with certain sectors – for example hospitality, where nearly half of roles are insecure – disproportionately creating low paid, insecure jobs.Reference:9

Pay and job security are only two parts of the picture, with other dimensions of job quality identified as being important to Londoners, including job design and nature of work, representation and voice, work-life balance, and wellbeing and support.Reference:10 Reference:11 Access to these broader dimensions of job quality is uneven, with disparities driven by both poor employment practices and structural inequalities that limit some Londoners’ ability to good work.Reference:12 Reference:13 These gaps have a profound impact on quality of life across the capital.

Employment rights play a fundamental role in shaping job quality and ensuring the economy works for everyone. While rights often set out minimum standards which may be exceeded, they are not always upheld. Many Londoners, particularly those in low-paid roles and from minoritised backgrounds face violations and exploitation, including unpaid wages, denial of leave, and discrimination.Reference:14 Reference:15

The Inclusive Talent Strategy aims to enhance the protection and empowerment of workers in London by raising awareness and enforcement of employment rights. This will also support the work of the new Fair Work Agency (FWA) to address structural barriers, safeguard the most vulnerable and meet the needs of London. The FWA will play a key role in tackling persistent in-work poverty and enhancing job quality across the capital. We will build on the good practice and consider proposals set out in Central London Forward’s report 'Employment rights abuse in central London'.

As part of the Inclusive Talent Strategy, steps will be identified that key partners can take to encourage more employers to adopt the most inclusive employment practices and move towards becoming Good Work Standard accredited.

For example, this could involve building on good practice demonstrated through the London Anchor Institution Network to encourage employers to offer more supported internships, support inclusive workplaces and drive apprenticeship creation, including through transfer of unspent levy. It could explore strengthening and making more systematic social value clauses used by London boroughs and other public sector organisations in procurement and planning gain agreements.

The Strategy will also explore opportunities for London government to collate and share more up to date data on pay by demographic, sector and location, to support policy development and employer engagement activity.

As the economy transforms, we must equip Londoners with the future-facing skills needed to adapt. This means investing in lifelong learning, digital capability, and green skills for a changing world.

London’s economy is being reshaped by powerful forces, most notably, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the transition to net zero. These shifts present both significant risks and transformative opportunities for Londoners. Our challenge is to prepare people not just to withstand these changes, but to lead and benefit from them. That means upskilling London’s workforce for the jobs of tomorrow and ensuring that the economic transition is both inclusive and fair.

Artificial intelligence

AI is already profoundly reshaping London's labour market, creating a complex picture of job displacement, creation, and transformation across all sectors of the economy. Research indicates that full and effective adoption of AI by UK firms could save almost a quarter of private-sector workforce time – equivalent to the annual output of six million workers nationwide. The impact of AI on jobs is varied. Routine and repetitive jobs are likely to be automated, but this shift is expected to create a net increase in roles requiring advanced digital, analytical, and creative capabilities.

Seven per cent of existing UK jobs could face a high likelihood of automation in the next five years, which could escalate to nearly 30 per cent after 20 years.Reference:16 Jobs that rely heavily on interpersonal skills, like those in healthcare, education, and customer service, will evolve by integrating AI to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness rather than disappearing entirely.

The rapid incorporation of AI into business processes is intensifying the need for upskilling and reskilling. Surveys have found that over 70 per cent of employers report critical skills gaps in AI, data analytics, and digital literacy. This means that not only technical professionals, such as data scientists and software developers, but also managers and frontline workers must quickly develop new skills to stay competitive in the evolving job landscape.

Transition to a net zero and more climate resilient city

The London Growth Plan also recognises that London will not achieve green growth, net zero and climate resilience, without investment in resilient infrastructure and upgrading existing buildings. If this investment is secured, thousands more jobs will be created. It means London will need to coordinate a massive investment in green skills; scaling up local efforts such as the City of London’s Skills for a Sustainable Skyline.Reference:17 And so, a priority for the Inclusive Talent Strategy is that everyone who funds skills and training in London should focus on filling these jobs – prioritising Londoners who are not working, in low-paid or insecure work in other sectors, or whose jobs are at risk from the green transition.

The Inclusive Talent Strategy will provide a strategic framework for green skills development in London. It will prioritise sectors with high emissions that must decarbonise, homes and building, energy and power, transport, and green and blue infrastructureReference:18 which is a key sector to building climate resilience. In addition, the growing climate tech sector will provide the solutions (products and services) that will enable businesses to make the transition to net zero faster. Ensuring that climate tech entrepreneurship is inclusive will be essential to ensure a just transition.

Delivering this requires a major shift in how London invests in skills. We must:

• align current public skills funding with green and digital priorities
• attract additional investment in the training system, from facilities and equipment to tutor capacity and course design
• support a whole-workforce approach, ensuring upskilling happens across organisations, not just for new hires
• expand green careers advice, apprenticeships, mentoring, and work experience to raise awareness and build pipelines
• strengthen collaboration between employers, further education skills providers and universities to ensure training is fit for purpose.

This is not starting from scratch. There are strong foundations to build on and learn from:

• The City of London Corporation's Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce that has been working since 2022 to attract, upskill/reskill and retain green skilled workers in central London with a focus on the built environment.

• The South London Partnership’s Retrofit Skills Centre – a one-stop-shop for retrofit training and qualifications and aims to support the goal of making 635,000 South London properties more energy efficient over the next decade. London’s future workforce must be resilient to disruption and ready to seize opportunity. The city’s long-term prosperity depends on our ability to prepare Londoners for the AI revolution, the net zero transition, and the jobs that will emerge from both.

By aligning investment, strengthening employer partnerships, and ensuring inclusive access to the skills system, we can equip Londoners to lead in the next economy and leave no one behind.

London’s continued success depends on being a magnet for talent and innovation. A strong, world-class skills ecosystem will underpin the city’s global competitiveness while supporting local prosperity.

Alongside supporting Londoners to access opportunities and progress in the labour market, London will continue to position itself as a welcoming and inclusive destination for international talent. London needs to continue to attract international talent – both to compete as a global city but also to support important foundational sectors in the economy. It needs to do this in the context of changing national immigration policy.

London’s universities and wider skills sector are critical in providing a pipeline of international talent. The London Growth Plan identified that more than a quarter of undergraduates and two thirds of postgraduates in London’s higher education institutions came from outside the UK. This is a vital strength of the UK and London economy and the London Growth Plan committed to backing the sector to continue to attract international students, as well as supporting a stabilisation in their funding.

Additional possible activity to support this includes supporting and growing successful initiatives like the London Learning Awards, the inter-college skills competition, the Study London campaign and maximising different global city networks to promote London’s skills excellence. We also want to continue to attract businesses to London – because we have the talent they need to grow. In doing so, the activities to employ inclusive and diverse workforces, set out in earlier sections of this consultation, remain critical.

This section will allow you to provide any further comments, evidence, case studies, examples of innovative practice or feedback you may have to support the development of the Inclusive Talent Strategy.

What is your sector or organisation able to contribute to the ITS to make the proposed changes a success?

Please include any links to relevant research or work where appropriate.