Skip to main content
CGI of of the university development. Credit University of BristolCGI of the The Square, University of Bristol

Training and Skills

We’re proud to say we are a UNESCO city of learning, which means you can rely on a world-class talent pool for the future.  Nurturing, attracting and keeping talented people is key to our One City Economic Recovery and Renewal Strategy and our inward investment proposition. And central to that is inclusive, accessible training and skills for all our citizens.

Partnering with our universities, training partners and employers, we will deploy a comprehensive strategy that focuses on employment support, apprenticeships, adult and community learning and young careers and pathways.

  • Employment support
  • Apprenticeships
  • Adult and community learning
  • Young careers and pathways

Priorities

To ensure success and fulfilment across our diverse population, we will:

  • Support career pathways into jobs in local growth areas including digital technology and the green economy
  • Stem rising unemployment by increasing access to employment support services while working with employers to support inclusive growth and work opportunities.
  • An improved apprenticeship offer will support diverse recruitment across public, private sectors and expand apprenticeships in the construction sector
  • Increased investment in digital devices and connectivity in deprived areas, and in providing digital skills training, will reduce the digital divide
  • Work with partner employers to provide experience of work opportunities for young people most at risk of disengaging from education, training and employment.
  • Support women into careers. and work with business to address the underrepresentation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic employees and Disabled people.
  • Tailor delivery of the Adult Education Budget to support people most at risk to improve their pathways into health and social care careers and break down barriers to entry to the creative economy.
  • For businesses themselves, our targeted enterprise and early growth support in high deprivation areas will reduce the risk of business failure in the short term, while our support to explore alternative financial models will help them diversify and become more resilient.
Young girl wearing hijab studying

The Employment Support Team

Working across Bristol, the Employment Support Team focuses on inclusive employment and improving  career prospects.

The team  organise job fairs, host networking meetings, and link together support agencies, colleges and employers to help residents secure employment, employers to fill vacancies and skills shortages to be addressed. We work with partners across Bristol and the West of England to provide training, job seeking and in-work support.

Strategic Alignments

The team’s work aligns with our city’s ambitions for everyone to be treated fairly and live with hope. Its outputs of driving sustainability and future resilience underpin key parts how we will measure against and deliver the sustainable development goals:

Respond to rising unemployment

SDG: 8.5, 8.6

Increase access to employment support services

SDG: 1.2, 8.5, 10.2, 10.3, 16.6

Boost support for young people

SDG: 4.1, 4.4, 5.4, 8.6

Work with employers to support inclusive growth and improve the quality of work

SDG: 5.5

Rising Arts team members in front of a listen banner

Apprenticeships

The One City Apprenticeship scheme, key to our One City Economic Recovery and Renewal Strategy,  is a co-ordinated approach to apprenticeship supporting diverse recruitment across public, private and SME employers. We also actively support SMEs in priority neighbourhoods to take up work trials and apprenticeships.

The Bristol City Council apprenticeships scheme, Bristol Apprentices, supports apprentices in business administration, customer service, finance, media, horticulture, ICT, engineering, sports coaching, cookery, health and social care, or human resource management.

And in construction On Site Bristol  is designed to deliver skilled labour in many trades and support our recovery and city-wide construction and development programmes.

Other initiatives include Proud to Care – building a critical skills talent pipeline, and Workforce for the Future.

Alignments
Our apprenticeship schemes support a broad range of our sustainable development goals:

Develop a One City Apprenticeship scheme

SDG: 8.6, 10.2, 17.7

Expand apprenticeships in the construction sector

SDG: 8.6, 9.4, 12.2, 13.2

Carpenter Training Male Apprentice To Use Mechanized Saw

Young Careers and Pathways Team 

The Young Careers and Pathways team can support employers looking to build and develop their future workforce.

Pre 16 work

Bristol WORKS is building a unique collaboration between employers, Pre 16 learning providers, and local communities to develop a skilled local workforce.  Our aim is to offer bespoke experience of work programmes created with schools, based on the needs of young people.

Research suggests that young adults who had four or more experiences of work while at school are five times more likely to engage in further education, employment and training.

For more information contact  works@bristol.gov.uk  and follow our projects on twitter #bristolWORKS

Post 16 work

The Post 16 participation team encourage and support young people to participate in education, employment or training.

We offer support for young people to recognise their skills and and help to apply for education opportunities or employment vacancies. Often young people require work experience to help them explore the world of work. If as an employer you would like to work with young people through this programme please email Post16participation@bristol.gov.uk

Happy male african university student outdoors

Contact the team

Economic Development Officer

Or send us an enquiry