10-Year Plan To Boost Quality Jobs Across North Yorkshire Takes Shape

A 10-year plan to enable York and North Yorkshire residents to thrive in high quality jobs is taking shape.

The Get York and North Yorkshire Working Plan sets out a bold 10-year vision to address local employment challenges and seize emerging opportunities – helping people progress in their careers, creating high quality job opportunities and supporting more people into work. 

The plan responds to the Government’s drive to reform employment support, which calls for a joined-up approach bringing together skills and health to get more people into and progress in their work.

Led by York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, the plan aims to tackle the region’s specific needs. With the area’s employment rate already close to the Government’s target of 80 % - currently standing at 79.2% - it places a strong emphasis on job quality, earnings, progression, support for employers, and prevention of disengagement from work. 

David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire said:

“For the first time we're setting out a long-term, 10-year plan to Get York and North Yorkshire Working.

“Over my term, we're backing more education, employment and training opportunities for people across York and North Yorkshire with over £77m of funding. This is going to help over 41,000 people learn new skills, find work or get the support they need to stay in their jobs, and become business leaders, through careers support we’re helping over 50,000 young people be aspirational about their futures.

“This is a first for our region and backed by new funding and local decision making we're on track to transform opportunities for people in York and North Yorkshire.”

A draft of the plan was approved at a meeting of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority today (24). A final version is due to be published in November, with a delivery plan set to follow in the New Year, outlining what and how and when key priorities will be rolled out.

Once published, it will complement existing strategies, including the recently launched York and North Yorkshire Local Growth Plan – a 10-year plan outlining how York and North Yorkshire will help deliver economic growth in the region and for the UK.

Several programmes aligned to the Working Plan are already underway. These include:

• York and North Yorkshire’s Get Britain Working Economic Inactivity Trailblazer – supporting people out of work due to ill health, working with employers to provide good work opportunities; and joining up systems and services to better support jobseekers
• Connect to Work – launching in the New Year, this programme will support disabled people, those with health conditions, and others facing complex barriers to employment.
• Adult Skills Fund – supporting adult learners to gain skills which will lead them to meaningful, sustained, and relevant employment, or enable them to progress to further learning.
• Skills Bootcamps – set to benefit more than 900 learners, the skills bootcamps offer key skills which employers in the region are looking for.
• Skills Innovation Fund - a £2,375,000 grant fund to support skills development in the York and North Yorkshire region over a timeframe of two years, ending in March 2027.
• York and North Yorkshire Careers Hub - bringing together schools, colleges, employers, and apprenticeship providers, making it easier for schools and colleges to improve how they prepare young people for their next steps.

Together, these initiatives form a coherent, ambitious agenda to ensure every resident across York and North Yorkshire can access good work and thrive. 

For more on today’s meeting of the Combined Authority, visit the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority website.