About The Workforce Development Trust
The Workforce Development Trust is a group of sector specialists supporting workforce development, incorporating Skills for Health, Skills for Justice and People 1st (covering Hospitality, Travel, Aviation and Retail) .
Skills for Health and Skills for Justice are the UK’s sector skills councils for the health and justice sectors. They work closely with national bodies to support workforce reforms, people development, and apprenticeship standards. People 1st supports businesses to build and retain skilled workforces across the hospitality, retail, travel and aviation sectors.
What are some key projects the Workforce Development Trust is focusing on currently?
A key area that we are focusing on is systems resilience, which is a cross-cutting priority across all of our sectors. A central component of this work is a programme with the Cabinet Office that is identifying and developing National Occupational Standards for systems resilience across sectors. These standards ensure the United Kingdom’s workforce have the skills and knowledge they need to respond to adverse events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This complements more focused areas of work – such as our support to our sectors to respond to the challenges of forthcoming legislation and regulation requirements – such as Martyn’s Law.
What recent achievements of your organisation are you most proud of?
We’ve just delivered our third annual Inspire Justice Awards which saw senior leaders, including Minster for State, Heidi Alexander, come together to recognise the outstanding contributions of support staff working across the justice sector. They are the only independent awards of their kind, designed to celebrate people from across the whole justice system. They were introduced following the success of our flagship event, the Our Health Heroes Awards which has been running for more than eight years. Both events are our way of giving back to the sectors we serve and help shine a light on those who might otherwise go unnoticed. You can find out more information here.
Can you share an example of how your work has made a difference to your industry?
Our Six Steps Methodology approach to Integrated Workforce Planning® is a tried and tested tool widely used and recognised within public services. Six Steps helps organisations to become truly sustainable and self-sufficient by giving them the means to attract and retain the right people, in the right place, at the right time. It was referenced in the NHS Long Term Plan and is widely regarded as the gold standard for workforce planning.