Liverpool City Region Skills for Growth · Skills and Education) Competition Teams from schools across Liverpool and the surrounding area took part in the local heat of the BASE (Business,

Liverpool City Region Skills for Growth

FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONALSERVICESA Skills for Growth Agreement

Summary 3

Headline actions 5

Sector briefing - Financial and Professional Services 6Liverpool City Region Financial and Professional Services 6Financial and Professional Services Sector composition in the 10Liverpool City Region

Financial and Professional Services - Skills profile 11Job types 11Sector age profile 12Sector occupation profile 13Key qualification levels 13Financial and Professional Services employer working practices 15

The supply of training 16Higher Education Level 16A Levels 19Vocational training - Further education 19Vocational training - Apprenticeships 19

Skills shortages and gaps (Overall) 22

LIVERPOOL CITY REGION SKILLS FOR GROWTH: FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Contents

1

The demand for skills 25Replacement demand in the Financial and Professional Services sector 26

The issues and analysis - summary 27Opportunities for colleges and training providers 28Trailblazer Apprenticeships 29Careers education and recruitment support 29

Conclusions 31

2 LIVERPOOL CITY REGION SKILLS FOR GROWTH: FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

This Agreement document is employer-led, supported by Professional Liverpool and various other professionalbodies, provider-focused and has the support of key partners through the Liverpool City Region Employmentand Skills Board.

Key issues identified by this research include:

• The Financial and Professional Services sector is an important one for Liverpool City Region and has goodprospects for jobs and Gross Value Added (GVA) growth and career progression.

• The existing skills base and cost competitiveness of the City Region makes it an attractive location for ‘NorthShoring’ (supporting City of London based businesses to reduce their cost base by relocating supportfunctions to the City Region).

• The sector locally is opening up more associate professional routes to ensure that the companies canprovide cost-effective advice to their clients as paralegals or paraplanners, etc.

• The profile of the sector is not as high as might be expected locally and employers are concerned thatyoung people in particular do not have full understanding of the options open to them.

• Graduate recruitment remains an important talent source but at least in the short-term fewer places are onoffer and there is a concern that there will be an over-supply of graduates in some parts of the sector(e.g. legal services).

• Employers identified a need to promote the sector to potential employees as being concerned withproviding ethical professional support and advice to clients to help them solve problems; it isn’t only aboutgood numeracy and literacy but also customer care and trust which are vital.

LIVERPOOL CITY REGION SKILLS FOR GROWTH: FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 3

Summary


Headline actions


Based on the analysis of the demand for, and supply of, skills the Agreement recommends the followingheadline actions.

• Employers to use pre-degree recruitmentmore, using in-house/external training and development(particularly employer-led Apprenticeships) to meet the roles required within the business; sometimes this willbe to degree level, increasingly it will stop short at ‘para’ or technician level.

• Increasing self-employment in the sector provides an expanded opportunity for business and professionalbodies locally to support members to develop cross-cutting professional networks and entrepreneurialskills.

• Promote the Financial and Professional Services sector in schools, colleges and universities throughlocalised all-age careers education, focused on:

• the range of career opportunities on offer and the skills requirements needed to fulfil them e.g. A-CGCSE Maths and English for most roles

• promoting the wide range of non degree level entry, with Higher Level Apprenticeships leading ontodegree level

• support for careers education work by Financial and Professional Services professional bodies andactive initiatives operating locally including Business in the Community, Inspiring the Future andMerseySTEM

• building presentation, employability and business awareness skills into the curriculum

• Large employers in the sector and relevant professional bodies to lead by example in making use of bestpractice, including promotion and roll out of appropriate national initiatives on a local level.

• Training providers to include Financial and Professional Services relevant employability skills and businessethics in their courses.

• Working with business support organisations and professional bodies active in the City Region, micro andsmall Financial and Professional Services companies to formally recognise the importance of their supportstaff by ensuring they have the right industry standard skills and qualifications. Specifically, by making iteasier for them to:

• Acquire information on the accredited skills, training and financial support on offer for their support staff(e.g. business administration / customer service)

• Give their employees opportunities to access this training provision, including on an in-work and (wherenecessary) time release basis

• Collaborate to achieve economies of scale in training delivery of existing staff.


Sector briefing - Financial andProfessional Services

1 Oxford Econometrics Forecasts (2014) - Commissioned for Liverpool City Region2 Liverpool City Region’s Knowledge Economy: Delivering new opportunities for growth

Liverpool City Region has a long association with the Financial and Professional Services sector. The Sector has been identified as one of the jobgrowth sectors for the City Region with an increasein more than 18,000 jobs predicted between 2013 and 20301.

Liverpool City RegionFinancial and ProfessionalServices

The North West is considered to have one of thecountry’s strongest Financial and ProfessionalServices sectors outside of London due to theregion’s access to graduate labour, universityresearch capabilities and cost competiveness when compared to the capital2. As part of theKnowledge Economy, the Financial and Professional Services sector has been identified as one of the Liverpool City Region’s growth sectors that will help drive future sustainableprosperity and international competitiveness while creating thousands of new jobs.

The definition of Financial and Professional Servicesin the Liverpool City Region is wider than Finance,Insurance and Other Professional Services sectorsadopted elsewhere. It is similar to the definition ofProfessional and Business Services (PBS) used by theDepartment of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)but includes:

Finance, Legal and Insurance sectors alongwith some aspects of Architectural andEngineering services and related technicalconsultancy, Technical Testing and Analysis,Administrative and support services, as well ashead office functions in areas such asMarketing, Human Resources andProcurement and Call Centre operations.

The sector has a myriad of bodies informing theprofessional standards within their specialisms thatprovide various support and influence in theirparticular sub sector including endorsement of skills training and delivery. Chart 1 provides anoverview of some of the professional bodiesinvolved in the sector.

The Sector includesFinance, Legal and

Insurance sectors along with some aspects ofArchitectural and

Engineering services andrelated technical

consultancy, TechnicalTesting and Analysis,Administrative and

support services, as wellas head office functions

in areas such asMarketing, HumanResources and

Procurement and CallCentre operations.

CHART 1PROFESSIONAL BODIES INVOLVED IN THE FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES SECTOR


3 http://www.compeer.co.uk/uk-wealth-management-industry-report-193.html4 Knowledge Economy: Delivering New Opportunities for Growth 5 Growth is our Business: A Strategy for Professional and Business Services, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, July 2013, p2

The City Region has particular national strengths inwealth management and maritime professionalservices. For Wealth Mangement, according toCompeer3, Liverpool has more funds undermanagement than any city other than London, withRathbones and Investec having a significantpresence in the city.

Within maritime professional services, local clustersof activity include maritime law, marine insurance,accountancy, ship finance, ship broking, ship andcargo surveying and freight derivatives.

Financial and Professional Services provides animportant complementary role, central to settingstandards, enhancing skills levels and spreadinginnovation and good practice throughout businessand industry more widely4. This regional expertise inniche markets combined with Higher Educationresearch strengths in the sector, access tograduate labour and a competitive cost base is

expected to provide a foundation for growth in the future.

In addition major ‘Tier 1’ companies in terms of theirscale and strategic importance in the widerFinancial and Professional Services sector within theCity Region include:

• Hill Dickinson, DWF LLP, Weightmans Solicitors,Grant Thornton, PwC, Arup, Santander andBarclays.

The UK’s Professional and Business Services (PBS)sector is globally competitive, with a share of exportsto developed countries second only to the US and atrade surplus of £19 billion5. The sector also plays arole in the success of much of the rest of the UKeconomy by providing expertise and advice. Alongwith the Finance sector, the PBS sector is seen bygovernment as vital to future competitiveness:


Developing the sector at both national and regionallevel will be dependent on ensuring that employershave ready access to a skilled workforce, able toinnovate and add value. While the sectortraditionally employs well-qualified employees (52% have qualifications at or above Level 46),many firms have focused on raising the productivityof their most skilled and experienced ‘interaction’workers by reassigning routine tasks that can betaken on by lower cost technicians, for example, thegrowing use of paralegals in the legal profession7.This is an important driver in skills demand - higherskilled staff remain vital but access to largernumbers of technicians is as important to the futuredevelopment of the sector.

The strength of City Region-based firms has alreadymade a difference (see Figure 1). Over 80,000people work in the Financial and ProfessionalServices sector across the City Region(representing 13.5% of total employment)8 in over6,100 businesses9. Employment in Financial andProfessional Services has recovered well, growing by15.5% since 2009. During the same period, totalemployment in the Liverpool City Region has fallenby 0.9%. Forecasts for the sector suggest thatemployment will continue to increase at almost 1% per annum to 2025 and deliver above averageGVA growth for the Liverpool City Region.

6 Sector Skills Assessment: United Kingdon Financial, Insurance and other Professional Services, Skills for Justice, Financial Skills Partnership, e-Skills for UKCES, November 2012

7 Preparing for a new era for work, McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey Quarterly, November 20128 Business Register and Employment Survey workplace-based employment, LCR definition of FPS Sectors 20139 UK Business Counts - Enterprises in the Liverpool City Region according to LCR Financial and Professional key sector definitions

Our vision sees the UK as the main global hub for knowledgeintensive Professional and Business Services (PBS), with growingexports to emerging markets, building on the industry’s position as a premier UK export sector. There is also potential for theexpertise of PBS firms to be used more intensively by UK businessesin other sectors, as they seek to innovate, export and respond tonew challenges. The knowledge and networks of the sector canhelp the clients they serve to grow and export and hence bolstergrowth in the wider economy.

Growth is our Business: A Strategy for Professional and BusinessServices

‘‘ ‘‘

Professional Liverpool

Professional Liverpool is a membershiporganisation with an objective to promoteprofessional excellence in the Liverpool CityRegion and to enhance its reputation as afinancial and professional centre ofexcellence. The organisation facilitates thedevelopment of business and personalrelationships among its members andenables access to support services toachieve improved business performance inthe city.

Professional Liverpool currently undertakemock interviews in support of HE students,providing feedback on their performance aspart of the Liverpool John Moores UniversityWorld of Work programme giving graduates achance to practice their interview techniqueswith real employers in the sector.


Moreover, the Financial and Professional Servicessector provides good quality employment - themajority of employees in the sector work in fulltimeemployment (78%) compared to 65% of allemployment in the Liverpool City Region10. Averagewages in the various Financial and ProfessionalServices sub-sectors vary from around £20,000 to£39,000 but are mainly above the average acrossthe North West economy as a whole (£20,500)11.

The sector has a broad spectrum of companiesproviding enabling expertise including12:

• Wealth Management - Rathbones, PanmureGorden, Investec, Quilter Cheviot, Fraser, Coutts,Shore Capital, Blankstone Sington, BarclaysWealth

• Accountancy and Advisory - Ernst & Young,PwC, Grant Thornton, KPMG, Mazars

• Banking - Santander, RBS, HSBC, Lloyds Group,Barclays

• Law - Brabners, DLA Piper, DWF, Hill Dickinson,Weightmans

• Call Centres - O2, The Contact Company, ShopDirect, QVC, Vertex

• Built Environment Consultancy - Arup, BrockCarmichael Architects, GVA, Jones Lang LaSalle,Mason Owen and Partners, Peel Land andProperty

For further information on the wider economicdevelopment actions being taken to support thesector, please see Liverpool City Region’sKnowledge Economy: Delivering New Opportunitiesfor Growth produced by the Local EnterprisePartnership (LEP):http://www.liverpoollep.org/about_lep/key_documents.aspx

Source: ONS BRES 2013

FIGURE 1FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS SECTOR EMPLOYMENT

10 BRES workplace-based employment, 201311 ASHE 2012, provisional results Table 5.7a Gross median Annual Pay in the North West12 http://www.liverpoollep.org/priorities/knowledge_economy/financial__professional.aspx

Average wages in thevarious Financial andProfessional Services sub-sectors vary fromaround £20,000 to

£39,000 but are mainlyabove the averageacross the North Westeconomy as a whole

(£20,500)11.


13 Source: ONS IDBR Data March 2012

Source: ONS BRES 2013

FIGURE 2EMPLOYMENT IN KEY SUB-SECTORS IN LIVERPOOL CITY REGION FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, 2013

Financial and ProfessionalServices Sector compositionin the Liverpool City RegionAs noted, the Liverpool City Region LEP has adopteda broad definition of the Financial and ProfessionalServices sector covering the full range ofprofessional advisory services.

Not all these Financial and Professional Servicessub-sectors have emerged unscathed from therecession. The impact of the recession on thedemand for financial services and significantregulatory change affected financial servicesemployment in particular between 2009/12.Employment in financial services and Insuranceboth declined in the sector from 22% to 17% overthe period. The introduction of the Legal ServicesAct opening up the legal services market,alongside major changes to the funding of LegalAid, have impacted on the structure of legal firmsand led to a loss of employment in the LiverpoolCity Region.

On the other hand, national and local evidencesuggests that the growth in other professionalservices in the Liverpool City Region such asemployment activities, office administration,technical consultancy and other professional,scientific and technical activities have more thanmade up for these reductions (see Figure 2).

In keeping with the City Region’s broaderemployment profile, and as may be expected withbusinesses of this nature, a significant concentrationof these firms are based within Liverpool CityCentre with secondary clusters existing in Southport(Sefton) and Birkenhead (Wirral). There are also alarge number of mainly micro Financial andProfessional Services businesses providing legal,financial and other support and advice to localbusinesses across the City Region.

Businesses in the local Financial and ProfessionalServices sector may find it harder to invest both timeand money into upskilling of their existing workforcedue to the high prevalence of small firms. Recentanalysis shows that, in the Liverpool City Region,almost three-quarters of businesses employ fewerthan 5 employees. When considering larger firmsthat are more likely to have the capacity toconsistently invest in training, there are just 2%employing more than 5013.

As noted, the sector has recovered well from therecession and employment in the Liverpool CityRegion has grown overall. This has occurred as thesector has consolidated; larger firms (over 250employees) have grown by 41%, small businessesby 7% but employment in mid-sized firms hascontracted by almost 10%.

Financial and ProfessionalServices - Skills profile


Job types

The Financial and Professional Services sectorincludes a range of highly skilled occupations butalso requires support from an increasing proportionof individuals with intermediate skills. Over half thesector’s employees are qualified to above Level 4but as a whole the sector is improving productivityby carefully disaggregating tasks so that high-skillemployees (e.g. solicitors) can focus on what theydo best and they can leave the more routine tasksto those who are skilled specialists but not as (yet)qualified (e.g. a paralegal who are often employeddirectly by solicitors but can also work within a legalrole in other sectors).

This mix of high and intermediate skills isdemonstrated in the major occupational groups:

TABLE 1LARGEST OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS WITHIN THEFINANCIAL, INSURANCE AND OTHER PROFESSIONALSERVICES SECTOR UK

Source: Labour Force Survey 2010, taken from UKCESSSA: Financial, Insurance and other Professional Servicessector, November 2012

%Rank Occupation 000s Workforce

1 Accounts wages clerk, 130 7bookkeeper

2 Finance & investment 124 6analyst & adviser

3 Financial institution 123 6managers

4 Solicitors & lawyers, 114 6judges & coroners

5 Counter clerks 107 5

6 Financial managers & 100 5chartered secretaries

7 Management 93 5consultants, actuary, economists & statisticians

8 Chartered and certified 82 4accountants

9 General office assistants 68 3or clerks

10 Marketing and sales 62 3managers

11 Pensions and insurance 57 3clerks

12 Software professionals 50 3

13 Personal assistants & 46 2other secretaries

14 Brokers 44 2

15 Customer care 41 2occupations

Other occupations 746 38

Total Workforce 1,987 100


Sector age profile

Currently in the Liverpool City Region, 3 in 10 ofthose in the Banking, Finance and Insuranceworkforce are over 50 years of age, with only 9% aged between 16-24 years, (compared to 12% 16-24 year olds in the wider City Region economy).This suggests that there is less of a concernregarding replacement demand in the Financialand Professional Services sector compared to some of the City Region’s other growth sectors (e.g. Advanced Manufacturing) but identifies theneed to ensure that existing employees andyounger people embarking on a career are awareof the relevant, ongoing progression routesavailable to them as they enter the industry.

FIGURE 3LIVERPOOL CITY REGION BANKING, FINANCE ANDINSURANCE EMPLOYMENT BY AGE

Source: Annual Population Survey Workplace Analysis for SIC K-N, Banking, Finance and Insurance, July 2013-June 2014

Almost 9 in 10 employees are over 25, this highlightsthe role of training investment for the existingworkforce on an in-work and flexible basis, (and topromote this approach to companies that don’talready provide staff training in this way). Whenconsidering the gender split within the Liverpool City Region’s Financial and Professional Servicessector, analysis shows that while there are an equal number of males and females employedwithin the sector, females predominate inAdministrative and Secretarial occupations andSales and Customer Service occupations. This trend is mirrored by a higher presence of males employed in higher-level roles such asManagers, Directors and Senior officials andProfessional, Associate and Technical occupations.

Research shows that local Finance sectorcompanies are among the most likely to undertakeContinuing Professional Development (CPD) andhave invested more in training of their staff than lastyear (70% cf. 60% in 2011/12). As a result, they arealso now much more aware of where they canaccess on and off the job training14.

14 Liverpool Business Survey, Foundations for Growth 2012/13, 2020 Research for Liverpool Vision, January 2013, p55


Sector occupation profile

Figure 4 shows that almost half of the jobs within theCity Region’s Financial and Professional Servicessector (in this instance, defined by Standard IndustryCodes K - N; Banking, Finance, Insurance etc) arewithin Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)group 1-3 (Managers, Professionals, and AssociateProfessionals) which, as is to be expected, requireand attract higher-skilled individuals (many withspecialist training). A further 23% of local jobs in thesector are classed as Administrative and Secretarialoccupations; likely to be based within the CityRegion’s contact/call centres, which have historicallygenerated large volumes of lower-skilled jobs.

Key qualification levels

The Financial and Professional Services sector hasone of the most well-qualified workforces in theUK economy, with more than half holding higherlevel (Level 4+) qualifications (52%) compared to37% UK-wide. The sector also has relatively fewemployees without any qualifications (2%)compared to 7% of workers that have noqualifications across the UK.

FIGURE 5UK BANKING, FINANCE AND INSURANCEQUALIFICATION PROFILE

Source: Labour Force Survey 2010, quoted in Financial,Insurance and other Professional Services SSA, UKCES,November 2012, p44. NB total equals 101% due torounding

FIGURE 4LIVERPOOL CITY REGION FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES EMPLOYMENT BY OCCUPATION

Source: Annual Population Survey Workplace Analysis for SIC K-N, Banking, Finance and Insurance, July 2013-June 2014

The Financial andProfessional Servicessector has one of themost well-qualifiedworkforces in the UK

economy, with more thanhalf holding higher level(Level 4+) qualifications.


Qualification rates have improved faster in thefinancial, insurance and other professional servicessector than in other parts of the economy, just overa third of managers and professionals do not havea Level 4 qualification. The proportion withqualifications at Level 1 or below has almost halvedfrom 20% to 12% from 2002 to 201015.

Table 2 gives a clearer picture of the type of skillsand levels associated with occupational groupswithin the sector.

Within the aforementioned occupational groups, it is important to consider the varied roles andresponsibilities that an employee in the Financialand Professional Services sector will undertake.Feedback from local employers in the Financial andProfessional Services sector strongly identifies theneed for an effective balance of communicationand technical skills across an organisation.

15 Financial, Insurance and other Professional Services SSA, UKCES , November 2012, p41

TABLE 2SKILLS REQUIRED OF FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OCCUPATIONS

MinimumBroad Predominate Predominate qualification level

occupational level of skill type of skill (QCF) typicallygroup Sector occupations required required required

Managers and Functional managers, quality and Higher Technical, 4 / 7senior officials customer care managers, Financial managerial,

institution and office managers communication, customer service skills

Professional Information & communication Higher Technical 7occupations technology, research professionals,

legal professionals, business & statistical professionals

Associate Administrative occupations (finance), Basic, Customer services 1 / 2 professional and administrative occupations (records), intermediate communication, technical administrative occupations technical

(communications), administrative occupations (general), secretarial and related occupations

Skilled trades N/Aoccupations

Personal service N/Aoccupations

Sales and Sales assistants and retail cashiers, Basic, Customer 1customer services sales related occupations, customer intermediate services, occupations services occupations communication

Process, plant N/Aand machine operatives

Elementary Elementary Administrative Occupations Basic Communication Entryoccupations

Source: Financial, Insurance and other Professional Services SSA, UKCES, November 2012, p43


Financial and ProfessionalServices employer workingpractices

Employers in the sector have developed ways ofworking that help bring the best out of their highlyskilled staff in order to achieve innovation andgenerate fresh ideas but also maintaincommitment and lead to enduring career rewards.This is demonstrated in the above-averageadoption of high performance working practicesidentified by UKCES:

• Over half of establishments have formal orinformal processes to spot high potential ortalented individuals (that is 6% points above the average).

• 9 in 10 employers report that their employeeshave variety in their work, some 3% pointsabove the average.

• Employees tend to have greater autonomy inthe workplace (90% compared to 87% for allsectors).

• Flexible working arrangements are widespreadin the sector with 84% of employees havingaccess to some extent (which is 6% pointsabove the average).

In many areas of the sector maintaining globalcompetitiveness requires that organisationsembrace change by ensuring that their leadershipand management skills are kept up to date and areable to drive forward these flexible working practicesto better serve customer needs. This would suggestthat CPD is required around leadership andmanagement practices and the infrastructure tosupport such working practices - e.g. ICT skills for allstaff are essential.

UKCES’ Future of Work project identifies that achanging global economy means that new‘business ecosystems’ will be essential to innovationand economic growth in the future. In particular, it isthought that companies will become increasinglymore likely to act as ‘network co-ordinators’ forflexible, freelance workers who provide specificprofessional services directly to businesses.Evidence from local Financial and ProfessionalServices employers confirm that they are aware ofan increasing amount of freelance services in theLiverpool City Region and that they expect this tocontinue over the next 15 years. Further analysis ofthis national and local evidence highlights thechallenge of effectively developing the skills of an increasingly virtual and flexible workforce withinthe sector.

Companies will becomeincreasingly more likely to act as ‘network

co-ordinators’ for flexible,freelance workers whoprovide specific

professional servicesdirectly to businesses.


The supply of training

The Qualifications and Credit Framework provides arange of qualifications which are classified into 8levels, with a GCSE grades D and below forminglevel 1, a good university honours degree beinglevel 6, and higher degrees constituting levels 7-8(see diagram below).

Higher Education Level

According to the HESA 2012/13 Student Record,there were 1,758 first year students studying Law,Finance or Accounting across the City Region’sHigher Education institutions (University of Liverpool,Liverpool John Moores and Hope University, plusEdge Hill University). Despite a reduction in learnersfrom 2011/12 (a trend repeated across all courses),the number of first year students in these 3 areas hasincreased by around 15% since 2008/09.

Source: Adapted from Ofsted

There are 1,758 first yearstudents studying Law,Finance or Accountingacross the City Region’sHigher EducationInstitutions.


These are clearly very specific courses which directly relate to the Financial and ProfessionalServices sectors and there are also significantnumbers of students on business studies,economics, maths, architecture and managementthat might equally be interested in careers in thesectors. These courses amount to over 3,800 furtherstudents in 2011/12. In addition, there are around1,300 first year students undertaking Engineering-focussed degrees in the City Region’s universities.Qualitative evidence from employers and trainingproviders shows that graduates with these degreesare becoming increasingly attractive to businessesin the Financial and Professional Services sector, withmany of the maths and project management skillsgained as part of their study seen as particularlybeneficial to a career in the sector.

Around 70% of graduates from Liverpool CityRegion HE institutions in Finance, Accounting andLaw degrees lead to employment. Approximately4 out of 10 graduates from these institutions arecurrently employed in Finance, Insurance andother Professional Service sectors. Just over 7% ofgraduates reported that they were unemployed,demonstrating the strength of demand for thesesubject areas from employers.

Unlike some other sectors, there are a number oflarge employers in the Financial and Professional Services sector that offer sponsoreddegrees, Higher Apprenticeships and starter roles, particularly in the finance and accountancy area,these include opportunities to gain real workexperience whilst studying. Locally, a number oforganisations (including Grant Thornton, Santander,PwC, Ernst and Young, and Barclays) offer variousopportunities for young people to mix academicand practical learning while earning a salary.

TABLE 3FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES-RELATED COURSES IN LIVERPOOL CITY REGIONHE INSTITUTIONS

* Includes Degree courses in: Economics, Business studies and related, Management, Human Resource management, Architecture andPlanning, Mathematics, Statistics.

Source: HESA Student Record 2008/09-2012/13

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13

Finance and Accounting 457 561 417 658 682

Law 1,074 1,107 1,170 1,246 1,076

Engineering 1,418 1,334 1,343 1,580 1,323

Other related* 3,443 3,715 4,051 3,921 3,796

Santander

Throughout 2014, Santander have offeredmore than 200 apprenticeship opportunitieswithin its UK main offices (including Bootle)and across its branch network. The schemewill take on young people for full-time roles inthe company’s manufacturing, retail andtelephone distribution divisions. Successfulapplicants will join as permanent employeesand will study for vocational qualifications ineither Providing Financial Services orCustomer Service - the equivalent ofachieving five GCSEs. Santander is workingwith specialist providers Intraining and SkillsSolutions who work with Santanderapprentices to help develop theirexperience, skills and knowledge,benchmarked at a national level within thefinancial services sector.

In tandem with this, and in recognition thatthere are many routes into a banking career,Santander has a range of developmentprogrammes, including for graduates, schoolleavers and people who are already workingbut looking to switch career. Santander alsorun a three month internship scheme for SMEsto take on university students and recentgraduates.


In addition to this, the City Region’s education andtraining providers have also already developed anumber of initiatives within the Financial andProfessional Services sector that support learnersadvancement in the sector and meet the needs of employers.

Grant Thornton School LeaverScheme: An employee perspective

“I left college with good A-Levels in Maths,Chemistry and Biology but wasn’t sure what Iwas going to do with my career. My friendsfrom college were going to differentuniversities and I felt like this was the onlyroute to a successful career. I didn’t knowmuch about the alternatives but, after someresearch, came across the Grant ThorntonSchool Leaver Scheme.

The firm would take me through all thenecessary accountancy qualifications free ofcharge whilst I worked for them within theaudit department; receiving a competitivesalary and gaining full time work experience.I’d always been interested in business andmaths was my strongest subject so I wentahead and applied.

The recruitment process consisted of 4 stages:an initial online application, numeracy andliteracy competency tests, a telephoneinterview and, finally, a face-to-face interviewwith a manager and a Partner. It was hardwork but I passed all 4 stages of the processand started within a few months.

Within my first week I was whisked off to alarge manor house near London to start somebasic accountancy training. It was intensebut knowing the basics would be essential forthe next week when I was meeting directorsand carrying out audit fieldwork with clients.

I’m still based in the audit department andhave worked with a multitude of clients - foodretailers, recruitment consultants, even oildistributors. The constant change of scenerybrings different challenges every day and isjust one of the great things about working inaudit.

I have almost finished my AAT qualificationand will be starting my professional exams thisAugust".

John Reid, Grant Thornton

University of Liverpool

Launch of Liverpool Law ClinicThe Law clinic has been set up to offer aservice to clients who are now not eligible forlegal aid. Supervised students will have theopportunity of gaining real experiencethrough the law clinic working direct with theclient, undertaking interviews, researching thecase and helping advise the client.

Honours Select From 2014, the Faculty of Humanities andSocial Sciences is offering a new, innovativeway to study. The Honours Select programmeallows undergraduates to choose 2 routeswithin their degree (on a 50:50 ratio or &75:25 ratio) with a strong emphasis onflexibility, breadth and multi-disciplinary skills.For example, enabling undergraduates tostudy Law alongside another related orunrelated arts subject such as a language orcriminology degree.

Liverpool John Moores University

Provision of part-time degree-leveleducation Liverpool Business School’s offers a suite ofCIPD, BA (Hons) and Master’s levelqualifications and the School of Law’s part-time LLB Law programme which is accreditedby the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority (SRA)and the Bar Standards Board.

Professional Accreditation in HEQualifications

LJMU bespoke routes to professional careers allow students’ to gain ProfessionalAccreditation as part of their degreeprogramme. This helps employers reducetheir training costs when employinggraduates who already hold professionalexemptions and entry-level professional bodystatus (i.e. Chartered Management Institute,Institute of Chartered Accountants in Englandand Wales [ICAEW], Chartered Institute ofPublic Finance and Accountancy [CIPFA]).


A levelsDfE statistics on attainment in England suggest thatover 5,000 students secured an A Level in Financialand Professional Services sector-relatedqualifications within the Liverpool City Region(English, Accounting and Finance, Business Studies,Economics, Law, Mathematics and FurtherMathematics) each year.

A-Level achievement data shows that English andMaths account for more than 1 in 5 of allachievements in the Liverpool City Region; echoingnational trends where provision of A-Level Maths isconsidered healthy.

When considering year on year performance withinthe City Region the numbers achieving A*-A havedecreased in 2012/13 for all related subjects exceptfor English and Maths. The City Region alsoproportionately performed considerably less wellthan the England averages except in A Level Law.

TABLE 4FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES-RELATED ALEVEL A*-A ACHIEVEMENTS, LIVERPOOL CITY REGIONAND ENGLAND 2012/13

Source: DfE Statistical First Release Revised A Level andequivalent examination results in England: Academicyear 2012 to 2013, January 2014

Vocational training - Further education

An effective and increasingly popular alternative forlearners and existing employees to developindustry-specific skills and work-based experience isthrough vocational training and Apprenticeships.There are a number of providers offering specificFinancial and Professional Services relatedqualifications as well as supporting qualificationssuch as management and leadership tailored tothe sector.

Looking at a wider group of other training across theCity Region (including Accounting and Finance,Business Management, Economics and Law andLegal Services), the picture is more mixed. Totalstarts in these subject areas fell by just over 30%between 2008/09 and 2010/11 but have sincerecovered strongly, growing by over 22% to2012/13. Starts have yet to return to their 2008/09levels in the City Region but the growth trendsuggests that this will be achieved over the next year or so.

Starts over the last 5 years show considerablechanges in volumes across the City Region. There has been a drop in starts in Accounting (from14% of Financial and Professional Services relatedprovision in 2008/09 to 9% in 2012/13) and Financeand Business Management courses (36% to 23%),however there has been an increase inMathematics and Statistics (17% to 24% andgeneral Administration starts (25% in 2008/09 to 34% in 2012/13).

Vocational training -Apprenticeships

All Apprenticeships should now have a minimumduration of 1 year and are available from Level 2 up to Level 7 with the introduction of the HigherApprenticeship in Professional Services - Level 7.

The 3 levels of Apprenticeship available to learnersare known as:

• Intermediate ApprenticeshipsApprentices work towards work-based learningqualifications such as a Level 2 CompetenceQualification, Functional Skills and, in mostcases, a relevant knowledge-basedqualification.

Over 5,000 studentssecured an A Level in

Financial andProfessional Servicessector-related

qualifications within theLiverpool City Region.

England% LCR %A-A* of all A-A* of allpasses passes

English 21% 17%

Maths and Further Maths 46% 38%

Business Studies 16% 13%

Law 19% 20%

Economics 35% 26%

Accounting & Finance 15% 0%

Total 27% 20%


• Advanced ApprenticeshipsApprentices work towards work-based learningqualifications such as a Level 3 CompetenceQualification, Functional Skills and, in mostcases, a relevant knowledge-basedqualification.

• Higher ApprenticeshipsApprentices undertake a framework at Level 4and above which will include a competence-

based qualification, Functional Skills and, insome cases, a broader vocationally-relatedqualification which could be a foundationdegree.

The number of starts on Business, Administration andLaw Apprenticeships in Liverpool City Region hasincreased more than four-fold since 2005/06, afaster rate than the North West region over the sameperiod and significantly more than the growth intake up of Apprentices across the Liverpool CityRegion’s economy as a whole16. In 2012/13 morethan 7,700 Business, Administration and LawApprentices were started (in keeping withApprenticeship trends both locally and nationally,this shows a reduction from 2011/12).

Apprenticeship achievements in Business,Administration and Law increased at a similar rateover the same period. From 2008/09 to 2012/13the number of Apprenticeship achievements in thissubject area more than doubled in the LiverpoolCity Region - a rate of growth above that of boththe North West and England.

Nationally and across the Liverpool City Region,Apprenticeships within the sector are more likely tobe undertaken by those aged 25+ than the widerApprenticeship profile.

The number of starts onBusiness, Administrationand Law Apprenticeshipsin Liverpool City Regionhas increased more thanfour-fold since 2005/06, a faster rate than theNorth West region overthe same period.

FIGURE 6LIVERPOOL CITY REGION BUSINESS, ADMINISTRATION AND LAW APPRENTICESHIP ACHIEVEMENT

Source: Skills Funding Agency 2014

16 The DataService Apprenticeship starts by Sector Subject Area and Geography for LCR LAs


Discussions with Financial and Professional Servicesbusinesses in the City Region highlighted anincreasing interest in recruiting young peoplethrough a work-based route. This will be in additionto the typical graduate recruitment process but isseen as offering access to a wider talent pool andresponding to competition in the market forprofessional services - increasingly the majority offee earners in a legal services company are notfully-qualified lawyers. Across the sector this has ledto a reduction in training contracts available fromlegal companies for newly qualified law graduatesto become solicitors.

It is thought that recent changes to the administrationof Apprenticeship payments could have furtherimpacts to the number of Apprenticeships.Government recently announced future fundingfor Apprenticeships will be routed directly toemployers through HMRC systems; enablingemployers to buy Apprenticeships directly fromcolleges and providers.

There were few concerns from local employers thatyoung applicants from the City Region did notpossess the required technical skills, although somefelt that young people at school did not alwayshave full knowledge of the different routes into their sector and more needs to be done tohighlight the work-based pathway and theopportunities available to them. It is felt that there is an opportunity to better develop meaningful and ongoing relationships between employers in the Financial and Professional Services sector and schools, colleges, universities and other training providers.

It is noted that Sector Skills Councils have workedwith industry to develop Higher Apprenticeshipswhich have been taken up at a national level andthis has led to a significant increase in HigherApprenticeship starts from a low base.

Discussions with Financialand Professional Servicesbusinesses in the CityRegion highlighted anincreasing interest in

recruiting young peoplethrough a work-based

route.

PwC and the Liverpool CompactEmployability Interview Programme

PwC is one employer involved with the abovefor Year 10 and Year 11 students (students areaged 14-16 years). The aim is to help buildstudents interview skills, based on anapplication form the students completebeforehand. PwC volunteers feedback toeach student on their performance. Theemphasis is firmly on encouragingconfidence and students gain anunderstanding of their strengths anddevelopment needs. They also discover whatemployers are looking for in an interview. It isgood experience for PwC too as theirvolunteers gain people skills and a greatsatisfaction of helping others.

PwC encourages staff to participate, as it is away of putting back something into thecommunity by volunteers passing on theirexperiences and in turn, broadens studentsknowledge regarding careers prospects.


A skills gap occurs where employees (or prospectiveemployees) do not have the skills required toeffectively undertake the full range of dutiesexpected in the job role.

Liverpool Business Survey Foundations for Growth2012/13 suggests that finance sector employersare highly satisfied with their employees - ratingtheir skills and quality at an average of 8.9 out of 10(the highest of all sectors interviewed). That said,more than half the finance employers interviewedfelt that employees’ general IT skills need toimprove in order to support business growth in future.

The 3 largest occupational groups in Financial,Insurance and other Professional Services sector,managers, professionals and associateprofessionals, all generally require a Level 4qualification. An analysis of the UKCES EmployerSkills Survey 2011 identified that, within the LiverpoolCity Region, more than 4 out of 10 ‘hard to fill’vacancies across all sectors were within SOCGroups 1 - 3 (Managers, Professionals, AssociateProfessionals). In keeping with further local feedbackfrom the ‘Foundations for Growth’ survey, anongoing demand for customer service skillsamongst customer-facing staff was also identifiedas a priority area for the Financial and ProfessionalServices sector.

Skills shortages and gaps(Overall)

FIGURE 7SATISFACTION WITH WORKFORCE SKILLS BY SECTOR IN LIVERPOOL

Source: Liverpool Business Survey Foundations for Growth 2012/13, Liverpool Vision, 2020 Research Limited

Mean Score2012/13 2011/12

All Liverpool 8.51 8.48

Business Services 8.35 8.43

Finance 8.90 8.32

Hotels and restaurants 8.42 8.40

Manufacturing 8.19 8.54

Other services 8.66 8.64

Retail and wholesale 8.35 8.48

Construction and 8.62 8.42transport

37 41 11 11

35 38 12 15

47 37 11 5

29 51 9 11

33 43 10 14

42 38 10 10

38 42 9 11

37 43 11 9

8 or 9 out of 1010 out of 10 7 out of 10 6 or below out of 10


Evidence on the specific skills required in the sector are specific to the sub-sector in which the individual isemployed and are summarised below:

Source: Summary of skills needs identified in Financial, Insurance and other Professional Services SSA, UKCES, November2012, pp48-51

Sub-sector Key skills development priorities

Accountancy and finance • improved team work skills particularly amongst graduates and school leavers

• strengthen analytical and presentation skills

• improve knowledge of decision-making processes

• improved business understanding, take broader views and not work in silos

Insurance • improve sector attraction and industry image

• career pathways in areas that have traditionally been less prestigious such as Claims

• specialist skills shortages such as project management and research and analysis skills

• employability skills of new entrants

Underwriting • shallow pool for recruitment, especially technical and professional categories

• qualified and part-qualified actuaries are also hard to recruit leading to overpayment to secure the right skills

Banking • while roles are seen as more attractive to bright graduates, there remains a short supply of actuaries. This results in higher workloads on those with key skills

• customer service, data analytics and management skills

Life and pensions • face extreme challenges in sourcing high quality candidates. The key skills needed include people skills, numeracy skills and ICT capabilities

• life and pensions occupations also have needs for better career development pathways

Brokerage • technical skills around project management skills, insurance product design, risk management, marketing and administration

Legal • there is still significant room for the regulation of a growing number of Paralegals

• for all legal employees better entrepreneurship skills and commercial awareness in order to understand clients better and be more responsive to their needs, and also to be able to build up and maintain a client base with less reliance on informal contacts

• better Financial management skills, particularly in relation to tendering for publicly funded work

• need for lawyers to develop the ability to be more mobile and flexiblebetween areas of work (for example to be able to switch to insolvency work)

• need for formal training and qualification for barristers’ clerks to make the role more accessible to those from different backgrounds, and the training to include business skills

• a wider-ranging skills base for people working as a first point of contact (but possibly with lower, not necessarily degree level, legal training), and more specific skill sets at further levels of specialisation

• better skills in working with other professionals, as well as more generic skills at the point of entry to a legal profession (such as finding and using written sources and workload planning)

• need to focus more on developing skills based on competency-frameworks, and to ensure that competencies are also available and mapped out at firm-level


Employers in the Liverpool City Region identified thatmany of these technical skills will be extremelytransferrable across a varied number of job rolesand it is therefore important to note the value ofthese skills to employers across the sub-sectors ofthe wider Financial and Professional Services sector.

The Sector Skills Assessment (SSA) for Financial,Insurance and other Professional Services reportedthat employers in many sub-sectors also identifiedthe need for more flexible non-technical skills suchas customer service skills. In addition, there is aneed for good levels of numeracy and literacy forentry level jobs. This mirrors to some degree thefindings of Liverpool Vision’s ‘Foundations for Growth2012/13’ business survey were Finance sectoremployers saw a particular need for staff todevelop their IT expertise (55% of respondents),customer handling and team working skills (37%).Respondents in Business Services, where averageratings of staff also increased, identified thatspecialist and technical skills (again, followed by IT skills) were the most likely to need to bestrengthened in order to allow their businesses to grow.

In summary the skills valued by the sector are mainlygeneric skills which are valued by a number ofemployers such as:

• leadership and management

• problem solving

• report writing

• communications and team work

• data analysis and IT

In addition, the employability skills required by theFinancial and Professional Services sector at alllevels include:

• Logical, problem solving approach

• Attention to detail, accuracy & consistency

• Mathematical ability and a practical can-doattitude

Employer consultations provide evidence of theneed for the right attitudes and work behavioursfrom prospective employees and businessdemand for multi-skilled individuals, who possessspecific technical skills alongside generic skills.Multi-skilled individuals provide businesses withflexibility, reducing costs and improvingcompetitiveness. Local employers highlighted the need to ensure that the financial services sector in particular pay more attention to businessethics, in order to counteract the damagedreputation the sector has suffered from the financialcrisis and mis-selling.

Therefore it is essential that students not only graspthe base and technical skills within employment but hold a good understanding of the norms of the workplace as well as the importance of theright attitude - to work on behalf of clients in theirbest interests.

As the practice of legal advice becomes more costfocused with set off the shelf services, it isincreasingly important that law graduates are morecommercially aware in order to secure and serviceclients. For example, Co-operative Bank LegalServices are already in existence and StobartBarristers is a new way to access legal advice.

Liverpool City Region Businesses have also indicatedthat it would be advantageous if individuals enterthe professions with existing expertise in specialistareas such as engineering, maritime or the public/education sector as well as languages in order tounderstand their clients market and communicatewith international clients. This highlights a potentialcareers advice role to consider study in otherspecialisms first before entering the Financial andProfessional Services sector.

The demand for skills


As noted previously, the recession has forced manyFinancial and Professional Services sector firms to re-assess their business models. The prolongeddownturn has made corporate and individualclients cost-conscious. The Legal Services Act andchanges to Legal Aid funding have had a particularimpact on legal businesses leading to structuralchanges where qualified solicitors are no longerthe prime fee earners but this is spread acrossparalegal and administrative support to ensure thatadvice is provided cost-effectively.

Regulatory changes in the financial sector hasmeant that those working in financial advice requireLevel 4 Financial Adviser qualifications. The previouspathway into this occupation was able to progressfrom retail advice on mortgages, to related lifeassurance products, then to advice on pensionsand investments in stages, now the full qualificationis required as a licence to practise before anyadvice can be given in any area. As in legalservices, specialist financial advisers mustconcentrate on providing advice and pass on themore administrative tasks to paraplanners andothers to process to keep down their costs.

Paraplanners work side-by-side with financialplanners and advisers, carrying out research andanalysis, and making recommendations that helpshape personal financial plans. This emerging rolehas become particularly valuable post- RetailDistribution Review (RDR) and other regulationslooking to promote transparency, where they will beinstrumental in freeing up advisers’ time. Locally,Investec and Rathbones have identified the benefitsof this role with Rathbones running a HigherApprenticeship in this area.

In broad terms the future development of theFinancial and Professional Services sector in theLiverpool City Region will centre around:

1. Continued development of international andnational specialisms in maritime and wealthmanagement services; and

2. Innovation in the provision of professional advicetaking advantage of the relatively low-costlocation and using ICT systems to provideservices to core markets but with significant costadvantages.

A key issue for this agreement is to ensure the skills infrastructure is in place to build on theseopportunities.

Other reports have identified a range of factors thatwill drive the demand for skills in Financial andProfessional Services sector in the future17:

• Increased regulation and financial supervision inthe finance sector, increasing the demand forqualified financial advisers, compliance trainingfor sales and other staff, and collaboration andpartnership skills at management level.

• An ageing population and UK Governmentpension reform are likely to place increasinginterest on financial planning for later liferesulting in an increased demand for newproducts and the skills to develop and deliverthem.

• The same factor is also likely to mean anincrease in supply of skills as people work longer,although their skills may need updating regularly.

• Globalisation and the development of newmarkets will generate demand for innovativenew products and the cultural awareness toexploit new opportunities - employers in thesector are already recognising the need todiversify their recruitment procedures to ensure amore diverse workforce.

• Technology and the increased use of ICTsystems to support flexible working practices isalready increasing the demand for technicalskills and ICT user skills. Data security andcompliance skills are also likely to increase in thecoming years.

• The need to maintain high levels of customerservice will mean an ongoing demand forcustomer service skills, customer-facing staffand managerial skills to maintain high levels ofservice.

The growth of higher apprentices in Assurance andAudit, Financial Advisory, Management Consultingand Tax all provide a foundation for individuals toprogress onto higher level skills through furtherprofessional qualifications in specialist areas.

17 UKCES SSA for Financial and Professional services key drivers, November 2012, p91


Local employers felt that larger companies havethe scale and resources to better plan and organisetheir workforce requirements. As a result, theybelieve that additional investment is required toengage and support small and medium sizedbusinesses in the sector to allow them to getinvolved on a similar basis. This is particularlyimportant given that 94% of employers in the sectoremploy fewer than 20 staff.

Replacement demand inthe Financial andProfessional Services sector

Recent survey evidence suggests that employers inthe Finance sector are the least likely to report anyrecruitment difficulties. However, the proportion ofBusiness Service employers who reported recruitmentdifficulties almost doubled to 19% in 2012/13, fromthe same level in 2011/12. See Figure 8.

Employer demand can also be articulated throughjob vacancies advertised by employers within theLiverpoool City Region. Analysis of online jobvacancies relating to the Financial and ProfessionalServices sector in the City Region shows that thesector continues to have a high demand for staff.Throughout 2013, more than 14,000 local jobs wereadvertised within the sector; estimated to accountfor almost 1 in 5 online vacancies in the city.

In particular, vacancies for Accountants, SalesExecutives, Business Analysts, and RecruitmentConsultants were shown to be amongst the mostcommon. In regards to specialist skills required,employers were likely to ask for contractmanagement, accounting, and sales experience inthese roles.

FIGURE 8RECRUITMENT DIFFICULTIES BY SECTOR IN LIVERPOOL

Source: Liverpool Business Survey Foundations for Growth 2012/13, Liverpool Vision, 2020 Research Limited

% reporting yesto difficulties

2012/13 2011/12

All Liverpool 17 11

Business Services 19 10

Finance 12 10

Hotels and restaurants 14 15

Manufacturing 14 9

Other services 17 14

Retail and wholesale 20 10

Construction and 15 10transport

17

19

12

14

14

17

20

15

Additional investment isrequired to engage andsupport small and

medium sized businessesin the sector to enablethem to plan for skills.

The issues and analysis -summary


Perceived barriers to correcting the skills mis-match(employer view):

In regards to exisiting barriers, leading employersand stakeholder groups18 in the City Regionidentified the following key trends and issues:

• The sector locally is opening up more associateprofessional routes to ensure that thecompanies can provide cost-effective adviceto their clients as paralegals or paraplanners,etc. Many earn fees for their company but canequally progess to the higher levels of theirchosen profession through a mix ofapprenticeships and professional exams.

• The profile of the sector is not as high as mightbe expected locally and employers areconcerned that young people in particular donot have full understanding of the optionsopen to them.

• Graduate recruitment remains an importanttalent source but at least in the short-term fewerplaces are on offer and there is a concern thatthere will be an over-supply of graduates insome parts of the sector (e.g. legal services).

• Employers are already engaged in a number ofinitiatives to raise the profile of the sector withyoung people but more should be done toimprove communication.

• Financial and Professional Services employersconsulted reported a limited engagement withFurther Education colleges except for specificcourses such as AAT accountancy courses. Inpart this reflects the primary recruitmentchannels for many businesses - graduates andthe tradition of using professional bodies toprovide CPD.

• The sector has a high proportion of very smallbusinesses that will not find it easy to engagewith skills development initiatives without brokeradvice and support.

Perceived barriers to correcting the skills mis-match(education and training provider view):

Additional consultation with education and trainingproviders delivering Financial and ProfessionalServices provision in the City Region19 identified thefollowing barriers to aligning skills provision:

• It can be difficult to sustain employercommitment to training e.g. companiescannot release staff for off-the-job trainingduring busy periods.

• Lower contribution rates for over 24s, mean that 18-24s Apprentices are preferred byemployers.

• Providers offering AAT Accountancy courseswere concerned that the introduction of FEloans could undermine demand. Althoughindividuals studying AAT qualifications are in themajority of cases in-work and undertaking thecourse part-time so would be better placed totake out FE learning loans to pay fees.

• SMEs, even very small SMEs, take as much effortto engage as larger employers but do not havethe staff (learning demand) to provide a returnto the provider over the longer term. This makesSMEs an uncertain prospect for targetmarketing and engagement.

• Employers want softer skills development for allstaff eg bespoke customer service trust andrespect etc.

18 Consultation sources include: Sessions convened by Professional Liverpool with leading employers in the sector, Association ofAccounting Technicians, National Skills Academy in Financial Services, Financial and Legal Skills Partnership Skills for Justice, Liverpool LawSociety, Chambers of Commerce, ICAEW, Chartered Institute of Marketing

19 Held October 2013 and attended by FPS curriculum leads/business engagement managers at local colleges, universities and privatetraining providers, plus partner organisations

The Financial andProfessional Services

sector locally is openingup more associateprofessional routes.

LIVERPOOL CITY REGION SKILLS FOR GROWTH: FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES28

• Employers are looking for a recognised brandwhen accessing training in this sector. Thispresents a challenge to colleges and mixedoffer providers compared with specialist trainingproviders wanting to develop provision.

• Large numbers of law graduates do not go intolaw work given the high levels of competition forjobs, instead taking paralegals positions.

• The increase in HE fees has led to studentsgetting more savvy regarding jobs outcomesand there is greater emphasis at interviewsabout career prospects of courses beingoffered by Universities.

• Getting the message across to all students thatall academic study needs to be reinforcedthrough relevant work experience as a pureacademic CV is not enough when looking forwork. There is also strong evidence thatstudents that undertake the opportunity ofrelated work experience during their graduatestudies perform better in their degree.

• There are still difficulties in gaining workexperience opportunities for students interestedin the sector.

The challenging market for all businesses makes itdifficult to prioritise spending on training butproviders suggested a number of approaches thatmight be adopted to increase engagement in theFinancial and Professional Services sector:• Employer and Learner Ambassadors as well assector bodies and impartial brokers couldspread the message about the benefits oftraining for business and the learner. These areseen as independent from the providers andtherefore might be more successful in reachingout to businesses that do not train.

• Business to business recommendation may bea way of encouraging more employers toinvest in training. This may help in working withsmaller businesses where the learner providerssee a poor response rate.

• One thing that would help in the Financial andProfessional Services sector is to provide a clearlink between any training and Professionalqualifications - to be able to demonstrate thatthe learning (Apprenticeship) can lead on toindustry ‘standard’ qualifications that theemployer may be more familiar with.

• Offering greater flexibility in delivery using moreevening and weekend short courses to helpovercome the difficulty of releasing staff.

Opportunities for collegesand training providers

Providers need to build a strategic relationship with the sector and look to customer service andperhaps leadership and management provision.The sector requires very high standards andtherefore specialist established training providersmay have more success building on their reputationfor delivering higher level skills (professionalstandards) to offer shorter and vocational(apprenticeship) training. Rathbones InvestmentManagement Services in Liverpool are partneringwith a secondary sixth form college to deliver thetraining element of their apprenticeship and inGreater Manchester use Manchester Metropolitan University.

Employers are looking fora recognised brand

when accessing trainingin this sector.

Business to businessrecommendation may bea way of encouragingmore employers to invest

in training.

ICAEW – BASE (Business, Accounting,Skills and Education) Competition

Teams from schools across Liverpool and thesurrounding area took part in the local heat ofthe BASE (Business, Accounting, Skills andEducation) competition 2014. The competition,operated locally by the Liverpool Society ofChartered Accountants, is aimed at 16 to 18year olds to showcase their business acumen,team work and presentation skills as theycompete against other schools. The winners gothrough to a regional final and this culminatesin a UK final each year. The competition is agreat way to engage with the next generationof business talent and enables ICAEW to showyoung people how important accounting andprofessional expertise is to business – and justhow varied the opportunities open toaccountants can be.


Trailblazer ApprenticeshipsEmployer-led Trailblazers are being developed forvarious professional services occupations followingthe October 2013 announcement to reformApprenticeships by the Government. The intention is that these Apprenticeships are more rigorous and responsive to the needs of employers. As ofOctober 2014, the following were published or indevelopment for Financial and ProfessionalServices:• Relationship Manager (Banking) (published)• Financial Services Administrator (published)• Professional Accounting Technician (indevelopment)

• Professional Accountant (in development)• Licensed Conveyancer (in development)• Insurance Practitioner (in development)• Actuarial Technician (in development)• Paralegal (in development)• Chartered Legal Executive (in development)• Solicitor (in development)

(Source: http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/standards)

Careers education andrecruitment support

Employer-ledApprenticeship Trailblazersare being developed forvarious professionalservices occupations.

Jobs for Tomorrow

The Liverpool City Region’s Labour MarketInformation Service has recently producedJobs for Tomorrow; a set of local careersmaterials relating to the City Region’s growthsectors. This work includes a wide selection ofinformation about occupations in theFinancial and Professional Services sector,including film resources to give young peoplean idea of day-to-day roles in the industryand bespoke lesson plans for teachers tofurther raise pupils’ awareness of the type ofskills required in the sector.

See www.lcrskillsforgrowth.org.uk

Graduate to Merseyside initiative

This initiative managed by the University ofLiverpool offers a graduate recruitmentservice specifically aimed at assisting smalland medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in theMerseyside region. Supported by theEuropean Regional Development Fund (ERDF)this free service helps employers to findgraduates from Liverpool John MooresUniversity, Liverpool Hope University and theUniversity of Liverpool as well as thosereturning to the region to work on a specificproject or to fill a full-time position.

Liverpool John Moores University -Bloomberg Institute Test

LJMU offer their finance students theopportunity to undertake the onlineBloomberg Aptitude Test for free to determineand showcase their strengths and connectwith financial employers worldwide. The test,which is an internationally-recognisedassessment method, allows students todiscover more about the day-to-day tasksinvolved in careers in the finance sector,compare themselves with their internationalpeers and access information about jobopportunities. Similarly, employers are able tocompare candidates from across 1,000institutions across the world and targetcandidates who meet their specific needs.


Liverpool John Moores University -World of Work Programme

The World of Work programme developed byLJMU has explicit work-related learning and thedevelopment of 8 Graduate Skills embeddedwithin all academic programmes. Studentsare encouraged to recognise and develop aset of higher level employer specified World ofWork Skills, contained within 3 themes: SelfAwareness, Organisational Awareness and TheAbility to Make Things Happen.

LJMU’s Liverpool Business School (LBS)recognises that general employability skills area key to graduate employment prospects.Almost all LBS students’ complete a World ofWork or Preparation for Work module in theirsecond year of study. These modulescombine research on a wide range of careeroptions relevant to their programme of studywith employer presentations from all sectors,eg purchasing, finance, marketing, quality, HRand general management, and offerspractice interviews as part of the module.

Business in the Community and DWF– A Five Star Future

As part of Business in the Community’s BusinessClass programme, legal practice DWF havedeveloped a programme called 5 Star Futureswith their partner school BroadgreenInternational. The programme focuses onbuilding confidence, resilience and aspirationsallowing young people to make a sustainableand measurable impact on their own futures,school and communities.

DWF employees supported activities forinterested Year 10 students selected for theprogramme, including mock interview andpresentation training, workshops and workplacements. Sessions focused on practicalworkplace behaviours and skills, allowing timefor reflective learning and development ofpersonal success plans for each student.

To further encourage corporate citizenship,students have been involved in an ongoingcommunity project to transform an area ofwasteland into a usable and productivespace. The project has now evolved into awider project that formed part of thecurriculum with students creating a 30ft muralas part of an art project.

5 Star Futures has become the centrepiece ofDWF’s Business Class partnerships in Liverpool,Manchester and Preston and has generatedsignificant interest amongst volunteers. Theprogramme is communicated through DWF’sinternal social network and comments, photosand experiences are regularly shared.

“The support from DWF has been bothinspirational and motivational, ranging fromthe very successful 5 Star Futures programme,which develops self-esteem, confidence andemployability skills to mock assessment daysand a community arts project. All of theseprojects are already having a positive impacton our students including improvedattendance, punctuality, behaviour, attitude tolearning and a greater awareness of the worldof work. ”

Mrs Sally Beevers,Headteacher, Broadgreen International School

Cronton Sixth Form College -Tomorrow’s Lawyers

The Tomorrow’s Lawyers programme has beendesigned for students aspiring to work in alegal profession. The programme offersstudents the opportunity to develop the skillsuniversities are looking for in this highlycompetitive industry, whilst preparing them forthe university entrance exam, the NationalAdmissions Test for Law (LNAT).

The top Law universities and professionalschools value applicants who candemonstrate knowledge, experience andunderstanding of the judicial system andprocesses. This programme provides theseexperiences and will enable students to buildthese skills and the confidence needed to besuccessful in this industry.

Conclusions


The Financial and Professional Services sector isvital to underpin the local economy and as a basisfor exports. It currently provides high skill, highvalue employment to residents, gives a vitalservice to local businesses and can continue toexpand into international and national markets.

The sector has already exhibited a strong recoveryfrom recession and is poised to grow - skills will be atthe heart of that growth and so employers will needto work closely with providers to ensure a goodsupply of candidates. While the Financial andProfessional Services sector is often perceived asbeing predominately high skill, the most successfulfirms are combining more intermediate skilledworkers within their teams. For example, highlyqualified legal specialists work with teams ofparalegals to provide service innovation asefficiently as possible.

This dovetails with a growing sense that for many, the traditional route through HE is not the only route.Higher skills are important but technicians (Paralegaland accounts, ICT support) are equally vital.Employers are finding that ‘growing their own’in-house pays consistent dividends and does not prevent people from progressing to high skills levels in future. They start with the ways ofworking and gain employability skills from the outset.For individuals, they learn and earn and can avoidthe fees associated with going into full-time HE.

The Financial and Professional Services sectorencompasses a number of distinct professionalroutes that can be accessed through a variety ofeducational pathways, which need to be madeclearer to young people considering their careeropportunities, therefore the sector needs a strongerbrand image across the City Region and moreshould be done to highlight their importance andcareer potential to young people in schools, HE and local residents more generally.

The Financial andProfessional Services

sector is vital to underpinthe local economy andas a basis for exports. It currently provides high

skill, high valueemployment to residents,gives a vital service tolocal businesses and cancontinue to expand intointernational andnational markets.


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Liverpool City Region Skills for Growth · Skills and Education) Competition Teams from schools across Liverpool and the surrounding area took part in the local heat of the BASE (Business,