Event Summary
Westminster Insight’s timely, inaugural Creative Workforce Conference brings together creative sector employers, sector skills bodies, training providers, universities, colleges, and policymakers to discuss opportunities to close skills gaps and develop a high-quality, resilient creative workforce.
Over 2.4 million people are employed in the UK’s creative industries – 7.1% of the national workforce* – and Skills England has found that demand for additional jobs in the sector is set to grow. Does the UK’s creative workforce have the skills to meet that demand?
Gain the key takeaways from the Creative Industries Skills Audits, which reveal a pipeline shortage for the UK’s growing creative economy: 43% of employers report skills shortages or gaps, and 70% say this is hindering business operations or growth potential.
We will focus on strengthening and diversifying the talent pipeline, from education through to senior creative roles, and on the “createch” and AI skills employers and employees will increasingly need. We’ll explore place-based skills assessments, the role of LSIPs, and how industry, government and education can collaborate to close skills gaps.
Discover progress on the Skills Passport and the appointment of a Freelance Champion, both set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan.
We’ll update you on recent shifts in post-16 skills policy, and changes to technical, vocational and apprenticeship provision supporting priority sectors like the creative industries – including how these could feed into higher education curriculum reform.
With apprenticeships accounting for just 2% of new hires, hear how to boost uptake despite structural barriers – covering how to use the Skills and Growth Levy to fund new opportunities, including skills bootcamps.
We’ll explore current workforce challenges, including implementing the Employment Rights Act, protections for creative freelancers, and the impact of changes to the Immigration Salary List and Skilled Worker salary thresholds on employers reliant on international talent.
Nearly half of all vacancies across the sector are hard-to-fill, and a persistent class ceiling continues to lock out talent from working-class and underrepresented backgrounds. With a focus on inclusion and social mobility, we’ll examine initiatives to widen the talent pool and nurture key talent.
Hear from leaders on the Creative Registration Framework – the UK’s first nationally recognised accreditation scheme for creative technical professionals, launched this June – alongside other emerging initiatives, the Creative Careers Programme, and the National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
Don’t miss this opportunity to network and benchmark your workforce strategy against sector-wide evidence from Skills England and the Creative PEC. You will leave this practical event with new approaches to, recruitment, skills development, and talent management.
Key Points
- Strengthening and diversifying talent pathways into key creative industries jobs
- The role of the Freelance Champion, new Skills Passports, and the Creative Industries Sector Plan commitments
- Understanding priority jobs, skills, shortages, and trends
- Workplace barriers for freelancers
- Undertaking place-based creative industries skills assessments
- Strengthening education-industry partnerships
- Widening the talent pool from which creative industries employers recruit
- Safeguarding and strengthening HE for the creative industries
- Embedding business, digital and sustainability skills in creative degrees
- The potential of technical education reforms to diversify pathways
- Upskilling in tech, digital skills, and AI
- Industry placements, careers advice, training days and mentoring
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Group discounts
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