Manchester | Find a Business Expert ’s Post

With ongoing skills shortages, entire sectors are competing with each other to retain and recruit talent. 💼 This is where effective employee value propositions and employer brands come in - to not only make individual organisations appealing to future graduates and generations, but sectors as a collective. The more appealing a career path is, with a clear picture of job seekers' priorities such as fair pay, flexible working, career progression, inclusive workplaces and health, the more incentivised students and graduates are to train or upskill in those fields. Offering a compelling story (and following through) on what a career looks like within an organisation and sector is essential to protect future productivity and address skills shortages. For example, we worked with St. James's Place Financial Adviser Academy to create 'The Switch' podcast, building a comprehensive view of the brand for prospective talent to consider a career as Financial Advisers. https://lnkd.in/e8KG59Xb

This week saw the publication of PwC’s Good Growth for Cities Index – a measure of the performance of 50 of the UK’s largest cities, with Edinburgh and Glasgow moving up the rankings. The index looks at a range of economic measures such as jobs, health, income, safety and skills, work-life balance, housing, travel-to-work times, income equality, high street shops, environment and business start-ups. Jason Morris, Regional Market Leader at PwC Scotland commented on the analysis: “The prime opportunity is for local authorities, businesses, devolved and national governments to work together to address skills shortages around emerging tech and digital, as well as energy transition and financial services, whilst investing in the fabric of our cities and addressing key challenges around health inequalities and new business - in order to create a fair and thriving Scottish economy.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/erGwzJaj

Interesting and positive insights coming from PwC UK #GoodGrowth for Cities Index for London and the UK's largest cities. Have a read of the report below 👇

Good article by Stuart Patrick CBE in The Herald Scotland My position is until we see more businesses locating to Glasgow the demise will continue. It is the same story for towns in Central and West Coast. Glasgow’s demise started long ago when the financial services sector moved the “High Value” jobs and wealth creation to Edinburgh. The city then had an influx of call centres opening up but now closing or changing model due to home working. When speaking to the large companies in Glasgow who have invested millions in new builds their cry is skills and home working and infrastructure issues( getting to work). Much of the city centre employment is from public sector, again the working from home results in low footfall. A total rethink on policy across the economy is required that is fit for purpose. Let’s face it, there has been 3 economic battles since 2008 with NO government creating the bottom up policy to secure a future for our people. Both governments have spent far too long ramping up ideology policy which in turn has wasted parliament time and the cost passed to us. The Battles:- 1. The great financial recession of 2008. This left a legacy of housing issues.The 2005-2008 economy was built on a new age of quick fix greedy developers of no fixed abode and so called investors who left a sub prime mortgage debacle we are all still paying for. Huge shortage of affordable homes is the result of this failure on policy accompanied by planning and quango’s paper pushing that delays house building. This accompanied by the loss of SME independent house builders and financial institutions failure to support brownfield site regeneration as their margin call too expensive has left a legacy of housing policy failure across Scotland. 2. COVID19 No government has created policy fit for purpose to deal with the aftermath of this battle. Again businesses are failing as there were no tangible big thinking policies to deal with the crisis in the city centre affecting housing,digital retailing and social economy. 3. Net Zero Target. Yip we need to save the planet but again a government who allocates £500m for “Active Travel”over 5 years to the detriment of putting a roof over a child’s head needs to really rethink their policy. https://lnkd.in/eW4ySAie It is time the Scottish Government stopped following the leader game of Westminster on Net Zero and created robust policy to save our communities first and foremost. The Swinney and Forbes administration should now seize their moment in time to clear the decks get ride of the dead wood policies and make the decisions that will lay a foundation of #Hope for our people. They should also support Glasgow City Council by appointing an independent tsar and task force to save the City I Love❤️. https://lnkd.in/ed3NrnQK

#CPA has responded to the City of London Corporation's consultation on its draft #CityPlan2040, which sets out the planning policies and strategic priorities that will guide the growth of the Square Mile until 2040. In the response, we welcome the City Corporation's vision, which aligns with our shared goals of sustainable growth, economic prosperity and global competitiveness. In our response, the CPA: 🏙 Argues that it is vital that sufficient Grade A office floorspace is available to attract global employers and skilled jobs to the City, allowing London to maintain its status as a global business centre and helping power the UK economy. 👍Supports the inclusion of a ‘retrofit first’ approach, which aligns with the London Property Alliance’s Retrofit First, Not Retrofit Only research paper. 🏛 Supports the delivery of cultural and visitor attractions from major developments but believes that there is a fine balance to be made alongside other S106 obligations and CIL sought from development, to ensure that developments remain viable and deliverable. You can read the full response here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e4a8U9hQ

This week I’ve been invited to participate in the ‘24 Hour London’ roundtable at #LREF, lead by the Greater London Authority and NLA NextGen. How do we create a fair, diverse and sustainable 24-hour city? In Waltham Forest, the council’s flagship regeneration programme Walthamstow ‘Culture for all’ is investing in infrastructure that will unlock Walthamstow’s latent potential as an inclusive and welcoming destination for culture. The work picks up on the successes of Waltham Forest’s designation as the first borough of culture in 2019, and Walthamstow High Street hosting the Mayor’s pilot Night Time Enterprise Zone. The pilot demonstrated a wealth of opportunities to re-imagine and animate high streets later into the evening and showed that a night time economy does not need to result in a monoculture based on alcohol consumption. High street footfall increased by 22% during the pilot, perceptions of safety improved and the programme helped to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment, encouraging families to extend their stay on the high street. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to debate the future of London’s night-time economy with industry professionals across the public and private sectors, investigating ways we can create better and safer night time environments for all. Image credit: LB Waltham Forest

PwC has listed Sheffield as one of the worst-performing cities in the UK! (Insert expletives) Last month, PwC released their Good Growth for Cities report, and unfortunately, Sheffield didn’t rank well. https://lnkd.in/gm82K6Ga The index assesses cities based on factors like job opportunities, housing affordability, income equality, safety, and work-life balance. Sheffield’s poor performance is linked to challenges such as low income growth, limited job availability, poor work-life balance, and a lack of economic opportunities. Surprisingly, both Manchester and London also appear in the bottom 10—though for different reasons. London struggles with high housing costs and severe income inequality despite job availability, while Manchester faces housing shortages and skill gaps, although it is benefiting from a growing tech sector. That said, I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom for Sheffield. We have a vibrant cultural and creative scene, an expanding tech sector with innovation hubs like the AMRC, and we remain more affordable compared to our neighbours, such as Manchester and Leeds. With significant investments in urban regeneration, like the Heart of the City 2.0 project, and the presence of two leading universities, Sheffield has strong long-term economic potential. Are there areas to improve? Absolutely. But I believe Sheffield is in a much better position than these rankings suggest. What are your thoughts? #Sheffield #GoodGrowth #TechSector #UrbanRegeneration #PwC #FutureofCities #Innovation #EconomicGrowth #ProudToBeSheffield

Scotland’s three largest cities are united in their overall strengths in this year’s PwC UK #GoodGrowth for Cities Index, including house-price-to-earnings ratios and skills - as well as the challenges they face, like new business and health. Read the report to see how they place compared to other UK cities.

Our new Good Growth for Cities launched today and is worth a read. Scotland's three largest cities are united in their overall strengths in this year’s PwC UK #GoodGrowth for Cities Index, including house-price-to-earnings ratios and skills - as well as the challenges they face, like new business and health. Read the report to see how they place compared to other UK cities.  https://pwc.to/3XxtARz

Let’s talk about how the City of London Corporation Corporation supports economic growth. Whether it’s supporting jobs providing better wages and opportunities, helping businesses to expand and employ the next wave of talent, or funding our vital public services, economic growth matters. At the City Corporation, we’re committed to supporting economic growth. From our Small Business Research + Enterprise Centre providing small business start-up support services, to our overseas offices working with global giants. That includes our new US office! The world is facing profound challenges, and we’re better placed to tackle them together. Our Lord Mayor Michael Mainelli is currently in the Gulf, promoting greater financial service cooperation, sharing the UK’s expertise in fintech, green finance and insurance. Our Policy Chairman Chris Hayward is in Washington DC, exploring how regulatory alignment and bilateral collaboration stand to help us maximise gains and support transatlantic investment.  They make the case for Britain and the City as the best financial and professional services centre. The UK was the largest net exporter of financial services in the world in 2022, exporting over £150bn. Our Vision for Economic Growth is a ground breaking roadmap for how the country can unlock up to £225bn of investment across the country by 2030, covering everything from pensions to AI to trade policy and more! But economic growth, like everything we do, must be sustainable. Our Net Zero Delivery Summit takes place on 4 June. We’ll welcome global leaders across politics, finance and sustainability to help work towards net zero targets, exploring how finance enables innovation – because we must find answers (and fast)! Here in the City, sustainable growth also means making sure that our world-famous buildings and skyline are part of the solution. Our award-winning planning team will be delivering 1.2m sqm of addition office floorspace by 2040 in a sustainable way using the latest technologies. Of course, economic growth is about the next generation. 56% of the City’s workforce is aged 39 or younger! This is great news as young people bring new perspectives to old problems. With the City now welcoming a record 615,000 workers, this gives great hope for the future. Economic growth is a whole team effort. It involves every department and every person at the City Corporation in one way or another. That’s why our brilliant Corporate Plan has a dedicated outcome for dynamic economic growth. So rest assured, over the next fantastic five years, we’ll all be working hard to achieve just that.