Shaping the future workforce of the Thames Valley
The Thames Valley Skills Unit is the Chamber’s dedicated team for skills, workforce development and employer engagement.
We work with businesses across Berkshire and Oxfordshire to ensure education and training providers deliver the skills employers need, helping to drive productivity, economic growth and a future-ready workforce.
By bringing together employers, education providers and key partners, we help shape a skills system that responds to real workforce challenges and creates practical solutions.
What we do
- Champion the voice of employers to influence skills provision and curriculum development.
- Provide labour market intelligence and employer insight to support education and training providers.
- Build strong partnerships between business, education and local stakeholders.
- Promote training, skills and workforce development opportunities for employers and local people.
- Support collaborative projects that strengthen talent pipelines across priority sectors.
Workforce Development Partnerships
A key part of our work is leading Workforce Development Partnerships (WDPs), which bring employers and education providers together to tackle sector-specific workforce challenges.
Our Workforce Development Partnerships are:
- Employer-led and business-focused.
- Collaborative forums that encourage partnership working.
- Supported by education and training providers, industry experts and key stakeholders.
- Focused on identifying workforce challenges and co-designing practical solutions.
- Sector-specific, ensuring activity reflects the needs of individual industries.
Through these partnerships we are helping to strengthen local skills provision, improve collaboration between employers and educators, and build a workforce equipped for the future.
Guide to Working Together
This guide showcases how employers, education providers and skills partners can work together to develop the workforce our region needs.
Produced by the Thames Valley Skills Unit, it highlights practical examples, resources and opportunities that help strengthen collaboration between business and education. By sharing best practice and promoting employer engagement, the guide aims to support a skills system that is responsive to workforce needs and helps drive economic growth across Berkshire and Oxfordshire.
This guide will:
- Share practical examples and case studies of successful collaboration between employers and education providers.
- Help education and training providers better understand employer needs and shape relevant learning opportunities.
- Signpost workforce development, training and skills initiatives available to employers.
- Highlight opportunities for businesses to engage with education, inspire future talent and help shape local skills provision.
- Encourage stronger partnerships that support sustainable workforce development across the Thames Valley.
Thames Valley Local Skills Improvement Plans
The Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce is the designated Employer Representative Body (ERB) for the Oxfordshire and Berkshire Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), ensuring that the voice of business is at the heart of skills planning across the region. Working closely with employers, education providers and key partners, we help shape the education, training and workforce development needed to support a thriving regional economy.
We are proud to have recently published the new Berkshire and Oxfordshire LSIPs employer-led roadmaps that set out the skills priorities for the next three years. Developed through extensive engagement with businesses of all sizes and sectors, alongside labour market intelligence and partner collaboration, the reports identify the workforce challenges and opportunities that will shape the future of our region.
The new plans highlight key priorities including AI and digital transformation, higher technical skills, leadership and productivity, Net Zero, and stronger pathways into sustainable careers. Across six priority sectors and seven cross-cutting themes, they provide a clear framework for ensuring local skills provision keeps pace with economic change and employer demand.
But the LSIPs are more than just reports. They are a call to action. Through our Workforce Development Partnerships, Skills Champions, Forums and growing employer network, we are bringing business and education together to turn insight into impact. By strengthening collaboration, developing practical solutions and championing employer priorities, we are helping to build a more responsive skills system, develop future talent and equip Berkshire and Oxfordshire with the skills needed to drive innovation, productivity and long-term growth.
Check out the new Oxfordshire and Berkshire Local Skills Improvement Plan Reports.
