In October the UK Government published its plans for skills and education for those 16 and over in England.

Its aim is to set the foundations for economic growth, drive innovation and build a workforce ready for the challenges of a digital, green and highly technical future.

At the heart of the White Paper is a recognition that the UK’s skills system has struggled to keep pace with the demands of industry. Skills shortages in key sectors such as engineering and technology have long been cited as barriers to productivity.

As a solution, the government plans to align post-16 education with strategic economic priorities - the sectors expected to drive growth in the coming decades. For engineering design and consultancy firms, this means that future funding and qualification reform will increasingly favour courses that build technical, digital and green capabilities.

A new body, Skills England, will lead this agenda. Its remit is to coordinate across government, employers and training providers to ensure that education and skills provision reflects demand. For businesses, this opens the door to greater influence in shaping local and national training priorities - but it also places more expectation on industry to engage actively with the system.

The White Paper introduces new vocational qualifications called V Levels to which will sit alongside A Levels and T Levels. V Levels will replace many of the overlapping technical awards currently available and are designed to offer clearer, employer-endorsed routes into skilled work.

For the design, consultancy and engineering sector, this could bring a welcome simplification. Too often, companies struggle to interpret the maze of existing qualifications and understand what skills a new entrant actually holds. The new system aims to make credentials more transparent and relevant, particularly in growth sectors.

Alongside this, a new “preparation for GCSE Level 1” qualification will help those who did not achieve grade 4 in English and maths to rebuild core skills before resitting. This is a small but important step in widening access to technical pathways.

The White Paper introduces a Youth Guarantee — a promise that every 16 to 24-year-old will have access to a high-quality route into further study, training or work. The intention is to reduce the number of young people who are NEET (not in education, employment or training) and to create smoother transitions from classroom to career.

This offers a chance to broaden participation in our sector. There is also a clear commitment to better support learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through tailored pathways, internships and wrap-around support.

Funding has long been a sticking point in technical education. The White Paper promises £1.2bn of additional investment per year in skills by 2028-2029, alongside a revised funding formula for 16-19 provision. The aim is to ensure that “high-value” courses - those directly linked to national priorities - are properly supported.

For employers, this means a stronger incentive for providers to deliver training in areas where there is clear economic demand. The design, consultancy and engineering sectors, long identified as high-value contributors, stand to benefit - but only if businesses actively signal their workforce needs to Skills England and local partnerships.

The paper also strengthens regulation and accountability. Providers delivering poor-quality training can be removed from the system, while higher education institutions will face stricter quality measures linked to student outcomes and employment.

What the paper doesn’t do is remove the restrictions on public funding for Level 7 apprenticeships - or refer to them at all - most likely because the document is really aimed at those in the early stages of their career.

The Prime Minister’s goal is that two-thirds of young people should progress into higher-level learning. If achieved, that shift could dramatically expand the supply of mid- and high-level technical professionals - the technicians, digital engineers, and design coordinators who underpin so much of the UK’s built environment and innovation ecosystem.

So all this begs the questions, what can businesses do now?

We know that the construction sector has already been identified as a priority sector with £625m investment already announced to develop the skills needed to meet the national ambition of building 1.5 million homes. This aim is supported by the Construction Skills Mission Board, launched in January this year, upon which ACE Group and our sector is already represented.

To this end, ACE Group will be supporting members now to:

• Engage with Skills England and local skills partnerships to help define future training priorities.
• Review talent pipelines. Identify where apprenticeships, placements or upskilling initiatives could link with the new V-Level system.
• Collaborate with colleges and universities. The White Paper encourages regional collaboration between Further Education and Highter Education providers - businesses can be powerful partners in shaping course content and project-based learning.
• Invest in inclusion. The Youth Guarantee offers new mechanisms to bring under-represented groups into our sector. Early engagement builds loyalty and diversity.
• Stay close to the funding reforms. High-value courses aligned to national growth sectors may unlock new partnership funding or co-investment opportunities.

The 2025 Skills White Paper sets out an ambitious vision for a smarter, more responsive post-16 education system. For the design, consultancy and engineering community, it represents both a challenge and an invitation: a challenge to step up as active partners in shaping the skills agenda, and an invitation to build a workforce capable of delivering the UK’s most innovative and sustainable future projects.

Now is the moment for businesses in these sectors to get involved - because the skills decisions made today will define the talent landscape of tomorrow.