Flexible skills funds for SMEs and a single portal for firms to access apprenticeships are among actions called for by East Midlands Chamber to get more candidates into jobs as unemployment in the region remains unchanged at its highest level since 2020.
The latest estimated unemployment data from the Office for National Statistics for over 16s in the region covers October to December 2025 and is the second three-month period in succession, after September to November at 6%.
East Midlands Chamber Director of Policy and Insight Richard Blackmore said: “Getting unemployment down and people into jobs is essential but to achieve it, business needs support. There’s a perfect storm where, on one hand, employers were hit with higher costs imposed from the 2024 Autumn Budget, like higher National Insurance contributions; on the other, headaches like above-target inflation and the need to prepare for new regulatory requirements from April in the Employment Rights Act add to the pressure.
“Across 2025 we saw hesitant hiring as a consistent finding of our Quarterly Economic Survey and with the increased costs faced by employers it’s likely that many thought twice before either expanding their workforce or replacing staff after they left.
“Programmes like the recently announced Jobs Guarantee are a step in the right direction, however need to be mobilised at scale.
“The Chamber’s Framework for Growth outlines a set of actions that, if implemented, directly addresses some of the root causes behind the skills gap and that would help employers find suitable candidates when a role is advertised.
“While support and avenues like apprenticeships exist, access can be far from straightforward as much of the approach, as it stands now, tends to be on a short-term cycle. That makes support less effective than it could be as it isn’t lined up with how many employers or FE colleges operate – usually they need to be thinking about long-term investment in people.
“Many firms don’t have the luxury of HR capacity so navigating government funding options can be prohibitively complex. By simplifying the process, as proposed in our Framework for Growth, we’d likely see a much higher uptake of schemes.
“Incentivising investment and building confidence is a key ingredient in getting unemployment down and growing the economy so it’s vital that policymakers make skills investment a priority.”
View East Midlands Chamber’s Framework for Growth here.
View details of the Jobs Guarantee scheme here.
