At a summit in Manchester on 10 September 2026, the Department for Education brought together regional mayors, employers, school leaders and college principals to discuss how England should prepare young people for work. Held at No.10 North, the meeting was presented as the start of a more local approach to education reform, with ministers asking area leaders to help shape delivery rather than simply respond to decisions made in Whitehall. The Department said the Manchester session would be the first in a regular series bringing together industry, politicians and educators. In briefing material for the event, Education Secretary Lucy Powell described devolution as a working partnership between central government and local areas. The stated aim is to raise the standing of technical routes and link education more closely to local labour demand.
The timing was politically useful for ministers. Earlier that week, England’s PISA results showed improvement or stability against wider international declines, with performance still above OECD averages in reading, maths and science, according to the national report for England. The government used that result to argue that reform can proceed from a position of relative strength rather than system failure. Officials also pointed to Estonia as evidence that strong academic outcomes and a respected technical offer do not have to compete. That comparison matters because the government is trying to move the policy debate away from a simple divide between university preparation and vocational study.
The immediate questions are practical. The summit agenda covered vocational education from age 14, access to work experience, and the planned devolution of several billion pounds of funding for 16 to 19-year-olds. Taken together, those issues affect who decides what provision is offered, which sectors are prioritised, and how providers are expected to respond to local employer demand. For combined authorities and mayoral offices, the message is that post-16 skills policy is moving closer to local economic planning. For schools and colleges, the direction set out by ministers points to closer scrutiny of course design, employer links and progression routes against regional labour market need.
The meeting also comes just before the government’s devolution white paper, which is expected to set out a larger role for local leaders in growth and opportunity. On the Department’s account, that would create a more formal link between education policy and place-based economic strategy. For now, the summit signals direction rather than confirming a formal transfer of powers. Ministers are indicating that local government, education institutions and employers will be expected to shape reform earlier in the process, especially in places where skills shortages and youth participation vary sharply across England.
The reform package itself is wider than the summit. The government has already announced new V levels from age 16 and a further expansion of T levels from September 2027. Ministers have linked those changes to the roughly one million young people classed as not in education, employment or training, arguing that clearer technical routes and better progression into work should reduce the number who fall out of the system. The delivery challenge will be coherence across the 14-19 phase. If vocational options begin earlier, local areas will need aligned advice, transport, placement capacity and funding rules so that pupils can move between school, college and workplace settings without creating new points of dropout.
Universities were drawn into the same agenda on 10 September at the Universities UK annual conference, where Jacqui Smith used her first address to the sector of the new term to argue that local economic contribution should carry as much weight as national reputation. The Department for Education wants universities working with mayors, colleges and employers to turn local growth plans into courses, placements and graduate routes. The government highlighted existing models in the Humber and the West of England. In Hull, the University of Hull has worked with Siemens Gamesa and Ørsted on placements, graduate roles and a degree apprenticeship linked to offshore wind. In the West of England, UWE Bristol and University Centre Weston have partnered with Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace on engineering degree apprenticeships tied to advanced manufacturing demand.
Sector bodies broadly welcomed the approach. Comments released by the Department from the Sixth Form Colleges Association, the Association of Colleges and the Confederation of School Trusts all stressed partnership, local institution-building and the value of clear technical pathways into skilled employment or further study. Amazon UK’s contribution followed the same line, presenting employer participation as part of widening access to work. The next stage is implementation. The white paper will need to show how much discretion local leaders will actually get over 16 to 19 funding, how employer engagement will be organised in practice, and how equal standing between academic and technical routes will be measured. Until those details are published, the Manchester summit marks the opening of a reform process rather than its completion.