Plymouth City Council’s Skills team was highly commended at the national MJ Awards in London, for delivering better outcomes through their understanding of the local challenges, barriers and identifying those most in need of help.

Skills Lead, Emma Hewitt, and Skills Launchpad Manager, Jo Lacy were among the 1,000 attendees who joined together to celebrate the organisations, projects and people making the biggest impact in local government across the UK.

With challenging budgets for the public sector, much more emphasis is being placed on achieving more with fewer resources, and this national award category celebrates the best innovation led by council teams which have made a real difference in the lives of their citizens by providing better outcome-focused services or projects.

Emma Hewitt, Skills Lead at Plymouth City Council said: “To be celebrated for working collaboratively both internally across council departments, and with the city’s public, private and voluntary sectors to connect opportunities for skills, training, education, careers and jobs, is a joy and reflects the power of working collaboratively to ‘join the dots.’ The single skills system we have created in Plymouth is special. The innovative service has an intelligence-led, place-based and person-centred approach, which is really making a difference and it is exciting to see our work continuing to gain national recognition, and to share our learning with colleagues across the country.”

The Skills and Post 16 team won the 2024 Departmental Star Award at Plymouth City Council’s annual celebration.

Skills Lead, Emma Hewitt shared: “I felt really proud collecting this Star Award on behalf of my fantastic team who are so passionate and work so hard, each committed to making a difference every day in delivering the city’s Skills priorities. Thank you for this recognition and to colleagues who voted for us to win, it is really special to be acknowledged internally in this way and deservedly reflects the brilliant performance across the whole Skills and Post-16 team.”

Speaking about what this means for the wider department, Head of Skills and Post 16, Tina Brinkworth added: “I am a delighted that the Skills and Post 16 team have been recognised through the Plymouth City Council Star Awards. We are a service that is rapidly growing and responding the city’s needs, and I am particularly proud of the ambitious employment plans we have put in place in the last year through the Unlocking Plymouth Potential SEET strategy, establishing the SEND Employment Forum and growing Supported Internships by over 500%, with many of our SEND young people transitioning into employment, as well as growing our adult education provision. “This team has worked fearlessly to provide better outcomes for our young people and adults, and I am so proud of them all. This is fantastic recognition for what we have all achieved together.”

Now in their eleventh year, the ERSA Employability Awards celebrate people and organisations working for better work; those assisting disadvantaged and marginalised jobseekers and low-income workers.

Putting Plymouth and the South West on the map, Skills Lead, Emma Hewitt, and Skills Launchpad Manager, Jo Lacy, joined 400 attendees from across the UK as the city-wide partnership was acknowledged for its contribution to employability, as an innovative local service and solution.

Emma Hewitt, Skills Lead, Plymouth City Council said: “To be recognised on the national stage really meant a lot, especially off the back of last year's local and regional acknowledgements for Innovation. By working together in city-wide partnership, Skills Launchpad Plymouth has brought everything together in one place for the first time. Whilst our Coordinators and partners play a vital role, this service and our website www.skillslaunchpadplym.co.uk are at the core of our delivery. This fantastic digital solution centralises localised opportunities for skills, training, education, careers and jobs and by ‘joining the dots’ we have improved access for local people and employers to better navigate the complex skills landscape, providing a go to place for the city’s front-line employability advisers to access the latest information. Over 43,000 unique visitors have visited our website and accessed the impartial information, advice and guidance made available in the online resource banks supporting the Youth Hub, Adult Hub and Employer Hub. This national recognition from ERSA is the icing on the cake after a lot of hard work and innovation.”

Skills Launchpad Manager, Jo Lacy was also finalist for the Frontline Manager of the Year – Working for Better Work award. Jo said: “we are a small but mighty team who demonstrate what can be achieved when we work together. To be recognised for inspiring and developing my team, encouraging better performance, building excellent relationships and going the mile, was a validation of my efforts as a manager but is also testament to the achievements of my brilliant team and our city-wide partnership. Together we have successfully supported hundreds of Plymouth people into employment, training or to access support, and that is really impactful! We're excited to see what the next 12 months brings!"

Emma Hewitt, Skills Lead at Plymouth City Council has won the Inspirational Leader Award as part of the prestigious West Country Women Awards 2022 which celebrates the top achievements and triumphs of women across the region from all communities.

Sponsored by WWA, the Inspirational Leader Award category recognises those who have stepped up to challenges whilst inspiring others around them. Emma was nominated, twice, for her leadership of the Building Plymouth skills partnership with the construction industry, the vision for Skills Launchpad Plymouth (which has already been recognised with Innovation Awards locally and regionally), and as a volunteer, for leading The Road to Mayflower project as part of the Mayflower400 commemorations.

Speaking about winning the Inspirational Leader Award, Emma said: “I am truly honoured to be recognised as the winner in this category alongside so many inspirational women from across the region. Absolutely delighted that my hard work and passion for making a difference is being recognised, however I cannot achieve these goals alone and am really thankful for my amazing Skills team, supportive colleagues, partners and stakeholders including the brilliant Building Plymouth partnership who believe and positively support the bold missions and my innovative ideas to drive change and deliver impact. Thank you so much to WWA for sponsoring this award and crowning me as an Inspirational Leader.”

The Innovation Award celebrates new ideas, processes, products, services, technologies and applications that have had an impact on an organisation's success over the past 12 months, and the Skills Launchpad Plymouth team were proud to reach the final three finalists, alongside City College Plymouth and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Congratulations to Plymouth Marine Laboratory who were the overall winners and deserving of the title. Emma Hewitt, Skills Lead at Plymouth City Council said: “We are delighted that Skills Launchpad Plymouth has been acknowledged for Innovation at this prestigious regional award ceremony. “Our holistic one-stop-shop skills service was initially set up to support local people during the pandemic, complementing the existing support in Plymouth and joining the dots. Working in city-wide partnership, Skills Launchpad Plymouth brings support organisations, training providers, employers and other stakeholders together centrally to respond to the needs of the city. “What started as an innovative emergency response has continued to grow and evolve over the past 12 months, and we recognise that this is a much-needed service as demonstrated by the recognition we are gaining nationally, locally and now regionally. We’re excited to see what the next 12 months brings”

The Skills Launchpad Plymouth team are celebrating after being highly commended at the Plymouth Live Business Awards 2022 for the Innovation Award which celebrates new ideas, processes, products, services, technologies and applications that have had an impact on an organisation's success over the past 12 months.

Emma Hewitt, Skills Lead at Plymouth City Council said: “We are thrilled to be highly commended for the Innovation Award in the prestigious Plymouth Live Business Awards. This recognition is timely to celebrate the introduction and successful impact of ‘Skills Launchpad Plymouth’ – the transformational, holistic one-stop-shop skills service, recognised nationally as leading innovation and best in practice through its city-wide, inclusive approach. We are proud that through working in successful partnership, in alignment with Department for Work and Pensions, and ‘joining the dots’ for the first time across the public, private and voluntary sectors, we can evidence demonstrable impact in connecting local people with skills, training, education, careers and jobs during the first 12 months of physical Skills Launchpad Plymouth delivery thanks to the fantastic in-kind support from Barclays Plymouth.”