How did Gloucestershire really win its share of a '£175m investment'?
A slice of £175m is coming to Gloucestershire to make it a centre for ‘world-class’ training in digital technologies, putting it at the heart of the UK's industrial growth strategy.
Dear reader,
Below we report on a major knowledge share that took place on Tuesday this week as the county begins to come to terms with the biggest change to employment law in over a decade.
The ramifications of the Employments Rights Act 2025 are only just being worked out. But this is a great example of the county business community working together to ensure it is ready, with experts from Willans LLP solicitors teaming up with the CIPD in Gloucestershire.
And then we carry the good news for those in Stroud who feared the district council had withdrawn its support from their much-loved lido. The campaigning appears to have worked!
But the main story is our decision to take a closer look at Gloucestershire College’s good news, that it’s been chosen by the Government as one of only five colleges nationwide that will develop ‘world-class’ skills training in digital technologies - and one of just 19 that will benefit from a share of £175m.
It’s very easy to look up from the knitting sometimes and wonder where the leadership in the county has gone since the demise of the local enterprise partnership. GFirst LEP, an organisation that had that galvanising effect that’s hard to define and harder to replace, that gave a point of focus and sense of shared unity.
Yet arguable leadership is alive and well, it’s just hiding from public view or not shouting about itself enough, and great working relationships are being cultivated, plans being honed, strategies worked on. Like this win from Gloucestershire College.
It reflects well on Gloucestershire, we think, because it suggests strongly one of the reasons this happened is because of the joined-up thinking happening here. Who would have known it!
Which surely bodes well for anyone trying to judge whether we’re a place worthy to invest or not, a place where people support one another and that gets things done.
Have a great weekend.
Editor | 07956 926061 | LinkedIn: Andrew Merrell | andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk
Businesses flock to learn about the biggest change to employment law in years
The biggest shake-up of employment law in more than a decade brought scores to The Queen’s Hotel to learn how it will impact businesses in Gloucestershire and what they need to do.
The biggest shake-up of employment law in more than a decade brought scores to The Queen’s Hotel in Cheltenham to learn how it will impact their businesses and organisations.
And the example of how an individual who had not even worked a day at a business won three months’ pay for breach of contract underlined precisely why good advice is essential (if those in the room needed reminding!).
The real-life case study was just a small part of a presentation to the gathering of HR professionals and business people from across the sectors by legal experts from Cheltenham-headquartered firm Willans LLP solicitors.
It’s focus - the biggest shake-up to employment law in years: The Employment Rights Act 2025.
Hifsa O’Kelly, a partner at Willans, explained how the individual in the case study had barely made it through the interview process when the prospective employer withdrew their offer of a job.
A tribunal followed, and despite the interviewee or company having signed nothing, it found in the interviewee’s favour and the company was left paying three months’ wages.
The point being that a good understanding of the legal situation was key to ensure good processes were in place. And that was exactly what the seminar was there to achieve, staged by the CIPD in Gloucestershire and delivered by experts from the Cheltenham law firm’s employment law team.
Partners Jenny Hawrot, Simon Pathé, O’Kelly and trainee solicitor in our real estate team, Achante Anson, did the honours.
Their job was to explain to the 75 individuals at The Queen’s Hotel in Cheltenham as much of the Employment Rights Act 2025 as they could; a seriously mammoth task, but an act likely to impact just about every business and organisation.
“It has probably been about 16 years since there have been any meaningful changes on this scale.
“And there have been some really quite substantial changes, particularly around how you can go about dismissing staff,” said Hawrot.
You can read the rest of the article here - Five key takeaways for business ref The Employment Rights Act 2025.
Briefing notes…
🏊🏽♂️ Stroud’s much-loved Stratford Park lido could reopen this summer after civic chiefs agreed to look at doing the essential repairs needed to make it safe as soon as possible. Opening the outdoor swimming pool for this summer in its current state is deemed to be too dangerous for its users. However, Stroud District Councillors agreed last night (April 16) a way forward which could see the site open in time for the school summer holidays. More here.
💻 We don’t expect you to actually go to this one, but mention it more because we think it’s of interest. Attention never seems to be far away from the pending Golden Valley Development project, which aims to transform a site to the West of GCHQ in Cheltenham into a tech business park and major housing scheme. Together with the county’s ever-active cyber sector networking group, CyNam, the Golden Valley team is staging an event in Glasgow on April 22 to spread the word of the big plans for Gloucestershire.
🛒 Actress Joanna Lumley will be in Gloucestershire this month to officially ‘reopen’ Stroud’s Five Valley’s Shopping Centre after a £31 million investment by its owners, Yorkshire-based property developer Dransfield Properties. The business bought the centre in 2018 and has transformed the tired Merrywalks Centre. It is not only home to a cinema, bowling centre, office space, food hall and market, as well as a designer department store. Dame Joanne is expected on Thursday, April 23, for a 12.30pm opening.
💻 A specialist provider of data storage and hybrid-cloud ‘as a service’ technology, which also has a base in Gloucestershire, has been bought by the Sheffield-based Everything Tech Group of companies. Nexstor Ltd, which has a base at Elmbridge Court, Gloucester, has established partnerships with global firms including HPE, Veeam, Dell EMC, VMWare, Spectralogic and Seagate.
🏗️ Gloucestershire College (GC) and Barnwood Construction have signed a new strategic partnership that will see Barnwood’s emerging construction managers train through the college’s Level 4 Construction & Build Technician Apprenticeship. The programme integrates the Higher Technical Qualification (HTQ) / HNC in Construction and the Built Environment, awarded by Pearson, providing apprentices with both a nationally recognised higher-level technical qualification and the practical skills required in modern construction management.
The Raikes Journal is a community interest company. Everything you read by us is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People, our sponsors, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
If you upgrade to become a paid subscriber you’ll be part of this CIC too. You’ll help make us sustainable, be able to see past the paywalls, comment on our stories, and know you’re making possible the county’s only editorially-led platform dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire about its businesses, charities, education and training sectors.
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Things to do this weekend…
Today (Friday)
🎭 John le Carré’s novel The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is brought to the stage today (7.30pm) and tomorrow (2pm and 7.30pm) at The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham.
🏉 Gloucester Rugby play Bristol Bears away. KO 6.45 at Ashton Gate.
Saturday
⚽ Gloucester City FC play Yate Town away. KO 3pm.
⚽ Cheltenham Town FC play Newport County. KO 3pm.
⚽ Forest Green Rovers FC play Hartlepool away. KO 3pm.
Worth knowing now…
💻 Food and drink producers, suppliers, farming and hospitality businesses are being summoned to a meeting at Cheltenham’s Hub8 MX on Thursday 21 May staged by Food For Thought CIC. Lorrin White, the former CEO of Bamboo Technology now head of marketing and development at HCR Law, will give a masterclass on how to use Microsoft 365, how to reclaim your time, increase revenue and efficiency. Subsidised by Made in Gloucestershire, The Growth Hub and Gloucestershire County Council. From 10am till noon. Tickets are £10. More here.
🏇 Willans LLP solicitors and Cheltenham Open Door, the Cheltenham-headquartered law firm’s nominated charity for the year, invite you to join them for an evening of fun, fundraising and friendly competition. The entry fee, which all goes to the charity, puts you and a team in with a chance of winning one or more of six recorded races. Price includes two drinks and pizza. The date has been moved from the end of February to 23 April. At The Bottle of Sauce, Cheltenham, from 6pm. More here.
The Raikes Journal is a community interest company. Everything you read by us is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People, our sponsors, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
If you upgrade to become a paid subscriber you’ll be part of this CIC too. You’ll help make us sustainable, be able to see past the paywalls, comment on our stories, and know you’re making possible the county’s only editorially-led platform dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire about its businesses, charities, education and training sectors.
Sign up for just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once. Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members!
How did Gloucestershire really win its share of a ‘£175m investment’?
A slice of £175m is coming to Gloucestershire to make it a centre for ‘world-class’ training in digital technologies, putting it at the heart of the UK’s industrial growth strategy.
This week news spread like wildfire that Gloucestershire College had been named as one of 19 further education institutions in line for a share of £175 million of investment after being awarded Technical Excellence Colleges status.
What wasn’t discussed in the press release or by anyone who published it was what this says about Gloucestershire and why it matters, how the money will be spent and why what the college is doing matters so much - not just here but to the whole of the UK.
It was considered a significant enough grand reveal for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to have his say, and his Skills Minister, Jacqui Smith, to state that the investment in Gloucestershire would make the training offered by our college ‘world class’, benefit ‘the whole country’, ‘drive growth’ and ‘deliver jobs’.
It was also an announcement that marked the college out as one of just five UK-wide to deliver “high-quality training in digital technologies”.
Starmer said Technical Excellence Colleges like Gloucestershire College would “put technical skills front and centre, opening up high‑quality jobs in the industries driving Britain’s future.”
“We are backing talent across the country, strengthening our workforce and making sure opportunity is built into the system – not left to chance,” he said.
The £175m of Government money brings together £97m from the Department for Education, £50m from the Ministry of Defence and £28m from the Department for Business and Trade to deliver the skilled workforce needed in Britain’s fastest-growing industries.
Smith said: “This is skills investment that works for learners, for employers, and for the regions driving growth across the country. They’ll deliver local jobs for local people, as well as growth for the whole of the country.”
The industries that will define Britain’s future, she said, were clean energy, advanced manufacturing, defence, digital - and there the UK needs a pipeline of highly skilled workers.
And according to Smith the UK needs to supply 600,000 more workers in these priority industries by 2030.
Those familiar with Gloucestershire’s economy will be aware of the high status given to its digital and cyber-sector-focused training routes to serve the numerous private firms that have sprung up in the shadow of Government spy base GCHQ, adjacent to the college’s Cheltenham campus.
And it is this that points towards the reason Gloucestershire is special; the relationships being forged here - when they are revealed - speak of cooperation, of support, of teamwork. The college is listening to what business wanted.
In his comments within the press release Andy Bates, chief financial officer at Gloucestershire College, which has campuses in Gloucester, Cheltenham and the Forest of Dean, picked out two of those relationships.
Another also was also mentioned in the release, which referred to how the college’s aims married exactly with those of the county’s own economic strategy.
“We are proud at Gloucestershire College to be recognised by the Department for Education as a Technical Excellence College for Digital as part of Wave 2, reflecting our strong partnerships with employers and CyNam, and our shared commitment to delivering high-quality, employer-led digital skills that support both local and national workforce needs.
“We look forward to building on the strong foundations we have already established, continuing to bring together employers and academic expertise to drive innovation and opportunity for learners.”
Hollie Wakefield, general manager at CyNam, the Cheltenham-based cyber-sector-focused networking group, was happy to step forward to offer her congratulations.
“Gloucestershire College earning TEC status in digital and technologies is a landmark moment and one CyNam is incredibly proud to celebrate,” said Wakefield.
“This recognition is a testament to their relentless drive to close the digital skills gap through industry-led, forward-thinking programmes.
“We can’t wait to see what this funding unlocks for further intervention in creating employer-led digital skills.”
As for those relationships with employers. The list is vast. The college currently provides bespoke training solutions to more than 1,300 employer-partners, welcoming 13,000 full-time and part-time learners annually.
Cllr Linda Cohen, cabinet member for education at Gloucestershire County Council, was also willing to underscore that working relationship with her own words of “congratulations”.
“This is a fantastic achievement for the college and for the county. At Gloucestershire County Council, we are committed to (the county) becoming a digital leader, with a strong focus on improving digital skills in our communities and enabling innovation for businesses to drive economic growth.
“We welcome the Government’s investment in Gloucestershire College. It is vital that the county can develop a future‑ready workforce and build a talent pool to grow the digital sector and support local businesses in an increasingly digital world.”
Those are just two organisations the college can call close friends. They also include the likes of the University of the West of England Institute of Technology, which it has partnered with to deliver its cyber degree apprenticeships programme, a course recognised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
The NCSC being the public-facing bit of GCHQ, which incidentally is just yards from its Cheltenham campus which is the headquarters of its digital course and its £3m Advanced Digital Academy, a state-of-the-art cyber and computing training centre at its Cheltenham Campus named after Ada Lovelace, who is considered to have written the first computer programme ever - in 1843!
Why bang on about the relationships?
If Gloucestershire is to attract the vital investment it needs to continue to grow - including for the likes of the Golden Valley Development, the development planned for the other side of GCHQ that is expected to underline the significance of the cyber sector to the county it needs to show it can work together.
As for how will it spend its share of that £175m?
“This is difficult to define exactly at the moment. The next stage is for us to submit ‘high-quality’ costed delivery plans, setting out how we will spend revenue funding,” said a spokesman for the college,” said a spokesman for the college.
“The Government has set out five key aims for TECs: boosting skills provision that leads to in-demand and well-paid work, increasing quality, stronger partnerships with employers, collaborative delivery, and promoting ‘clear pathways’ to higher level learning or growth-driving industries.”
But one thing is clear, the college believes the investment “will be very transformational for the region and the digital and technologies sector”.
Some of that investment is expected to go into that Advanced Digital Academy.
Prospective students are invited to explore the cutting-edge facilities at the next open event in November.