The Hull and East Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (HEY LEP) is a business-led partnership aimed at developing the region of Hull and East Yorkshire in the UK. Representing the region’s private sector, HEY LEP builds strategies to boost productivity, support long-term employment and secure inward investment and government support.
The challenge
HEY LEP wanted to undertake a skills analysis for its local labour market. However, this involved looking at various websites to find the data it needed and, even then, it wasn’t able to access up-to-date and reliable labour market information and trends. The team needed a single source of labour market data that was regional, trustworthy and easy to extract and analyse.
Partnering with Lightcast
In 2020, HEY LEP partnered with Lightcast to use Lightcast data for labour market analysis and research, particularly to explore job posting and sector trends within the region. HEY LEP also develops monthly and quarterly reports based on Lightcast’s labour market data. These reports are shared with partner organisations, helping them define strategies to close skills gaps and boost employability. Furthermore, Lightcast data is used as evidence to demonstrate the demand for specific roles and skills, which helps HEY LEP improve its funding proposals and bids.
How Lightcast enables HEY LEP to get funding and boost credibility
Using Lightcast’s Job Postings data, HEY LEP was able to submit an evidence-based proposal for the Skills Bootcamp programme, and successfully secure funding from the Department of Education.
Plus, using a credible data source enables the HEY LEP team to establish its expertise and be seen as a trustworthy source of information by other organisations and partners. Lightcast’s reports and webinars also prompt the team to do deeper dives into untapped areas and explore new initiatives to make the most out of the Lightcast data.
Discussing the benefits of partnering with Lightcast, Gill Dillon, Senior Adviser for Employment and Skills at HEY LEP, commented:
“Lightcast data informed funding proposals and bids that we've submitted and been successful in achieving. Plus, it’s a credible product that we know gives us really good insight into what’s happening in the labour market.”