Skills Bootcamps wave 7 survey

Overview

Skills Bootcamps for Essex Expression of Interest 2026/27 – Stage 1 - (Wave 7) Guidance

Essex County Council is gathering the requirements in order to be able to commission Service Providers to deliver Skills Bootcamps across Essex. Please complete this survey and attach this Pricing Matrix to assist in this process.

Introduction to Skills Bootcamps in Essex

Skills Bootcamps offer adults aged 19 and over the opportunity to develop sector-specific skills through flexible courses lasting up to 16 weeks. These programmes are either fully funded or co-funded, making them accessible to a wide range of learners. Upon completion, participants must be guaranteed a fast-track interview with a local employer. Skills Bootcamps is about securing jobs for our residents, upskilling the existing workforce and supporting local employers to manage skills gaps. More information on Skills Bootcamps is here Skills Bootcamps.

Our key target groups and ambition

• Unemployed adults into jobs (Essex residents)
• Employed adults into new jobs or promotion (Essex residents or employees at Essex based businesses)
• Employers addressing critical skills shortages (Essex based businesses).

A coordinated approach to the delivery of Skills Bootcamps across Essex, Southend, and Thurrock will strengthen the region’s response to current vacancies and future opportunities. This initiative aligns with national priorities and the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP).

Our key partners

• Anchor Institutions
• Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) and Department for Education (DfE)
• Delivery Partners
• Essex Boroughs and Districts
• Essex Provider Network (EPN)
• Federation of Essex Colleges (FEDEC)
• Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP)

Skills landscape in Essex

Essex has a high level of vacancies and skills shortages across several sectors – in the period from October 2024 – October 2025, there were 170,014 vacancies posted locally (source: Lightcast). There are several sectors experiencing particular shortages and set to see growth. Priority sectors include health and care, education advanced manufacturing, clean energy, construction, digital and technologies, telecoms, life sciences, transport and logistics, professional and business services, creative industries, financial services and defence.  The Essex Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) makes a commitment to ensuring opportunities such as Bootcamps can be supported to help address skills shortages. 

Some suggested information sources:

Funding criteria

The payment tariffs and schedule are defined by the funder (DfE). These vary based on employment status of the learner, size of the business. Staged payments are made after 2 weeks of training delivery, at completion and at job outcome.

Essex Skills Bootcamps for 2026 requires training to be delivered by 31 March 2027, with job outcomes to be tracked and reported up to September 2027.

Proposed Timeline (subject to change)

Response requested

The areas we would like your response to cover are as follows:

• Subject areas
• Short description of programmes
• Expected outcome
• Labour market information
• Employers engagement