Lancashire Growth Hub Pulse | May 2026

The people question at the heart of Lancashire’s growth

Every month, Boost; Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub, works with private sector partners, local authorities, business support providers and universities to gather intelligence on the health of the Lancashire business community. 

Alongside 40 UK Growth Hubs, this intelligence informs a national report shared with government, and the wider Lancashire business support community.

The Lancashire Growth Hub Pulse, written by Andrew Leeming, programme manager at Boost, distils these findings into a monthly snapshot: celebrating successes, flagging concerns and highlighting the opportunities and challenges that matter the most to Lancashire businesses. 

Our May Pulse is focused on our greatest asset; our people. We look at the human side of Lancashire’s economy: the people leading businesses, building teams, developing skills and creating opportunities. 

Leaders are carrying more of the weight

Many Lancashire SMEs remain busy, but being busy does not always mean being more profitable. Advisers are reporting more conversations with owners who feel they are working harder for less, with rising overheads, wage costs, energy prices and tax obligations eating into margins. 

This is creating a different kind of leadership challenge. Business owners are spending more time reviewing prices, managing cashflow, understanding tax changes, keeping up with employment law, supporting staff – as well as being on the tools and making time for strategy. 

Across the county, there is growing demand for financial education, forecasting support, pricing reviews, outsourced finance advice and help with cashflow management. The Boost Helpdesk also reports that some business owners are asking about mentoring because they feel isolated and want to speak to people who understand the realities of running a business. 

The health and resilience of our leaders is important for our economy. If owners and managers do not have the confidence or support to make good decisions, growth slows. Helping leaders step back, understand their numbers and give them clarity may be one of the most important forms of business support available. 

Is recruitment an investment or a risk? 

Employers are craving good, skilled people but skills mismatches remain acute across construction, engineering, manufacturing, digital, commercial and leadership roles. Many businesses are weighing up the risk and cost of recruitment more carefully. 

Employment rights reforms, National Insurance increases and wage pressures are all hitting hiring confidence. The North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce reports that around 80 per cent of employers expect employment costs to rise, while 37 per cent plan to reduce hiring activity. 

This is particularly visible in hospitality, retail and customer-facing sectors. One hospitality business, supported through Boost, is operating at full capacity but remains reluctant to take on additional staff because of wage costs, HR pressures and uncertainty around employment rules. 

At the same time, there are also positive signs. In tech and IT, permanent hiring across the North is recovering strongly, with demand for developers, specialist engineers, senior technical talent, product leaders and commercial roles. Candidate availability is also improving, creating one of the better hiring windows in recent years for employers able to move quickly. 

Practical, work-ready skills gaps

Construction employers continue to report mismatch in bricklaying, plastering, scaffolding, groundworks, highways-related roles, plant operators, site management, quantity surveying and estimating. Training needs include supervisory qualifications, plant tickets, health and safety refreshers, fire safety, Building Safety Act competence and more flexible local delivery. 

Lancashire’s future economy will need advanced skills but it will also need applied skills. The county needs people who can design, make, manage, install, sell, lead, repair, adapt and solve problems in real workplaces.

That is why apprenticeships, degree apprenticeships, technical education and modular training pathways remain so important. They help bridge the gap between knowledge and application and offer a route for employers who need people with both technical understanding and practical confidence. 

Supporting apprenticeships in practice

The Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub is supporting employers such as SWAT Access Ltd through the Lancashire County Council Young Apprentice Grant. This funding has enabled the business to continue developing their apprentice, Josh, who has gained national recognition with nominations for Rising Star and Apprentice of the Year at the National Apprenticeship Awards.

The funding has helped reduce cost pressures while enabling the business to maintain its investment in skills. Josh now contributes directly to operations, supporting the maintenance and compliance of Mobile Elevated Work Platforms (MEWPs) through servicing, repairs and inspections aligned to LOLER requirements.

SWAT Access has also signed the Lancashire Skills Pledge, reflecting its commitment to developing local talent and contributing to wider social value priorities across the Lancashire economy.

This example reflects how targeted support can influence employer confidence, helping SMEs to view apprenticeships not only as a cost pressure but as a practical route to developing capability and supporting business performance.

Bridging education and employers 

Several partners highlighted concerns around work-readiness, soft skills and the availability of work experience opportunities for young people. Employers in Burnley reported issues around communication, reliability, confidence, asking questions, speaking on the phone and adapting to real-life workplace expectations. Hyndburn partners also highlighted a lack of work experience opportunities for young people aged between 16 and 24 as a barrier to employment. 

In helping to strengthen the bridge between education and work, Hyndburn Borough Council and East Lancashire Learning Group, which is part of the Lancashire Careers Hub, recently worked together to offer students practical experience linked to the Create Local Go Global event, including event support, guest engagement, marketing and design activity. 

The Lancashire Careers Hub is one of 10 Hubs across England to be awarded funding through the £2.3 million Future Ready Fund, a three-year programme designed to close the career readiness gap through high-quality, modern work experience.

Working with 25 schools across wider Lancashire, the Lancashire Careers Hub has commenced the delivery of the programme with three employer-supported interactive sessions which enabled 375 young people living in the areas of the highest levels of economic inactivity to understand what the labour market in Lancashire looks like and the skills employers are looking for.

The Lancashire Careers Hub is also delivering a series of webinars for local employers to understand how they can support the work readiness of young people in Lancashire through the offer of workplace visits, project activities and work experience placements as part of the Modern Work Experience policy.  Employers are asked to pledge their support through Lancashire Skills Hub which enables access to support to develop their approaches and connect with local schools. Lancashire Skills Pledge - Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub. 

These important experiences matter because they give young people real exposure to work while helping employers see the value of engaging early with future talent.

Future skills for future sectors

The county’s strengths in defence, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, digital, clean energy, automotive, health innovation and low-carbon technology all depend on people with the right capabilities. 

Blackburn College becoming the first institution in England to deliver a Level 3 hydrogen vehicle training qualification is a strong example. Based at its Hybrid Electric Automotive Training Centre, the programme is designed to equip technicians with the skills needed to work safely with emerging hydrogen-powered vehicle technology. 

There are similar signals elsewhere. Construction employers are looking ahead to retrofit, net zero, fire safety, ESG and digital project management. Tech businesses are seeking specialist developers, product leaders and commercial talent. Manufacturers are exploring automation, AI, cybersecurity and more advanced production methods. Universities are seeing more interest in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, bespoke business support and practical innovation projects. 

For any business looking for support that helps them understand what skills they need next, a good starting point would be our partners at the Lancashire Skills Hub. 

Inclusion and management matter more

Neuro-Sparks Business Solutions has launched a dedicated training suite in Burnley, making workplace neurodiversity training more accessible and affordable for businesses. This allows SMEs to book individual places on open-access training rather than commissioning full in-house programmes.

It matters because inclusion is increasingly linked to performance, retention and talent attraction. Management capability is also becoming more important. In SMEs, where management structures are often lean, better people management may be one of the hidden productivity levers.

People stories hitting the headlines 

During May, Lancashire had a raft of strong people stories to tell. Rosebud-supported businesses created nearly 100 new jobs and sustained 483 roles across the county over the past year, while generating £20.4m in value and increasing sales by £10.7m. Lumo’s new low-cost West Coast rail service has created around 100 jobs through its new operational base in Preston. Heineken’s £2.16m investment across eight Lancashire pubs is expected to create around 70 jobs.

Other stories making the headlines include Leyland-based Victorian Plumbing reporting record first-half performance, with revenue up 10.5 per cent to £168.8m and operating profit rising 44 per cent to £9.8m. Lancashire-born food brand SpudBros is planning to open 30 new locations over the next three years through its SpudBros Express concept. Preston-based haircare brand FYC has secured a major partnership with actress Alexandra Mardell to support international growth.

Once again, we have a consistent pipeline of good news stories that reaffirms how healthy and resilient our businesses and leaders are during volatile times. 

Boost is Lancashire’s business support service. We’re here to help. 

Our May intelligence reaffirmed a Lancashire economy where people are central to our current and future prospects. Lancashire has many of the right ingredients: strong colleges, universities, employers, business networks, innovation programmes, finance providers and support organisations. The challenge is always to connect them in ways that help businesses solve real people problems. 

In terms of our own people at Boost, our Helpdesk dealt with nearly 100 enquiries, with 80 per cent coming from businesses that were new to Boost. Finance remained the biggest area of enquiry, but businesses were also asking about mentoring, events, workshops, national programmes and support available across Lancashire.

The Boost website also saw 14,000 active users during May. This once again reminds us that businesses are actively looking for help, advice and direction, and are turning to Boost for that support. 

Lancashire is a thriving economy because there are thousands of good people committed to helping good people. At Boost, we sit at the heart of this. Our funded service is designed to help Lancashire businesses find and access the right support. And our website features a comprehensive Business Support Finder, a dedicated Business Support Help Desk, the latest events from across Lancashire, as well as useful insights. 

If you are new to Boost, visit our website to find out more. If you’re already a Boost fan, keep checking our website for fresh content and information on new support.  

Thank you for reading.

👉 www.boostbusinesslancashire.co.uk