Over the last few weeks, Matt Harvey has had the opportunity to attend a number of Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) launches as the new generation of LSIPs has been introduced across England. Having previously been involved in LSIP activity across different areas, Matt has seen first-hand the importance of bringing employers, education and training providers, government, local authorities and sector organisations around the same table. For the RACHP sector, he believe there is a significant opportunity here. But, he argues, we need to be part of the conversation.

So, what is an LSIP?

A Local Skills Improvement Plan is a three-year plan designed to identify and respond to the skills needs of a particular area. The new LSIPs cover 2026–2029 and are intended to provide a stronger connection between the skills system and the needs of local employers.

The Government’s LSIP guidance makes clear that plans should bring together data, evidence and employer insight to identify critical skills needs, reduce skills gaps, strengthen employer engagement and influence the supply of technical education and training.

In July 2026, 39 LSIPs were published across England, providing analysis of priority economic sectors and jobs in each area and setting out how Employer Representative Bodies, Strategic Authorities, education providers and other partners will work together.

That matters because the LSIP process is intended to connect what employers need with what the education and training system delivers.

And RACHP needs to be visible within that system.

Why does this matter to RACHP? The RACHP sector is operating in a rapidly changing environment.

We are not simply replacing one generation of engineers with another.

The industry is dealing with changing technologies, decarbonisation, heat pumps, natural refrigerants, controls, system integration, increasingly complex building services and changing regulatory requirements. At the same time, employers are telling us that recruitment and skills remain significant challenges.

The resulting 2026 IOR report identifies shortages in both workforce numbers and competence, an ageing workforce, a “missing middle” of technicians aged approximately 25–40, fragmented training provision and emerging skills gaps around areas including natural refrigerants, controls, integration and system design.

This is exactly the type of sector evidence that needs to be taken into local skills conversations.

One national sector, many local skills systems

One of the challenges for RACHP is that we are a national industry operating across multiple local skills systems. An employer in London may have different recruitment pressures from an employer in the South West, the Midlands, Yorkshire or the North East.

The availability of colleges, apprenticeship provision, adult skills programmes, Jobcentre provision and technical training can also vary considerably between areas.

This is where LSIPs can provide an important mechanism.

They allow employers and sector bodies to identify:

• What skills employers need now.
• What skills they expect to need in the next three to five years.
• Which occupations are difficult to recruit.
• Where apprenticeship provision is insufficient.
• Where practical training capacity is limited.
• Where progression routes are unclear.
• What new technologies require additional training.
• Where existing qualifications do not fully meet employer requirements.
• Where there are opportunities to attract new people into the sector.
• How local skills investment could support growth and decarbonisation.

The opportunity for RACHP is therefore not simply to say, “we need more engineers.” We need to provide the evidence behind that statement. Evidence gives the sector a stronger voice the Government’s LSIP guidance is particularly relevant here.

LSIPs are expected to draw together a wide range of evidence, including employer engagement, labour-market intelligence, skills data and local insight. The plans also feed intelligence into Skills England’s wider understanding of national and place-based skills gaps.

This creates an important opportunity for the IOR and its members.

We already have sector-specific evidence.

The IOR’s skills and workforce research gives us an evidence base around recruitment, competence, workforce demographics, training provision and emerging technical requirements. We also have members working across the country and across the full RACHP ecosystem, including employers, manufacturers, contractors, consultants, engineers, educators, training providers and other industry professionals.

The question is: how do we turn that knowledge into local evidence? This is where the IOR Industry Skills Alliance can play a role

The IOR Industry Skills Alliance provides an ideal mechanism for connecting the sector’s national skills priorities with local skills planning. The Alliance already brings together employers, training providers and industry stakeholders and is engaging with Skills England on important areas of apprenticeship and assessment reform.

But we can go further.

Through the Skills Alliance, we can encourage members to engage with their local LSIP and contribute the evidence that is currently sitting within individual businesses and organisations.

That could mean telling an LSIP:

• “These are the occupations we are struggling to recruit.”
• “These are the skills our engineers will need in the next five years.”
• “This is where local training provision is working — and where it isn’t.”
• “These are the technologies our workforce needs to understand.”
• “These are the barriers preventing people entering the industry.”
• “This is what employers need from apprenticeships and technical education.”

That is much more powerful than simply saying there is a skills shortage. We need RACHP employers to get involved

If you are an IOR member, I would encourage you to find out which LSIP covers the area where your business operates.

• Look at its priorities.
• Look at the sectors and occupations identified.
• Look at the skills evidence.

And, importantly, ask:

Is RACHP properly represented? If it isn’t, that is an opportunity to get involved.

LSIPs are designed to provide employers with a stronger voice in the skills system. Government guidance specifically highlights the importance of employer and sector-body engagement, including specialist sector organisations that can help extend engagement with SMEs.

For RACHP, this is particularly important because many of the skills challenges are highly technical and may not be fully visible in broad labour-market datasets.

A vacancy for an engineer is one data point.

Understanding why the employer cannot recruit, what competence is required, what training is available, what equipment is needed and what progression route exists gives us a much richer picture.

From local evidence to national influence

There is also a bigger opportunity.

If RACHP employers across different regions consistently provide evidence through their LSIPs, that information can build a much stronger national picture.

• London.
• The South East.
• The South West.
• The Midlands.
• The North.
• Yorkshire and the Humber.
• The North West.
• The North East.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different skills systems, but the same principle applies: industry needs to articulate the skills required to support the future workforce.

The result could be a much stronger evidence base connecting local employer demand with national RACHP workforce priorities.

That can support conversations with Skills England, government, Strategic Authorities, Employer Representative Bodies, colleges, training providers and awarding organisations.

This is about more than apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are an important part of the solution, but the RACHP skills challenge is much broader.

We need to consider the whole workforce pipeline:

Schools → STEM → careers awareness → pre-employment → Level 2 → Level 3 → apprenticeship → experienced worker → CPD → specialist technical skills → leadership and management.

We also need to consider the existing workforce.

• How do we upskill engineers already working in the sector?
• How do we support people moving into heat pumps and low-carbon technologies?
• How do we develop competence in natural refrigerants and new systems?
• How do we strengthen practical training?
• How do we create progression for experienced workers?
• How do we address the missing middle?

These are not questions that one organisation can answer alone.

They require employers, providers, professional bodies and policymakers to work together.

The opportunity for IOR members

The message I would therefore give to IOR members is simple:

Don’t wait for the LSIP to tell you what the RACHP sector needs. Help provide the evidence.

Your experience matters.

Your recruitment challenges matter.

Your investment in training matters.

Your technology roadmap matters.

Your views on apprenticeships and qualifications matter.

Your experience of recruiting and developing engineers matters.

Collectively, that information can help make RACHP more visible within local and national skills planning.

Through the IOR Industry Skills Alliance, we have an opportunity to coordinate that voice and ensure that RACHP is not simply discussed as part of a much wider engineering or construction skills conversation.

We can bring the sector’s own evidence to the table.

One voice, backed by evidence

The next phase should be about turning engagement into action.

I would encourage IOR members to:

1. Identify your local LSIP
Find out which LSIP covers your business and where RACHP sits within its priorities.

2. Review the evidence
Look at the occupations, skills shortages, employer priorities and training provision identified.

3. Identify the gaps
Where does the LSIP evidence not reflect your experience of the RACHP industry?

4. Share your evidence
Tell the relevant Employer Representative Body, Strategic Authority or skills partnership what you are experiencing.

5. Connect through the IOR Industry Skills Alliance
Share intelligence with the Alliance so that local evidence can contribute to the wider sector picture.

6. Help shape the solution
Don’t just identify the problem. Tell us what training, qualifications, equipment, facilities, employer engagement and progression routes are needed.

The RACHP sector is already generating valuable evidence about its future workforce.

The opportunity now is to make sure that evidence reaches the people responsible for shaping local and national skills provision.

If we want the right skills for the right job, we need to be part of the conversation about what those skills are.

And through the IOR Industry Skills Alliance, we have an opportunity to make that conversation evidence-led, employer-led and genuinely representative of the RACHP sector.

Get involved. Share your evidence. Connect with your local LSIP and join the Skills Alliance. And help shape the future RACHP workforce.