Annual Report 2024/2025

To enhance East Midlands businesses and communities.

What Sets Us Apart

Welcome

What's included?

With years of experience and a results-focused approach, we empower businesses to navigate complexity and achieve their goals.

A further year of transition

Click below for updates from our Chief Executive from 2024/2025

Scott Knowles DL, Chief Executive

Annual Report 2024-25

Chief Executive’s Viewpoint

2024/25 was once again a year of transition as the Chamber continued its investment into both digital transformation and ensuring that all members, regardless of sector, geography or company size, had access to the right business support at the right time. That help comes despite geographical disparity from the deployment of publicly-funded business support, as new political structures were firmly established – in part – across the three cities and three counties.

We remain at the forefront of business support delivering the £4.6m Accelerator programme, a package of business, growth and innovation support via the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund that benefited more than 5,000 organisations located across the three cities and three counties.

Accelerator has been a significant component in place-based support to help local businesses achieve key objectives, such as driving efficiencies and productivity through innovation and digital technology, reducing energy costs through decarbonisation, and growing through robust business plans, assisted by our team of 50 business advisers.

In the same period, our own digital transformation programme continued, like many of our members and customers, by starting our AI adoption journey. This work continued into 2025/26 and beyond. We continue to see an increasing demand for digital transformation support as businesses commence their own artificial intelligence journey, assisting members’ aspirations with their evolving international ambitions, their desire to support the communities in which they operate and the adoption of green technologies as businesses continue their journey towards Net Zero.

Framework For Growth

Looking ahead past 2024/25 the Chamber launched its ‘Framework for Growth’ on 26 November, coinciding with Budget Day, with an event at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium attended by businesses from across the region.

Our Framework For Growth, based upon insight from members, sets out what the East Midlands business community wants Government to do to unlock barriers to growth through skills, transport, connectivity, innovation and investment.

Supporting skills and employment

Reflecting our vision ‘to enhance East Midlands businesses and communities’, we continue to help people find employment, thereby meeting the current and future workforce needs of our members. We know accessing skills is essential to supporting sustainable growth and getting the right skills in the required volume remains a challenge for many businesses.

While much work has gone into this area of activity, a significant amount remains to be done to ensure skills for the future are compatible with the needs of employers. We continue to lead the Local Skills Improvement Plan in Leicester and Leicestershire, which is shaping future curriculum and supporting further education institutions to engage with employers to provided tailored and bespoke skills solutions.

Our three networks – Generation Next, Enterprising Women and the East Midlands Manufacturing Network – all saw significant growth in 2024/25, which has continued into 2025/26.

East Midlands Devolution

We continue to work with key influencers and decision-makers locally, regionally and nationally, even though many of these influencers have changed following the 2024 General Election, demonstrating the three counties’ potential for economic growth and need for investment from the centre in Westminster to achieve this.

We are working closely with the EMCCA team and regional Mayor Claire Ward, with senior Chamber executive team and Board Members represented on the Business Advisory Board. This was evident in the launch of two key economic growth strategies in 2025, The East Midlands Inclusive Growth Commission and The East Midlands Growth Plan, effectively setting the economic growth roadmap for the next ten years.

This new political structure, led by a single elected voice, is attracting significant additional funding from the centre for local deployment. The Chamber has long been critical that the East Midlands, despite its output being among the greatest in the country, suffers historically from a lack of public investment when compared to other regions and this new political structure is the vehicle to change that.

We continue to work with decision-makers in Leicester and Leicestershire to support how the city and county can maximise government investment as a non-devolved area, at least in the short term. The pace of devolution, to ensure parity of opportunities for business across all three cities and counties is at the forefront of the Leicestershire business community’s thinking and the Chamber will continue to champion devolution in all its forms.

2026/27 will see significant planning for the change to the two-tier local authority system, essentially to be effected by 1 April 2028, as central Government drives local government reorganisation across the country.

We also support other macro-economic regeneration projects, such as the East Midlands Freeport which will have a significant investment impact in the region over the next few years.

2024/25 to date has proven to be another year of challenge and opportunity for the business community and the Chamber remains focused and dedicated to delivering accessible, relevant and intensive support to enable East Midlands businesses to become more resilient, sustainable and to grow, prosper and support the communities they serve.

Scott Knowles DL, Chief Executive

President’s Reflections

It has become evident that the continuous changes in education and skills policy have further complicated a marketplace that should be relatively straight-forward.

If every individual is equipped to be resilient, problem solving, adaptable, a critical thinker and is self-disciplined then we all succeed, no matter what the starting point is.

So why have successive governments failed to resolve the underlying issues around the education proposition within our country? They continue to move the deckchairs around, tinkering at the edges, rather than actually peeling the layers back and resolving the real issues.

This failing not only impacts on our young people – of which we have over one million that are not in education or training (NEETS) – but ripples through every aspect of our lives, as businesses struggle to secure the skilled talent they need and worklessness stops individuals reaching their true potential.

This results in decline, which is where we find ourselves today, with families struggling to cover day-to-day bills, public services failing and borrowing levels on a scale we have never seen before.

Dawn Whitemore, President

Businesses today need the skills system to be supportive and easy to navigate, while they continue to deal with:

Post-budget adjustments: Adapting to tax and regulatory changes which have dampened confidence.

Geopolitical tensions: Global instability, including trade wars and political shifts which influence UK trade and investment strategies.

Inflation and interest rates: Continued economic uncertainty is prompting cautious financial planning and cost control measures by business.

AI and automation: Business transformation – from automating tasks to enhancing customer experiences.

Cybersecurity focus: With rising digital threats, investment in data protection and compliance remains a top priority.

Green business practices: Sustainability is no longer optional. Businesses are investing in eco-friendly operations and products to meet consumer demand and regulatory requirements.

ESG reporting: New environmental, social, and governance requirements are pushing companies to improve transparency and accountability.

Hybrid work models: Remote and flexible work arrangements remain popular, requiring new management and collaboration strategies.

Talent economy: Companies are competing for skilled workers

Health and wellbeing: Employee wellbeing programs are expanding, reflecting a broader cultural shift toward mental health and work-life balance.

The Government is re-shaping the skills system to respond to economic, technological and regional shifts.

There are new institutions and governance changes, with Skills England taking on a major role – assuming the functions of the former Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, and broadening its remit to cover training, skills gaps and employer-led development.

Responsibility for apprenticeships, adult education, training and careers has moved from the Department for Education to the Department of Work and Pensions – while the DfE retains responsibility for under-19s and higher education. Confused? You will be!

A new “Growth and Skills Levy” is replacing the apprenticeship levy, with allegedly more flexibility for employers to access a broader range of training beyond apprenticeships.

The sentiment is sound, but implementing a system that is simple for businesses to access requires a total rethink.

The Government has also announced a major investment in training in priority sectors, including £187m in the “TECHfirst” programme, bringing digital and AI skills into classrooms and communities.

The failing here is that with all digital development there must be year-on-year investment to keep up with the rate of change in the digital environment – so this is not new, but delayed and catch-up investment.

It is welcomed, yes, but there needs to be a sustainable model for continuous investment.

There are so many more proposed changes.

What we need to do is get the basics right, so that every individual is equipped to achieve their potential.

The Chamber has been driving hard to raise the voice of business and the important role that post-16 education plays in skilling and upskilling the current and future workforce.

This includes working with colleges, private training providers and universities – with great partnerships and projects already in place.

We are committed to continuing to work with every business to help you to translate and navigate the complex skills market place.

My request to business is please use us, raise your concerns, needs and frustrations and let’s see if together with our post-16 offering in our region, we can lead the way in making real change for the development of our future workforce.

Dawn Whitemore, President