The Local Employment Planning Council will provide communities with the expertise and local labour market information to improve coordinated planning of employment and training services and meet community needs.
LEPCs will improve employment and training service planning and labour market conditions in local communities by:
- Collecting and distributing local labour market information and working with employers and community organizations to identify and address local labour market strengths and opportunities;
- Engaging the community to drive local approaches in the planning and delivery of employment and training services;
- Connecting with employers, service providers and other community stakeholders to build program and service planning partnerships; and,
- Developing local solutions to labour market issues.
The LEPC pilot design is intended to strengthen local capacity to address local workforce development challenges and opportunities. Challenges were identified within the current system, including:
- Uneven capacity across the network to:
- Conduct engagement with employers to identify labour market or workforce development needs;
- Engage with delivery providers in coordinating local planning of employment and training services;
- Consistently collect and disseminate accurate and detailed local labour market information.
- Lack of common understanding of roles and responsibilities for local service planning.
The LEPC pilot is intended to address these challenges and strengthen local capacity to address local workforce development needs.
LEPCs are a time-limited pilot and will have no immediate impact on Local Boards and LBS Regional Networks. Local Employment Planning Councils are expected to provide additional resources and capacity to expand local ability to:
- Engage all key actors within the local labour market in service planning;
- Develop detailed knowledge of local service delivery beyond Employment Ontario;
- Act as a hub to promote future pilots and programs that target employers; and,
- Offer increased capacity and autonomy to select, assess and develop project funding agreements to support innovative approaches to local labour market issues.
There is no change to Local Boards and LBS Regional Networks. The government has launched Local Employment Planning Councils as a pilot to test the model in specific communities. Both Local Boards and LBS Regional Networks are encouraged to compete in the Call for Proposals process.
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