GM Finance & Professional Services Network

Closing the FPS Skills Gap – How Greater Manchester Build a Future-Fit Finance & Professional Services Workforce

Financial and Professional Services (FPS) organisations across Greater Manchester are navigating rapid and sustained change. Advances in AI, shifting client expectations, regulatory pressures and persistent skills shortages are reshaping roles, leadership expectations and ways of working across the sector.

This interactive breakfast event brings together business leaders, people professionals and sector stakeholders from Stockport and the wider Greater Manchester FPS community to explore what a future-fit workforce looks like in practice – and, crucially, how organisations can take realistic, practical steps to close these skills gaps.

The session is designed to be highly participatory, combining short speaker inputs, a panel discussion, and facilitated round-table conversations. Insights and perspectives shared during the session will help inform the development of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Finance & Professional Services Sector Development Plan, ensuring that regional priorities are grounded in real business experience. Networking is a core part of the event, creating space for meaningful peer connections, shared learning, and follow-up conversations.

Featuring expert perspectives, real-world examples and peer discussion, the focus is on practical insight and actions that can be applied across organisations of different sizes and levels of workforce maturity. Attendees will leave with a clearer view of emerging skills and leadership needs, and a stronger understanding of how to build capability, resilience and long-term competitiveness in a changing FPS landscape.  And hopefully many new excellent connections and potential partners too.

This event also marks the first in a planned series of FPS sector events, designed to support ongoing dialogue, collaboration and action across Greater Manchester.

08:30 – 09:00 Breakfast and informal networking
09:00 – 10:30 Interactive session: speaker insights, panel discussion and facilitated round-table conversations
10:30 – 11:00 Informal reflections and networking

As this event is fully-funded, businesses are subject to funders’ eligibility criteria. If your place is confirmed, you will receive an email from us with further details.

• Businesses with a Greater Manchester trading address.
• Sole trader, micro business, small and medium-sized enterprise, or large business.
• Social enterprises where these engage in economic activity.