Stockport businesses urged to share insights into work experience provision

Stockport businesses are being invited to share their insights into work experience provision across Greater Manchester, to ensure programmes benefit both businesses and young people.

As part of ongoing work to improve educational pathways into work in Greater Manchester, the city-region is developing a new workstream to expand access to work experience for young people in Alternative Provision settings not reached by existing support in mainstream schools.

The Aspiring Pathways programme is being developed in partnership with the Careers & Enterprise Company. It looks to co-design an ambitious, inclusive and employer-led model that reflects the realities of businesses across Greater Manchester while ensuring every young person, regardless of their educational pathway, has the opportunity to build confidence, develop employability skills and make meaningful connections with the world of work.

To support this work, GMCA is inviting employers, industry representatives and Enterprise Advisers to complete a 15 minutes insights survey. The findings will directly inform the strategic development of the programme, helping its designers to better understand:

• Current levels of employer engagement with Alternative Provision settings
• Perceived opportunities and barriers
• The support employers would value
• How to develop a model that works for both businesses and young people

Whether your organisation has extensive experience working with Alternative Provision settings or is completely new to this area, your views are equally valuable. GMCA is keen to capture a broad range of perspectives to help ensure the programme reflects the realities of employers across Greater Manchester.

The survey will remain open until Friday 28th August 2026 and can be filled in online here.