Professional and Financial Services Cluster Report

This report examines skills needs within the Professional and Financial Services (PFS) Cluster.

The PFS Cluster was highlighted in the Government White paper New Industry, New Jobs as an area where the UK had a competitive advantage and which offered the potential for growth across global markets. The cluster represents a group of industry strands contained within five Sector Skills Councils.

The report was produced using a combination of desk-based research and a skills foresighting exercise. Desk-based research was used to detail the drivers of change in the cluster and the skills needs.

A consultation exercise was then carried out with a small number of employers, as well as stakeholders, for example professional bodies, from across the cluster. This exercise aimed to validate the cluster by exploring its important supply-chain links, labour market commonalities, and geography. It also explored the future drivers of change in the cluster and the skills implications of these.

The report found that the cluster incorporated a diverse group of professional strands, but that there was a relatively strong commonality across the cluster around the extent to which firms competed for the same top graduate talent. There were also strong inter-dependencies between some cluster strands, however this was not universally true and some strands which were contained within the cluster were more peripheral.