Coventry City Council

About Us

Coventry has made significant progress in becoming a higher-skilled city in the last 5 years.

We have driven down the number of residents with no qualifications by 14,700. We have achieved a substantial increase in the number of residents qualified at NVQ2 with 43,700 more residents qualified to NVQ2 or above. We have also made significant progress in becoming a more highly skilled City with 37,000 more residents qualified to NVQ3 or above.

Coventry is a diverse city both in terms of its resident population and its business base. Coventry has the second-highest resident average pay in the WM region and the lowest levels of youth unemployment. There is a wide range of vacancies with particular strengths in the public sector and advanced manufacturing and a growing ‘culture, tourism and leisure’ sector boosted by City of Culture 2021.

Like any major city, Coventry still faces challenges. We trail national averages for skill levels and this strategy considers ways to level up. However, we do not want to improve skill levels for the sake of comparisons and measures. We want Coventry residents to have skills that match the needs of local employers, not only for now but also for the vacancies of the future. We want to ensure learning and skills provision meets the needs of all of Coventry’s communities, is fully inclusive and plays a key role in reducing poverty. We want to build aspiration throughout all educational levels, with Coventry’s young people inspired to learn, seeing clear pathways to the jobs they strive towards.