GM Finance and Professional Services Network

GM Finance and Professional Service Network: How Greater Manchester Builds a Future-Fit Finance & Professional Services Workforce.

Closing the FPS Skills Gap
How Greater Manchester Builds 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.

What You’ll Explore
Through a keynote, panel discussion and facilitated table conversations, attendees will examine:

• How AI is changing roles, skills and decision-making in professional services
• What “future-fit” leadership looks like in an AI-enabled workplace
• The human capabilities that technology cannot replace
• Practical actions firms can take now to close skills gaps
• How SMEs and larger employers are experiencing and responding to change differently

The session is designed to be interactive, practical and highly relevant to real-world challenges.

What You’ll Take Away

• A clearer understanding of how AI and automation are affecting FPS roles and skills
• Practical insight into the human and leadership capabilities that matter most
• Real examples of how other firms are responding to workforce challenges
• New perspectives on developing talent, managers and teams in uncertain conditions
• Useful prompts to take back into leadership, people and strategy conversations
• Connections with peers, advisers and support organisations in the same sector

Who Should Attend?
This event is designed to be accessible and relevant to organisations of different sizes and levels of workforce maturity, including:

• Financial and Professional Services employers (SMEs and larger firms)
• Business owners, partners and senior managers
• HR, people, talent and workforce development leads
• Recruitment agencies with an FPS focus
• FE and HE providers
• Skills, employment and economic development stakeholders

Delivered in Partnership
This event is delivered in partnership with:

• Stockport Council – championing inclusive economic growth and business resilience
• HURST Accountants – hosts of the event and advisers to owner-managed businesses and SMEs
• Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce – representing and connecting the region’s business community

The session will be facilitated by experienced sector and workforce development professionals, with contributions from senior leaders and subject-matter experts from across the Financial and Professional Services ecosystem.

Agenda
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 - 11:30 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.

Your place on the workshop is not automatically confirmed and you will receive an email from BGHworkshops@growthco.uk once it is.

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