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Your leadership and management development partner

Supporting you through the changing funding landscape

Funding may be changing but the demand for strong, confident leadership remains.

Whether it’s developing early-career talent, upskilling middle managers, and delivering programmes for senior leaders, organisations require a trusted partner who can offer broader leadership development solutions beyond apprenticeships.

ILM bridges that gap by helping organisations build management capability at every level, with flexible, recognised programmes tailored to your people and goals.

Navigating change in leadership development

Recent funding changes to management apprenticeships have created uncertainty for many organisations. If your leadership development strategy has relied on funded pathways, you may be rethinking what comes next.

Employers still need structured development pathways and trusted recognition for learning, particularly for early and mid-level managers. The question isn’t whether to develop your managers. It’s how, through solutions that are flexible, scalable, and tailored to your organisation.

Organisations that invest in leadership and management development now, through adaptable routes, will be better placed to build the capable, resilient managers they need for the future.

ILM: A consultative partner for leadership skills

ILM works with employers as a long-term development partner. That means we take time to understand your organisation - your challenges, your culture, the managers you have today and the leaders you need tomorrow - and help you find the right solution.

Flexible pathways

ILM offers multiple routes when it comes to leadership training for managers, allowing full flexibility to suit your needs. Whether it’s regulated qualifications, our assessment service, short courses or bespoke consultancy delivered through City & Guilds, you can choose the combination that works for your organisation.

End-to-end support

ILM helps organisations to find the right leadership and management solutions from regulated qualifications, assessment services, quality assurance and progression planning. We support the full management development journey, not just the qualification at the end of it.

Recognised and trusted

ILM qualifications are valued by employers and learners across every sector, from first-line managers to senior leaders. They carry weight with employees and add credibility to organisations. In fact, 94% of ILM learners are in employment, giving employers confidence that ILM qualifications lead somewhere.

‘The ILM brand really means to me a mark of quality. So being able to offer our management development programmes with ILM gives us the quality that we need and a quality partner as well.’

Sarah Griffiths (Senior Learning and Development Business Partner)

Your Housing Group

A new cohort of team leaders, a gap in middle management capability, or a senior leadership team navigating complex change – whatever your starting point, ILM has a relevant route to cater to your needs. From qualifications to accreditation and short courses, ILM’s portfolio of leadership solutions are designed to work for you, regardless of the business need or leadership level.

Leadership and management qualifications

ILM’s core strength is in developing the managers who drive day-to-day performance: team leaders, operational managers, and middle managers. Our qualifications support practising and developing managers, building capability at every stage of their career.

Coaching and mentoring qualifications

Building a coaching culture within your organisation is one of the most effective ways to improve performance, support retention and develop leadership at scale. ILM’s coaching and mentoring qualifications are designed to develop others as well as themselves, building practical coaching skills for managers that transfer directly to the workplace.

Apprenticeships

Leadership and management apprenticeships remain a strong option in England for privately funded development, particularly where structured, work-based learning is a priority. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland apprenticeships continue to be fully funded.

Assured – training validation and quality assurance

Assured is City & Guilds validation and quality assurance service for internally developed training. As well as showcasing commitment to L&D excellence, Assured enables learners to be recognised with digital credentials from our globally respected brands.

Short courses

These three-hour prewritten courses are scalable, cost-effective short courses that meet growing demand for impactful learning programmes through their employer networks. With options including Coaching Skills, Managing Effective Change, and Enabling High Performance, these courses have been built with employees in mind and address skills gaps that employers have specifically asked for.

Accreditation alignment

ILM maps your existing programmes to its rigorous standards so leaders and managers can also achieve a fully recognised ILM qualification and a digital credential to showcase their achievements.

Benefits of management skills training for your organisation

The need for capable managers doesn't go away when funding changes. If anything, it becomes more important to invest directly and intentionally at both employee and organisational level. 88% of organisations see immediate positive business impact following ILM training, and it's not hard to see why.

When a manager is developed well, their team feels it. Work gets done better, people stick around longer, and the kind of growth that actually shows up in board-level conversations becomes possible. Organisations that develop their managers consistently outperform those that don't across the metrics that matter most to senior leaders.

Productivity and performance: Managers who are fully trained and supported tend to be more productive, which in turn leads to better performance across the board.

Better retention: Development signals investment in their future. Plus, people stay for good managers.

Sustainable growth: Managers who can coach, communicate, and lead change give organisations the platform to grow.

Why ILM? Trusted expertise, real-world impact

ILM has been developing leaders and managers for more than 50 years, working with organisations across every sector and at every stage of growth. That breadth of experience is what makes us a partner, not just a provider and it's why, when the landscape shifts, organisations come back to ILM.

Part of City & Guilds, one of the world’s most trusted skills and learning organisations.

ILM qualifications are recognised and valued by employers across every sector.

A network of approved centres and training providers, giving you access to quality delivery wherever you are.

Decades of expertise in the early and middle manager space, where leadership development has the greatest day-to-day impact.

Ready for the next step?

If you’re looking for a flexible leadership and management training solution that works for your organisation, then we’re here to help you navigate change.

Get in touch

Leadership and management training solutions for employers