Stoke Staffs LEP

About the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

The Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) brings businesses and local authorities together to drive economic growth, create jobs and raise skills levels.

Formed in 2011, the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP supports businesses in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire by working in partnership with organisations across the public and private sectors to drive growth and economic success.

  • Through our Growth Hub, we provide support to help businesses grow and innovate, creating jobs and economic opportunities.
  • Through our partnerships with education institutions and skills providers, we are ensuring businesses can find the talent they need to prosper while also developing the workforce of the future.
  • Through our investment in transport, training facilities, enterprise zones and other infrastructure, we are enabling communities across our region to thrive and making Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire an attractive place for people to live, work and do business.

We also engage with businesses through targeted insight gathering activity to ensure that business needs, ideas and aspirations help to shape and influence business support and economic growth locally.

Embedded in the local economy and powered by a Board of passionate private and public sector leaders, the partnership has unlocked over £1 billion in investment and supported more than 25,000 businesses in the local area through our Growth Hub.

In 2021/22, we continued to work in close partnership with local councils, education institutions, industry bodies and other organisations across the public and private sectors to deliver a positive impact on the economy. To learn more about our achievements over the past 12 months and the different LEP-supported projects that are helping transform Stoke-On-Trent and Staffordshire, read our interactive Annual Report.

Our Region

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire boasts an incomparable quality of life – from rolling countryside and beautiful rural communities to vibrant urban centres that are bursting with innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial zeal. Coupled with our globally renowned educational institutions, quality of housing and space for businesses to incubate and prosper, our region continues to build on its heritage to be an attractive place to live, work, study and invest.

It is centrally located in the heart of the Midlands with good road, rail and air links. Home to around 40,000 businesses, ranging from small and micro enterprises to global leaders in their field, it has a strong foundation in industry including ceramics and advanced manufacturing.

The region has a single inward investment team, Make it Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, and an Education, Employment and Skills Board, which is working with education providers and businesses to address the skills gap, while Destination Staffordshire is working with tourism businesses to market the county as a place to work and visit.