Connecting Wales - Work, Health and Skills

Employability support in Wales is entering a significant period of transformation presenting a major opportunity for Wales to strengthen how services are designed and delivered to provide support in a way that truly reflects the needs of its communities and workforce.

For employability professionals, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity to reflect on what high-quality, practitioner-led delivery looks like in a devolved context.

Learning and Work Institute (L&W), in partnership with Serco, has undertaken new research examining how Wales can strengthen employment outcomes and close long‑standing gaps affecting women, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, and individuals with long‑term health conditions. Their final report provides practical, evidence‑based options for Welsh Government, commissioners, and frontline employability practitioners to help build a more inclusive and effective system.

Hosted by Christian Morris MIEP, Learning and Projects Consultant at the IEP, and joined by Joanne Powell, Contract Director at Serco, and Michelle Matheron, Director for Wales at Learning and Work Institute, this session will explore what the findings mean for professional practice, workforce capability and organisational improvement in Wales.
It will provide a space for practitioners and leaders to reflect on how high-quality, inclusive employability support can be delivered during a period of change.

This webinar will:

• Present the findings of the research, with L&W sharing key insights and recommendations.
  
  
• Hear from Serco on why this work is critical for Wales’ labour market and the wider employability sector.
  
  
• Provide space for Q&A and discussion, giving attendees the opportunity to explore the implications of the research and ask questions directly to the speakers.

About our speakers:

Joanne Powell - Director for Wales at Serco, leading the delivery of the Restart Scheme across the region. She has been with Serco since the programme’s inception in 2021 and has played a key role in shaping its performance, partnerships, and impact.

With over 30 years of experience in the Welfare to Work sector, Joanne has managed a wide range of employability programmes funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, Welsh Government, and the Big Lottery to name a few. Her background also includes significant work in the Skills sector, particularly supporting NEET young people to re‑engage with education, training, and employment.

Joanne’s career spans the public, private, and third sectors, giving her a uniquely rounded perspective on workforce development, community impact, and collaborative delivery. She is known for her commitment to high‑quality services, effective stakeholder relationships, and improving life chances for individuals across Wales.

Michelle Matheron - Director for Wales responsible for leading the work of L&W in Wales and our relationships with Welsh Government, Medr and a range of stakeholders and funders. Michelle joined L&W in January 2026 and was previously Assistant Director, External Affairs at The Open University in Wales. In that role she led the OU in Wales’ work on policy and public affairs, communications, research impact, and civic mission.

Michelle has also worked for a number of Welsh third sector organisations in policy and public affairs roles. This included working at Wales Council for Voluntary Action delivering a lottery-funded project helping the third sector in Wales to understand and engage with politics and decision making.

Outside of work Michelle is a trustee of two charities that support families with experience of premature birth and tries to use her experience as a parent of a premature baby to advocate for improvements in perinatal mental health and neonatal care.