A £150,000 cash injection to help improve people's skills in Worcester has been agreed by council chiefs.

Worcester City Council's Labour leadership has agreed a new four-year scheme to help boost employment by upskilling people.

It comes as a new in-house report warns about too many residents lacking the skills to compete in the jobs market, saying it could "become a barrier to growth" for Worcester and "hold back its development".

It also insisted that the "do nothing option" is "not viable", stating that the council has a civic duty to help.

The numbers of jobseekers in the city remain near the lowest on record, with figures for June showing how 995 people were claiming unemployment benefit.

But many of the people still out of work are in the very hard-to-reach bracket, without the proper qualifications to get on and secure a job.

The money will be tied into a project with the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and spent in various ways including contributing to apprenticeships, holding consortium-style talks with firms and supporting employers to take on more graduates.

It was backed during a cabinet meeting, where Labour councillors said they wanted more university graduates in particular to stay in the city.

Councillor Geoff Williams, cabinet member for economic prosperity and growth, said: "The city needs to improve its retention of graduates to help sustain the local economy, and help the workforce.

"It has three main themes - workforce planning, the relationship between schools and businesses, and increasing employability.

"It's a very good piece of work."

Councillor Roger Berry, a fellow cabinet member, said: "It's important we recognise no community should be left behind."

Councillor Joy Squires, the deputy leader, added: "This really is very welcome indeed - it's important we recognise people will have to be more flexible when it comes to jobs.

"People may have to get used to doing several different jobs during their lifetime, possibly dozens in some cases, and this will go some way to helping with that.

"It's a significant amount of money which should make a real difference."

The report which was endorsed by the cabinet said: "The risk to Worcester if it fails to invest and address the issues around skills is that the lack of appropriate skills will become a barrier to growth for the city, reduce its competitiveness and hold back its development.

"There is a reputational risk to the city council for failing to have a strategy to tackle the skills gap."