This paper draws together two major strands in current Government policies for higher education -- the promotion of collaborative partnerships in higher education and the widening participation agenda. Both of these also contribute to the enhancement of workforce development. The paper explores the interface between these two policies through a case study of an employer-led curriculum development for a group of people who had hitherto been excluded from higher education. The case in question is a collaboration between a higher education institution and a charitable organization whose aim was to develop their well-established in-house training into a diploma of higher education. This study draws on evidence from documentary analysis, participant observation and semi-structured interviews of the major stakeholders in the programme over a period of two years. It explores the motivation of the partners for engaging in collaborative curriculum development both at an individual and institutional level and the principles underlying their cooperation. The findings offer insights on the perceived benefits of collaborative partnerships on a number of dimensions and concludes by proposing a model that could underpin and enhance collaborative partnerships in the future.