1. Delivering Adult Skills Provision to the Unemployed
Jim Carley, Managing Director, Carley Consult Ltd
Welfare to Work Convention, July 2012

2. Please come and visit us on Stand 43!
Who are Carley Consult?
A market leading support agency specialising in the employability, skills and FE sectors.
Delivered assignments on behalf of more than 70 organisations in this sector since 2007.
Support includes bid services, quality and compliance, recruitment, training, research and evaluation.
Please come and visit us on Stand 43!

3. The New Guide Developed on behalf of AELP and LSIS Published May 2012
Follows on from a national series of workshops
Available free at:
ws/general/details/provide r-guide-a-guide-to- delivering-adult-skills/

4. ASB Funded Colleges & Training Providers
Who is Involved?
Work Programme
Prime Contractors
ASB Funded Colleges & Training Providers

5. What’s it all About?
A recognition that some jobseekers can increase their employability through addressing specific skills needs.
Provides scope for SFA providers with Adult Skills Budget (ASB) allocations to deliver such skills interventions.
Through “Skills Conditionality”, Jobcentre Plus and Work Programme providers can make mandatory referrals.
Aims to complement, rather than compete with, DWP’s “Get Britain Working” measures and the Work Programme.

6. Why is this Important?
Jobcentre Plus and Work Programme prime providers have open access to an alternative funding stream which supports their customers to achieve sustainable jobs. The approach builds towards genuinely integrated employment and skills – enabling jobseekers to benefit from DWP and SFA funded support simultaneously, strengthened through conditional participation.

7. Who is Eligible?
Unemployed ESA-WRAG & JSA Claimants
Other Unemployed, fully funded at your discretion
OLASS Learners
Joint Investment Programme (SFA co-funded)
Providers should check SFA Eligibility Rules for for more specific detail

8. Unit Based Delivery
“Units” are short accredited blocks of skills learning which, when combined, make up wider qualifications.
The premise is that unemployed jobseekers will find “bite-size” unit provision more accomplishable, and then have scope to progress to a full qualification.
A typical unit involves undertaking an average of 30 supervised or “guided” hours of learning.
Over 13,000 different units are in scope - detailed on the Learning Aims Reference Application (LARA).

9. Delivery of Single Units
The Employer
Seeking recruits with a basic level of job readiness for entry level positions
The Learner
Seeking “bite-size” short course provision within their level of capability
Delivery of Fully
Funded
Single Units
The QCF allows providers to develop learning programmes based on single units that make the offer more attractive to unemployed learners and can be tailored specifically to what an employer needs.

10. Examples of Relevant Units
Preparing for an Interview
Applying for a Job
Make and receive Telephone Calls
Introducing the Internet
Developing Confidence for Work
Personal Presentation in the Workplace
Writing a CV

11. How is it Funded?
This is NOT new money, rather a reapportionment of how providers with ASB can use their existing funding.
Recognition that job outcomes and qualifications should not be competing outcomes.
For 2012/13 the SFA has set the level of achievement funding at 20% of the learning aim/framework rate.
Job outcome funding will be piloted using existing funding models, with 10% job outcome funding where a learner enters work without achievement of the learning aim.

12. Delivery in Practice
Pre-employment routeway / sector based academy style models have worked well in some areas.
Building positive relationships with Jobcentre Plus to secure regular “block” referral intakes to provision.
Numeracy, literacy, IT and employability units have generally proved more popular than sector specific courses.
Some positive examples of providers using ASB flexibilities to expand delivery premises, create learning resources, and update their monitoring and tracking systems.

13. Some Challenges to Overcome
Learning curve for ASB providers in working with a new agency (Jobcentre Plus) and a new learner group.
Referral arrangements and volumes from Jobcentre Plus have varied from District to District,
Some duplication and over supply from ASB providers with a broadly similar unit offer to the same Jobcentres,
No funding for short-course entry qualifications often required by employers (e.g. CSCS, FLT, SITO),
Awarding Body costs have resulted in some ASB providers offering full qualifications rather than single units.

14. Your Questions & Feedbackus
@jim_carley
Please visit Carley Consult on Stand 43