ESF/SFA EMPLOYEES SUPPORT IN SKILLS - Opportunities to Partner with Skills Training UK

May 2016

Skills Training UK are currently preparing to bid for ESF/SFA Employees Support in Skills in LondonWest, London North & East, and London South,released on Thursday 5thMay.

ITT 30037: London

Career Progression for Low Skilled and Low Paid Parents and Other Workers

  • Skills Support for the Workforce, Basic skills provision
  • Skills Support and re-training for employment

Service Aims

Services must support people, particularly parents and lone parents in low paid and/or unstable employment to increase their wage and gain more stable jobs that lift them out of poverty.

Eligibility

The primary participants will be low paid parents, particularly lone parents. The Services should aim to recruit a minimum of 45% of participants who are parents, 30% of whom should be lone parents.

Priority Groups

  • Participants from ethnic minorities: 56%
  • Female participants: 45%
  • Participants with a disability or health problems: 25%
  • Participants without basic skills: 21%
  • Participants aged 50+: 20%

Specific Support

  • A tailored individual support package to each participant, which should include mentoring and/or face to face coaching to employees through the Personal Adviser. The support package must address each participant’s assessed needs and may include focusing on increasing skills levels and working with employers to determine different progression opportunities, or providing Personal Adviser support to build confidence and motivation.
  • Initial assessment must address the participant’s current situation, i.e. housing, work history and ‘Better off Calculations’ and understand why the participant has remained in low-paid employment.
  • A range of personalised progression outcomes must be agreed with wage progression always the primary goal. An individual progression plan mapping out how to achieve the progression must be agreed with the participant.
  • The Services must provide any type of regulated (achieving a qualification) and non-regulated activities that the participant may benefit from in order to achieve wage progression (e.g. coaching or mentoring, participation in workshops; development of soft skills such as basic skills, employability skills; work shadowing).
  • Participants who have English as a second language may benefit from support from the National Recognition Information Centre (NARIC)
  • The Services may provide accredited units of learning at Level 3 and above in subject areas, where these do not lead to a full qualification.
  • If participants are identified via their employer, the Services should establish any skill needs on an individual or sector basis that will meet the needs of the business; aids organisational development and helps individuals to progress.
  • Engagement at senior/board level, with a subsequent focus on supervisors of low-paid staff and an Organisational Needs Analysis could prove to be key in the process.
  • Consideration must be given to providing support activities outside of working hours, and therefore, to suitable delivery locations and the availability of childcare support.

STUK will be bidding for three of the four London functional economic areas (FEAs):

  • Lot 2.London West: (Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow); £2.37M
  • Lot 3.London North & East: (Barking and Dagenham, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest); £3.46M
  • Lot 4.London South: (Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton); £2.07M.

Please complete a separate template for each of the three FEAs in which you are interested.

The tenders must be submitted by 17:00 on Monday 6thJune 2016.

Timetable

Task / Deadline
Notification of tender results / 29th July 2016
Day 10 mandatory standstill period ends / 10thAugust 2016
Contracts issued from / 15th August 2016
Delivery commences from / 22nd August 2016
Contract completion by / 31stMarch 2018

These contracts will run for a period of 19months – there is the possibility of additional funding if it should become available.

If you are interested in being a partner with us for these tenders, please complete the further information questions below and return the form to by 1pm on Friday 20th May.

Many thanks

ESF/SFA EMPLOYEES SUPPORT IN SKILLS– Further Information Questions

Name of Organisation:

Which area(s)

(delete as appropriate):

Contact name:

Contact details (telephone number and e-mail address):

Please complete ALL questions

1. Please give specific examples of your employer links and how you have worked with them to provide work shadowing, employee upskilling, apprenticeships, employment opportunities and career/in-work progression pathways. Please detail any experience you have of providing Organisational Training Needs Analysis. (max. 200 words):

2. What regulated activities (achieving a qualification) are you able to deliver for this project? Please remember that the Services may also provide accredited units of learning at Level 3 and above in subject areas, where these do not lead to a full qualification.(max. 250 words):

1. Please put details below of:

3. What non-regulated services or activities are you able to deliver for this project and which ones are complementary to existing ESF and mainstream provision. Please include: needs/skills assessments, Better off Calculations, signposting, IAG, mentoring, face to face coaching, confidence/motivation building, English & Maths, ESOL, employability skills training, careers IAG,progression planning, health/mental health IAG. (max. 250 words):

1. Please put details below of:

3. How soon could you start to deliver? (Proposed start date is 22nd August 2016):

4 a) Address(es) of existing premises (if you have none please explain how

you will deliver and in which part(s) of the FEA)

b) Staff numbers and infrastructures in each location:

5. What relevant experience do you have working with the target participant groups (e.g. parents/lone parents) and individuals from priority groups (e.g. over 50s; ethnic minorities; female; no basic skills; with a disability/health problems)?Pleasegive details of engagement and delivery of skills and other support delivered, how you identified needs and barriers to learning/employment, specific contracts you have delivered and your track record with them. (max. 200 words):

6. Are there any specialist or local organisations/stakeholders with whom you already work and, if so, for which particular services?(e.g. local authority employer engagement teams, FE colleges, training providers (e.g. Work Programme), Jobcentre Plus, National Careers Service or National Apprenticeship Service, Social Landlords, Community Centres/hubs, Children’s centres, libraries or nurseries, VCS organisations, Employers within Business Improvement Districts)(max. 150 words)

7. What are the existing local needs in your area (specific wards, roads and estates)? Please include: provision and employer needs, specific priority groups, etc. and demonstrate your local knowledge in areas where you wish to deliver. (max 250 words):

Please complete and return this form to y 1pm on Friday 20thMay.

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