Background

The term Pound Plus is used by the Skills Funding Agency to describe the added value required to supplement the existing community learning income streams to widen the offer to people who are disadvantaged and can not afford to pay fees. The Adult & Community Learning (ACL) Service is free to determine local definitions and supporting evidence trails.

The Adult & Community Learning Service aims:

The aim of Staffordshire Adult & Community Learning Service is to maximise the value of public funding and secure increasing levels of Pound Plus to enable it to deliver a quality community learning programme that meets the needs of Staffordshire’s individuals, families and communities. The community learning grant is only considered as a contribution to the overall costs of delivering the programmes and there is an expectation that the council as the grant recipient and its partners will add value to this funding pot by attracting extra income, cutting costs and reinvesting to widen the offer to people who are disadvantaged and can not afford to pay fees.

The ACL Service is developing Locality Working Groups to provide the forum for local providers to investigate ways of securing added value and investment.

The Role of the Providers:

·  The ACL Service encourages its providers to engage in the locality working groups to work collaboratively to determine local priorities and to investigate ways of securing added value and investment to supplement existing income streams.

·  Providers are requested to collate data and submit returns to the Council each year and where applicable provide details of how it has utilised fee income to widen participation.

Pound Plus definitions:

Pound Plus is considered within three categories: Direct income, Cost savings and Value for money.

Pound Plus Category / Examples
Direct Income / §  Fee income from learners
§  Sponsorship
§  Grants and tenders
§  Sales from products or services
Cost Savings / §  Savings in accommodation
§  Use of volunteers to support learning
§  Savings in staffing through partnerships
§  Shared services - back office functions
Value for Money / §  Efficiency of curriculum – avoiding duplicated provision
§  Effectiveness of curriculum – new subjects, better progression opportunities leading to increased learner participation
§  Setting up self organised groups

Pound Plus Provider returns 2015/16

Pound Plus Category / All Community Learning programmes / Community Learning Trust Responsiveness Fund / Total
Direct Income / £177k / £11k / £188k
Cost savings / £290k / £13k / £303k
Value for money / £4k / £2k / £6k
Total / £471k / £26k / £497k

Note. The Pound Plus values returned from Council funded Community Learning Groups have not been included in the summary totals as the data return was not considered sufficiently robust due to inconsistency in the completion of the returns.

Pound Plus 2014/15 – 2015/16

Pound Plus Category / 2014/15 Actuals / 2015/16 Actuals
Direct Income / £268k / £188k
Cost Savings / £249k / £303k
Value for Money / nil / £6k
Total Pound Plus / £517k / £497k
Total CL/CLTRF allocation / £1,238k / £1,151k
Pound Plus as a percentage of CL/CLTRF allocation / 42% / 43%

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ACL pound plus statement 2016/17 – V1