West London Whole Place Community Budgets
Work Stream Business Case Summary Report as at April 2014
Work Stream Business Case/Report Summary – Skills Escalator to secure employment
Name of Work Stream / Skills Escalator to secure employmentLead Borough / Hounslow
Borough Work Stream Lead / Liz Meagher
Borough Sponsor (Director) / Brendon Walsh
Objectives (s) / To reduce the disparity between the high skills requirements of jobs available locally and the lower skill levels of many of the resident workforce
Anticipated Benefits / Benefits are financial, social and economic and include:
- Increased earnings for employed people with skills at level 3 or below
- Improved individual employment prospects / progression
•Increased participation, health and well-being
- An end to or reduction in dependence on housing and in-work benefits leading to public expenditure savings
Target Group (s) / Employed people with skills at level 3 or below, in full or part-time employment or self-employed, living in the privately rented sector and in receipt of Local Housing Allowance (LHA); and those who are employed and in Local Authority Temporary Accommodation
No. of Beneficiaries / 6,900 people on housing benefits over five years and x no. of people who are employed and in Temporary Accommodation ( tbc)
Programme Partners / Individuals, WLA boroughs, DWP, NCS, PSTN, GLA/LEP, WLN, WLB, employers, colleges and other registered providers
Summary of Propositionand Transformation
The proposal is to provide support foremployed people with low skills to enable them to progress. In 2012, for the first time, with just over half of the 13 million people in poverty, more working households were living in poverty in the UK than non-working ones. The risk of poverty is much higher for children in couple families where only one parent works. Those who have low pay frequently become stuck in the labour market and, by December 2013, the majority of Local Housing Allowance claims in London were expected to be from working households. Low skilled / low income people are not generally a current public policy priority.
While there are a number of opportunities currently available to employed people with low skills including advice and guidance, paid for / co-funded skills training and some child care support, access is highly dependent on an individual’s motivation to find their way through to opportunities in the system: individuals who may be struggling with the demands of work, caring and household finances.
The Skills Escalator Model is based on active targeting of the client group with wrap around support. It incorporates several elements: an online service with access for the target client group to an Adviser; referral to an Adviser by the local authority’s housing benefits team; a voluntary programme backed by a joint commitment to an action plan once a client engages with an Adviser; and employer participation to enhance the outcomes that can be achieved.
Advisers will be action plan focused and provide a personalised approach linked to wrap around support for all the issues and barriers that an individual might face - skills, childcare, etc. The programme will focus on increasing the soft and hard skills, or qualifications, needed to progress; brokerage with employers, including work shadowing and other opportunities.
Summary of “Offers
We will test a model that can be replicated and scaled in other localities where low skills andlow wages have an adverse impact on the potential for economic growth. The model will deliver savings to the public purse through enabling individuals to increase their earnings and end or reduce their dependence on housing and in-work benefits; savings to local authorities in the longer term by increasing council tax income,reducing council tax arrears, reducing the costs of temporary accommodation and discretionary housing payments; an increase in the number of Adult Apprenticeships by at least 690 on current projections; ‘replacement’ job entry level opportunities behind those who progress in thelabour market; and data that will be valuable to the roll out of DWP’s work with employed peoplewho, in due course, will be recipients of Universal Credits.
Summary of “Asks”
In order to make the Skills Escalator programme work successfully, we have a number of key asks of partners, some of which are summarised below. These asks are still in development through our dialogue with partners.
We will ask all partners to include information on / links to the programme on their websites with course and other partner provision to be detailed on the Skills Escalator programme website.
We will ask the NCS to make information on eligibility for learning and the funding implications clearer; and work jointly with LB Hounslow as an early adopter.
We have asked the SFA to review and make eligibility for learning funding clearer; extend advanced learning loans to the programme client group on courses at level 2 and below and on courses such as fork lift truck driving and the public vehicle carriage licence (which have good income returns) on a pilot basis.
We are asking for SFA/BAS to give consideration to trialling a bursary scheme for learners who are not eligible for loans or support for course fees because they are employed and seeking to undertake a course at below level 3.
We would ask colleges and other registered providers to clarify eligibility rules; consider using their Discretionary Learning Funds to support up-skilling below level 3; and provide information on the availability of pre-entry ESOL courses. We wish to work with colleges / providers on the pan-London ESF ‘Support for the Workforce’ programme and future ESF programmes.
We would ask JCP / DWP to share data with us to prevent duplication. We would like to work with them on customers who churn between work and unemployment to maximise the benefit of the new ‘claimant commitment support arrangements of JCP and Skills Escalator Advisers; pilot, test and evaluate the programme and consider contributing to the costs, given the mutual benefits. We would like to see devolution of the funding for Work Programme ‘graduates’ in work to the Skills Escalator programme.
We would like to explore with the LEP how co-commissioning of the ESF 2014-2020 programme could support this proposal.
Where are we now?
Following a broad partner forum and workshops in July / August 2013 to discuss and agree high level growth related themes, work began in earnest on proposals around skills in late October 2013. Three propositions were tested with stakeholders and an options appraisal undertaken resulting in this proposal being taken forward to the business case stage. The detailed co-design business case development process has included research and analysis of the ‘as is’ customer journey, the barriers and issues which need to be addressed to improve the journey – based on customer and provider insight and the benefits which will derive through transformation and cost benefit analysis (CBA). Over 5 years, using the ‘New Economy’ model the draft CBA shows a positive gain of 1.88 on the fiscal case and a payback period of one year, an economic benefit case of 1.88 and non-fiscal benefits of 5.68 for every pound spent. A further option with temporary accommodation savings is being explored. We have defined our ‘asks’ and ‘offers’ and the Growth Programme Board has reviewed the CBA.
Challenges
Resources and working with such a wide range of partners over a large geographical area are perhaps the main challenges in the development and implementation of the propositions. Recent funding from the DCLG of £150,000 is timely and is providing the WLA six councils with additional resources to take the business case to the next ‘detailed implementation planning’ stage.
While collaboration between the West London boroughs has shown its worth in delivering a number of public services improvement and efficiency programmes over many years, good partnership working takes time. And with such a wide range of new partners the WLA’s membership of the PSTN is adding value in terms of facilitating the sharing of experience and learning and dialogue with a number of government departments and other areas doing similar things.
Three crucial challenges for the Skills Escalator programme are developing the funding for the Adviser Service although co-commissioning of ESF may be a way forward, data sharing and the support for course fees for learners.
What next?
There is work to be done to incorporate the costs and benefits of including employed people in temporary accommodation in the Skills Escalator; the results of business engagement programme being undertaken; the costs of the ‘ask’ to extend advanced learning loans or offer a bursary; and more detailed implementation planning of the delivery model.
Key actions for the first nine months of 2014/15 include the production of a full implementation plan, confirmation of borough and other partner / stakeholder support, identification of wrap around services, agreements in place for data sharing, and the development and contracting of the on-line service. It should be possible to begin an Adviser only service based on deriving customers from screening contacts on pre-determined criteria from revenue and benefits teams in each borough early in the New Year (January to March 2015). The full service could be available from the first quarter 2015/16 (April to June 2015).
Contact: Judy Flight, WLA Assistant Director of Economic Development at