BRIDGEND COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL
REPORT TO CABINET
11 AUGUST 2009
REPORT OF THE CORPORATE DIRECTOR WELLBEING
“BRIDGES INTO WORK” AND “WORKING SKILLS FOR ADULTS”
EUROPEAN CONVERGENCE PROJECTS
1.
Purpose of Report
1.1
To update Cabinet on the “Bridges into Work” and “Working Skills for
Adults” projects, previously reported on in December 2008 by the
Corporate Director - Communities. These projects are now the
responsibility of the Corporate Director – Wellbeing, in view of the close
link with the Adult Community Learning (ACL) Service.
1.2
To advise Cabinet of the risks associated with the matched funding and
the measures being implemented to mitigate these risks in view of the
significant benefits of delivering the projects in the Bridgend area.
1.3
To advise Cabinet of the impact “Bridges into Work” and “Working
Skills for Adults” will have on Adult Community Learning provision and
the measures planned to lessen the impact for existing students who
do not qualify as beneficiaries of these projects.
1.4
To seek Cabinet approval to continue participation in these projects.
2.
Connection to Corporate Improvement Plan/Other Corporate
Priority
2.1
Under the West Wales and the Valleys: European Social Fund
Operational Programme 2007-2013, the Bridgend Learning and Skills
Network has overseen via its Convergence Programme Board the
strategic development of the Bridgend aspect of the six Valleys project
that is Bridges into Work. The project will establish a clear, distinctive
programme for increasing employment and tackling economic inactivity
in the County Borough, building upon the Community Strategy and a
number of the Council’s corporate priority themes as follows:
− Creating learning communities
− Children today, adults tomorrow
− Valuing our valleys
− A diverse and sustainable economy
− Supporting our disadvantaged communities
2.2
Increasing skills and levels of economic activity are important themes
of the Bridgend Corporate Strategy, the Children and Young People’s
plan, the Health Social Care and Wellbeing Strategy, the Council’s
Economic Strategy, and the Bridgend County Borough Unitary
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Development Plan. This project will be particularly important in helping
to meet the action plans within the regeneration strategy for Bridgend
County Borough and links to the main priorities of the Bridgend
Regeneration and Environment Partnership and the Learning and Skills
Network.
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Background
3.1
“Bridges into Work” is a Priority 2 ESF Convergence programme aimed
at engaging and up-skilling those furthest from the job market to gain
employment. It is a joint project involving six local authorities in SE
Wales (Bridgend, Torfaen, Caerphilly, RCT, Merthyr and Blaenau
Gwent) with Torfaen CBC as the lead sponsor. The project received
WEFO approval in November 2008 and runs for 3 years from January
2009 to December 2011. WEFO have indicated that an extension of a
further 3 years through to December 2014 will be considered
dependant on the performance of the project. Appendix A gives an
outline project overview of “Bridges into Work”. “Working Skills for
Adults” is a Priority 3 ESF Convergence project designed to assist
people already in work to improve their skills. It is designed to operate
in conjunction with “Bridges into Work” and involves the same six local
authority areas but encompasses Further Education Colleges, including
Bridgend College, as well as local authorities. Torfaen will again be
taking the lead. “Working skills for Adults” has yet to receive approval
from WEFO, but this is expected by September 2009.
3.2
Bridgend County Borough Council’s participation in these projects is
underpinned by match funding from various sources. “Bridges into
Work” has been allocated match funding totalling £1,386.468 over
three years which provides access to £1,676,604 grant, giving total
project funding of £3,063,072. The “Working Skills for Adults” budget is
still under development but will involve approximately £320,000 match
funding accessing £430,000 grant, giving total project funding of
£750,000. Details of current match funding arrangements are set out in
4.1., below.
3.3
ESF grant is accessible only by meeting project targets. Targets for
Bridgend for Bridges into Work over the three-year span of the project
are 2562 persons engaged, of whom 45% (1153) must gain
qualifications through taking part in a learning activity. One fifth (512) of
the total beneficiaries engaged must obtain employment. Appendix B
gives a detailed beneficiary profile for the project. Targets for “Working
Skills for Adults” are still under development but will involve around 600
beneficiaries. The project funding is used in two main ways to enable
these targets to be met – firstly, to employ development workers to
engage with potential beneficiaries and to direct these to appropriate
learning projects and ultimately jobs, and, secondly, to deliver learning
and skills courses through the Council’s Adult Community Learning
service.
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3.4
The Bridges into Work partnership between the six local authorities is
governed by an agreement entered into on 5th January 2009 which sets
out the contractual obligations of the five joint sponsors of the project Bridgend, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr and RCT - to each other
and to the lead sponsor Torfaen as regards compliance with the terms
of the grant. Torfaen, as lead sponsor, has responsibility for
compliance with the terms and conditions of the grant with WEFO on
behalf of the whole partnership and all contact with WEFO regarding
the project must be conducted through Torfaen CBC. A similar
agreement will be entered into for Working Skills for Adults when this
receives approval.
3.5
As a result of DCELLS funding for Adult Community Learning being
matched into the two projects there will be an impact on amount and
types of Adult Community Learning delivery available from 2009/10
onwards to persons not eligible for these projects. This is in line with a
national move towards more skills based adult learning provision.
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Current Situation
4.1
The following tables show the current 3 year match funding profile for
Bridges into Work:
Source
DCELLS franchise ACL
DCELLS direct ACL
Communities First
LAP/NAP
BCBC “Cyberlink”
CyMAL grant
TOTAL
Revised match funding
£358,713
£202,755
£624,000
£36,000
£81,000
£84,000
£1,386,468
The proposed match funding profile for “Working Skills for Adults” is:
Source
DCELLS franchise ACL
DCELLS direct ACL
TOTAL
4.2
Funding (3 years)
£240,000
£136,000
£376,000
In May 2009 the DCELLS franchise ACL match funding came under
threat due to a proposal by Bridgend College to withdraw the whole of
the DCELLS funding it provides to Adult Community Learning through a
franchise agreement. This would have reduced the match funding
available by £358,713 (26%). The impact on Working Skills for Adults
would have been more significant as the DCELLS franchise funding
constitutes over 64% of the total proposed match funding. However,
agreement has now been reached with Bridgend College to allow
£180,000 ACL franchise funding to continue, but guaranteed for one
year only. This will be sufficient to enable Bridges into Work to continue
for the time being and Working Skills for Adults to progress to approval
stage, albeit the latter at a reduced level.
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4.3
Virtually all the match funding identified is from external sources and is
to some extent vulnerable to actions beyond the Council’s control. A
small element of match funding comes from the Library Service’s core
Cyberlink budget. Match funding availability is also now affected by the
late operational start of the project due to delays in appointing the
project team and uncertainties arising from Bridgend College’s financial
plans. No learning delivery has taken place during the first two quarters
January to March and April to June 2009 and therefore DCELLS
funding for this period is not able to be matched, although if delivery
can be increased in the second two quarters of year one some ground
may be made up.. This will increase the difficulty of achieving match
funding and output targets in the more limited timeframe.
4.4
Appendix C gives estimates of the risks associated with the various
elements of match funding and indicates that the main financial risk is
the DCELLS ACL franchise money accessed through Bridgend
College. While not the main source of match funding for Bridges into
Work, this is of particular importance in that it constitutes 60% of the
learning delivery for the project and its withdrawal after July 2010 would
seriously jeopardise achieving the learning output targets for the
project. It is proposed to mitigate this risk by:
a)
b)
c)
Entering into early negotiations with Bridgend College to try and
secure continuation of this funding for 2010/2011
Investigating other sources of match funding, including whether
the Communities First match funding can be increased, to
compensate for possible loss of the DCELLS franchise funding.
Using grant to finance learning delivery tutors to compensate for
any loss of match-funded tutor delivery through withdrawal of
DCELLS franchise (it is not feasible to use Community First
match for this purpose).
4.4.1 At present six project team officers have been appointed on contracts
running through to December 2011. Four of these were re-employed
from the former Learning Brokers team in January and two more
appointments have recently been made. In view of the uncertainties
around match funding levels, all other grant-funded project team
appointments will be made on one-year renewable contracts so as to
minimise redundancy costs should be projects need to be downsized or
terminated.
4.4.2 A further risk to the project is failure to achieve targets. It is recognised
across the six authority partnership that beneficiary targets for job
outcomes, already challenging when the project was planned, have
become harder to achieve due to the recession and consequent
downturn in the job market. Failure to meet these targets by the end of
the project could result in grant claw back. However, present advice
from WEFO is that fluctuations in economic conditions will be taken into
account when assessing performance of ESF projects in relation to the
job market and agreed targets, and that grant claw back will not occur if
targets have not been met due to circumstances beyond grant
recipients’ control.
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4.4.3 In the event of Bridgend not being able to achieve match funding
targets, agreement would have to be sought through the six-authority
strategic management board to downsize the Council’s participation.
Provided that the requested reduction was not more than 15% of the
total six-authority participation, the process would be managed without
reference to WEFO by offering other partners the opportunity to
increase their financial participation to make up that relinquished by
Bridgend. However, there would be major concerns if Bridgend, or any
of the other joint sponsors, were to wholly pull out as this would affect
the credibility of the whole project and jeopardise the possible threeyear extension to December 2014.
4.5
In order to provide the required amount of learning hours to meet
Bridges into Work and Working Skills for Adults targets it will be
necessary to make changes to the profile of Adult Community Learning
delivery. There are a number of implications:





Bridges into Work and Working Skills for Adults require large-scale
delivery in curriculum areas that have not previously formed significant
elements in Adult Community Learning delivery – Basic Skills, Personal
Development, and Personal Development for Employment. These will
be prioritised resulting in fewer “leisure learning” courses, in particular
arts and crafts, modern foreign languages, family tree, performing arts,
and social studies.
Bridges into Work and Working Skills for Adults beneficiaries will be of
working age so there will be a reduction in the number of retired
persons able to take part in Adult Community Learning classes.
Given the need to engage with harder-to-reach persons in the more
deprived areas of the County Borough the geographical map of Adult
Community Learning delivery will change so that just under a half of all
courses are delivered in Communities First areas compared with less
than 15% in 2008/9.
The DCELLS franchise funding for computer courses will be limited and
targeted towards Bridges into Work and Working Skills for Adults
delivery. The result of this will be an overall reduction in computer
courses provided. At present a large proportion of the computer
courses delivered through Adult Community Learning are taken up by
older people who are not seeking work and who therefore will not have
access to such courses under the Bridges into Work programmes.
The DCELLS franchise funding is available to support a range of
courses under the umbrella title “Health, Beauty and Wellbeing” as
“skills for work” delivery. These will therefore increase in number in
2008/9, but be mainly targeted at those of working age.
4.5.1 This move towards the delivery of courses to address the skills agenda
is consistent with National priorities and funding and also with identified
local priorities of the Learning Skills Network. The planning was already
underway to shift the balance of Adult Community Learning provision
towards basic skills and skills for work and away from leisure learning
courses. The advent of Bridges into Work and Working Skills for Adults
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has accelerated this process and increased the scale of skills for work
provision well above that planned.
In order to minimise the impact on more tradition ‘leisure learning’
activities, a number of actions are planned as follows:
4.6






4.7
Introducing shorter courses to maximise flexibility and participation.
Exploring self-funding for some “leisure learning” and computer
courses
Tightening up on course management to reduce funding loss through
student drop-out.
Seeking more cost-effective venues.
Investigating options for alternative funding, especially for older
students who are not seeking employment.
Meet the wishes of Bridgend College by increasing fees from £1.50 to
£2.00 per hour to bring them into line with those of the college. This will
generate additional income, so enabling more courses to be run.
Concessionary rates for over 60’s of 50% will also need to be
discontinued because of the funding shortfall.
The Bridges into Work and Working Skills for Adults programmes offer
a probably unrepeatable opportunity (as far as European funding is
concerned) to obtain large-scale financial support to assist those
furthest from the job market to gain the confidence, competencies and
skills to equip them to seek and employment or to progress to more
fulfilling work.
4.7.1 They contribute directly to both national and local strategies and
policies that are particularly relevant in the present economic downturn.
While difficulties may be experienced during the period of the projects
in meeting targets to get beneficiaries into work, the learning delivered
will equip them to access the job market more successfully once the
economic situation improves.
4.8
Although there will be an impact on other national and local strategies,
particularly those relating to older people, these must be weighed
against the benefits for those of working age who are unemployed and
who do not have the basic skills necessary to become economically
active. The mitigation measures outlined in this report will ensure that
negative effects are minimised.
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Effect Upon Policy Framework and Procedure Rules
5.1
The Bridges into Work business plan and approved project application
have no direct effect upon the Council’s policy framework and
procedure rules. The Bridges into Work business plan has been
designed to complement the Council’s policies as well as other national
and regional policies. The Bridges into Work and Working Skills for
Adults projects will work closely with all local partnerships to ensure
effective links between their respective programmes of action.
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Legal Implications
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6.1
Grant compliance implications within the Agreement with the lead
sponsor Torfaen CBC and the four other local authority joint sponsors
as outlined in this report.
6.2
Cabinet must be aware of Age Equality legislation and that there are
likely to be developments in terms of normal retirement age, with the
effect that there will be no normal retirement age and adults of “working
age” will continue beyond 65.
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Financial Implications
7.1
A number of potential financial implications have been identified in this
report and the accompanying Appendices. Because there are several
possible future scenarios and there are a series of mitigation actions
that are planned, it is not possible at this stage to be totally clear about
the financial consequences. The following summarises the main
issues:
7.2.1 Healthy Living Revenue Budget 2009/10 – Bridgend College’s late
decision to reduce the ACL franchise funding to £180,000 gives the
Council a funding problem and has left little scope this year to mitigate
the impact, without significant adverse effects on course provision.
Proceeding with Bridges Into Work and Working Skills for Adults whilst
also minimising the impact on the traditional ”leisure learning” courses
means that there will be additional costs of up to £70,000. Given that
this is outside the control of the Wellbeing Directorate and that the loss
of funding cannot be managed within the Healthy Living Budget for
2009/10, it is proposed that it is met by a contribution from the
Council’s corporate contingency provision on a “one off” basis to give
officers time to consider reconfiguration proposals for future years.
7.2.2 Healthy Living Revenue Budget 2010/11 onwards - The worst scenario
would be if the College funding does not continue after 2009/10. The
courses running from 2010/11 onwards would have to reflect the
reduced level of funding, with the priority being the two ESF schemes.
This would result in a significant increase in revenue costs and/or a
significant decline in “leisure learning” courses. If Members wished to
minimise the service impact the additional cost could rise to £250,000
less the impact of the mitigation actions set out in paragraph 4.6.
7.2.3 Match funding issues – the most immediate issue is the fact that no
learning delivery has taken place during the first two quarters of 2009
and therefore a loss of up to £80,000 match funding, which would
access about £95,000 grant. Because the project team has only
partially been in place to date and therefore costs have been much
less, it is likely that the impact of the loss of match funding can be
absorbed. Appendix C lists the risks associated with the various match
funding categories and clearly any significant reduction from the agreed
amounts would result in loss of grant and increased costs, unless this
can be managed within the overall six-authority scheme.
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7.2.4 Grant funding – as with all European funding grant will only be paid for
eligible expenditure if the audit requirements are very robust. As the
majority of the match funding identified is from external sources, the
process of identifying and evidencing actual match funding costs will be
complex. This increases the risk of the grant received by the Council
being less than anticipated.
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Recommendations
8.1
It is recommended that Cabinet agree,
(i)
the implementation of the Bridges into Work project, applying the
measures outlined in this report to mitigate identified risks.
(ii)
that progress continues towards achieving WEFO approval for the
Working Skills for Adults project.
(iii)
an increase in hourly fees for Adult Community Learning courses
from £1.50 to £2.00 and to discontinue concessions for over 60s.
(iv)
that the additional costs of up to £70,000 in the Adult Community
Learning budget for 2009/10 are met from Corporate Contingency,
on a “one off” basis only..
Abigail Harris
Corporate Director Wellbeing
Contact Officer:
Mark Shephard
Head of Healthy Living
Telephone:
01656 642613
E-mail:
Postal address:
mark.shephard@bridgend.gov.uk
Wellbeing Directorate
Sunnyside Offices,
Bridgend, CF31 4AR
Background Papers – None
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Appendix A
Convergence Programme – Bridges into Work project overview
(As presented to Cabinet on 2nd December 2008)
Aim
Through a partnership approach, Bridges into Work aims to engage, support and
prepare the economically inactive, including those who are unemployed or on
incapacity benefit, in the most deprived areas of the six Valleys counties, to acquire
the appropriate skills to become job ready and to gain sustainable employment.
Objectives
Tier 1 - Engagement with economically inactive local people of working age,
providing generic transferable skills, complemented with confidence building and
interpersonal skills development.
Tier 2 - Specific vocational community-based training opportunities, from entry level
to level 2, with embedded basic and essential skills, supported by generic job
readiness training and work taster sessions.
Tier 3 – Job preparation and employer specific training
Delivery
1. Apply a Strategic approach to moving those who are economically inactive into
work, utilising all relevant funding/support to achieve this goal.
2. Use Adult Community Learning to address economic inactivity
3. Introduce a Personal Support Network to address additional needs.
4. Roll out of the successes of the pre-employment programme, which has been
piloted over the last two years.
5. Introduce higher level accreditation at specific vocational sectors for community
based learning
6. Raise the aspirations of those economically inactive who have not had role
models or stretching educational experiences, to encourage progression to higher
education.
7. Use Moodle as a virtual learning environment which enables tutors and learners
to access course syllabi and materials on line.
8. Ensure seamless progression and support for participants from referral through to
work, with ongoing support once in work, and continuing development.
9. Demonstrate clear links with the Heads of the Valley City Strategies/Jobmatch
programme by providing the learning/training opportunities identified as required
by employers through local and national research.
10. Utilise appropriate partners for delivery and referrals to further/higher education
will be made where this is in the best interest of the participant.
11. Involve diagnostic assessment of all potential participants.
12. Provide Mentoring support throughout the programme to ensure continuity
13. Utilise Coaching Champions and Learner Advocates to ensure participants get
the most out of their journey from economic inactivity into work.
14. Include learning through the outdoors as integral part of the programme.
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Appendix B
Beneficiary profile
(As presented to Cabinet on 2nd December 2008)
Participants
2562
Of which:
• Economically inactive
1793
• Unemployed
769
• NEET participants (age range –.19-25)
102
• Female participants
1409
BME
0
• Older participants
1025
• Participants with work-limiting health conditions or
disability
• Lone parents
1409
• Any other groups suffering disadvantage in
accessing the labour market (e.g. Ex-offenders)
Participants who receive support with caring
responsibilities.
Parts gaining Quals
256
205
256
1153
Framework (30%)
Of which:
Economically Inactive
807
Unemployed
346
NEET
35
Female
692
BME
23
Older
461
Work Limited health condition or disability
623
Lone Parents
92
Basic Level (55%)
669
Level 2 (30%)
369
Level 3 (10%)
115
Level 4+ (5%)
Job Outcomes
512
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Appendix C
Source
DCELLS franchise
ACL
DCELLS direct
ACL
Communities First
Original
match
amount
£358,713
£202,755
£624,000
LAP/NAP
£36,000
BCBC “Cyberlink”
CyMAL grant
£81,000
£84,000
TOTAL
£1,386,468
Notes
£120,000 has been agreed by Bridgend College for August 2009-July 2010 but with no
guarantee beyond this. If College does agree to continue this funding at the same level,
there will still be a shortfall of £80,000 due to the “lost” 6 months at the start of the
project. If funding is continued by the College for the whole three years, some of the
learning delivery “lost” during the first six months could be made up by the end of the
project
DCELLS direct funding regarded as secure across all six local authority partners.
However, shortfall likely due to loss of 6 months delivery
Although the Cabinet report of 2nd December predicted that formal approval from the
Welsh Assembly Government for Communities First funding to be matched into Bridges
into Work was imminent, this has still not been received. However, given that the project
has received WEFO approval with Communities First budgets as a significant element
for both Bridgend’s and Torfaen’s match funding, it is unlikely that formal approval will
not be given.
The figure of £624,000 allocated as Communities First match funding was based on
2/7ths of the total budget for Communities First regeneration activities on the premise
that two out of the seven Communities First strategic themes are relevant to the
objectives of Bridges into Work. This amount consisted principally of officer time,
although the amount was calculated on total salaries rather that actual time in work
(annual leave, sickness absence and vacant posts cannot be matched) and was
therefore an overestimate. However, provided formal approval to use Communities First
funding is confirmed, there may be scope to increase Communities First match by
allocating more than 2/7th of regeneration activity time, provided this can be justified in
relation to Communities First strategic objectives.
This funding comes from a Basic Skills Cymru (Language and Play) grant. Since the
original submission, this match has been greatly reduced (from £180,000) on the advice
of Children’s Directorate officers and could at that stage not be guaranteed beyond
March 2010. At this stage it is not possible to allocate any additional funding from this
source
Library Service core revenue budget – tutor time.
CyMAL grant of £20,000 per annum for two years extendable by a further year on
successful project review + BCBC core revenue matching the CyMAL grant = £28,000
per annum
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Estimates of
Minimum / Maximum
funding achievable
£120,000 (min)
Risk level
estimate
High
£320,000 (max)
£168,000 (min)
£190,000 (max)
Nil (min)
Low
Low
£624,000 + (max)
£36,000
Medium
£81,000
£56,000 (min)
Low
Medium
£84,000 (max)
£461,000 (min)
£1,335,000 + (Max)
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