Empowering The Nation - White Paper This is the white paper what was written to go along with the Peer Meet up event that was conducted on the 13th October. This covers about unleashing potential in the employability and skills sector, the power of partnership working, the current landscape of the sector and where it might be going in the next 12-18 months.

1. EMPOWERING
THE NATION
EMPLOYABILITY AND SKILLS
THE NEXT 12-18 MONTHS
MARTIN CHANDLER
Head of Engagement &
Experience at Pathway Group
SAFARAZ ALI
Social entrepreneur, CEO &
Co-Founder of Pathway Group
13th October 2023 | E&OE | © Pathway Group

3. Unleashing Potential in
Employability & Skills
The following 12 months will see several pledges set out by Government
parties as we approach the 2025 General Election. Party manifestos are
being put together, and the overall picture and direction will become much
more evident as we progress through the next 12 months.
“Last week, we heard about ‘The
Advanced British Standards’ from the
Conservatives, and this week, we’ll hear
about ‘Technical Excellence Colleges’ from
Labour. “
It certainly is a shifting marketplace and will promote somewhat of a
‘turbulent ride’ for providers in the sector. But where there is turbulence,
there is opportunity, and a joined-up approach in collaboration has to be
the way forward.
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4. Partnership Working
Since the funding rules were published in 20/21 by the DFE with clear
measures set out to ‘significantly’ reduce subcontracting, the sector has
lost some extremely niche organisations. It’s been good to see the Combined
Authorities and, more recently, the local Authorities through the UK Shared
Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) bucking this trend with a clear focus on ensuring
organisations utilise strong, knowledgeable local providers.
“This is why it is essential that
partnerships remain a significant
part of the tender process, and
events such as today in bringing
people together only serv
e to
‘further help’ this process.”
The title of today’s PeerMeetUp talks about ‘Unleashing Potential’ within
Employability and Skills. To some extent, we face the very same challenge
many politicians are facing right now in their manifestos in ensuring that the
right programmes are delivered for the right sectors at the right time and
make a significant impact in growing our economy.
As training organisations, we can only do so much once the specifications
have been published. Still, we must continue collaborating and influencing
where possible, especially around the latest trends and employer
requirements.
We’ve seen this influence have positive impacts around Adult Education with
the announcement in July that nonregulated qualifications would take a
more active part under the name of ‘tailored learning’, allowing subject
matters such as mental health and wellbeing to become more prevalent.
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5. The current landscape
of the sector
Household names of providers from the sector from just a few years ago,
such as Peopleplus and Capita, are now either leaving or refocusing
themselves in the sector. In the summer, we heard that The Skills Network
was completely removing itself from Apprenticeships due to ‘real
challenges’ with funding levels, which is now all too common.
We’ve seen the world of the work marketplace shift significantly, specifically
in Employability, where the Restart Scheme will soon be ending in 2025, and
the talk of extensions and replacements is already underway.
We continue to see some organisations growing through mergers and
acquisitions and choosing to focus on mainstream programmes such as
Bootcamps and AEB.
Let’s touch on UKSPF for a moment where, at last, we are starting to see
multiple opportunities enter the marketplace through NEET projects,
Employment Support Pilots and regional employment projects.
These programmes are sorely needed across our country, but all of these are
due to conclude in March 2025, only providing a likely 12 months of support.
Most of us are waiting to see what gets procured for the final year and
keeping an ear to the ground to see what likely replacement funding plans
will be implemented. The latest information from government round table
discussions is that a second round of UKSPF can be expected, but further
details will not be released until well into 2024.
“Turbulent, uncertain, and changing...
are all words we could use to describe
the current Skills and Employability
landscape.”
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6. We know that any funding round announced will be procured through
Combined and Local Authorities again, which means we can expect smaller,
more niche tenders across more confined geographic regions.
We've seen The Multiply scheme also released over the last 12 months, but
it’s been disappointing to see the programme failing to hit the expected
targets. Only last month, we saw DFE release a further £100k of funding for a
provider to essentially ‘buddy’ up with existing providers to capacity build on
their behalf to try to regain some lost ground.
The government’s End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) register is set
to be shut down and merged with the Register of Apprenticeship Training
Providers (RoATP).
From August 1st, the new single register will be called the “Apprenticeship
Providers and Assessment Register” (APAR).
The move will drop a current requirement on training providers to prove that
the employer has chosen which organisation should deliver their
apprentice’s end-point assessment (EPA) and switch to a default position of
the provider choosing the EPAO.
Employers can, however, continue to select the EPAO themselves if they wish.
This week, we’ve heard that the opposition party announced plans to replace
the Apprenticeship Levy with a skills and growth levy. Should it win the next
general election, levy-paying employers can spend up to 50 percent of their
contribution on non-apprenticeship courses. At least 50 per cent would need
to be spent on apprenticeships.
Many organisations have tried a routeway into commercial training but often
need more commercial knowledge, expertise, systems and infrastructure to
capitalise in this marketplace.
Even DFE funding around tutoring is now fed through a commercial footing,
i.e., Schools and Colleges procure themselves, and the service is quality
controlled by an external organisation (Tribal).
This approach under the current government is set to continue, but this may
change in early 2025, and we must be flexible enough to adapt.
“Apprenticeship Providers &
Assessment Register”
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7. Who’s doing well?
Consultants also continue to be in high demand from small, medium and
large organisations.
We’re seeing these being used in areas such as Quality (Ofsted), Operational
Performance, Future Strategy and Business Development.
More and more organisations continue to ‘buy in’ the specialist support they
require.
There is no doubt that we’ve all seen the number of adverts for jobs on
LinkedIn.
Recruitment organisations are continuing to be used widely in the current
market.
A lot of this is due to a shortage of available talent in the current market, and
recruitment firms are actively having to reach out, engage and more closely
match personnel to available opportunities.
“shortage of available talent”
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8. What’s on the Horizon?
From 2024/25, the adult education budget (AEB) and the free courses for
jobs (FCFJ) funding streams will merge as planned to become the adult
skills fund. This will apply to the funding devolved authorities receive from
the central government, as well as to what providers in non-devolved
areas receive directly from the Education and Skills Funding Agency
(ESFA).
DfE will plan to set provider and devolved authority allocations and
funding rates for a whole spending review period so providers can plan. Ie,
Multi-Year Funding.
Mayoral combined authorities will “shortly” be given provisional budgets
for 2024/25. Similarly, ESFA-funded providers will get their 2024/25
provisional allocations “early in the 2023/24 academic year” using
delivery data from 2021/22.
National model for devolved authorities - The department plans to
introduce a new national framework for devolved authorities, like the
mayoral combined authorities, from 2024/25.
Currently, around 60 percent of the adult education budget is devolved to
combined authorities, with the rest going to providers in non-devolved
areas through the ESFA. Several new deals in the pipeline mean even
more AEB will be devolved in the coming years.
UKSPF Continuation or replacement?
In conclusion, we continue to see higher rates of devolution, which brings
challenges around smaller funding pots and often more niche requirements
and complexities for providers.
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9. “Month on month, we see providers
exiting the sector for a variety of
reasons and this evidences that the
sector continues to be a hard place
for providers to operate.”
Collaboration and joined-up working are still vital to success,
and by doing this and having conversations, we can collectively
build the roadmap to unleashing the very true potential of
employability and skills both regionally and nationally.
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10. Authors
Safaraz Ali Martin Chandler
Social entrepreneur, CEO &
Co-Founder of Pathway Group
Head of Engagement
and Experience at
Pathway Group
Safaraz Ali is a Social Entrepreneur, CEO
and Co-Founder of Pathway Group.
With two decades of valuable
experience in his field, Safaraz Ali has
solidified his reputation as a passionate
and visionary leader in Employability
and Skills sector.
A seasoned professional, working in the
Employability and Skills sector for over
two decades, possessing extensive
experience within senior positions.
At Pathway Group, he plays a pivotal
role across divisions, lending his
expertise to enhancing engagement
and the overall experience of their
customers.
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12. EMPOWERING
THE NATION
EMPLOYABILITY AND SKILLS
THE NEXT 12-18 MONTHS
13th October 2023 | E&OE | © Pathway Group