The London Employment and Skills Policy Network (LESPN) is funded by Trust for London and run by London Voluntary Service Council (LVSC) to influence employment and skills policy and provision serving disadvantaged communities in London. LESPN objectives are to provide a forum for the voluntary and community sector to share information and good practice, and raise the profile of their work. Key areas of work include influencing employment and skills provision through gathering evidence on major programs, surveying providers, and evidencing the impact and value of voluntary sector delivery. LESPN also aims to support frontline voluntary organizations and their representative on the London Enterprise Panel.

1. London Employment and Skills
Policy Network
Steve Kerr, Policy Officer

2. About LESPN
Funded by Trust for London, run by LVSC
Currently 200+ groups, 500+ people on mailing list
Est. Jan 2010, funding secure to Dec 2013
Quarterly meetings, monthly ebulletin
Representation on LEP Skills and Employment Working
Group (and before that, London Skills and Employment
Board)

3. LESPN Objectives
To influence employment and skills policy and
provision to serve disadvantaged communities in London
To provide a forum for VCS to share information and
good practice on employment and skills issues
To raise profile of the work of the London VCS in
employment and skills

4. LESPN key areas of work
Influence Influence
employment skills
provision provision
LESPN:
LVSC + members Support
Evidence
frontline
impact of
VCS orgs
VCS delivery
Support
representative
on LEP

5. Influencing employment policy and provision
Gather evidence on how major programmes are working:
Work Programme, Jobcentre Plus, DWP ESF, GLA and
London Councils programmes, etc
• How are London’s disadvantaged groups served?
• What is role of VCS?
•How could programmes work better?
Report findings, make recommendations to: DWP,
Mayor/LEP, primes, funders, VCS orgs

6. Influencing skills policy and provision
Survey London VCS providers to gather evidence on
VCS delivery of skills, working with FE Colleges, and
develop issues paper
Some key issues: impact of policy changes on
disadvantaged learners, management fees and
subcontracting issues, linking up skills and employment
funding (Apprenticeships etc)
Report findings to stakeholders: SFA, colleges, training
providers, Mayor/LEP, funders, VCS orgs

7. Evidencing impact of VCS in London
Going back to first principles to make the case to
policymakers, commissioners and funders, LEP for the
unique value of VCS delivery
Collect and produce case studies demonstrating:
• performance of VCS projects against contract
• added social value of VCS delivery
• how VCS projects address gaps/weaknesses in
mainstream provision

8. Support for frontline VCS orgs
Currently, LVSC has very little resource available for
direct capacity building work.
LVSC is leading a bid to deliver ESF ‘Technical
Assistance’ - free capacity building support for VCS
employment and skills orgs (one-to-one surgeries,
workshops, partnership support, mentoring etc)
LVSC and partners are developing London VCS delivery
consortium as part of ‘Transforming Local Infrastructure’
PEACE: VCS-specific employment law and
HR advice

9. Supporting representative on LEP
Emma Stewart (Women Like Us) sits on Skills and
Employment Working group of London Enterprise Panel
Disseminate information on LEP’s work out to network
LESPN is a conduit to inform Emma’s position with
evidence of VCS delivery, making the case for the LEP
to focus on addressing disadvantage, provide intelligence
on what’s working well (and not)

10. Challenges for VCS
New commissioning: few VCS groups have the scale
and cash to bid directly for mainstream programmes
(large CPAs, outcome-based contracts). Big SFA, DWP,
ESF contracts hard to access; LDA, WNF, etc gone
Subcontracting: VCS groups negotiating roles in supply
chains, requiring new kinds of skills. New problems – ‘bid
candy’, management fees, TUPE, etc
Delivery challenges: employer engagement, sustained
employment outcomes, tight labour market, risk/cashflow
Political: little appetite for specialist interventions
targeting disadvantaged groups, inequalities
What other challenges are you facing?

11. Opportunities
Some new local employment initiatives appearing, e.g.
Haringey Jobs Fund
BIG Lottery ‘Talent Match’ announcement
Chance to shape London’s ESF programme for
2014-2020
Big political drive to tackle youth unemployment (Youth
Contract, GLA NEET programme), and increase
Apprenticeships
Partnership working including cross-sector
Localism, Social Value Act, Big Society Capital/
social investment social enterprise

12. steve@lvsc.org.uk