Sustainable Employment
Through Skills
JHP
Group
Welcome!
Jim Chambers, Chief Executive
JHP Group Overview
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Established in 1983
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Heritage in vocational training and more recently welfare-to-work
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National provider (including Wales & Scotland); deliver in all English regions
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Now privately owned (MBO backed by LDC)
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Turnover of circa £80m per annum – 60:40 Skills and welfare-to-work (W2W)
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Grown by 300% over the past 4 years
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1,300 staff – over 1,000 delivery staff (trainers, tutors, coaches etc)
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120 business centres (mainly welfare-to-work provision)
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Ofsted Grade 2
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Apprenticeship success rates above national averages: 78%
JHP Group Overview
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Skills Funding Agency (SFA) •
£40m
Department for Work and Pensions
(DWP)
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Skills Development Scotland
(SDS) £4m
• Work Programme Prime Provider £70m
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• Work Programme subcontracts £20m
Welsh Assembly Government
(WAG) £0.5m
• JCP Support Contract £30m
• MWA £20m
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Programmes for the Unemployed (PFU)
£26m (12% of national allocation)
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Others £10m
Current landscape
Employability and Skills Markets
Employability
Payments by results
Incentives for sustained job outcomes
‘Black box’ approach
Universal Credit
Single programme with differentiated
payments for customer groups
Supply chain management
Skills
Apprenticeships
Flexibilities
Workplace Learning
Job outcome payments
FE Loans (24+)
Focus on level 3 attainment
All-age careers service
Supply chain management
Factors in sustainability
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Job availability
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Employers’ skills needs
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Transport
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Housing
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Childcare
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Skills levels
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Experience
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Health
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Motivation
Increasing skills levels
Include:
Increasing sustainability
What skills work?
Skills that effectively support sustainability will:
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Meet local labour market needs
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Be designed with employers’ input and involvement
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Provide generic employability skills, basic skills, technical skills and
knowledge
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Be accessible in work – so skills can be put into ‘practice’ and employed
individuals can participate
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Include work placements
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Provide a wage return to the individual – Research by CESI states
Apprenticeships in particular provide a higher return; namely 16% at level 2
and 18% at level 3
Skills & Sustainability in Practice
The good… skills opportunities for Work Programme clients’ sustainability
• Unit flexibilities (sector tasters) and short courses funded through new
flexibilities; clients continue skills development and can complete the full
Apprenticeship once in-work
• Pre-employment training designed with employers
• Underpinned by sustainability assessments, work transition reviews, work
coaches and mentoring schemes
As at November 2011, 86.6% Work Programme clients achieving sustainability
However… a disjoin remains prevalent in other areas
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Adverse affects for some client groups e.g. 26 year old recently employed
wishing to sustain employment and access skills development do not attract
similar funding levels as those 24 years and below
What next?
JHP Group commissioned report with CESI, “Integrated employment and skills:
maximising the contribution for sustainable employment” proposed 3 overarching recommendations for consideration:
(1) Sustainability and progression outcome payments
There is a need to improve provider focus on IES through appropriate and
aligned outcome payments for both welfare to work and skills providers.
(2) Revised skills funding priority areas and mechanisms
There is a need to revisit priority areas and introduce more sophisticated
mechanisms to ensure funding is based on need and affordability.
(3) Black box approach to delivery
There is a need to allow providers the flexibility of a ‘black box’ approach to
delivery and reduce funding, policy and institutional barriers to IES.
(1) Outcome payments
There is a need to improve provider focus on IES through appropriate and
aligned outcome payments for both welfare to work and skills providers.
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Introduce outcome payments for skills providers for job outcomes and
sustainability.
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Introduce outcome payments for Work Programme providers for career
progression.
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Use a differential payments model for skills provider outcome payments.
(2) Skills priorities
There is a need to revisit priority areas and introduce more sophisticated
mechanisms to ensure funding is based on need and affordability.
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Introduce a new priority group designation for those newly employed
following a period of unemployment.
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Refine current skills fee remissions relating to employer size.
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Revise current skills fee remissions relating to age and previous
qualifications.
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Revisit changes to funding eligibility for those on inactive benefits.
(3) Delivery
There is a need to allow providers the flexibility of a ‘black box’ approach to
delivery and reduce funding, policy and institutional barriers to IES.
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Extend the black box approach used within the Work Programme to skills
providers.
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Simplify funding structures.
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Revise the minimum levels of performance mechanism.
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Support efforts to offer and deliver flexible and innovative training.
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Support efforts to co-locate services and share information.
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Utilise IAG to create informed customers and employers.
Summary
What works to help people sustain work and progress?
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State of the nation: youth/rising unemployment, value for money, delivering
more for less, UK competitiveness
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Welfare to Work: payment by results, black box approach, single ‘Work
Programme’, sustainability
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Skills: outcome incentive payments, flexibilities, Apprenticeships
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Skills levels the increasingly important factor in sustaining employment
opportunities secured through provider support
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Positive steps (e.g. single adult skills budget) welcome, however, the
disproportionate effect on certain customer groups should be mitigated with
focussing funding on those that need it most e.g. those with the lowest skills
and experience levels
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Further alignment of policy and funding streams needed to achieve the
potential benefits to the customer, the employer, the Government and the
taxpayer