Work Programme: From Scrutiny to Delivery Sarah Wilkins Associate Director, West London Working Work, Benefits, and Skills: the role of Local Government Wednesday 19 th January 2011

Overview West London Working: Products and Partnerships Effective influencing: Lessons Learnt West London and the Work Programme West London Asks of Prime Contractors What is the Employability Performance Rating? Benchmarking using the Employability Performance Rating

Our Vision To transform the coherence and effectiveness of the existing structure of skills and employment services in West London to deliver a sustainable increase in the number of residents in employment and a reduction in child poverty.

Overview 6 West London Boroughs 120,000 people claiming out of work benefits in West London Annual cost of worklessness in West London is £1.02bn £60m approx annual spend in West London to support residents back to work Did not receive any Working Neighbourhood Fund in the last allocation Varied economic regeneration capacity across the 6 Boroughs Forecast that, from Summer 11, six prime contractors will deliver 95% of worklessness services in West London

Products London wide implementation of the West London Working developed Employability Performance Rating system that benchmarks the achievements of skills and employment providers 20,000 hits on the West London Directory of Employment Services in last 18 months Our Provider Confederation has more than doubled its membership to 700 members, with 207 attending events in 09/10 We have matched 14 West London businesses with 20 West London Employment and Skills Providers to pilot a Business Partner mentoring and coaching scheme across West London

Partnerships Influencing national and regional investment in employment and skills in West London Inputting into specifications, commenting on bids and provider delivery Proactively working with the provider supply chain through our WLW Confederation –Commented on specifications and bids for approx. £40m annual DWP investment in West London –Joined the London ESF Programme Regional Committee in Autumn 2009 to influence the use of approximately £20m annual ESF investment in West London –WLW is attending DWP Provider Engagement Meetings

Effective influencing - lessons learnt Need long term relationship with policy makers Pre specification / ‘official consultation’ input essential Need for a sound evidence base – what are you wanting to achieve and why? Bid assessment less important than input into ITT questions To influence bids you need to score as well as comment Communication and dissemination is essential – both up and down the supply chain and from LA to funders Need a facilitated introduction to Prime Contractors from their funder Ongoing task and finish relationship with prime contractors will increase effectiveness

Work Programme Contract Package Area West London CPA is 16 boroughs and covers both North & West JCP districts

West London and the Work Programme What we aren’t doing: Bidding to delivery elements of the work programme What have we done? Confederation Events to support smaller providers develop their offer to Prime Contractors Developed ‘West London Asks’ of Prime Contractors, and guidance to JCP/DWP scorers that links these to the ItT Held October ‘Meet the Prime’ Event Established Work Programme Page on Arranged 1:1s with all 15 approved DWP Employment Related Services Framework providers Held Local Authority/Prime Contractor Round Table

We would like Prime Contractors to take the strategic lead in ensuring that West London’s employment and skills services are coherent and effective and support more residents into sustained work. We want Prime Contractors operating in West London to talk to each other and provide a coordinated service to local employers and residents. We want Prime Contractors to use and build on West London Working products. West London Asks of Primes

We want Prime Contractors to work closely with Local Authorities to: Ensure that employability support reaches all local residents especially hard to reach deprived communities by: –Delivering services from localised outreach points in boroughs Integrate Employability Services with Council front line services Develop the ability to adopt a resident case-work approach between Councils, other local agencies and prime contractors –e.g. housing, revenues and benefits, children and families and community safety Provide bespoke employer led training to maximise job opportunities from major West London regeneration developments Provide regular performance updates West London Asks of Primes

Local Authority Offer to Primes West London Local Authorities will: Share intelligence on key regeneration areas in borough Share/advise on specialist local provision in borough Broker access to employment opportunities within key regeneration sites Broker access to council and/or Local Strategic Partnership member organisations

Requests of Jobcentre Plus For an opportunity to make DWP bid scorers and JCP bid commentators aware of the West London Asks Copies of successful bids (both framework and Work Programme) That progress towards meeting the West London Asks (or adhering to the ways of working) is a standing item in PEMs / DWP Contract Mgt meetings

Employability Performance Rating

What is the rating? Annual Performance Rating Transparently benchmarks achievements of providers Appropriate for use with a wide range of skills and employment grants Can be used by funders, by prime contractors, and subcontractors Developed on the principle that will make best use of existing data All ratings to be made public

Who is using the rating? London Development Agency London Councils ESF programme National Offenders Management Service London Skills and Employment Board requests that work programme providers publish annual supply chain ratings

Employability Performance Rating Key Performance area (KPA) WeightingIndicatorsWeighting of indicator within KPA Contract Performance 60%Delivery against grant targets48% Delivery against grant diversity targets 12% Quality30%Conversion Factor12% Self assessment of quality9% Client satisfaction9% Contract Compliance 10%Contract compliance and contractor pro-activity in delivery 10%

Benchmarking supply chain performance North London Sustained Employment Programme six month stock-take

Converting Points to Stars Results of London Development Agency six month ratings stock-take

Further information London Skills and Employment Observatory Employability Performance Rating Page West London Working Workshop for DWP ERSS Framework Providers: 25 February 2011

Questions?