1. Funding and Contracting
A briefing by ALP
Stewart Segal

2. Agenda Welcome and introductions Payment on actuals – Period 4
Contract issues for 2008/9
Funding changes 2009/10
Contracting 2009/10
Other Issues
Questions and Answers

3. Other Issues Capital Fund – Investing in Specialisation
Capacity Building for Providers
Introduction of QCF
Adult Careers Advice Service
Financial Controls SAR
Skills Accounts
World Class Skills
Machinery of Government
Vacancy Matching System
Fee Generation and Income targets
Framework for Excellence

4. May be different for sub contracted provision.
Payments on Actuals
2007/8 Contract
Period 15
Final reconciliation
Payment on 8th December
2008/9
Periods 1-4
Payment on 15 December
May be different for sub contracted provision.

5. Payment on Actuals(2) Q1 payment on profile 50:25:25
Claim by working day 4
Payment on working day 11 – December 15th
Full reconciliation of periods 1 –4 to date
Payment of cash outstanding or claw-back of over-payment

6. Payment on Actuals Possible Issues
Profiles
Data Uploads
System faults
External software issues
LAD values incorrect
Coding changes
Reduced timetable for submission
Accuracy of PFR reports

7. Transition Arrangements
Apprenticeship completers who started in 2007/8 and finish in 2008/9
Learners where the Technical Certificate and Key Skills is a higher funding in 2008/9
Higher of the total payments between 2007/8 and 2008/9
Manual adjustments following completion
Non- completers not covered – case studies
‘Rules’ on the LSC web site

8. E2E Part of the 16-18 provision so paid differently
Paid on profile – no reconciliation of prior quarters
Profile ‘adjusted’ automatically every quarter
Profile reduced if volumes not met
Adjustments can be made to contract by the LSC to pay for over delivery.
Requires sensible, open and transparent contract management

9. Timetable
8th
4th
15th
Claim for period 4
Payment for 2007/8
Payment for 2008/9
4th working day
11th working day
Q. When is an emergency payment not an emergency payment? A. When it takes 30 days.

10. Contract Issues 2008/9
Letters of intent and contracts still not issued?
Profiles not accurate nor agreed?Access to profiles
Over performance – additional volumes
TtG Contracts 3/5 years?
Apprenticeship/TtG contracts
Geographic restrictions
Audit issues – 15 hours, 6 week starts

11. More Flexibilities ‘Short/thin’ courses Based on QCF provision
Funding?
Guidelines published 5th December?
Second level 2/3. More flexible split?
Management and leadership

12. Employer Responsiveness and the Economic Downturn
Excluding redundancies from the ‘real’ achievement rates - tracking
Retaining learners on programmes
Apprenticeship providers delivering PLA/E2E
Links with employment skills programmes
New initiatives
World Class Skills

13. Current Position UKCES
Difficulties of accessing the system
Complexity, new initiatives, constant changes
Restrictive constraints leading to unmet employer needs
Excessive bureaucracy for employers
Complexity of organisations all communicating with employers
Constant change meaning employers cannot keep track of what is on offer
Proposals by the UKCES have been accepted by the Government

14. Strategic Commissioning 2009/2010
Prioritise negotiations with providers who deliver successful high performing provision. We will not seek to limit the growth of providers who have the capacity to expand.
We will ensure that the operation of the TtG can respond quickly and efficiently to changing employer demand.

15. Contracting in 2009/10 ‘Intelligent Commissioning’
Negotiated commissioning is the primary route including provision displaced by MLP
Removal of artificial caps in terms of size and geography
Tendering used to ‘fill gaps’ – January/May/September
Impact of MoG changes?
3 year contracts

16. Funding changes 2009/10
5% increase in employer contribution in 19+ Apprenticeship and co-funded TtG
Single rate for TtG?
Changes to weightings?
Review of specific NVQs

17. Qualified Provider Framework (Preferred Supplier Programme?)
Open to all providers throughout the year
All existing providers will transfer to list
Nationally agreed scoring criteria
Qualified to receive tenders
Shifting focus to improve current provider base
Suspension issues – FfE, financial health, contract breech

18. Increases from 45% this year.
MLPs for 2009/10
Apprenticeships 50%
Advanced Apprenticeship 50%
Train to Gain (Development) 65%
Increases from 45% this year.

19. Changes for 2009/10 Combined framework success
Performance at SSA level
Data presented by age
Guidelines not rules
Review the performance ‘holistically’
BUT failure to meet MLPs could result in removal of provision and rights to re tender

20. Applying the MLPs
Where SSA exceeds 50% frameworks below 50% will have to be addressed as part of SAR
Where SSA is between 45 –50% frameworks below will have contractual improvements and LSIS support
Where SSA is below 45% all frameworks below 50% will be reviewed and may be withdrawn
Local interpretations and applications

21. Contract Management
Single contract management – is this different from today?
National Contracts for 9 largest providers
Geographical flexibility for all from 2009/10
More programme flexibility – apart from 16-18
Impact of MOG changes?

22. Other Issues Skills Accounts World Class Skills
Machinery of Government
Vacancy Matching System
Fee Generation and Income targets
Framework for Excellence
Electronic signatures
Capital Fund – Investing in Specialisation
Capacity Building for Providers
Introduction of QCF
Adult Careers Advice Service
Financial Controls SAR

23. Questions and Answers Feedback
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