Final Report. Photos: Courtesy of the London Development Agency

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1 Final Report Photos: Courtesy of the London Development Agency

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3 foreword west London working is one of the City Strategy Pathfinders launched by the Department for work and Pensions. The aim of these local partnerships was to be a catalyst for joining up employment and skills agencies delivery to provide a better service to local residents and employers. right at the outset, west London working recognised that this was primarily about getting better value from the services that were already funded rather than an influx of new money. This recognition led to our vision, to transform the coherence and effectiveness of the existing structure of employment support services in west London to deliver a sustainable increase in the number of residents in employment and a reduction in child poverty. Throughout the last four years, the vision has led to a focus on systemic change, with coherence and effectiveness at its heart. we hope and believe that this work will leave a lasting legacy to west London residents and employers for years to come. This leads me to the purpose of this report. we want to showcase some of our successes so that they are nurtured in the future. we also hope that by giving a candid description of the lessons that we have learnt, that this report will prove useful to policy makers, funding bodies, and practitioners who have the same fundamental aim, a better value service to local residents and employers. The report covers the three broad categories of our work over the last four years. The need for coherence led us to work on building and strengthening local connections. The need for effectiveness produced a series of interventions to build capability among the myriad of service providers in west London. finally, the Partnership became a natural home for new programmes that were targeted at particular local challenges or opportunities. for each of these, we outline what we did, what we achieved and what we learnt. There is also signposting for those who want to study an initiative in more depth. This foreword would not be complete without considering the overall picture in west London employment. In 2006, west London s employment rate stood at 69.2% and there were 113,000 residents claiming out of work benefits. Latest figures show the employment rate for the six boroughs is 68.8% and there are 116,000 residents claiming out of work benefits. A reasonable picture given the economic difficulties. As we look to the future, we hope that our legacy will help to produce a significant increase in the employment rate as broader economic conditions improve. finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people and organisations that have helped us over the last four years. Mike Clasper Chairman west London working foreword 1

4 BACkgrounD what is west London working? west London working is one of fifteen City Strategy Pathfinders launched by the Department for work and Pensions in April Pathfinder partnerships aim to join up employment and skills agencies and services to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. City Strategy Pathfinder policy was largely not about new money. Instead, it was focused on getting better value from the services which were already funded. The initiative was about aligning resources through partnership working across skills, employment and health areas. That alignment stressed the importance of tailoring delivery to local needs, which meant that there was an important theme of localism running through the government s strategy. responsibility for strategy and delivery was devolved to the local level, in the expectation that local areas would better understand the particular needs of local people and local employers. why do we need west London working? west London has a strong track record of economic success but it can be extended to benefit even more west Londoners. In spite of strong historic economic growth, there was a perception that too many local people remained out of work, even when local jobs were available. Child poverty is also a problem. estimates made during the programme s lifetime suggested that there were 85,000 children living in benefit dependent households in west London and as such are living below the poverty line. 2about west London working west London working also identified a strong correlation between areas of social housing and concentrations of workless residents. often these areas are close to major areas of employment growth and opportunity for example, wembley, Park royal, white City, and Heathrow. It was considered vital that this potential workforce was more effectively joined up with these sources of economic opportunity. who is part of west London working? west London working has a diverse governing Board of private employers and public sector bodies. It includes members from major local employers such as BAA and Compass group uk as well as key delivery partners from the west London Alliance Local Authorities, Jobcentre Plus, the Skills funding Agency, and the London Development Agency.

5 VISIon, CHALLengeS AnD ProgrAMMe Our vision: To transform the coherence and effectiveness of the existing structure of employment and skills services to deliver a sustainable increase in the number of residents in employment and a reduction in child poverty. Vision west London working agreed our Vision at an early stage of our business planning in we knew that there were, already, a large number of good quality services being delivered in west London to help residents get back to work and sustain that work. what we wanted to do in delivering our vision was to build on that good work and take action to support the employment and skills infrastructure, as a whole, become as effective as possible. Challenges During business planning we identified a number of challenges. we used these - together with our Vision - to guide our activity. we forged partnerships, developed products, and delivered local programmes to work towards overcoming these challenges. Many of the challenges below will be familiar to employment and skills policy makers and practitioners across the uk. l no central quality and performance management system. l Lack of coordination in the provision and planning of services. l A system that does not adequately incentivise service providers at all stages of intervention. l Multiple and confused points of contact for residents and employers. l A supply led system with disjointed employer engagement. l Lack of personalised focused provision with few referrals between providers. l no system that can track or support an individual s progress through the routeway to sustained work. our programme In the majority of cases the products that we developed, the partnerships we forged, and the programmes we delivered, contributed to overcoming more than one of the challenges above. Two page summaries of each Programme Activity can be found from page 10 to page 25 in this report. These outline our objective, the need for intervention (including which challenges are being addressed), what we did, what we achieved, and what we learnt. There is also signposting for those who want to study an initiative in more depth. we can broadly group our work programme and how it links to the challenges under three headings. l Improving the coherence of local employment and skills provision by improving connectivity. l Improving the local effectiveness of employment and skills provision by increasing capability. l Delivering local targeted programmes. about west London working 3

6 VISIon, CHALLengeS AnD ProgrAMMe PROGRAmmE ACTIvITy Improving coherence by improving connectivity Improving effectiveness by increasing capability Delivering local targeted programmes West London Working Passport management information tool and Directory of west London employability services 4 4 Investment and Target Group to implement our vision through joint investment and target setting Employability Performance Rating to benchmark the achievements of west London employability services. Provider Confederation, a trusted network of providers of employability services. Outreach that links frontline staff from other public and third sector services with employment and skills provision. Personal Advice with customised support provided to the hardest to help. Building Employability Pathways to support west London residents move from learning into sustainable employment. Business Partner Programme to provide coaching to employability service providers managers and delivery staff. Work Focused English as a Second Language for Parents that pilots new approaches to integrate employability and language support about west London working Improving the coherence of local employment and skills provision by improving connectivity when west London working was developing its business plan we identified approximately 200 organisations that provided support to help west London residents get back into work. Membership of our Provider Confederation currently stands at 690, indicating that we still have a complex infrastructure made up of different organisations that can all play a part in helping residents get and sustain work. west London working has developed a number of activities that aim to improve the connections between these different organisations to join up the dots. These include products such as the employment Services Directory and the Provider Confederation that help link providers so that they can give the most effective personalised service to the resident. Improving the local effectiveness of employment and skills provision by increasing capability This groups together those activities that aim to develop employment and skills providers effectiveness, such as the Business Partner Programme that aims to improve their performance and capacity by using west London businesses to provide management and leadership support through coaching and mentoring. It also includes more strategic interventions such as the employability Performance rating. An activity with a long term aim, it is hoped that use of the employability Performance rating will support effective delivery on the ground driving up overall performance to support more residents into sustained work.

7 VISIon, CHALLengeS AnD ProgrAMMe Delivering local targeted programmes west London working has also delivered programmes directly to local residents. working in partnership with Local Authorities, the Personal Advice and outreach Programme delivered customised support to residents in each borough and directly helped 180 local people into work. our work with local Colleges helped them develop employability pathways for over 700 of their learners. The DwP funded work focused esol for parents pilot, benefiting from using a partnership approach, has now supported 1,900 residents. finally, our Sustained employment Programme, reach west London, now in its second quarter of delivery is supporting 400 residents. Throughout the delivery of all of these programmes we have emphasised the need to connect with others and stressed that it is rare that all support can be delivered by a single organisation. Programme interdependency These different activities do not stand alone, and there is a large amount of interdependency between the different elements of our programme. for example, the employment Services Directory supports the Investment and Target group by outlining what services are delivered in west London and who delivers these, provides a portal to post future employability Performance ratings, and is a source of referral information for the Provider Confederation. Looking to the future we have seen considerable policy changes in the welfare to work arena including a shift to outcome based funding, a greater focus on longer measures of job sustainability and increased turmoil in the labour market as a result of the economic downturn. The public bodies funding services that support people into sustained work have changed, as has their approach to procuring services. Both the Skills funding Agency, and significantly the Department for work and Pensions, have moved to commissioning employment related services with longer term and larger value contracts. Moving into 2011 we are anticipating that no more than six prime contractors will deliver 95% of employment related services in west London, albeit supported by a large number of smaller providers who will have a role as sub-contractors. west London Local Authorities have clearly articulated their preferred ways of working with these prime contractors. There are clear benefits from Local Authorities brokering links between the primes and the relevant Council departments that have responsibility for delivering statutory services that support the prime contractor s customers. for further information, west London working s and the west London Local Authority s asks of prime contractors are posted on the Investment and Target group page of west London working s programme remains relevant. A number of products such as the Provider Confederation, employability Performance rating, and Directory of employment Services have been adopted by the London Skills and employment Board (LSeB) and the greater London Authority (gla). west London working has briefed all of London s DwP employment related Services Approved Suppliers on our programme activity, and together with LSeB and gla, recommended that they use and build on this infrastructure. about west London working 5

8 west LonDon working In numbers Improving the coherence of local employment and skills provision by improving connectivity l 293 public sector front line workers have received training to help them understand how and where to refer residents to employment and skills support. l 218 service providers are listed in our employment Services Directory which receives an average of 1,200 hits per month. l 8 west London Colleges and Adult education Institutes built employability pathways for their parent learners. l 5.9m of funding was levered for west London. Improving the local effectiveness of employment and skills provision by increasing capability l 74 providers across London are using the west London working developed employability performance rating. l 20m of London Development Agency s funding will be employability performance rated in 2011/12. l we have 690 members of our Provider Confederation, and held 16 Provider Confederation events attended by 450 people. l 19 employability and skills providers partnered with 14 west London businesses to improve the performance and capacity of their services and better understand employers recruitment needs. Delivering local targeted programmes As a result of our Personal Advice and outreach, Building employability Pathways, reach west London, and new Pathways to work Programmes: 6about west London working l 2152 west London residents have received support to help them find work. l 1346 residents have been referred onto other organisations that can provide them with further support to help them find work. l 268 residents have gained employment. In addition, as a result of the work focused esol for Parents Pilot: l 2218 west London residents have received employability and english language support to help them find work. l 293 residents have gained employment.

9 ProgrAMMe LeSSonS In this report we provide a candid description of the lessons that we have learnt, and hope that these lessons prove useful to future policy makers, funding bodies, and practitioners. we believe that our work contains valuable lessons for the future. Projectspecific lessons are dealt with in the individual Programme Activity summaries on pages 10 to 25 of this report. The three big lessons l There is great value in a more localised, sub-regional approach. with the reduction in the number of lead providers, Prime Contractors should take more of a strategic sub regional lead in the future in ensuring the coherence of employment and skills services for both residents and employers. Local Authorities will be developing direct relationships with the new Prime Contractors, but there is also a need for ongoing commitment from DwP and the Skills funding Agency to ensuring that Primes contract delivery takes account of local needs, and meets those local needs head-on. l Co-operation will need to complement healthy competition between Prime Contractors. Primes need to talk to each other, and we are sure that this enlightened approach will prove to be to the mutual advantage of the Prime Contractors. This communication will require that information keeps flowing around the system suggesting that publically available information from the employability Performance rating will prove valuable. l The Primes will need small, nimble, on-the-ground organisations to reach the hard-tohelp, but those organisations can lack the management and strategy techniques that are necessary to ensure that their delivery is consistently excellent. financial incentives may prove to be powerful tools for raising quality. But we are convinced that these incentives will not be sufficient to guarantee success. There will be a role for capacity building, training, and mentoring to create healthy supply chains. programme lessons 7

10 ProgrAMMe LeSSonS Strategic coherence There are some overarching themes which emerge from the programme as a whole. west London working was never primarily about getting an influx of new money into the area. Instead, it was about getting better value from the services that were already The WLW area does seem more joined up than other areas. This has genuine benefits, and helps link everything together, helps as smaller providers are better linked to bigger ones. The Work Programme commissioning process might be better in the WLW area than elsewhere because these relationships have been built up. evaluation Interviewee funded. our original business plan recognised that fact. we used the kotter method to think through a programme for enduring structural change: we found it proved effective. The original vision that of providing strategic co-ordination and market intelligence to get existing provision in west London to work together effectively kept close to the original spirit of the City Strategy Pathfinder policy, generating an agreed programme of activity. The composition of the Board helped us maintain the necessary strategic clarity. There were great benefits in having a Board that was not dominated by either private or public sector: that encouraged different perspectives to inform our approach, encouraged creativity and allowed us the space to develop infrastructural projects. This diversity and our ability to work over the medium term - also allowed us to encourage an approach which was not defined or siloed into an individual funding stream. These lessons will become increasingly important as funding tightens over the next few years, particularly for those residents who are furthest from the labour market. we were able to package provision for residents using a cocktail of different funding sources. This allowed us to hit a number of different organisational objectives efficiently. for example, colleges delivered employability objectives using services funded by DwP; esol provision for parents was most effectively delivered from Childrens Centres; and outreach services were cross funded through Local Authorities. we were able to pull a number of threads together, and did. programme lessons Local needs we feel that our local knowledge proved to be a critical advantage in delivering a coherent approach. In short, we put the local into national programmes. our Investment and Target group clearly communicated local priorities to national and european funders, and so helped distinguish local needs in what could have been a one-size-fits-all approach. west London Local Authorities are clear in how they want to interact with nationally delivered services that support their residents into work. 8

11 ProgrAMMe LeSSonS effectiveness and capability Delivering a coherent strategy requires that an organisation and its people can learn better from experience, and that that learning can be widely disseminated. we needed organisational memory - a way of capturing and using the information that had previously often remained tacit. our response was two-fold. firstly, the employability Performance rating system rates the quality of existing provision in order to quality-benchmark provision (creating what one provider called What makes [WLW] stand out in comparison... is clearly defined objectives and a statement of how it is going to meet them. Senior Business Development Manager, Ingeus healthy competition ) and to inform commissioning choices. This was a good example of how information can drive up standards of accountability and transparency, so improving the offer to residents. Secondly, the Directory of employment Services also provides information which could be used by frontline staff to find support that was most closely matched to an individual s needs. our approach to creating a learning organisation did not stop at west London working. we wanted to help our colleagues in provider organisations learn from experience too, by reflecting on their own work and how it might be improved. we instituted a sophisticated self-assessment module in our employability Performance rating framework; the Business Partner Programme built relationships between local employers and service providers, and is the start of a growing ongoing relationship which looks at exchanging ideas on local needs and business techniques; and our Provider Confederation proved to be an effective way of building face-to-face relationships between providers and Prime Contractors that is spreading best practice and improving efficiency. A sense of longer term sustainability was also important to us. whilst we directly commissioned work to plug gaps where necessary (such as through the Personal Advice and outreach work), we wanted to minimise the number of projects that would simply close after west London working s programme was complete. This was a cross-cutting approach, and so is partially delivered by our work mentioned above, but involved cross funding projects from a number of sources, and required work to permanently raise the capacity of the area s employment and training provision. programme lessons 9

12 west LonDon working PASSPorT objective The Passport management information tool and Directory of employment Services were developed by west London working to help track and support residents progress towards work and to help personal advisers better navigate the employment support that is available to west London residents. need In 2006/07, there were 200 organisations delivering employment related services in west London. There was no collective Service Directory, nor a mechanism by which to track a resident s progress to employment through use of a combination of these services. Through its business planning west London working identified the following challenges which the Passport and accompanying Directory sought to overcome: l Lack of coordination in the provision and planning of services. l Multiple and confused points of contact for residents and for employers. l Lack of personalised customer focused provision with few referrals between providers. l no system that can track or support an individual s progress through the routeway. what was done The west London Directory of employment Services was launched in July Targeted at frontline employment Personal Advisers, services are searchable by location, eligibility (e.g. by benefit type), occupational sector, service provided, and type of organisation. Information is held on organisations delivering support to help west London resident s find and keep work, irrespective of which Agency funds provision. The Directory s employer facing page is a recent addition. using the same data as that which feeds the main Directory, the search fields have been narrowed to reflect employers interest in recruitment support and in work training. programme activities A Passport feasibility Study was undertaken to further investigate the concept of a single tracking tool using a unique identification number - which could record all west London residents progress through their routeway to work. This had two objectives. firstly, to improve customer services by personalising support as residents move from one service to another. Secondly to enable Service funders to analyse the effectiveness of the combination of services residents used to support them into work, and the collective cost of this. results The design of the Directory was informed by Adviser focus groups, which generated a strong degree of consensus about their needs. The design process also responded to user feedback throughout by making enhancements to the system. The number of hits on the Directory rose steadily during its first year of operation, averaging 1,200 hits per month since September The Directory has continually attracted new organisations, and employment advisers use it as planned. The Directory offers more information than previously available to employment advisers, but evaluation found that there was room to improve the amount and accuracy of information that searches returned. 10

13 west LonDon working PASSPorT The format of west London working s Directory has been adopted by London s european Social fund Cofinancers. The Directory will be expanded to hold details of all of London s esf funded services that help adults obtain and sustain employment. The expanded Directory will be launched in Summer 2011 and will be operational until The Passport was not progressed beyond the feasibility Study stage. Despite continued support for the concept it was concluded that the benefits did not exceed the cost and complexity of implementation. Lessons learned l evaluation found that it was important to maintain a focus on the needs of the target group, and keep the database up to date. l Although wlw recognised the importance of securing contractual requirements to update the Directory it was difficult to influence funders national and regional contracts. l editing of the Directory is important; links to personal contacts in each organisation was found to be more user friendly that the use of info@ addresses. l Passport Personal Adviser focus groups commented that discussion of resident s history was an important ice breaker, and although the Passport would be a useful tool it would not replace these conversations. l funders consulted on the Passport concept agreed that alternative methods could be used to meet their objectives, such as longitudinal surveys, that would not require a tool to track 100% of interventions. where to find more information The Directory: The Directory Interim and final evaluation can be found on the wlw evaluations page of at The Passport feasibility Study can be found on the Passport page of at programme activities 11

14 THe InVeSTMenT AnD TArgeT group objective The Investment and Target group was established to improve the effectiveness of employment and skills investment in west London by reducing duplication and better aligning provision to the needs of local people and businesses. need The annual cost of worklessness in west London is approximately 1.02bn, with around 60m per year spent on programme support that helps west London residents back to work. The majority of programme spend is Annual Cost of worklessness commissioned by the Department for work and Council Tax Benefit 48.9m Pensions, Skills funding Agency and London Approx Programme Cost 60m Development Agency. JSA, 94.4m Incapacity Benefit & SDA 246.8m The Investment and Target group was created by west London working to overcome the following challenges: l Lack of coordination in the provision and planning of services. l A system that does not adequately incentivise service providers at all stages of intervention. Source: London Councils Income Support 272.2m Housing Benefit 341.1m In common with all City Strategy Pathfinders, west London working was provided with a level of commissioning devolution by DwP, where it was able to comment on DwP s specifications, bids, and performance of resulting contracts. The Investment and Target group was a mechanism by which wlw could maximise this offer from DwP. programme activities what was done The Investment and Target group regularly brought together representatives from Jobcentre Plus (on behalf of DwP), the Skills funding Agency, the London Development Agency and west London Local Authorities to develop approaches to influence the allocation and use of european, national and regional funding in the sub region. In common terms they aimed to put the local into national and regional commissioning. The Investment and Target group contributed to DwP s commissioning process, commenting on specifications and bids for 40m of forecast investment. west London working joined the London esf Committee and contributed to the London s Co-financing organisations business planning process, influencing a further annual spend of 20m. It produced a contract register with details of investment in west London skills and employment services and published bi-monthly bulletins on west London economic and skills trends, forecasts and demographics. It co-ordinated successful bids for the future Jobs fund and new Pathways for work esf Transnational Project and coordinated the development of the match funded reach west London Sustained employment Programme. It has undertaken a series of bilateral meetings with work Programme bidders and coordinated a Local Authority roundtable to introduce bidders to borough economic regeneration leads. 12

15 THe InVeSTMenT AnD TArgeT group results evaluation found that the Investment and Target group improved west London s ability to articulate the sub-region s needs to funders. It enabled a dialogue with national and regional funders, and levered in 5.9m of funding through support of sub regional projects such as the It has encouraged closer working. future Jobs fund, HeLP and the reach west London Head of regeneration Policy, Brent Council sustained employment programme. Localisation of funding and delivery did have limits. At the national and regional level, different processes, target indicators, strategic priorities and timeframes obstructed work to influence, align or pool funding across west London. At provider level, the Investment and Target group may have contributed to an improvement in efficiency as it has disseminated information on funder s commissioning processes and enabled the supply chain to be better aware of the competition and prime contractors expectations. Lessons learned l Securing the right representation with decision making authority on a sub-regional group is challenging, this is most pronounced with nationally led organisations. l To enable effective influencing there is a need to very clearly communicate what your local priorities are and what differentiates these from the regional and national context. l The opportunity to comment on commissioning plans should occur prior to specification stage to maximise influence, as once final drafts are produced it is difficult to make any fundamental changes. l It is important to have sight of and influence over the entire Commissioning Package including the invitation to tender questions and the weighting. l If given the opportunity to comment on bids it is key to understand the influence comments will have and that bids are scored using the commissioner s criteria. l with changes to larger and longer contracts using black box approaches the relationship with Prime Contractors is becoming more important. l Local Authorities can maximise their influence by brokering links between Prime Contractors and the relevant Local Authority Departments that have responsibility for delivering statutory services that support prime contractors customers; and l By brokering links between major developers and prime contractors to secure more vacancies for local residents and a single point of access between developers and prime contractor employment services. where to find more information The Investment and Target group page on at has copies of the west London Asks of Prime Contractors, our Business Case for a west London Commissioning unit, and our Contracts register. The Investment and Target group evaluation can be found on the wlw evaluations page of at programme activities 13

16 employability PerforMAnCe rating objective The objective of the employability Performance rating is to make the marketplace for providers of employment services function more efficiently, so delivering higher quality services. need The employability Performance rating benchmarks the achievements of contractors and sub-contractors engaged in delivering a wide range of skills and employment services. It was developed by west London working to overcome the following challenges: l no central quality and performance management system. l Lack of coordination in the provision and planning of services. wlw found that there was a lack of good quality information on which commissioning decisions could be made, both by public funders, and by contractors who were looking to sub-contract to smaller organisations. Providers struggled to benchmark themselves against each other, and there was a need for further transparency in supply chain management. finally there was little guidance on the quality of services to allow residents to select from the alternatives on offer. what was done The Performance rating was developed using best practice experience from Australia, and built on experience from Skills funding Agency and DwP. The Performance rating was developed by west London working and external consultants through close consultation with stakeholders and users. It is now being used across London. The best performers are awarded four stars; the worst receive no stars. ratings are made public, so levering up project quality. The performance rating consists of three key performance areas (kpas). for each kpa, performance is assessed through a number of performance indicators. The indicators for each kpa are set out in the table below: programme activities Key Performance Area (KPA) Contract Performance Weighting of the KPA % 60% Quality 30% Indicators (KPI) Weighting of indicator within KPA % Delivery against contract targets 48% Delivery against contract diversity targets 12% Conversion factor 12% Self assessment of quality 9% Client Satisfaction 9% Contract Compliance 10% Contract compliance and contractor 10% pro-activity 14

17 employability PerforMAnCe rating The London Development Agency implemented use of the Performance rating from April 2010 with 12 of its major employment and skills prime contracts, and 32 subcontractors. It is rolling out its use with all of its learning and skills grants from April 2011 which constitutes 20m of annual investment. London Councils implemented it with all of their esf funded provision from october 2010, incorporating a further 30 providers across the capital. The greater London Authority will sponsor the use of the Performance rating in future years. We spend a huge amount of time managing underperformance... if the system can fix that problem, it will be worth its weight in gold. Head of Service, London Development Agency results In many respects the Performance rating system has not yet been able to prove its worth in a system-wide way, although, having interviewed stakeholders and tested the logic underlying the project, the evaluation found that that its success would be likely. The positive reaction found by the evaluation suggests that future deliverers of employment services, both inside and outside of DwP s work Programme, should give serious consideration to using the Performance rating system. Lessons learned l The development process worked well and was an excellent example of collaborative development. l future users need to be aware of the debate between the merits of relative or absolute measurements of provider success, and how ratings take account of late issue of grants. l To maximise the impact of the Performance rating system it requires a regional sponsor to co-ordinate take up of the rating and to publish results. l ongoing publicity about how the system can be used is helpful, and self assessment processes and user training could be bolstered further. l The evaluation found that future users may wish to be more aggressive in their use of the Performance rating system, as in the Australian model, which integrates commissioning with the Performance rating. where to find more information The Performance rating page on at has detailed guidance, briefings, and templates. Performance rating results are published on the London Skills and employment observatory The Performance rating evaluation can be found on the wlw evaluations page of at programme activities 15

18 ProVIDer ConfeDerATIon The Confederation has been extremely valuable for small providers and you can see how it could have a really good future in terms of informing how the prime contractors for the work programme will work. But it will only be effective if it can be kept up and it can be kept current." Senior Account Director London, Skills funding Agency objective The Provider Confederation sought to build a network of providers of employment services. The Confederation s objectives are to reduce duplication by ensuring that providers are better aware of nearby provision; build providers capacity by using events and e-bulletins to spread best practice; and improve personalisation of services by encouraging providers to refer residents onto services which best meets their needs. need The Provider Confederation was developed by west London working to overcome the following challenges: l Lack of personalised customer focused provision with few referrals between providers. l Lack of coordination in the provision and planning of services. what was done The west London working Provider Confederation has: l Developed a database of 690 members. l Issued monthly e-bulletins updating the sector on news, events and tendering opportunities. l Held quarterly themed events attended by around providers at each. l run focused events to support smaller providers adapt to changes in commissioning. programme activities NETWORKING EvENT Building your Bid Developing your unique Selling Point how to make your offer stand out mental Health and Work Keeping Ahead of the game Getting Parents into Work and keeping them there meet the Prime Contractors meeting the Demands of Employers and their Employees CAPACITy BuILDING EvENT Negotiation Skills Building Consortia Cutting a Deal Dragons Den presenting your offer Working in Consortia Preparing for the Work Programme and ESF Commissioning Delivering Excellent Services It was very useful to have a networking forum to see how other providers were working and what problems they encountered. Confederation Member Preparing for the Work Programme negotiating a good deal Keeping Afloat in Tough Times The table gives an overview of the content of the networking and Capacity Building events. 16

19 ProVIDer ConfeDerATIon During the delivery of the Confederation there have been significant changes to the environment within which its core membership of employment and skills providers work. The move by funders to commission larger multi-million pound skills and employment contracts has meant that many west London providers have had to change the way that they access funding by working much more closely with large Prime Contractors, as part of their supply chain. The Confederation developed its programme of activities to focus on helping providers adapt to these changes in commissioning. results evaluation showed that the role of the Confederation in offering a sub-regional perspective was valued and it helped to share good practice and develop links with other organisations. Sixteen events have been delivered which have been attended by 450 people. Demand for the services provided by the Confederation has been consistent with the database of members requesting e-bulletins increasing from a starting point of 250 in April 2009 to 690 in february The greater London Authority and London Skills and employment Board have recommended that the wlw Confederation model is replicated across London. Lessons learned l evaluation work showed that there was a broad feeling that the Confederation s work should continue beyond March 2011: it is seen as offering good opportunities for joint working and improved service delivery across the board l Interviewees suggested that the Confederation could be funded by some of the larger contractors, as they are often best-placed to benefit from the support offered to smaller providers of essential skills and employment services and its role in ensuring a healthy supply chain. l There is a view that all key stakeholders should have input into the Confederation. e-bulletin January 2011 where to find more information The Confederation Page on at has links to all west London working Confederation e-bulletins. The Interim and final Confederation evaluations can be found on the wlw evaluations page of under evaluations at The Meet the Prime Event enabled us to connect with potential contractors across West London in a highly effective and efficient way. All areas should be thinking of doing this. Partnership Manager Business Development, g4s Prime Contractor programme activities 17

20 PerSonAL ADVICe AnD outreach ProgrAMMe objective The Personal Advice and outreach Programme s aim was to develop outreach that links front line staff providing other public and third sector services with employment and skills providers, and to deliver personal advice with customised support to the hardest to help. need It was developed by west London working to overcome the challenges of: l Lack of personalised customer focused provision with few referrals between providers. l Multiple and confused points of contact for residents. The project tested approaches to increase the number of residents accessing employment services, targeting hard to reach residents, improving first-time referrals and increasing the number of residents who successfully achieve their goals. what was done This Programme Activity was locally tailored, and so was delivered differently across each of the six boroughs. Different groups of people were targeted in each borough. programme activities I have been to no other services where somebody actually listens to you and understands your position. Client: The HoPe Project, Hounslow l energize (Brent): This project funded a Partnership networking Manager within the South kilburn Partnership to encourage collaborative working between projects, to build their capacity and identify and refer workless residents to the local Brentin2work employment provision through agreed referral protocols. energize facilitated a series of networking and training events to raise the awareness of employment support services. l Local Solutions (Ealing): Local Solutions tested the effectiveness of a partnership approach to reducing worklessness amongst social housing tenants through delivery of a programme of advice and employment support. The project was led by Catalyst Housing group and assisted the hardest to help residents and tenants into work. A staff training programme built capacity within the front line housing workforce to ensure staff are enabled to signpost clients to local services. l Employment Ladder (Hammersmith & Fulham): The employment Ladder provided employment focused advice, guidance and practical support to workless residents in temporary accommodation. The project s two Job opportunities Brokers are located in the Council s Temporary Accommodation offices. They facilitate access to other council provision and services, testing the concept of person centred services. l Xcite (Harrow): Xcite provided a dedicated outreach, engagement, advice and support service delivered by personal advisors to help parents build pathways into jobs and training via mainstream provision, through one to one advice and on-going coaching. The team was based in a range of outreach locations including children's and community centres. l Workmates (Hillingdon): Personal advisors offered in-work coping strategies to support parents through their transition into sustained employment. LB Hillingdon appointed A2 Dominion (registered Social Landlord) to deliver this project which was based in a community centre. l The HOPE Project (Hounslow): The HoPe project [Hounslow outreach Project for employment] works with residents to ensure they are offered coherent routes to work, accessing all relevant services including: training, job search, benefits, money advice and job brokerage. Personal advisors work in partnership with Hounslow Adult and Community education targeting estates that have the highest proportion of workless residents. 18

21 PerSonAL ADVICe AnD outreach ProgrAMMe results Qualitatively, projects were successful in the way that they listened to and attempted to meet local needs. The programme created new thinking at a local level and in some cases, the provision of a new local service. Most provision in each of the boroughs We work closely together and it really ties in with what we contributed to the overarching project are trying to achieve there is a holistic approach including outcomes. There was a desire to remain addressing housing, welfare and employment. flexible on the outputs in order to meet the Housing Department frontline officer, Local Authority individual needs of each Local Authority. overall, the project under-performed against most of its outputs, although it slightly overachieved on the number of residents it supported (704). Timescales for delivery were pushed back as Local Authorities had underestimated the start up time required. The conversion ratio of starts into jobs varied. The Hammersmith and fulham employment Ladder recorded the highest percentage of starters into jobs, supporting 38% of its starters living in temporary accommodation into work. What attracted me was the dedication of the staff to actually help me and make a difference they were serious about helping. Client, Hammersmith and fulham employment Ladder Lessons learned l evaluation has found that activity has had an impact on local service provision. l Projects were designed to meet local needs and, where directly delivered by Local Authorities, there was a greater sense of ownership of the project. l The use of partners and subcontractors to deliver projects should be carefully considered for projects of a similar nature in the future; risk factors need to be assessed. l Training of frontline staff needs to be managed more effectively through projects being more explicit with staff about the purpose of training sessions and the incorporation of follow-up sessions. l The value of work placements and opportunities to volunteer should be considered at an early stage. l Delivering personal advice from council premises proved more successful than alternative approaches, possibly due to the anonymity factor. where to find more information The Personal Advice and outreach Page on at has further project details and includes Local Authority Project Manager contact details. The Personal Advice and outreach final and Interim evaluations can be found on the wlw evaluations page of at programme activities 19

22 BuILDIng employability PATHwAyS objective Building employability Pathways sought to support west London residents in moving from learning in colleges or adult education institutes into sustained employment. The project aims to expand current work within these large learning providers on employability; develop routes into employment for all learners on a vocational course; and to join up providers to create cohesive progression for learners into employment. need To support west London working to meet its vision of transforming the coherence and effectiveness of skills and employment services, engaging further education Colleges and Adult education Institutions was seen to be key. As an indication of the volume of learners, in 2007/08 37,716 adults accessed learning at one of west London s large providers. what was done The primary set of activities centred on the Pathways for Parents Pilot that operated in west London further education Colleges and Adult education Institutes. In addition, a series of workshops for year old college leavers called Playing to win were delivered. These workshops focused on interview skills and understanding what employers are looking for. The project built upon previous initiatives to integrate employment and Participating Colleges and Adult education Institutes Brent Adult and Community education Service (BACeS) College of north west London ealing Adult education Harrow College Hillingdon Adult education Stanmore College uxbridge College west Thames College skills, such as employability Demonstration Pilots, and took a different approach in giving seedcorn grants rather than directly funding employability activity. A package of support and seedcorn funding was offered to eight west London Colleges and Adult education Institutes to help them develop pathways into employment for parent learners. 800 learners were to be engaged in the pilot. programme activities results The approach taken - to give seedcorn funding that would act as a catalyst for greater employability activity, support to identify gaps in the College and Adult education Institute s employability offers, and an emphasis on partnership work and referral pathways - has been very successful. This meant that, as hoped, work funded through Building employability Pathways was not siloed and led to a number of sustainable initiatives. The output data shows that the Pathways for Parents pilot performed well in terms of starts (91% of target) and outward referrals (135%), fairly well in terms of employability plan delivery (71%) but less well in terms of inward referrals (42%). It is particularly encouraging that it overachieved in terms of outward referrals, given that this links clearly with the rationale of the work package. Both employment (30%) and work placement (50%) outcomes were significantly less than their targets. However, large learning providers did not have systems in place to track learner destinations and so the employment outcomes may well be better than the outcome figure suggests. A survey of learners engaged with the pilot suggests that the employment outcomes were close to the target figure. Perhaps unsurprisingly, qualification outcomes (78%) were significantly better, given that this is seen as the core business of Colleges and Adult education Colleges and is the basis upon which they receive funding. 20