Contract and Fund Management

Our primary speciality is working with partnerships of providers to deliver outcomes to a wide range of people across the community. Under our E2E contract we manage provision across 18 providers, from large organisations to voluntary sector organisations; under Fair Cities, we have worked with a wide range of partners, from major colleges to small specialist providers. The job we have done successfully is to ensure outstanding performance in quality delivery, to consistent high standards, across each partnership – deploying resources in the most effective way to maximise clients’ potential.

Training & personal development

We've become aknowledged experts in helping people develop themselves for the career they want. For example, under the Fair Cities Job and Work Skills Programme (JAWS) we helped people in two key ways – the development of job skills (required by an employer for a specific job) and work skills (generic skills required in the workplace). Clients working on their job skills were helped to develop specific skills asked for by the employers we worked in partnership with – such as retail skills or call centre work. Clients who engaged with work skills provision looked at generic core skills common to the work place, such as customer service or team work.

Preparation for employment

Through Entry to Employment young people who have barriers to achieving “Level 2” standard skills are helped to re-engage with education or training, or to prepare for a worthwhile job. Working on a mix of vocational skills, basic skills and personal and social development, tailored to the individual, our clients progress to Apprenticeships, college or employment.

Managing the Learning Agreement Pilot, we work to with a consortium of training providers and keyworkers to match young people in employment without training to appropriate training opportunities which will develop their skills and help them to turn a job into a career. Through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, we help voluntary and community sector organisations to develop training programmes which will act as a first step for young people back into education or training.

All these schemes require supportive, developmental contract or fund management. In particular, we:

• Set common processes up to service contract requirements, reducing workload for delivery partners
• Use an Ofsted-approved quality assurance system to develop delivery and systems to common high standards
• Ensure consistency of approach and quality of delivery, whilst enabling personalisation to the client
• Manage performance to maximise the effective use of funding
• Achieve excellent results over and above contract specification.

For more information on how we've helped adults, please see the Training & Personal Development section.

Job & Skills Brokerage

Working with partners, we’re able to manage a wide and diverse network of learning provision across the area. This means that we are superbly-placed to be able to offer the right training and development options, in the right place, to personalise delivery to clients. We’re demand-led – we develop provision to fit people’s needs, not try to push them into what’s already there.

Working with employers, we identify what they want in an employee – and how they find that special someone. That way, we can develop training which prepares potential candidates for the specific job employers are recruiting to. We’re demand-led – we make sure employers see candidates with the exact abilities and attitude needed for the job in question.

We work with over 30 partners in the private, public, FE and voluntary sectors, so that there is always the right organisation on hand for the job in question. Matching clients’ needs to the right programme is our speciality. Because of our consistent quality management, we know they’ll get the best training on offer, whether it’s with a big organisation (such as Bradford College, Barnardo’s or Age Concern) or a small, local partner like UrbanBiz or SJK Autos.

We’ve got extensive contacts within major local employers, and have worked with them to identify the right staff for the jobs they need to fill. That’s why they come to us time and again – companies like British Gas, HBOS, Yorkshire Building Society, Loop, Ventura, First Bus, Royal Mail, Dunelm Mills, Peacocks, Primark and Grattan.