DD1466 Team London SkillUP Programme

1.1 Built on the success of volunteering at London 2012, Team London is a Mayoral initiative to promote volunteering across the capital and to encourage Londoners to ‘go local and do something great for their city’. Team London is working to build the next generation of volunteers, connecting young people with their communities and giving them skills, networks and experiences they need to find work, and to bring together business and third sector to increase impact across the capital.

1.2 Team London’s new Skill-UP programme brings together business and charities through gifting time and support to enable charity professionals to gain the skills and support they need to develop individually and thus grow the impact of their charity. Champion businesses from different sectors will work with Team London to shape training boot camps for staff from small charities and provide mentors to support individuals as they put their learning into practice. The project will be delivered in the form of workshops for charity and third sector professionals which will be delivered by corporate professionals from relevant business fields. The workshops will include modules on financial management, HR and staff management and the use of social media as a means to promote and market organisations. The workshops will either be held at City Hall or at the offices of partner businesses who are supporting the programme.

1.3 To best analyse what the needs of London’s small charity sector, Team London conducted a comprehensive study of the capital’s non-profits. To fully understand the problem, Team London undertook the following:

• 2 in-depth, formal focus groups with CEOs/senior staff of charities and business. One focus
group was held at City Hall and one at the 639 centre in Tottenham.
• Ad hoc focus groups on third sector staff who attended City Hall for various Team London
meetings over the period of the research.
• An electronic survey of all organisations registered on the Team London website. We
received 50 responses.
• A review of the relevant literature that analysed the skills gaps of small charities

1.4 Research by the FSI has shown that skills gaps represent a major barrier for small charities, with lack of funding for training and development cited as the main reason for perceived skills gaps. Some specific examples include 43 percent of those with responsibility for HR indicated that they need some upskilling in the latest HR laws and practices and 50 percent of respondents indicated there was need for improvement in website development and utilising social media. Smaller charities often struggle to connect with business to be able to share their expertise, they do not have the contacts to ask, and sometimes do not know what to ask for.

1.5 Team London launched the SkillUP programme in June 2015. The initial module was in human resources and delivered in collaboration with the CIPD. Results from the module are outlined below:

• 93% of participants rated their satisfaction as 7 out of 10 or higher in regards to the course.
• 86% rated the content as 7 out of 10 or above.
• 57% rated content as 8 out of 10 or above.
• 86% of attendees agreed they will evaluate or improve recruitment as a result of the skills and information learned through the HR module.

2.1 As with the previous modules, it is expected that these additional workshops will deliver the following outcomes:

- 15-30 attendees per workshop
- 15-30 mentoring relationships established per workshop
- 1 resource guide developed for each module of the SkillUP programme
- A minimum of 20% increase in learning across the topics of the SkillUP module.
- 2 workshops per module each year.

2.2 The cash income received will contribute towards Team London’s costs of facilitating and running
any workshops held at City Hall. This will also contribute to costs such as marketing and PR collateral in the form of printing of booklets and resources for the charity attendees and also catering for any sessions run at City Hall.

2.3 The VIK element in this decision consists of the following:

- £15,000 of staff time per partner per year for ongoing mentoring of the charity staff who attend
the SkillUP sessions.
- £2,000 of staff time per partner per year for the setup, design and delivery of each SkillUP module.
- £2,000 of printing and associated marketing materials per partner per year of the agreement.
- £1,000 towards costs of room hire per partner per year of the agreement.

2.4 All of the above totals to £80,000 VIK received.

3.1 The Skill-UP project is specifically aimed at employees of charity and third-sector organisations, although any employees of such organisations are able to apply to attend any of the
Skill-UP workshops.

4.1 The project links to key Mayoral initiatives of The Mayor’s vision 2020 (working with businesses to create/ support work opportunities for young people and support volunteering).

4.2 As with the previous elements of the SkillUp programme, Team London will continue to survey delegates both at the start and the end of each workshop to ensure that the topics covered are both useful and relevant. This will also enable Team London to gauge the increase in knowledge of the attendees therefore giving valuable insight into the effectiveness of the sessions.

5.1 Further support for the Skill-UP programme has been secured in the form of value-in-kind and cash contributions during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years. The total additional amounts equate to £80,000 value-in-kind and a £20,000 cash contribution allocated as per the table below. In return for the value-in-kind, project partners will receive marketing and publicity services from the GLA for which the monetary value is equivalent of the deliverables that it is receiving, thus resulting in VAT charges on both sides. Consequently, the GLA and all the project partners/sponsors should supply VAT only invoices to ensure VAT is correctly accounted for.

5.2 The total VIK and cash contributions are detailed below:

6.1 Sections 1-4 of this report indicate that:

6.1.1 the proposals in respect of which the Director’s approval is sought may be considered to fall within the GLA’s powers to do such things as are facilitative of or conducive to the promotion of social development and economic improvement in Greater London;

6.1.2 in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

(a) Pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
(b) Consider how the proposals will promote the health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
(c) Consult with the appropriate bodies.