MAYOR HAILS ADULT LEARNING SUCCESS REACHING ONE MILLION FUNDED LEARNERS
- More than one million funded learners have participated in the Mayor’s adult skills programmes
- New London Multiply Roadshow will help thousands of Londoners to access free numeracy skills
- More than half of Londoners currently don’t have numeracy skills and many find it hard to understand financial documents such as bills and payslips
More than one million learners have participated in vital training and boosted their skills in the last five years, thanks to the Mayor Sadiq Khan’s adult education funding.
Enrolments to London’s adult skills programme increased by a fifth between the 2019/2020 (when responsibility for London’s adult education was delegated to the Mayor) and 2022/2023, compared to eight per cent in other areas of the country which remain under central government control. London now has the highest rate of adult skills participation in the country and more than 100,000 Londoners were helped into work, accessed further learning or boosted their wages in the last year alone.
The skills training provides a boost to London’s businesses, helping them employ the skilled people they need to thrive – including for jobs in key sectors such as digital and the creative industries as well as the green jobs needed for the capital to become a net zero city.
But the Mayor knows there is more to be done to give Londoners the skills they need to access high quality jobs. Today he has announced a London Multiply Roadshow - a series of fun, family-friendly events across the city launching this month, focused on helping Londoners build their confidence with numeracy in everyday life. There will also be a pan-London campaign, including digital marketing and Spotify ads, to encourage Londoners to develop their maths skills. Roadshow events are running across 11 boroughs in community centres, local event spaces, and a shopping centre. Events are being run in partnerships with local community organisations, with the support of our delivery partner, Sparq, and local adult learning providers. The flagship event is being held in Tobacco Dock on 2 March.
The London Multiply programme was established in 2022 to support Londoners with limited numeracy qualifications in accessing essential skills training, completely free of charge. Since launching, London Multiply has offered courses to around 10,000 Londoners but there is still much work to be done as more than half (56 per cent) of the city’s adult population do not currently have basic numeracy skills1. Those with low numeracy skills might find it hard to understand financial documents, including pay slips and bills, and work out discounts to help with budgeting. It could also impact their earnings overall.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I’m thrilled that my adult skills programmes have funded more than one million learners, giving Londoners the knowledge or qualifications they need to get into good work.
“Lifelong learning is key to help Londoners progress into future-proof jobs and it supports businesses by giving them the skilled workers they need to thrive in our city. That is why I am calling for greater funding and powers over adult education to support even more Londoners.
“I’m doing all I can to help support Londoners in need of further training and my London Multiply Roadshow will help even more Londoners get the free numeracy skills training they need and help build a better, fairer more prosperous London for everyone.”
Yuanyuan Ding, Deputy Head of School (English & Maths, Multiply, Teacher Education) at South Thames College said: “At South Thames College we see the impact of adult learning every day. It’s fantastic that so many Londoners have now had the opportunity to develop the skill they need to move into work and gain essential life skills, such as confidence and wellbeing”.
“We’re proud to be delivering the London Multiply Programme, and the Roadshow announced today will help even more Londoners get more confidence with numeracy”
Michelle Walcott from Wandsworth studied Number Confidence for Work and Everyday Life at South Thames College, part of the London Multiply Programme, following a referral from the job centre. Michelle wants to continue studying maths as it has helped her support her grandson with his homework.
Michelle said: “There were things at school I didn’t understand, but I am getting there slowly. The maths course has helped me sit with my grandson and do homework. I’m hoping to come back to South Thames College and continue studying because I feel more confident within myself. It’s a privilege to be here, especially at my age.”
Notes to editors
1 Pro Bono Economics, Counting on the Recovery, 2021 https://www.probonoeconomics.com/counting-on-the-recovery
1,012,310 funded learners have been supported by key skills programmes between 2019/20 and Q1 23/24 (2019/20 – 2022/23 + 2023/24)
AEB: 985,660
London Multiply: 20,730
Bootcamps: 5,920
Learner participation is the count of unique learners who meet the criteria for a given academic year and funding stream. As a result, learners who meet criteria for multiple years will be counted in each time period. Therefore, a single learner may be counted more than once in aggregated learner participation statistics.
A funded learner is someone who has had the costs of their training fully met by the Mayor’s skills programmes that they would otherwise have had to pay themselves.
Adult Education Budget
London’s £318m Adult Education Budget was delegated from central government to the Mayor from 1 August 2019.
AEB learners in London usually take multiple courses. There were 487,100 learning aims enrolments in London during the 2022/23 academic year. The most frequent subject area chosen was Preparation for Life and Work, which provides valuable skills for the labour market (such as ESOL, English and Maths skills), accounting for nearly half of all aims in the AEB programme.
The Mayor is helping Londoners most in need of upskilling through the Adult Education Budget. Last year (22/23) 60 per cent of AEB learners were from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background and 70 per cent were female.
London Multiply
Multiply offers adults who do not already have a GCSE grade C/4 or higher in Maths or equivalent, and need to improve their numeracy, free flexible courses that fit around their lives. This funding is part of the government’s £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The Mayor of London has tailored the funding to target the most in need Londoners as part of the rollout of the government’s flagship Multiply programme.
Bootcamps
The Skills Bootcamps for Londoners programme aims to help Londoners aged 19+ to progress in work by giving them access to in-demand skills training and a guaranteed interview for a more sustainable, higher-skilled job and higher wages over time. The programme will also benefit employers by helping them to fill specific skills shortage vacancies, increasing productivity within their organisations. The overarching objectives are to make sure participating employers commit to interviewing for their identified skills shortage vacancies from the pool of trained individuals.
Learners supported by the AEB, Bootcamps and Multiply have taken courses in a number of key sectors over this time, including:
Health, Public Services and Care (135,670)
Arts, Media and Publishing/Creative (120,540)
ICT/Digital (86,710)
Employability & transferable skills (SSA preparation for life and work) (490,400).
Basic skills (ESOL, English, Digital and Numeracy) (345,290)
ESOL (170,700)
19+ adult education in England:
- In London, 19+ adult skills enrolments (i.e. Education and Training plus community learning) increased by 19%, from 476,330 in 2019/20 to 566,125 in 2022/23
- In other areas (MCAs), 19+ adult skills enrolments increased by 10%, from 700,319 in 2019/20 to 772,925 in 2022/23
- In the non-devolved area, 19+ adult skills enrolments increased by 8%, from 972,680 in 2019/20 to 1,052,824 in 2022/23
- In England, 19+ adult skills enrolments increased by 11%, from 2,149,329 in 2019/20 to 2,391,874 in 2022/23
Source: DfE FE and Skills data
This means that growth in England is driven by the positive performance of London.
The Multiply Roadshow launches on 12 February 2024 and will travel around London for five weeks, stopping at multiple locations across the city. The flagship event will take place Saturday 2 March at Tobacco Docks in Wapping, where Londoners will be able to enjoy a free day of day of sports, activities, games, crafts, local advice, food and more. A full list of times and locations is available here