ADD2746 No Wrong Door: 2025-26 allocation to the four Integration Hubs

1.1.    The No Wrong Door (NWD) initiative was developed in response to the work of the London Recovery Board in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The programme was part of the Good Work for All mission which aimed to ‘support Londoners into good jobs with a focus on sectors key to London’s recovery’, with a strong emphasis on Londoners who had been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and face structural inequalities.  
1.2.    The initiative’s overarching vision is to coordinate skills, careers and employment support so there is ‘no wrong door’ for Londoners; and to ensure that employment and enterprise provides a secure route out of poverty.
1.3.    The NWD programme was originally approved by the Mayor under cover of Mayoral Decision (MD)2833 in 2021, with a further decision relating to UK Community Renewal match funding and GLA additional funding until 2025 approved under MD2916. Subsequent additional funding from the GLA and UK Shared Prosperity Fund to fund additional activities for the Integration Hubs was later approved by the Executive Director – Communities and Skills, under cover of Director Decision (DD)2624 and the Assistant Director – Skills and Employment – Delivery, under cover of Assistant Director Decision (ADD)2681.
1.4.    The NWD programme has notably provided grant funding to Sub-Regional Partnerships (SRPs) as a contribution to their costs of establishing and delivering virtual ‘Integration Hubs’ to help coordinate skills and employment services within their localities. The Hubs launched in March 2022, and delivery of the first phase should have been completed on 31 March 2025, in line with the current grant agreements. 
1.5.    The Mayor approved a six-month extension of the Integration Hubs, until September 2025, with a budget of £298,000, via MD3307. It will enable the Hubs to keep the momentum and capacity to build on their knowledge base, resource their core activities and work on sustaining their activities and funding model beyond the extension. Under this decision, the Mayor also delegated authority to bring future NWD programme-level decisions within the scope of the decision of the Assistant Director - Skills & Employment - Delivery.

2.1.    The Hubs submitted their extension delivery plan proposal to the GLA at the end of January. It covers a programme of activities, related budget and targets, and updated risk register.
2.2.    The Integration Hubs report their performance against a set of four indicators. The 2025-26 targets are
•    194 referrals from target groups;
•    228 activities and events carried out during the six-month extension;
•    1,841 residents engaged through activities;
•    1,073 partners engaged through activities.
2.3.    This decision confirms the commitment of £298,000 grant funding to the four Sub-Regional Partnerships to support the activities of their Integration Hubs. The funding is split as follows:
•    Central London Forward £83,400
•    Local London £76,280
•    South London Partnership £66,790
•    West London Alliance £71,530.
2.4.    Individual allocations are matching the level of funding committed in the first half of the current financial year and each hub will receive an additional £15,000 milestone payment on submission of their phase two (i.e. post September 2025) delivery plan. In the event the GLA decides to close the programme down at the end of the extension, the GLA reserves the right not to pay the additional payment or to merge it with the Q2 2025-26 milestone payment. 
2.5.    Any amendments to these grant allocations within the total budget set out under MD3307 will be agreed by the Assistant Director – Skills & Employment – Delivery in line with local governance arrangements.
 

3.1.    The equalities comments should specifically relate to the decision. Section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 provides that, in the exercise of their functions, public authorities must have due regard to the need to:
•    eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 2010
•    advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it
•    foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
3.2.    Relevant protected characteristics are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
3.3.    The Hub activities have been focused on priority groups such as: residents from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, young people with low educational attainment or special educational needs & disabilities (SEND), residents with special needs or disabilities, women returning to work, and refugees. Hubs have notably produced ‘inclusive workplaces’ toolkits, provided ‘ability not disability’ training sessions to their partners, and organised job fairs for their care leave and refugee residents. These priority groups will continue to be supported throughout the Hubs for the period of the extension of phase one.
 

Links to Mayoral strategies
4.1.    The programme aligns with commitments made in the Mayor’s Skills for Londoners (SfL) Strategy and the Skills Roadmap for London which set the direction of travel for adult education and skills in London in the last Mayoral term and beyond. In the Skills Roadmap for London, the Mayor committed to fostering a more integrated skills and employment system, including with other public services and support, through establishing the NWD Integration Hubs. 
4.2.    The programme is expected to support the implementation of the Inclusive Talent Strategy and the Growth Plan by seeking to strengthen the ability of the eco-system to support Londoners to understand and access the opportunities that are available to them within the sectors key to London’s economic growth. It will also serve as a key intervention for the Supporting Londoners to Benefit From Growth programme, and is expected to link into the Getting Britain Working Trailblazer programmes.
4.3.    No Wrong Door, which helps Londoners access the right support at the right time to help them into good work, plays a key role supporting Objective Eight of the Mayor’s Equality Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, which aims to help Londoners at risk of marginalisation in the labour market to get the skills and support they need to secure good quality jobs.
Risks arising/mitigation
4.4.    Key risks and mitigation measures are outlined below. This may be refined following further stakeholder engagement. 

Considerations for the provision of grant funding and subsidy control
4.5.    Under Element 1 of the proposals (see paragraphs 2.1 to 2.8, above) direct grant awards to the London Boroughs of Ealing, Richmond upon Thames, Redbridge and the City of London Corporation would be made to extend the delivery of their existing project activity under the No Wrong Door programme. All grant recipients were originally selected for the programme following an invitation to submit proposals to establish and manage the Integration Hubs. The Grant process was run in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and awards approved by the Mayor under cover of MD2833.
4.6.    It is proposed that the provision of additional sums to all organisations constitutes the award of grant funding, rather payment for services, because: 
•    the sums are a contribution to the costs of existing third-party (and not GLA) projects that align with the Mayor’s priorities, but are the initiatives of the third parties in question
•    the GLA will not receive any benefit as a result, with the benefits accruing instead to Londoners.
4.7.    GLA officers have carried out an analysis of the proposals against the Statutory Guidance for the UK subsidy control regime. They have assessed that the subsidy control regime does not apply in these circumstances because the proposed award of additional funding does not constitute a subsidy.
4.8.    In particular, the grant awards fail to satisfy Limb B of the four-limbed test set out in the Subsidy Control Act 2022, as none of the organisations are classified as an enterprise. They are all local authorities, none of whose funded activity involves them engaging in economic activity to offer goods or services on a market. The funding will be used to enable the provision of activities such as free job fairs, networking events to Londoners, employers and service providers. 
Conflicts of interest
4.9.    There are no conflicts of interest from those involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.
 

5.1.    MD3307 approved the expenditure of up to £298,000 in 2025-26 Financial year in grant funding to the Integration Hubs to extend their delivery by six months to 30 September 2025, allowing time for the development and commissioning of a second phase of the programme and approved the delegation of authority to the Assistant Director, Skills & Employment (Delivery) to make future NWD programme-level decisions within the scope of the decision and to secure and approve the acceptance and expenditure of additional funding on the No Wrong Door Programme
5.2.    This decision seek approval for the direct award of up to £298,000 grant funding in total to the lead authorities for London’s four sub-regional partnerships as follows: 
•    Central London Forward - £83,400
•    Local London - £76,280
•    South London Partnership - £66,790
•     West London Alliance - £71,530
5.3.    This would be funded from the No Wrong Door programme (NWD) budget in the 2025-26 financial year. The expenditure of £298,000 from the NWD programme budget in 2025-26 is agreed in principle and subject to the outcome of the normal budget-setting process for the next financial year.