DD2757 WIN – Inclusive Talent Brokerage programme

1.1.    The Workforce Integration Network (WIN) was established in 2018 as part of the Mayor’s Strategy for Social Integration.  WIN works with employers to address the structural barriers that prevent underrepresented groups from accessing and progressing into good work to foster inclusive growth. WIN seeks to achieve this through direct employer engagement; partnerships and business support; the development of practical research and resources; and initiatives to create links between employers and underrepresented groups. WIN is feeding into the priorities of the Supporting Londoners to Benefit from Growth programme and works towards the following themes of the ITS that are drawn from the London Growth Plan:
•    Create an employer-led skills system, to grow and diversify workforces in growth sectors
•    Support Londoners facing barriers to work
1.2.    WIN takes an intersectional approach. It recognises the importance of tailoring interventions to the needs of different groups that experience barriers to workforce inclusion. Drawing from the latest data and insights, WIN identifies the following groups as being especially impacted by labour market inequality and barriers in accessing good work, prioritising them for bespoke support: 
•    Black men (16-24; and 50 and over)
•    Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black women.
•    Data also shows socio-economic status and disability as key intersecting factors that impact on individuals’ ability to access good work .
1.3.    This project works towards the aims of the supporting Londoners to benefit from growth mandate. This project has been developed alongside skills colleagues to ensure referral pathways for other GLA streams of work such as skills bootcamps, trailblazers, young Londoners programme. This project aligns with ITS to coordinate and create a system in which Londoners have access to good work as well as to better connect employers to the diverse range of London talent to ensure people from all backgrounds can benefit from growth.
1.4.    Despite high demand for skilled workers — 82 per cent  of firms have vacancies  — around half of firms in London with live vacancies report that they struggle to fill them. Many beneficiaries from underrepresented communities remain excluded due to discrimination, health conditions, caring responsibilities, or unmet skills needs. In 2021–22, unemployment reached 33per cent for young Black men, 22.9% for older Black men, 37 per cent for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, and 31.1% for Black women.  
1.5.    Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) can be highly effective in placing candidates into sustained employment , have a high level of trust with communities, and offer culturally appropriate and tailored models of support. For example, some CBOs get between 50-80 per cent of their beneficiaries in well-paid, high-quality employment, compared to the 33 per cent industry average typically getting people into low paid, low skilled roles. However, they often lack the capacity to expand relationships with a broad range of employers in London’s growth sectors to scale up the volume of job-placements. This leads to a) talented “job ready” beneficiaries graduating from training and employment support programmes without finding employment, and b) limitations on their ability to expand their operations without more dedicated resourcing to job brokerage and employer relationship activities. ‘Job ready is specified in grant funding prospectus. 
1.6.    This disconnect between skilled talent and employer demand reflects a systemic failure in the labour market and contributes to inequality and reduced productivity. WIN aims to bridge this gap, helping employers access diverse talent pools to address skills shortages, drive innovation, and boost long-term business value. This project helps to meet the strategic objective to create the conditions needed for London to have a more agile, employer-led careers, employment and skills eco-system, which provides opportunities for Londoners from all backgrounds to secure good work in targeted sectors. We will integrate this project into the employer boards once they are launched as part of the ITS.
1.7.    The GLA’s Workforce Integration Network (WIN) is seeking to procure a recruitment organisation to provide a brokerage service as part of WIN’s Inclusive Talent Brokerage Project. The project supports community-based organisations (CBOs), i.e. employability organisations delivering wrap-around support to underrepresented groups to match “job-ready” diverse candidates, with vacancies held by employers in London’s growth sectors. WIN seeks a broker that can fulfil the following functions: 
•    The commissioned broker will generate employer leads (live vacancies) through their own employer networks, as well as new employer relationships. This new employer leads would come from different parts of London’s Inclusive Talent System, including GLA’s existing relationships, etc.  
•    The broker will distribute employer leads amongst CBOs, expanding the supply of suitable opportunities available to their beneficiary groups to fill. The commercial broker will also support activity to match “job ready” candidates from other parts of the ITS such as graduates from the GLA Skills Bootcamps, Trailblazers programme, etc.   
•    Deliver bespoke programme-wide activities. For example, large job fairs that connect skilled and “job ready” candidates from across the programme and CBOs to inclusive employers with vacancies.   
•    The broker will provide coaching and tailored support to CBOs to build their capacity to reach a wider group of employers in key growth sectors.  
1.8.    The project is expected to initially run from September 2025 to August 2026; timelines for delivery will be agreed with successful bidders at inception.  
1.9.    Alongside this broker we will provide grants of up to £40,000-£70,000 to 7-12 CBOs to expand their capacity and reach a wider scale of job-placements. This is a separate fund from the UKSPF MD.   These CBOs will do this through: 
•    Funding new roles to add extra business engagement capacity and brokerage across London’s growth sectors.  
•    Developing new resources to better connect beneficiaries to employment and support them through the process. 
•    Where appropriate, referring beneficiaries to other CBOs or other parts of the Inclusive Talent System such as adult learning, local job boards, skills bootcamps, apprenticeships, and employment support services. 
•    Generating and sharing new data and insights into how best to engage and support underrepresented communities into good work. 
•    To improve capacity beyond the period of UKSPF funding the CBOs will also focus on: 
•    Creating capacity for projects or services to support beneficiaries in the first few months of employment to sustain it. 
•    Support for employers to build more inclusive recruitment processes in longer term. 
•    CBOs will need to demonstrate the added value of their project, including the volume of additional people supported through the programme.  Funding will not be used to deliver any training, employability or wraparound support to pre- “job ready” beneficiaries which forms the existing activity of these CBOs.  
 

2.1.    The overarching goal of the Inclusive Talent Brokerage project, in line with the London Growth Plan’s Inclusive Talent Strategy, is to grow and diversify workforces in growth sectors and to support Londoners facing barriers to work obtain good quality jobs. The aims of the programme include: 

•    Reducing workforce inequalities and tackling barriers that Londoners from underrepresented groups face in accessing good work  
•    Reducing the talent gap by connecting diverse talent pools to quality jobs and recruitment pipelines in growth sectors  
•    Helping more employers create inclusive recruitment, hiring, and in-work support practices that deliver social and commercial value 
•    Fostering new ways of working between communities, recruiters, employers, and public services to support systems change 
2.2.    The project aims and outcomes are: 

•    To increase employment rates of Londoners from Black, Asian, and racially minoritised backgrounds through enhanced relationships between communities and employers, and increased CBO capacity to effectively place beneficiaries at scale. 
•    To reduce skills mismatch in the city by ensuring the Inclusive Talent System is cohesive and employer needs are addressed. 
•    The programme will work to achieve the following outcomes in the short term: 
•    Londoners from racially minoritised backgrounds expand their professional networks and increase their confidence and skills. 
•    Employers recruit more candidates from racially minoritised backgrounds.
•    The programme will work to achieve the following outcomes in the medium term: 
•    Up to 700 Londoners from racially minoritised backgrounds access good work by December 2026 (200 by April 2026) and lead to sustained employment. 
•    Employers have improved access to a diverse talent pool and develop more inclusive recruitment processes. 
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the GLA must have due regard to the need to: eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
3.2.    The relevant protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Compliance with the duty may involve ensuring people with a protected characteristic are provided with all the opportunities that those without the characteristic would have.
3.3.    WIN focuses on improving pathways for underrepresented groups in the workplace, particularly those who face the highest barriers, such as Black men; and Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Black women. An intersectional analysis showed that these groups experience significant inequality and exclusion because they possess one or more characteristics in addition to ethnicity that compound disadvantage. Further, disability and socio-economic class are also key intersectional factors that can negatively impact on labour market outcomes.  
3.4.    WIN works to improve the recruitment, retention and progression of Black and racially minoritised Londoners. It collaborates with employers to support these underrepresented Londoners into good work. London's average unemployment rate is 6. percent, the following groups all have a rate significantly higher than the average: 
•    Pakistani/Bangladeshi women 11.3 percent 
•    Black women 10.5 percent
•    Black men 12.4 percent
3.5.    Insecure employment, which is approx percent in London, is much higher for these groups with 14per cent of Pakistani/Bangladeshi Londoners experiencing this and 13.3per cent of Black Londoners. 
3.6.    The programme will take targeted action to support these groups access the tailored support they require to obtain good work. 
3.7.    This project is codesigned by community-based organisations.  WIN contracted a consultation to do research. The research included over 20 interviews with organisations delivering or funding programmes and activity that aim to address labour market inclusion and access to employment and career advancement for underrepresented groups. This included range of organisations, from small community and place-based organisations through to strategic funders, research and practice consultancies and expert diversity and inclusion charities and social enterprises. The research also engaged with teams inside the GLA with a track record of effectively engaging underrepresented groups at scale, focusing on strands of their programme with a workforce inclusion dimension.
3.8.    Our research indicates that Community-Based Organisations that specialise in career development for underrepresented groups can help tackle barriers to good work. They have a high level of reach and offer culturally appropriate and tailored support. These CBOs can be highly effective, with some getting between 50-80 percent of their beneficiaries in well-paid, high-quality employment, compared to the 27 percent of the DWP programme   typically getting people into low paid, low skilled roles. However, they lack the capacity to operate at scale.  The CBOs are often by and for and thus administer bespoke support to their audiences.
 

4.2   The Inclusive Talent Brokerage is aligned with the recently published London Growth Plan, which sets out opportunities to boost sustainable and inclusive economic growth across all of London’s communities. The programme is aligned with the inclusive growth ambitions to ensure that these jobs lead to career progression and a route to higher pay and living standards for all Londoners. 
4.3.   The project is also aligned with the aims of the Inclusive Talent Strategy, which will build on the capital’s skilled workforce, tackle systemic issues across education and employment to unleash the potential of all Londoners and - in turn - London’s economy. Particularly on aims to reduce the number of Londoners in poverty due to labour market barriers and to increase employment of underrepresented groups in the higher-paying growth sectors. This programme will help to move towards an employer led system.
4.4.   The Inclusive Talent Brokerage project aligns with the “Supporting Londoners into good work” programme objective: 
•    To break down barriers to opportunity 
4.5.   The programme is also aligned with the “Reducing Inequalities” programme workstreams.
4.6.   The programme is aligned with the “London level outcomes” objective of:
•    Londoners have access to good work  
4.7.   This programme is aligned with the Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion objectives. It contributes directly to Objective 9 – “to ensure London's workforce reflects its population at all levels and in all sectors” – by working collaboratively with employers to address underrepresentation in their workplace. 
4.8.   The programme supports and builds on Pillar 4 of the Good Work Standard, which aims to set out a commitment to action for businesses on EDI and their recruitment practices. The GLA does not have conflicts of interest.
4.9     There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of the officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.
 

5.1.    Approval is sought for:  
5.2.    The expenditure of £100,000 in 2025-26 financial year to procure a recruitment organisation to deliver brokerage services for the programme and; 
5.3.     the expenditure of £30,000 across 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years to deliver an evaluation of the programme. £15,000 of the £30,000 expenditure is likely to be spent in 2025-26 and the remaining £15,000 in 2026-27 
5.4.    This expenditure totalling £130,000 will be funded from the GLA WIN Programme budget. 
5.5.    Funding for future financial years will be subject to the annual budget setting process and is subject to change. The expenditure of £15,000 in 2026-27 financial year is assumed to be affordable and will be confirmed as part of the budget setting process. 
5.6.    Any contracts that commit the GLA in future years will be subject to appropriate break clauses 
 

6.1.    Power to undertake the requested decisions
6.2.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Executive Director of Communities and Skills (the “Director”) fall within general powers of the GLA in section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation within Greater London and, in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:
6.3.    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
6.4.    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; consult with appropriate bodies.    
6.5.     In taking the decisions requested, the Director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
Procurement
6.6.    Decisions 1 and 2, above, seek approval of expenditure of up to £100,000 and £30,000, respectively, in order to procure services relating to recruitment for and the evaluation of the Inclusive Talent Brokerage Programme.  Officers are reminded to comply with the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code, when they procure the said services.  Furthermore, officers are reminded to put in place appropriate contracts between the GLA and the service provider(s).
 

Final_UKSPF Inclusive Talent Brokerage MDB Report For Sign Off.docx