MD2916 No Wrong Door initiative

1.1 The London Recovery Board has established the London Recovery Programme to deliver its grand challenge to restore confidence in the city, minimise the impact on communities and build back better the city’s economy and society as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This will be achieved through the delivery of nine recovery missions, one of which is Helping Londoners into Good Work (Good Work).

1.2 The Good Work mission aims to “support Londoners into good jobs with a focus on sectors key to London’s recovery”. There is a strong emphasis on Londoners that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and face structural inequalities.

1.3 The Good Work mission includes four project strands. One of them is the ‘No Wrong Door’ (NWD) initiative. The overarching vision for this, approved by the London Recovery Board, is: “Coordinating skills, careers and employment support so there is ‘no wrong door’ for Londoners; and ensuring that employment and enterprise provide a secure route out of poverty.”

1.4 In terms of governance, the Skills for Londoners (SfL) Recovery Task and Finish Group sits as a subordinate body to the SfL Board and provides a steer on the implementation and delivery of the mission, reporting into the SfL Board and SfL Business Partnership. The project also reports to the London Recovery Board via the GLA’s central recovery team, ensuring that activities and objectives align with the outcomes and cross-cutting principles (CCPs) of the Recovery Programme.

1.5 Under cover of MD2833, the Mayor approved expenditure of £720,000 for NWD across two financial years (£500,000 in 2021-22 and £220,000 in 2022-23). There was an expectation that further match funding or in-kind support would be secured from key project partners, including the DWP, sub-regional partnerships, and London Councils, and that we would explore additional ways of augmenting delivery to maximise impact given the scale of the intervention required.

1.6 In May 2021, the GLA applied for funding to the government’s UKCRF to support the expansion of the NWD initiative.

1.7 In November 2021, the government shortlisted six London-based projects to receive funding from the UKCRF, totalling £3,788,211.79. On 25 November 2021, the Mayor approved the receipt of that allocation (MD2851) and that the GLA acts as the organisation responsible for administering these funds in London on behalf of the UK government, setting the financial delegation limits relating to the six projects.

1.8 The NWD was one of the projects awarded funding by UKCRF, receiving £500,000, to be matched with £500,000 from the existing programme budget. The activities supported by the new grant can commence from 8 November 2021, the date the GLA was notified that it was successful in its UKCRF application and – subject to the detail of the funding agreement – must be completed with costs defrayed by 30 June 2022.

1.9 As part of the recent GLA draft budget setting exercise, an additional £840,000 across three financial years (£280,000 in 2022-23; 280,000 in 2023-24; and £280,000 in 2024-25) is expected to further support the NWD, subject to approval.

Strategic purpose and outcomes

1.10 The NWD initiative responds to a set of long-standing challenges related to fragmentation of services, entrenched silos and a lack of join-up and local responsiveness in the skills and employment system.

1.11 The GLA and London Councils have worked with key stakeholders across London – including DWP and the borough sub-regional partnerships, to produce working definitions of NWD that set out a clear vision of how the system could look different:

• for Londoners, NWD will mean that no matter what their starting point or which service they access first, they will be connected to the right type of support, at the right time, to help them on their journey to good work
• for service organisations and providers, NWD will mean a clear and shared understanding by all partners of the pathways to good work in their area, including coordinating the services available to support this, which will allow Londoners, delivery partners and other stakeholders to be referred to and access services that are right for them, or the individuals they are supporting
• NWD will support multi-agency, person-centred models of practical support that put the needs of service users and job seekers at the heart of service planning and provision
• while the most immediate priority is to improve integration between skills and employment related organisations, NWD is also about building strong partnerships and pathways with other vital services in sectors that are critical to residents’ journeys to and through work, including health services, housing, childcare, and Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) support.

1.12 There is strong strategic alignment between the NWD initiative and key Mayoral priorities, strategies and programmes, and those of the GLA’s partners and key stakeholders – particularly London boroughs, the London Recovery Board, the SfL Board and the DWP. In addition, the importance of delivering the NWD came out strongly as part of the Mayor’s Skills Roadmap for London consultation in the summer of 2021, with several skills providers, boroughs and other stakeholders identifying local integration of skills and employment services as a key marker of success.

Further decisions

1.13 Future NWD programme level decisions within the scope of this decision will be delegated to the Executive Director for Communities and Skills via a Director Decision form. This may include approval to receive and spend additional funds secured for the programme such as those requested from the DWP, one of the partners of the programme, and its Flexible Support Fund. This fund provides resource to specialist organisations to addresses barriers to work for long term unemployed people.

UKCRF funding

1.14 The £220m UK-wide UKCRF is designed to provide funding to help places across the UK prepare for the introduction to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It seeks to bridge the gap between the ending of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) by 2023-24 and the launch of the replacement UK Shared Prosperity Fund, expected to launch in Spring 2022. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is leading on the UKCRF for the government.

1.15 Once the GLA’s European Programmes Management Unit (EPMU) has agreed and entered into and executed a funding agreement with DLUHC it will be the ‘lead authority’ for the UKCRF in London and will be administering the funds on behalf of the Government.

1.16 Project activity funded by the UKCRF will need to be completed by 30 June 2022. The GLA and partners are working at pace to ensure that funds can be utilised to these timescales.

Funding objectives

2.1 The overarching priority of the NWD initiative, consistent with the Good Work for All mission, is to support priority groups of Londoners into good work, and to improve the user experience of services on the ground.

2.2 The funding objectives are to:

• to increase understanding and awareness of key groups of Londoners’ experiences engaging with the skills and employment system and identify practical ways to improve the quality of user journeys and embed user voice into service planning
• to create a significantly stronger awareness and visibility of the skills and employment support offer and landscape in London among key groups of Londoners and system stakeholders (commissioners, providers, employers)
• to support sustainable infrastructure and activity that increases the quality of partnership working, professional practice, and coordination of provision leading to higher quality referrals, better access and user experience of services, stronger engagement with employers and providers, and improved service and professional standards
• to develop projects that align with key strategies, including the overarching outcomes and principles agreed by the London Recovery Programme.

2.3 While the most immediate priority is to improve integration between skills and employment related services, NWD is also about building strong partnerships and pathways with other vital services in sectors that are critical to residents’ journeys to and through work. These sectors include health services, housing, childcare and Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) support.

2.4 The NWD will deliver three strands of activity to meet the objectives set out:

• Integration Hubs: grant funding will be provided to sub-regional partnerships (SRPs) to establish and deliver ‘Integration Hubs’ to help coordinate skills and employment services within their localities (planned to start in Spring 2022). An outputs and outcomes framework for this strand is attached in Appendix A.
• A research, innovation and marketing programme to identify ways to better connect Londoners to skills and job support opportunities, including production of a minimal viable product for this, and promotional activity (planned to start in early 2022).
• Pilot funding to help places design, prototype and develop pilots for new models to promote NWD in practice (planned for 2023).

2.5 The SRPs are in the process of working up their proposals for the Integration Hubs which will vary according to sub-regional need.

2.6 The GLA will also commission an independent evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the NWD approach and inform future activities.

Spending proposals

NWD programme budget and resourcing

2.7 The revised programme budget is £2.06m across four financial years from 2021-22 to 2024-25. This includes UKCRF and additional core GLA funds for the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25, which are subject to budget availability. Breakdown by individual element is detailed below:

*spend in 2021-22 and 2022-23 includes the UKCRF and GLA match funding.

2.8 Grant funding for the establishment of sub-regional ‘integration hubs’ to boost coordination and partnership working (£1.38m, increased from £400,000). This element has been developed in partnership with London Councils, DWP and the SRPs. The SRPs have each developed a detailed proposal of delivery based on geographic priorities and need. SRPs will receive grant funding (via their accountable local authority) to resource and manage their hubs and deliver key activity with rollout in Quarter 4 2021-22. The funding will be used to create new capacity within each SRP, for example through new posts, secondments or associate support.

2.8.1 Indicative areas of activity may include:

• identifying and helping to address practical barriers to integration and partnership working, including sub-regionally and pan-London
• surfacing and promoting good practice, for example with respect to referrals
• supporting improved partnership working in alignment with NWD principles
• bringing in service user voice and improving employer engagement with skills and employment provision
• engaging with commissioners and policy makers to recommend changes to policy or structures, including by helping to formalise necessary strategic partnership arrangements
• delivering training or support to help stakeholders and practitioners implement NWD in practice
• helping to develop sustainable infrastructure for ongoing partnership working and coordination following the end of funded project activity.

2.8.2 Project deliverables are to be confirmed but may include:

• an overarching focus on improved job-related outcomes for Londoners and an improved experience with services to facilitate this
• improved referral practices, leading to more Londoners from priority groups getting into good work
• improved partnership working through the development of appropriate partnership structures and arrangements
• tools, training, good practice networks to embed best practice
• sustainability plans to support the continuation of key structures and activities beyond the timeframe of the project.
• Key learning and best practice insights will be shared with the London Recovery Programme (GLA and London Councils) and project partners (including other integration hubs).

2.8.3 The first £420,000 allocated to the Integration Hubs was split equally at £105,000 per hub (MD2833). Following agreement with the SRPs, further funding will be allocated over the 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years, including UKCRF funding which will be split proportionately based on the number of boroughs within each sub-region.

2.8.4 The split of funds for Integration Hubs profiled in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years, which remains subject to confirmation through the annual GLA budget setting process, has not yet been agreed with the SRPs although discussions on how best to allocate this are underway.

2.9 Research, innovation and marketing programme (£290,000, increased from £200,000). The proposed programme would comprise two stages. The first stage would involve research and engagement activities (March 2021 to June 2022), followed by a second stage of developing practical tools or a platform (June 2022 to March 2023). The proposal is for both components to be part of a single commission that is procured for an external contractor to deliver on the GLA’s behalf.

2.9.1 In terms of Stage 1, the scope and specification of the research will need to be further refined but is likely to include:

• undertaking customer journey analysis, mapping pathways especially for priority groups most at risk of exclusion, to identify how more coordinated provision can support them and improve their access to provision
• establishing a baseline of how well coordinated provision is currently and using this baseline to track the impact of project interventions. This may be done at a smaller area level (e.g. sub-regional or borough) to ensure it is manageable
• identifying and disseminating best practice in coordination and integration of provision.

2.9.2 Stage 2 will draw on the insights and evidence from the first phase of the project to design and develop a minimum viable product of a tool(s) or platform to promote visibility and awareness of and access to skills and employment support opportunities in London.

2.9.3 Project deliverables are to be confirmed but may include:

• research and engagement activities with key stakeholders (including Londoners and practitioners)
• report(s) and associated materials laying out project findings and policy and practice recommendations / guidance
• presentation of findings and insights to project partners and stakeholders
• supporting the development of a good practice network in collaboration with integration hubs
• scoping study / research into the development of a tool(s) or platform
• prototyping / testing a proof of concept with stakeholders
• developing a minimum viable product for the tool / digital intervention.

2.9.4 Alongside this, budget will be allocated to support the development and implementation of marketing and communications activity to promote the NWD in collaboration with the SRPs, DWP and London Councils to reach the target groups effectively. The plan would include press, marketing and digital activities. It would also support promotion of good practice and case studies to evidence learner distance travelled arising from the programme to align with wider skills activities. This activity is also expected to be externally commissioned for an agency/contractor to deliver on the GLA’s behalf either as part of the same commission as the research or separately.

2.10 Pilot set-up fund to support concept development and prototyping of new practice models or interventions (£150,000, increased from £60,000). A key aim of the programme is to support the development of new models of practice that build on the evidence, learning and opportunities identified in year one of the project.

2.10.1 Areas of focus are to be confirmed but may include models that:

• accelerate and scale existing activity that has shown evidence of impact
• involve multi-agency practice that aligns with the recovery programme
• build referral networks and pathways into opportunities in the Adult Education Budget, linked to the Skills Roadmap for London / policy priorities
• engage the community sector and wider partners to connect key groups of Londoners to skills and employment opportunities, for example through outreach, peer networks and referrals
• boost employer engagement in the skills and employment landscape, for example through platforms or tools
• support user-led services and pathways, and directly bring resident and user voice into decision-making and service planning.

2.10.2 Project deliverables may include:

• commissioning specialist support and guidance
• pilot prototypes and plans.

2.10.3 There is a possibility of further match funding for pilot set-up support, for example via DWP’s Flexible Support Fund. Delivery of pilots themselves may be beyond the scope of available funding, but we would expect that any ideas / concepts that are supported have a realistic prospect of being fundable, deliverable and sustainable.

2.11 Evaluation and learning (£100,000, increased from £40,000). The previous evaluation budget allocated to the programme was deemed to be insufficient to reflect the complexity of the programme over the expected period of delivery. In order to fully assess the impact of the Integration Hubs the evaluators will need to work closely with the sub-regions to identify good practice and ensure that outcomes and outputs are suitably captured. A key focus of the evaluation and learning will be the extent to which the interventions have supported priority groups of Londoners, and improved their experiences in accessing and engaging with skills and employment provision and ultimately, progressing into good work. This activity will also be externally commissioned for an agency/contractor to deliver on the GLA’s behalf.

2.12 Management and Administration (£140,000). This will fund GLA staffing resource to contract manage elements of the programme. Where required, new posts will be approved through the authority’s establishment control process.

3.1 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 interventions outlined in this MD are aimed at supporting those most at risk from the impact of the economic crisis brought on by Covid-19. This includes young people, women, and Black, Asian and minority ethnic people who tend to work in the occupations and sectors adversely affected by the pandemic. The GLA has consulted on the equalities impact of these changes with key sector representatives, and will closely monitor, review and evaluate their impact.

3.4 Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion is a cross-cutting principle (CCP) across the London Recovery Programme. A full equality statement is available as a separate document. This includes information on how we have worked with colleagues leading the ‘structural inequalities’ CCP to articulate initial proposals for how the NWD project will promote the CCP of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion across the London Recovery Programme.

Links to Mayoral strategies

4.1 The programme aligns with commitments made in the Mayor’s Skills for Londoners Strategy, as well as the priorities of the Skills Roadmap for London. No Wrong Door is also part of the Good Work Mission in the London Recovery Programme.

Risks arising/mitigation

4.2 Key risks and mitigation measures are outlined below. These may be refined following further stakeholder engagement.

4.3 There are no conflicts of interest to note from those involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.

5.1 This report seeks approval for the receipt of £500,000 from the UKCRF to support the delivery of the No Wrong Door initiative until 30 June 2022. It also seeks approval for the expenditure of this receipt, together with £280,000 in the 2022-23 financial year, £280,000 in the 2023-24 financial year and £280,000 in the 2024-25 financial year (subject to the annual budget approval process) to provide grant funding to expand delivery of the No Wrong Door initiative. This, with the existing budget of £720,000 (approved under cover of MD2833) for 2021-22 (£500,000) and 2022-23 (£220,000), brings the total value of the programme to £2.06m over its lifetime. £500,000 of this approved budget will be used to provide match funding in respect of the UKCRF receipt.

5.2 Budget allocations for future years (2023-23, 2034-24 and 2024-25) will be subject to the annual budget setting process. To mitigate the risk that funds are not fully approved to allow for project continuation, termination for convenience rights will be included in grant agreements. Agreement milestones, outputs and/or delivery profiles will also be structured in a manner to enable the recipients to sever their contractual obligations with third parties upon exercise of such rights by the GLA without incurring costs attributable to periods beyond the expiry of the termination notice periods and in any event in excess of the approved budget amounts at that point.

5.3 The budget will come from the No Wrong Door budget in Skills and Employment.

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

6.1.1 the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation in Greater London

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

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
• 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.

6.2 In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor 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 and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion) and persons who do not (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.3 The Mayor may delegate the exercise of the GLA’s powers to the Executive Director – Communities and Skills as proposed should he wish.

6.4 If the Mayor is minded to make the decisions sought, officers must ensure that:

6.4.1 no reliance is placed upon:

• UKCRF funding until the GLA has agreed, entered into and executed a related funding agreement with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and they are content that their NWD project proposals can be delivered fully in accordance with the terms of the same
• GLA funding stated to be “subject to confirmation through the annual budget setting process” until that process has been completed

6.4.2 to the extent that expenditure concerns the:

• award of grant funding, that it is distributed fairly, transparently, in a manner which affords value for money and in accordance with the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and grant funding agreements are put in place between and executed by the GLA and recipients before any commitment to fund is made
• payment for services, those services are procured in liaison with TfL Procurement and in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and contracts are put in place between and executed by the GLA and contractors before commencement of such services
• payment for staffing resourcing at the GLA, if such staffing is to be covered by establishing any new roles, they are created through the GLA’s “establishment control” procedures.

6.4.3 termination for convenience rights are included in grant agreements and milestones, outputs and/or delivery profiles are structured in a manner which enables recipients to sever their contractual obligations with third parties upon exercise of such rights by the GLA without incurring costs attributable to periods beyond the expiry of the termination notice periods and in any event in excess of the approved budget amounts at that point.

• Appendix A – NWD Integration Hubs and Outcomes Framework