MD2960 Skills Bootcamps Programme (2022-23 financial year)

1.1.    The Government’s Skills Bootcamps were rolled out from Autumn 2020 onwards to out-of-London regions. These aim to deliver flexible training programmes lasting up to 16 weeks, based on employer/sector ‘in demand’ skills needs, and may be either regulated (that is, qualification-based) or non-regulated (for example, based on alignment with industry standards). They enable adults to do their training around work and other commitments, and are targeted at those looking to gain work or additional responsibilities, or to access new opportunities. They will offer a guaranteed job interview to individual participants on completion of the course. 

1.2.    Wave 1 of the programme was for £8m, commissioned for the 2020-21 year. Wave 2 in 2021-22 saw over £43m awarded to lead suppliers (or consortia) at regional levels with local subcontracting arrangements to expand Digital, Construction and Technical Skills Bootcamps across England. The last Autumn Budget and Spending Review (October 2021) confirmed significant investment and scaling up of the Skills Bootcamps programme across England. 

1.3.    DfE has committed £150 million to expand Skills Bootcamps for the 2022-23 FY (Wave 3). The GLA alongside other Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) was approached by the DfE to submit a bid for developing Skills Bootcamps in their areas for the 2022-23 financial year.  

1.4.    London’s labour market has been relatively hard hit by Covid-19 with the slowest recovery in payroll employee numbers of any region (as of November 2021).  The GLA therefore welcomed the opportunity to submit a proposal for the sum of £18.9m for Wave 3 of the Skills Bootcamps programme to deliver around 5,000 courses in priority sectors in 2022-23. The GLA’s proposal highlighted that we would expect to increase our share of funding in subsequent years based on the need in London, adjusting flexibly to accelerate impact and expanding to meet expected demand from employers. 

1.5.    The GLA’s application was successful with a total of £18.9m granted to the GLA under section 14 of the Education Act 2002 (see Appendix A for the indicative grant offer letter). Any unused funding will need to be returned to DfE in accordance with the grant payment schedule.  

1.6.    The funding is available to support key sectors of the London economy set out in the GLA’s proposal, including green, digital, construction, creative, hospitality, health and social care, technical (engineering and manufacturing), and finance (professional services). The estimated cost is based on average Further Education (FE) rates for 12-16-week courses, which amounted to an average cost per learner of £3,591. In addition, employers are expected to contribute 30 per cent of the cost, reducing to 10 per cent for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where the employer is training their own existing employees (defined as someone directly employed by the employer, not a worker, sub contractor, or freelancer).

1.7.    The GLA will put Wave 3 Skills Bootcamp funding opportunities out to competition. Successful applications will be based on clear evidence, including employer involvement and experience of delivering related projects successfully. In line with the Mayor’s Skills Roadmap for London, the GLA will also require applicants to demonstrate a commitment to working towards the Mayor’s Good Work Standard. The GLA’s ambition is for London Skills Bootcamps to support Londoners into good work – whether a new job, apprenticeship or taking on additional responsibilities or new contracts. In addition to national criteria, the GLA will require good work outcomes. ‘Good work’ as defined in the Mayor’s Academies Programme (MAP) is employment in a priority sector for a minimum of 16 hours per week that: is expected to last at least four weeks; pays at least the London Living Wage; does not involve the exploitative use of zero-hours contracts; and is part of a structured career development plan.

1.8.    The DfE funding granted includes provision of £945,000 for the management and administration (M&A) of the programme (five per cent of the direct cost) to cover the salaries for up to five new dedicated provider managers who can manage up to 30 Bootcamp grants, and four support officers responsible for data management, commissioning, performance and reporting back to the DfE. The funding will also cover GLA overhead charges, evaluation, system development and commissioning support as required. 

2.1    Skills Bootcamps are intended to support regions and employers to fill skills shortages by bringing participating individuals closer to good jobs through training that meets the skills needs of local employers, and guaranteed job interviews. The overarching objectives are to ensure participating employers commit to interviewing for their identified skills shortage vacancies from the pool of trained individuals. The main outcomes required in order to meet the conditions of the DfE funding are:

• a minimum of 5,000 learner starts in total between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 at an average cost per learner of £3,591
• at least 80 per cent of those who start training will complete the course which includes 100 per cent of relevant learners  being offered a guaranteed interview with an employer with appropriate vacancies
• at least 75 per cent of learners who complete their course will have a positive outcome (either a new job providing continuous employment for at least 12 weeks, an apprenticeship, increased responsibilities, a new role with an existing employer or increased opportunities for the self employed) within six months of completion of the course.

2.2    The grant letter stipulates that 90 per cent of the funding should be used for the priority sectors and skills areas identified by the government – digital, technical, construction, green skills and logistics (HGV driving). The GLA is allowed to use only 10 per cent of the funding granted for other sectors set out in our application, such as health & care, creative industries, hospitality, leadership & management and professional services (including finance).  The GLA Bootcamps will be designed to support building of skills required by key sectors of the London economy.

2.3    Bootcamps will run for up to 16 weeks and will focus on higher level training (Levels 3-5), apart from the green and construction sectors which can include Level 2 training. They will include blended (online and in person) and fully online delivery. The Bootcamps will complement and not duplicate existing and planned provision through the MAP, along with additional subject areas where supported by clear evidence of skills demand and vacancies. The GLA will welcome applications for Accelerated Apprenticeship Bootcamps in sectors with progression routes to Level 3+ apprenticeships.

2.4    The GLA will develop a Bootcamp prospectus building on the national requirements. The programme will complement the MAP and include support for underrepresented groups and those most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic on the journey to employment. As such and to ensure the GLA can commence delivery as quickly as possible (as required by the grant offer letter), the GLA will disburse the funding through a combination of competitive application processes utilising a set of robust criteria to be finalised and approved by the Assistant Director, Skills and Employment.

2.5    The GLA’s approach to disbursing funding will provide opportunities for employers to develop tailored proposals for higher level training, progression opportunities for those taking Adult Education Budget (AEB)-funded training and accelerated apprenticeship routes.

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. Relevant protected characteristics are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

3.2    Skills Bootcamps will be open to all adults aged 19 or over who are full-time or part-time employed, self-employed or unemployed, as well as adults returning to work after a break. The grant offer requires Skills Bootcamps to be designed to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups, such as those with protected characteristics and those who might face barriers to employment e.g., veterans or serving prisoners due to be released within six months of completion of the Skills Bootcamp and those on temporary release.  The application process will therefore focus on ensuring individual Bootcamps make a commitment towards these groups and include appropriate targets in the signed grant agreement. Additionally, an Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) is scheduled to be published with the programme prospectus. 

4.1   The confirmation of allocations from the DfE is attached at Appendix A of this MD. Whilst the funding the GLA was able to bid for covers only one financial year, we are also making a case to the DfE for a multi-year funding agreement, with funding provided up front so the GLA can allocate to providers more efficiently and enable more effective planning of provision.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2    The Skills Bootcamps programme outlined in this MD aligns with commitments made in the Mayor’s Skills for Londoners Strategy, Skills Roadmap for London, and the Helping Londoners into Good Work recovery mission. 

Risks arising/mitigation

4.3    Key risks and mitigation measures are outlined below:

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

5.1    Approval is sought for the receipt of £18.9m funding from the Government for the Skills Bootcamps Programme, granted to the GLA under Section 14 of the Education Act 2002 from the DfE.

5.2    Approval is sought for the planned approach to commission Skills Bootcamp providers to deliver Bootcamps across key sectors of the London economy, including green, digital, construction, creative, hospitality, health and social care, technical (engineering and manufacturing) and finance to support employers to fill skills shortages. The estimated allocation of funds is set out at paragraph 2.2 above.

5.3    Approval is also sought for the expenditure of up to £945,000 of the total funds received to cover the management and administration of the programme.

6.1    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

• 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
• 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 functions to the Assistant Director, Skills and Employment as proposed.    

6.4    If the Mayor makes the decisions sought, officers must ensure that:

• they are satisfied that their proposed delivery of Wave 3 of the Skills Bootcamps Programme is compliant with the DfE funding conditions (including, should any direct award of funding be proposed, the existence of a robust rationale of why to do so is better than competing the funding opportunities based clearly upon the GLA’s “…sectoral knowledge and existing relationships…”  and by reference to “…objective criteria…”) and the agreement with DfE for the provision of the same is executed before placing any reliance upon the same 
• to the extent that expenditure concerns the: 
  • award of grant funding, it is distributed fairly, transparently, in 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 comply fully with the GLA’s “establishment control” procedures.

• Appendix A – Indicative Grant Offer Letter (2022-23 FY)