FOI - London Anchor Institutions Network (LAIN) [Dec 2023]

Key information

Request reference number: MGLA231123-0843

Date of response: Thursday 21 December 2023

Summary of request

Your request

Copies of all LAIN papers relating to the issue of older workers in London
How age has been incorporated into LAIN EDI strategies
How the Hiring and Skills group have addressed challenges facing older workers in London and those employed by Anchor Institutions.
What data LAIN possess about older workers in London.
What information on the age profile of employees in Anchor Institutions
How many Anchor Institutions have formally a) signed up to the Mayor’s Good Work Standard and b) The Centre for Ageing Better Age Friendly Employer Pledge
The London Recovery Board meeting 3 June 2021 had a paper “London’s Recovery: Tackling the jobs and skills challenge”. This stated “the anchor institutions are being asked to: a) Hire more workers from target groups for jobs paying a London Living Wage (LLW). These groups could include recently displaced, long-term unemployed, older unemployed (e.g. aged 55+), young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs), disabled, veterans, residents from low income households/disinvested neighbourhoods, homeless people, ex-offenders, people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, and women”. Please provide information of how many over 55s have been hired in Anchor Institutions .

Our response

1. There are no papers tackling the issues of older workers specifically but the Steering Committee Minutes December 2022 cover discussions over the issues affecting older workers. This contributed to the target setting framework which helped shape Programme Indicators and Definitions attached. While this shows how steering committee discussions lead to its inclusion as a potential category for setting targets against – no institutions reported specific numbers around over 55s to the LAIN core team:

[Named redacted] (London Jewish Forum) shared insights that older members of the community are more likely to under-report on poor mental health, which may skew the data. Poor mental health is a cross-community issue and continues to rise.
[Name redacted] expressed a desire for anchors to collaborate on initiatives providing face-to-face, rather than virtual, mental health support for workers.
[Name redacted] (Metropolitan Police Service) reflected that the experiences of Londoners will likely have worsened since the data presented was collated.
[Name redacted] (University of London) added that economic inactivity is reportedly higher amongst older men. As anchors, members must be more consciously questioning how they can adapt to support workers and address labour market shortages by creating easier pathways into work for women, older and young people.

2. In the Social Value Guide 2023 (LAIN-Social-Value-Guide-2023-06-28-15.00.pdf (amazonaws.com)) attached, compiled by the LAIN team, support for older people is suggested as a potential area for demonstrating Social Value, for smaller businesses looking to supply anchor institutions.

3. The issues affected older workers and their participation has been discussed in steering committee meetings and outlined as a target group for hiring and skills pledges. However, currently no organisations have set explicit target pledges in this area.

4. The GLA holds more data on the make-up of workers – which is publicly available here in the 2023 Workforce Analysis: PowerPoint Presentation (london.gov.uk). GLA Economics also publishes data and analysis on London’s work opportunities which you can find here GLA Economics publications | London City Hall. Out-of-work Trends (Out-of-work trends in London | London City Hall), makes mention to older workers on page 10, where it is found that older groups have benefitted from the fall in unemployment in the last decade.

5. This data is not collected by us. We currently collect data from working group members on the number of employees hired with experience of the criminal justice or care systems. Also, the Hiring and Skills working group has focused recently on gender, disability and race pay gaps, therefore we have collected progress data from members on the publishing of such pay gaps and any change in disparities.

6 (a). We store information on those within the Hiring and Skills working group who sign up to the Mayor’s Good Work Standard – 5 have achieved the standard (BusinessLND, Lambeth Council, Barking and Dagenham, GLA, TFL) and one has submitted evidence for the standard but has not yet been conferred (Middlesex University).

6 (b). This is not data we store – but we can confirm that the Greater London Authority are part of this pledge.

7. We have not collected data specifically on the participation of over 55s but this data may be available from individual institutions.

London's recovery missions
London’s recovery missions	Helping Londoners into Good Work through small and diverse procurement	A new deal for young people through mentoring	Helping Londoners into Good Work through skills building	Helping Londoners into Good Work through recruitment	Contributing to London’s Net Zero targets
The indicators	In 2022, anchors will purchase 20% of goods and services from local micro and small businesses, diverse businesses and VCSEs (directly or indirectly within their supply chain).	By 2022, anchors will work in partnership with the voluntary and community sector and youth support organisations to match 15,000 young people to trained mentors. By 2024, anchors will match 100,000 young people to trained mentors.	By 2022, anchors will increase the number of new traineeships (Level 2, 3, or 4+), apprenticeships and work placements that pay a London Living Wage for target populations by 5%. By 2024, anchors will increase the number of new traineeships, apprenticeships and work placements by 15%.	By 2022, anchors will increase the number of direct employees from target populations hired or retained on contract for one year or the whole duration of the contract by 5%. By 2024, anchors will increase the number by 20%, or until reflective of London's economically active population (49% female, 39% BAME, 16% disabled)..	By March 2023, anchors will have an estate decarbonisation plan in place setting out the actions they will each take to achieve net zero-carbon (with a measurable interim target by 2030); and 100% of their estates’ staff will be trained in carbon literacy and energy data literacy. By March 2024, anchors will have achieved [10-20% TBC] reduction in energy consumption within their estates compared to 19/20 FY.
Definitions	A micro business has 0-9 employees A small business has 10-49 employees A VCSE (voluntary, community and social enterprise) includes any organisation working with social purposes which generates revenue through trading and reinvests any surplus back into the business or the community it serves. It is a type of organisation, not a legal form	The target populations include: Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND); Excluded from school or college; Associated with gangs or impacted by exploitation; NEETs; Impacted by domestic violence and abuse; Young refugees & asylum seekers; Young people with a social worker; Young people living in poverty	The target populations include: women; young people aged 16-24; BAME; those earning below LLW, older people 50+, deaf and disabled, those with experience of the criminal justice system, and those experiencing homelessness or rough sleeping. While it may not be possible to track all of these groups, efforts will be made to the extent possible.	The target populations include: women; young people aged 16-24; BAME; those earning below LLW, older people 50+, deaf and disabled, those with experience of the criminal justice system, and those experiencing homelessness or rough sleeping. While it may not be possible to track all of these groups, efforts will be made to the extent possible.	Estates Decarbonisation refers to the buildings etc owned by the Anchors members and allied heating systems etc and the moves to make the buildings energy efficient and reduction or elimination of carbon usage Funding will be available as part of the Government’s PSDS (to be announced later in the Autumn). We are encouraging Anchors to use GLA Retrofit Accelerator Programs (and other funding) to allow them to have ‘shovel ready projects’ ready for successful submission later in the Autumn Workforce Development refers to the estates staff that manage the buildings and facilities and their being trained on carbon literacy courses. We are working with New City College to develop a bespoke training programme that all anchors can implement on carbon literacy
Example member pledges	Annual spend figure (£)	No. mentors recruited and trained	No. new traineeships (Level 2, 3, or 4+), apprenticeships and work placements that pay LLW No. of young people in supported internships Annual spend figure (£) of apprenticeships levy transferred to SMEs Annual investment in workforce training and professional development to support in-work progression (£)	No. diverse new direct hires per year from target populations % improvement in pay gaps by gender, ethnicity and disability London Living Wage accreditation No. of operational partners or contracts issued to institutions or businesses paying LLW (e.g. cleaning and catering contracts) Mayor’s Good Work Standard accreditation	All Anchor buildings to have a reliable measure of their energy consumption All Anchors to have an estate decarbonisation plan in place - No. buildings brought forward for retrofit Xm2 of building fabric retrofitted % of estates staff to receive carbon literacy training % carbon reduction by 2025 No. people from target populations supported to take up Level 2+ apprenticeships in related field

Useful links

London Anchor Institutions' Network (anchors.london)