UK Shared Prosperity Fund - Employability
North Lanarkshire Council · 12 May 2023
Back to Enterprise and Fair Work Committee — 12 May 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Enterprise and Fair Work Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref JO’N/PK Date 12/05/23 UK Shared Prosperity Fund - Employability From Janie O’Neill, Chief Officer (Education-South) E-mail oneillja@northlan.gov.uk Telephone Executive Summary The UK Shared Prosperity Fund replaces the European Union Structural Fund which come to an end in June 2023. North Lanarkshire Council was allocated £13.871m from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to deliver projects across four key themes (Communities and Place, People and Skills, Supporting Local Business and Multiply) for spend between 2022/23 and 2024/25, subject to approval of a UKSPF Investment Plan. North Lanarkshire’s Investment Plan, approved by the Enterprise, Growth and Fair Work Committee on 29 August 2022, formed part of the wider Glasgow City Region Investment Plan, which was approved by the UK Government on 5 December 2022. Information is provided on the proposed Employability projects within the People and Skills theme and seeks approval to deliver these within the funding framework outlined in the report. Recommendations It is recommended that the Enterprise and Fair Work Committee: (1) Approve the delivery of the employability programmes within the People and Skills theme of the Shared Prosperity Fund; The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve economic opportunities and outcomes Ambition statement (11) Increase economic opportunities for adults by understanding, identifying, and addressing the causes of poverty and deprivation and barriers to financial inclusion
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1. Background 1.1 As reported to this Committee in August 2022 and February 2023 the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda. It succeeds the EU Structural Funds (primarily European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund) within the UK. A total of £212m has been allocated to Scotland (8.4% of the UK total). The eight authorities in the Glasgow City Region have received a combined allocation of £73.9m which is approximately 34.9% of the Scottish allocation. North Lanarkshire has received a conditional allocation of £13,871,047 of which £11,475,646 is core UKSPF funding and £2,395,402 is ringfenced for delivery of activity under “Multiply” (i.e. activity to support adult numeracy activities for individuals aged 19+). 1.2 The objectives of the People and Skills Investment Priority are below with b) and c) those closely aligned to Council employability support previously delivered by the European Social Fund: a) To boost core skills and support adults to progress in work by targeting adults with no or low-level qualifications and skills in maths and upskill the working population, yielding personal and societal economic impact and by encouraging innovative approaches to reducing adult education barriers. b) To reduce levels of economic inactivity through investment in bespoke intensive life and employment support tailored to local need. Investment should facilitate the join- up of mainstream provision and local services within an area for participants, using one-to-one keyworker support, improving employment outcomes for specific cohorts who face labour market barriers. c) To support people furthest from the labour market to overcome barriers to work by providing cohesive, locally tailored support including access to basic skills; and d) To support local areas to fund gaps in local skills provision to support people to progress in work, and supplement local adult skills provision e.g., by providing additional volumes; delivering provision through wider range of routes or enabling more intensive/innovative provision, both qualification based and non- qualification based. This should be supplementary to provision available through national employment and skills programmes. 1.3 £5,389,830 is allocated to North Lanarkshire’s People and Skills theme with £3,439,830 designated to the successor programmes to EU funded employability programmes until March 2025. This is split between two interventions known as S31 and S35. Broadly speaking S31 targets those who are economically inactive and S35 targets those who are unemployed but who have barriers to entering a job. Intervention Summary of Proposed Activity Total UKSPF Allocation Currently EU Funded S31 and S35 Employability support, programmes and funding to support those furthest from the labour market £3,439,830 Yes S36 and S38 Support to develop skills academies to support North Lanarkshire residents seeking employment – focus will be on digital skills, construction and health and social care £1,050,000 No
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S29 Support to expand support programmes to help vulnerable young people achieve positive post-school destinations £900,000 No TOTAL £5,389,830 2. Report 2.1 Intervention S31 – Economic Inactivity interventions 2.1.1 S31 will provide place based employability support for economically inactive residents of North Lanarkshire with intensive and wrap-around support to move those furthest from the labour market closer to mainstream provision and employment, supplemented by additional and/or specialist life and basic skills. Key lessons from the approach utilised within the UK Community Renewal Fund Airdrie Central Community Engagement Project will be drawn upon to ensure the project has an impact until March 2025. This project has continued from its end in December 2022 and is funded in its current form with Shared Prosperity Funding until March 2023. It is proposed that there will be a marked broadening and targeting in the level of support offered using the Shared Prosperity Fund when it is matched with Scottish Government Parental Support funding in 2023/24. While support will be available to all economically inactive residents in each community there will be an additional and large-scale focus on engaging and supporting parents as part of the Council’s work on addressing child poverty through increased earnings for parents through employment. 2.1.2 This work will also use the same principles and, in addition, draw on lessons learned from supporting parents through the Action Lone Parents project delivered across North Lanarkshire. The delivery model used will bring together engagement activity, caseworker support, and a range of tailored interventions that have proven to be effective. Delivered by the core partnership of the Council’s employability delivery partner, Routes to Work Ltd, and supported by the Council’s Employability team the project will also make use of new and existing partnerships across the public and local third sector to ensure the project has a sustained impact within those communities targeted. These are the use of peer mentors, life coaches and financial wellbeing advice to engage and move people toward better economic, health and social outcomes that match their individual needs and promote increased community cohesion. 2.1.3 North Lanarkshire (Oct 2021-Sep 2022) has 69,100 (31.2%) people who are economically inactive (Scotland 22.8%) with 11,000 wanting a job according to the latest figures. There is a clear challenge for all stakeholders in the area to draw a significant number from that group into the labour market. Therefore, the project will provide: - Engagement, through a range of direct and indirect means - Deliver a variety of pre-employability, personal and social development training interventions. - Referral on to mainstream employability programmes. The project will be delivered by a multi-disciplinary team involving a range of inputs and roles including intergenerational peer mentors, community engagement workers, trainers, caseworkers, and specific partner inputs and aims to:
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(i) Reduce the number of economically inactive residents in North Lanarkshire (ii) Increase income from employment for residents with an emphasis on parents. (iii) Support the work across the area on reducing child poverty. (iv) Improve social cohesion in the most deprived areas of North Lanarkshire 2.1.4 The proposed total cost of the project is £1,256,830 with a Shared Prosperity Fund contribution of £718,830 and match funding from Scottish Government Parental Employment funding of £538,000. £269,000 of this match is expected to be confirmed by the Scottish Government for 2023/24 in the coming weeks and contingency plans to change the project, if necessary, in 2024/25 will be put in place in the event that similar match is not available in the final year. The table below outlines the funding profile. 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 TOTAL Shared Prosperity Fund 136,000 259,854 322,976 718,830 Match Funds (Scottish Government Parental Employment) 0 269,000 269,000 538,000 Total 136,000 528,854 591,976 1,256,830 2.1.5 S31 will engage 375 economically inactive residents on its support programmes with 90 entering employment with targeted areas determined by local health and child poverty data. All engaged will receive support with physical and mental health as well as training. Appendix 1 gives a detailed description of outputs and outcomes. 2.2 S35 – Unemployed and Under-employed interventions 2.2.1 S35 will deliver large scale employability programmes across all communities, and these will be targeted on supporting those unemployed and underemployed residents who face additional barriers to entering or progressing in the labour market. Driving up the employment rate in North Lanarkshire is a cornerstone of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and ensuring employability support is available to all is recognised as a major contributor to tackling poverty and local economic development. These programmes will support a range of groups, and all have the aim of securing fair and sustained work for residents. Reducing poverty is central to each of these programmes and including all residents in the economic growth of our area is viewed as central to the work on employability. The project is scheduled to begin in July 2023 as EU funds ends in June 2022. 2.2.2 The programme will be led and co-ordinated by the Council’s Employability team, within the Education and Families service, which also provides the key function of engaging employers onto the programme. Routes to Work Ltd will provide specialised case worker support to unemployed residents as well as support with accessing vocational training and the short-term costs associated with moving from benefits to employment such as childcare and travel. They will also provide in-work support for up to 6 months for those participants that require it. In addition, a challenge fund will be used in 2024/25 to ensure that local employability providers have an opportunity to add their efforts to meeting the employment needs of our communities. The North Lanarkshire Local Employability Partnership, which has representation from key stakeholders, will also play a role in ensuring complementarity of funding to meet area objectives.
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2.2.3 In recent years employability support has also been significantly bolstered by increased levels of funding from the Scottish Government through its No One Left Behind funding and this will be integrated and aligned with the UKSPF to broaden its range and deepen its penetration into under-represented groups in the labour market. 2.2.4 The proposed total cost of the project is £7,662,300 with a Shared Prosperity Fund contribution of £2,721,000 and match funding from North Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Government funds of £4,941,300. 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 TOTAL Revised SPF 0 1,021,000 1,700,000 2,721,000 Match (NLC Employability & SG Funds) 0 2,084,000 2,857,300 4,941,300 Total 0 3,105,000 4,557,300 7,662,300 2.2.5 S35 will engage 3,000 unemployed and underemployed residents with 1,550 entering employment. Appendix 2 gives a detailed description of outputs and outcomes. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Economically inactive, unemployed and underemployed residents of North Lanarkshire are supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 S31 Economically Inactive Performance 4.2 Appendix 2 S35 Unemployed and Underemployed Peformance Janie O’Neill Chief Officer (Education -South)
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☒ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? UKSPF is aimed at improving economic outcomes for residents of North Lanarkshire and play a role in reducing inequality. An assessment will be carried out on the whole UKSPF programme. If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Match funding for UKSPF projects for 2023/24 is confirmed. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? This new source of external funding will be covered by existing risks attached to grant funding for employability services. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. Within all Council employability programmes veterans are immediately eligible for support alongside other priority groups.
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APPENDIX 1 S31 Economic Inactivity Performance Annual outputs and outcomes to be achieved. Outputs 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 TOTAL P&S - Number of economically inactive people engaging with keyworker support services 35 170 170 375 P&S - Number of economically inactive people supported to engage with the benefits system 0 10 10 20 P&S - Number of socially excluded people accessing support 17 89 89 195 P&S - Number of people supported to access basic skills courses 25 100 100 225 P&S - Number of people accessing mental and physical health support leading to employment 10 37 38 85 P&S - Number of people receiving support to gain employment 15 55 55 125 P&S - Number of people receiving support to sustain employment 0 40 45 85 Outcomes 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 TOTAL P&S - Number of economically inactive individuals in receipt of benefits they are entitled to following support 0 7 8 15 P&S - Number of people reporting increased employability through development of interpersonal skills funded by UKSPF 10 85 85 200 P&S - Number of people with basic skills (English, maths, digital and ESOL) 5 47 48 100 P&S - Number of people in supported employment 0 10 20 30 P&S - Number of people engaging with mainstream healthcare services 4 23 23 50 P&S - Number of people sustaining engagement with keyworker support and additional services 20 140 140 300 P&S - Number of people engaged in job-searching following support 5 97 98 200 P&S - Number of people in employment, including self- employment, following support 0 40 50 90 P&S - Number of people sustaining employment for 6 months 0 22 50 72
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APPENDIX 2 S35 Unemployment and Underemployment Annual outputs and outcomes to be achieved. Outputs 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 TOTAL P&S - Number of people supported to participate in education 21 29 50 P&S - Number of people retraining 21 29 50 P&S - Number of people in employment engaging with the skills system 21 29 50 P&S - Number of people supported to gain a qualification 252 348 600 Outcomes 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 TOTAL P&S - Number of people in employment, including self- employment, following support 664 886 1,550 P&S - Number of people in education/training 37 53 90 P&S - Number of people gaining qualifications, licences and skills 714 986 1,700