Project: Pre-Entry Provision for Adults, Luton

The flexibility of training provided coupled with a collaborative partnership gives maximum scope to tailoring individual learning plans

Selecting from a range of taster sessions and workshops, participants receive advice and training suited to their individual requirements towards securing employment. Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) is delivered by accredited practitioners qualified up to Level 4 to produce a Training Needs Analysis based on the learner’s interests and abilities. One of the strengths of the programme is the range of providers – from a local college to third sector community-based organisations – providing participants with a wide variety of workshops and sessions from which to choose.

Project feature

The Learning Partnership Bedfordshire & Luton and their partner organisations are well placed to deliver this programme of assistance for adults living in Luton who are over 19 years of age and unemployed or economically inactive.  Pre-Entry Provision for Adults is financed by the Luton Borough Council and the European Social Fund

Pre-Entry Provision for Adults offers a flexible learning programme that is tailored to the individual. Participants select from a menu of taster sessions and workshops to create a learning programme that best reflects their interests, needs and abilities. During the initial information, advice and guidance (IAG) session with a Level 3 adviser, a training needs analysis is completed, determining for example what qualifications they currently have and what learning they require. Participants shape an individual learning plan with the help of the adviser and select the taster and workshops sessions accordingly. They may receive: up to six hours of taster sessions or two additional one-to-one sessions (which include CV writing and interview skills); up to four six-hour workshops (to a maximum of 24 hours in total); and up to four hours of one-to-one adviser-supported bespoke jobsearch. All of this is in addition to the initial IAG assessment and a review or exit IAG session to ensure that they are progressing in the right direction. So one learner might attend two taster sessions and one six-hour workshop, while another might only access the interim employment support (bespoke jobsearch with adviser). There are no restrictions on duration, and the length of each programme will vary from participant to participant, defined by the training needs analysis. This flexibility within the allocated hours per participant within the project ensures that participants receive the training and advice that they need to enter employment.

Although all providers deliver the IAG sessions, the workshops offered are quite diverse and vary from provider to provider; they include assertiveness, CV writing, health and safety, food safety, manual handling, first aid, customer care and introduction to ICT. However, the collaborative working practices between providers mean that participants are not disadvantaged. The delivery partners all come together on a bimonthly basis in a consultation process that includes what provision is on offer and signposting cross-provider opportunities for their participants to ensure that the learner receives the best training and support according to their needs. The cross-provider collaborative working is part of The Learning Partnership (Bedfordshire and Luton) model. The opportunity this gives providers – to network, share good practices, and discuss problems – is a clear strength of the programme and contributes to its success.

The overview held by the Learning Partnership means that they are well positioned to identify suitable progression routes for those learners who have not yet found employment, preferably to other agencies that can provide them with the support needed next. Smaller third sector organisations are often those closest to disadvantaged communities or hard-to-reach people with multiple barriers to employment. Over the years, the Learning Partnership has proactively built relationships with these – and more mainstream – organisations, in order to have the fullest range of provision for effective project delivery. The resulting collaboration between local colleges and the smaller third sector delivery partners has had multiple benefits for all. For example, one provider has supported another to develop a data system for tracking learner progression; another has offered IAG Level 4 support to enable all participants whilst on programme to receive expert advice and guidance to best advise them on employment and learning opportunities.

Before they began delivery, The Learning Partnership developed project paperwork that worked alongside Luton Borough Council (LBC) ESF paperwork and was fit for purpose, and trained the providers in order to minimise the administrative burden of the project, simplifying and streamlining the reporting process. They also spent time capacity-building with those providers who might need enhanced skills for improved delivery, such as support with IAG or teaching qualifications. This not only strengthens the individual organisations but also gives the region more robust learning support delivery services.

Although the project focuses on reaching and supporting people in the more disadvantaged areas of the city, the programme is available to all Luton residents. Of the target number of 142 participants, all outputs including 30% of participants into employment will be met by June 2010, six months before the project’s completion date.

The Learning Partnership (Bedfordshire and Luton) has developed other networking practices that have benefited this project as well as others. They have gathered key information on local provision (such as delivery partners, outputs, eligibility) into a Directory of Funding resource. They send out a regular Bulletin that includes information on relevant skills-based grant opportunities. The Learning Partnership also facilitates a quarterly Partnership Community Forum for community-based organisations at which updates are reported, information exchanged and, more recently, a representative of one of the funding bodies has been invited to speak to the group about their offer, which has led to several successful bids.

Contact details

Christopher Cooper, Senior Project Co-ordinator
The Learning Partnership – Bedfordshire and Luton Ltd
1 Sunbeam Road, Woburn Road Industrial Estate, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK42 7BZ
Tel: (01234) 853201
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