Thousands of adults across Greater Manchester will soon benefit
from locally funded skills training as devolution of the £92
million Adult Education Budget (AEB) moves a step closer.
The AEB, which will transfer from central government to the
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) from August, will
support tens of thousands of the city-region’s residents every
year to develop the skills they need for life and work.
Additionally, it will help to ensure that employers can access
the skilled workforce needed for businesses across the
city-region to grow and thrive.
This latest step forward has seen contracts awarded to a host of
organisations that will deliver education and training to Greater
Manchester’s adult learners from later in the summer. Courses
will range from teaching essential skills that adults need to
progress in the world of work or to improve employability,
through to acquiring qualifications that will boost career
prospects, in particular those working in low paid jobs or in
Greater Manchester’s priority sectors, such as Digital and
Construction.
Welcoming the latest developments as adult skills devolution
draws closer, Cllr Sean Fielding, the GMCA’s portfolio lead for
Education, Skills, Work and Apprenticeships, said: “A key
priority for us is making sure that every resident of Greater
Manchester can meet the challenges and opportunities of the
future head-on with the knowledge, skills and resilience they
need to build a strong, inclusive economy and communities across
all parts of Greater Manchester.
“The Adult Education Budget is a crucial part of the toolkit that
will help us with that. We’re delighted that we now know the
range of high quality education and training providers that will
be with us at the start this long-term journey of change, and we
look forward to working with them to deliver the best possible
outcomes for learners.”
Devolved control over adult skills enables Greater Manchester to
introduce new flexibilities to make it easier for people to
access the skills training they need, including access to certain
courses free of charge for adults earning less than the national
living wage. This goes further than a recent Government trial
which provided free training for those on less than the minimum
wage and aims to help people with low, or no, qualifications in
particular.
Funding will also be made available for adults to undertake units
of advanced training and education, particularly linked to
priority sectors, a policy change designed to help people
progress in work, refresh and update their skills after life
events such as career breaks/changes or redundancy.
As well as adult skills funding worth around £92 million a year,
devolution agreements with Government have already seen health
and social care worth around £6 billion a year transferred to
Greater Manchester.
Greater Manchester also secured devolution of the £52 million GM
Working Well (Work and Health) Programme, a package of activity
and early intervention for people who have been long term
unemployed or are at risk of falling out of work, particularly
due to poor health and/or disability.
Good progress has already been made since last year’s launch
towards the programme’s target; supporting 22,000 people over
five-years, having already worked with thousands of the
city-region’s residents in the pilot activity and earlier phases.
In total, contracts and grant agreements have been awarded to 36
organisations for AEB delivery in Greater Manchester, with a
total of over 80 providers throughout the supply chain. All of
Greater Manchester’s further education institutions are now rated
Good or Outstanding overall by Ofsted. With quality as a
fundamental consideration of the procurement process, all of the
procured contracts have been awarded to organisations that, where
recent Ofsted inspection has taken place, ratings of Good or
Outstanding were received for their adult education provision.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
The organisations that will have funding agreements or contracts
with GMCA to deliver AEB funded provision to Greater Manchester
residents in 2019/20 are:
- ACCESS TO MUSIC LTD (T/A ACCESS CREATIVE COLLEGE)
- AQUINAS COLLEGE
- ASHTON SIXTH FORM COLLEGE
- BABINGTON BUSINESS COLLEGE LTD
- BACK 2 WORK COMPLETE TRAINING LTD
- BOLTON COLLEGE
- BOLTON METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
- BURY COLLEGE
- BURY METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
- CHEADLE AND MARPLE SIXTH FORM COLLEGE
- GLOUCESTERSHIRE COLLEGE
- GROUNDWORK OLDHAM AND ROCHDALE
- HOPWOOD HALL COLLEGE
- LTE GROUP
- MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL
- MANTRA LEARNING LTD
- MAXIMUS PEOPLE SERVICES LTD
- OLDHAM METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
- PATHWAY FIRST LTD
- PEOPLEPLUS GROUP LTD
- SALFORD CITY COLLEGE
- SEETEC BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY CENTRE LTD
- STANDGUIDE LTD
- STOCKPORT METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
- SYSTEM GROUP LTD
- TAMESIDE COLLEGE
- TAMESIDE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
- THE EDUCATION AND SKILLS PARTNERSHIP LTD
- THE GROWTH COMPANY LTD
- THE OLDHAM COLLEGE
- THE TRAFFORD COLLEGE GROUP
- THE TRAINING BROKERS LTD
- TOTAL PEOPLE LTD
- WIGAN AND LEIGH COLLEGE
- WIGAN METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
- WORKERS' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION
