Further to my email earlier this week, I wanted to take the opportunity to provide a fuller update on GC activities and the current position across the North of England.
North of England Restrictions
Further information has been announced today in regard to the local restrictions which were put in place at the end of July across Greater Manchester, parts of Lancashire & West Yorkshire. The announcement today confirms that there will be additional measures in Oldham, Blackburn and parts of Pendle to deliver a more targeted intervention. From midnight on Saturday, local residents in these 3 areas should not socialise with anyone outside their household. Residents will still be able to go to work, shopping, and attend childcare settings/schools. The restrictions specifically apply to social activities both indoors and outdoors, which should not take place with anyone outside of the immediate household. It is also advised that residents living in these areas should avoid using public transport, except where it is considered essential. For further information on the restrictions, please find the most recent update on the Government website.
In Wigan, Rossendale and some areas of Blackburn with Darwen, the rules on social gatherings which were introduced 3 weeks ago will be lifted from Wednesday 26th August, bringing them back into line with the rest of England.
The restrictions will continue unchanged in other parts of Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, East Lancashire, and Leicester and will be reviewed again next week.
Whilst we are confident that the safety measures we have in place in our offices/training centres are robust, we need to ensure that the numbers of people attending the office at the moment are kept to a minimum, and only where face to face front line delivery is essential.
We encourage all colleagues to continue to follow the advice from Government, with regular handwashing, wearing a face covering over your nose and mouth in enclosed spaces, and staying at least a metre away from people not in your household.
Salary Reductions
In June, I shared with you the financial position of the Group in light of the impact of COVID-19 and outlined a range of measures that we had taken, and would need to take, to address the significant loss of income expected in 2020/21.
As part of the cost-reduction measures, we asked all eligible staff to consent to a temporary salary reduction for a period of 6 months, commencing in August. We have now processed the majority of those consents, with 94% so far agreeing to a salary reduction, and I would like to thank you again for your support and cooperation. We continue to work towards 100% consent, which is vital for us in order to close the deficit gap, and to avoid making further redundancies.
The next step in this process relates to those colleagues’ in funded roles, either through ERDF, grant funding or Covid Cost Recovery, who were not in-scope to be considered as part of the salary reduction scheme because of the inability for the same approach to deliver a positive impact on the bottom line and reduce the budget deficit. We outlined that we would continue to explore ways to address this challenge, and alternative ways in which those in funded roles could support the financial position. It was incredibly heartening that so many of you came forward from these business areas to say that you would like to contribute in some way, with a number of suggestions put forward for how you might do so.
A colleague working group was set up from the relevant service areas with the purpose of identifying alternative solutions and a wide range of options were considered. Due to the complexities of contracts, many could not be implemented, however, one proposal that the group submitted, was that colleagues in funded roles could make the equivalent voluntary contribution from their net pay. We will be writing to all colleagues in these areas to invite them to be part of this process, and will be asking if they will make a 6-month contribution commencing from 1st September 2020 through to 30th February 2021.
Business Development
The Business Development Team, together with colleagues across GC, are also working hard across a number of bidding opportunities to secure new income and programmes of delivery, which will be key to supporting businesses and individuals to recover from the impacts of Covid-19. Current live bids include:
- ESF Skills for Growth Brokerage – A service focused on intelligence gathering and supporting SMEs to increase their productivity through the development of Skills for Productivity Plans and Individual Skills Development Plans.
- MOJ CFO Resettlement Hubs – A new programme which will focus on engaging participants at risk of re-offending following release from prison, and those serving community sentences. The aim of resettlement hubs is to increase effective engagement with mainstream/core services and to encourage participation in activities which assist individuals to lead law abiding lives.
- DWP Commercial Agreement for Employment & Health Related Services – GC have submitted to secure a place on this Agreement, which is the framework which DWP will use for contracting employment support from January 2021 onwards.
- Youth Futures Foundation Grant – We have partnered with Manchester City Council to attract Youth Futures Foundation Grant funding for innovative projects to tackle NEET/youth employment.
- Ministry of Justice Dynamic Framework – Ongoing submission of a series of thematic offers to deliver services supporting Prison/Probation activity by providing Entry-to-Employment, and Housing and Substance Misuse support. Of the two thematic areas GC has submitted so far, we have qualified in both and will be asked to develop full invitations to tender (ITT) proposals for Entry-to-Employment services and Financial and Debt Advisory services. Additional first stage submissions are also being finalised for a further three thematic areas.
- ERDF – funding applications have been submitted to CLG and we are working to secure the necessary match funding.
Other proposals which are being proactively developed include:
- Future Self Employment DWP Scheme – this initiative will replace the New Enterprise Allowance.
- GMCA Employment and Skills Dynamic Framework – A new framework which will allow the Combined Authority and Local Authorities to commission future services quickly at different spatial levels. Commissioning is due to start in September.
- GMCA Skills for Growth Delivery Services – Following the launch of the Skills for Growth Brokerage service, GMCA will commission provision to fill gaps in skills delivery capability/capacity to ensure the skills needed to drive economic recovery are more widely available.
- MOJ Dynamic Framework ITTs – this framework (as mentioned above) is the mechanism used by MOJ to procure rehabilitation and resettlement interventions. We expect tenders to start to land in September with Call Offs for Entry-to-Employment services.
We are also pleased to confirm that the ESFA will be extending our current ESF programmes until March 2023, and we are working closely with the ESFA to significantly increase the size of the National Careers Service in the North West in response to the pandemic. This will ensure that sufficient resource is available to meet the needs of the huge increase in individuals facing redundancy and unemployment.
Exam Results
Finally, it was welcome news following my earlier email this week, that the Government announced students would be given the grades estimated by local assessment centres/teachers. The changes to BTEC are also in general to be welcomed, although the timing was very poor. I believe these changes are the right thing to do, although there are clearly still challenges with regard to how this works for this year, and indeed next year’s, cohort of young people. I hope that this development has helped to relieve some of the immediate stress which may have been experienced by colleagues with family members in receipt of A-Level/GCSE/BTEC results.