Work Programme at risk of fraud and under-delivery, say NAO

The government’s Work Programme is being exposed to fraud and will help significantly less people than expected to secure a job, a new report has revealed.

The National Audit Office (NAO) says the scheme will put just over a quarter of claimants who are on Jobseekers Allowance and aged over 25 into employment, compared to government estimates of 40 per cent.

The NAO say the Department for Work Pensions’ (DWP) “over-optimistic” assumptions, used to set the prices and performance incentives for providers, will make it difficult for providers to meet minimum performance targets.

“If these estimates are too high, prices will have been set too low and providers will find it difficult to meet minimum performance targets and struggle financially,”  the report states.

The NAO fear the lack of accountability and difficult performance targets will encourage prime contractors to focus on claimants who are easier to employ.

“If the assumptions underpinning our calculation are correct, the performance requirements the Department has set are going to be considerably more challenging for providers to meet,” the report states.

“This increases the risk that they might seek to protect profits through activities such as overlooking harder-to-help claimants.”

Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, added: “The Department has set providers stretching performance targets and it needs to ensure that they do not cut corners to stay in profit, such as targeting easy to reach people, reducing service levels or treating sub-contractors unfairly.”

The Work Programme, introduced by government to try and tackle rising unemployment in June 2011, is currently operating without the IT systems needed to prevent fraud and administrative errors, the report added.

The NAO say this was a consequence of the government trying to introduce the scheme quickly.

there is an increased risk of fraud and error.”

“The pace at which the Department introduced IT for the Programme was out of step with the introduction of the rest of the Programme,” the report states.

“The Department decided not to have all of the IT in place for the Programme’s start because it considered that waiting would have negated the benefits of the Programme’s early adoption.”

The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, added: “The rush to get the programme up and running was so great that the supporting IT is still not in place, even though the programme was launched eight months ago.”

“This has led to an increased risk of fraud and error.”

The missing IT systems mean the DWP is unable to carry out the automatic checks needed to determine whether people have entered employment, stopped claiming benefits and reached a point where providers should be paid.

The NAO says the DWP will therefore make payments of roughly £60 million to prime contractors based on manual submissions.

The NAO report, titled “The introduction of the Work Programme”, says at the earliest it won’t be until March 2012, 16 months since the programme launched, before the supporting IT will be functioning properly.

The report states: “In the period from March to May 2012 there will be a full reconciliation of payments made and providers will have to pay back any claimed inappropriately.

“In the meantime there is an increased risk of fraud and error. “

The report adds that the risk of fraud will continue to increase if the DWP delays the implementation of the IT systems in March.

The NAO has also criticised DWP for making important decisions about the Work Programme before finishing the associated business case.

The final version of the business case was approved in April 2011, a week after the prime contractors had already been announced.

The case failed to consider any alternative approaches to the Work Programme, assess the costs of implementing the Universal Credit system and a contingency for replacing failed prime contractors, as well as estimating the cost of terminating the scheme.

The NAO say the DWP is also facing significant costs as it continues to terminate existing welfare to work contracts, leftover from previous schemes.

The report reveals DWP settlements totalling £63 million, with a final deal for two remaining providers still ongoing.

The Department estimates the Work Programme will cost between £3 billion and £5 billion over the next five years, helping up to 3.3 million people.

Claimants form one of nine groups based on the type of benefit(s) they are receiving from government.

Providers are then paid by the DWP for taking a claimant on to the Work Programme, for putting them into employment for a sustained period of time and meeting performance levels set by the government.

Claimants who are thought to be ‘harder-to-help’ have a higher amount of total funding available to providers.

New register launched

The new Register of Training Organisations has been launched.

It follows an extensive review and evaluation of the former Approved College and Training Organisations Register (ACTOR) during 2011.

All organisations that wish to be considered for funding to deliver Education and Vocational Training Services, including European Social Funding and Apprenticeships will needto complete the Due Diligence Gateway Assurance process.

The exemption extended to some providers last year will not operate in 2012/13, which means that some will need to complete the Assurance Gateway for the first time.

IfL begins work on commission into adult education and vocational training

The Institute for Learning (IfL) has announced a research project to help the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) prepare for an independent commission into adult education and vocational training.

The institute wants 100 of its members to complete “reflective diaries” which explain how they plan for classes, meet curriculum requirements and the needs of learners.

Lee Davies, deputy chief executive of the IfL,  said: “As the professional body for teachers and trainers, IfL is ideally placed to gain critical insight into vocational pedagogy from the perspective of teachers and trainers.

“Having long called for an independent inquiry into world-class teaching and training in our sector, we are very pleased that we can now offer our members the opportunity to shape the nature of the independent commission.

The project, titled ‘A week in the life of’, is asking specifically for teachers of engineering and motor vehicle engineering, hospitality and catering and business administration to volunteer to participate.

The IfL say they hope the diaries will show the challenges faced by vocational teachers and trainers in their day-to-day work.

“These reflective or descriptive diaries, which do not necessarily have to cover a calendar week, will capture the planning that goes into vocational teaching and training; the challenges a teacher or trainer faces in terms of addressing the curriculum and meeting the needs of learners; the pedagogy or approach to teaching and learning adopted; and general observations on teaching and training practice,” Mr Davies said.

The IfL will hold a number of regional seminars throughout February and March 2012  to discuss vocational pedagogy with teachers and trainers, including participants in the diary research project.

The institute will also ask students’ unions what they think good teaching and learning looks like, focusing on younger learners who have made the transition from school to further education.

The commission into adult education and vocational pedagogy was announced by BIS as part of a formal response to the New Challenges, New Chances consultation, titled “Further Education and Skills System Reform Plan: Building a World Class Skills System”.

Filton College students work with charity

A college has teamed up with housing provider 1625 Independent People to solve issues for local young people.

Students on Building and Construction Courses at Filton College will take on repair jobs in the charity’s properties.

Groups of four or five students and their tutor will take on repair and maintenance jobs as part of their course.

Also young people housed by Independent People will do up their properties as part of an introduction to the construction course.

Independent People support 16-25 year olds who are homeless by providing housing, support and advice.

The charity and college are in also talks with local authorities and housing associations with a view to renovating empty properties to house homeless people.

Chief executive Dom Wood said: “This partnership is a brilliant opportunity to help turn a raft of problems into positive outcomes for young people.”

Success rates are due

The Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) will publish 2009/10 school and academy 16-19 qualification success rates on February 2.

The 16-19 success rates show, at a headline level, the proportion of young people that start a qualification in an institution and achieve it by the end of the required period of study.

This measure has been used in the college sector for many years and is considered to be a key indicator of an institution’s performance.

School and academy success rates are not yet directly compatible with college success rates, say the YPLA.

Merger plan unveiled

A consultation is underway for the proposed merger of Lewisham and Southwark Colleges.

The document sets out an “exciting and radical vision for a college of the future” in south-east London.

It adds: “Lewisham and Southwark Colleges firmly believe that by working together we will be able to get more local people into work and support the businesses that are transforming our communities.”

For more, visit www.lewishamsouthwark.co.uk

FE seeking some stability at EMFEC Centenary celebration

EMFEC celebrated its one hundredth anniversary with an FE star-studded conference in Daventry last week.

The event invited key leaders, commentators and policy makers to reflect on some of the biggest announcements made in FE recently, including the departure of Geoff Russell, chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), and Simon Waugh, chief executive of the National Apprenticeship Service.

Despite losing two of his right hand men, John Hayes MP, minister of state for further education, skills and lifelong learning, used the conference to call for “stability” and “certainty” in the sector.

“Having secured the budget, I want to now make sure we get it right in terms of how we can frame the future around adult learning,” Mr Hayes said.

“We just need some stability and some certainty about the future.”

He added: “It will not be the imposition of policy by me, on you.

“Part of the concerns about previous regimes was that the approach wasn’t sufficiently consultative.

It will not be the imposition of policy by me, on you”

“It seem as though the government had an idea, imposed it and then asked afterwards.”

Mr Hayes was not taking any questions from the media due to time constraints.

Nick Linford, managing director of Lsect and managing editor of FE Week, made the opening presentaion, and said there could be a significant “shift of power” once Mr Russell and Mr Waugh leave.

Mr Linford said: “I think one of the reasons Geoff is going is because of a shift of power towards the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).

“Michael Davis, chief executive at the UKCES, is very much promoting a new policy where your money won’t actually be given to you by the SFA – but to employers.

“This is at a time when the SFA are losing staff and thus trying to reduce the number of contracts they are managing.”

EMFEC has been a membership body for FE colleges in the East Midlands since 1912.

The body, which holds a charitable status, offers a variety of services to both colleges and training providers, including conferences, networking opportunities, facilitating collaborative work and educational support.

EMFEC also provides the Association of Colleges (AoC) East Midlands with responsive representational services.

The centenary conference, entitled “An audience with…”, held a number of panel discussions with key players from all parts of the FE sector.

Toni Pearce, vice president (FE) for the National Union of Students (NUS), said she was unsure how employers would be held accountable if they were funded directly for apprenticeships, as proposed by the UKCES in the recent ‘Employer Ownership of Skills’ report.

“How will that accountability work for those employers who are directly funded by government?” Pearce said.

“There’s no real method for accountability to make sure students are getting a quality experience there.”

She added: “To just have the word of the employer, which is kind of what we feel like we have at the moment, and success rates, makes that almost impossible to hold them to account for the public money they are being funded with.”

Toni said it is particularly difficult for the NUS to communicate with learners on poor quality apprenticeships.

“It’s actually really hard to find out what the quality is like on the ground, and engage with apprentices who are working in short term or low quality apprenticeships,” she said.

“It puts them in a difficult position when we’re telling them to feed back.”

The conference was also attended by a number of apprenticeship and vocational training providers, including JHP Group Ltd, IMPACT apprenticeships and TQ Training Group Ltd.

Jim Chambers, chief executive of JHP Group Ltd, said the ongoing coverage around short apprenticeships was “hyping” the issue out of proportion and “degenerating” the apprenticeship brand.

“Any self respected provider wouldn’t be offering any short apprenticeship programmes,” Mr Chambers said.

“We’ve got a hyping of these…what are frankly degenerating the brand.”

Mr Chambers said despite working through “one of the toughest years” in his career, he was “cautiously optimistic” about the recent announcements made by the SFA.

He said: “We’re very much into employability and vocational training, and I am encouraged by some of the language coming from the SFA, which is almost aping that coming from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

“I’m cautiously optimistic and I actually believe we can help influence, if we’re positive, the policy makers.”

The afternoon session included a discussion about the perspective of sector membership bodies, debated by Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), David Hughes, chief executive of NIACE, and Paul Warner, director of employment and Skills at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP).

Mr Warner said: “In terms of whether Hayes’ rhetoric will ever be lived up to, I suppose I could be slightly provocative in saying probably not.

“I don’t think that’s anything against John Hayes, but ultimately he’s a government minster

“He’s at the top of a big civil service and by the time the rhetoric goes into the civil service machine, it comes out one way or another looking remarkably similar to whatever it was that went before it.

“It’s very difficult to turn rhetoric into reality.”

Mr Doel added: “I did bash on at him at length the other day, about, what you’re attempting here is cultural change.

“Cultural change takes a period to embed and it won’t just happen because you make a few policy announcements, and no matter how many infusing speeches you make, it won’t happen.

“It won’t happen in colleges, it won’t happen in providers, it wont happen in officials, it won’t happen in funders, unless it has time and some degree of consistency to the message.”

EMFEC also hosted a celebratory dinner on the night before the conference, inviting delegates to pledge money to the Helena Kennedy Foundation (HKF) and take part in a charity auction.

The guests raised just shy of £2,000 for HKF, a charity which helps provide financial bursaries, mentoring and support to a number of disadvantaged students from the further and adult education sectors.

FE Week mini-mascot (Edition 16)

Follow the adventures of FE Week’s biggest and smallest fan!

Mostly this week I have been looking for my ‘I love my duck’ book”

And also you can follow our FE Week mini-mascot on Twitter @daniellinford

Chesterfield College goes hands on for art

Chesterfield College has embraced the latest developments in creative technologies by incorporating iPads into its Art and Design directorate.

Both Pupils from Tibshelf and Lady Manners Schools, as well as creative professionals from the local area, attended special events at the college to showcase the technology in action.

One of the world’s leading iPad artists and art lecturer at the college, Mik Godley, was on hand to demonstrate how to use the technology to digitally create artwork such as sketched life drawing and landscapes.

Also in attendance were specialist ‘Apple Educators’ who demonstrated a wide range of creative applications the iPad offers, from 3D imaging to music production.

Head of art and design at Chesterfield College Jeremy Asquith said: “I noticed many of our students are carrying and/or using mobile digital technology to record visual responses. These will be the sketchbooks of the future.

“If we don’t keep ahead our curriculum will not be current and we will be failing the students. We wanted to look at the relationship between traditional techniques and future trends to see how they can work together.”