West Sussex County Council awards adult skills contracts totalling £3.6m

Chichester College Group, Runway Apprenticeships, Functional Skills UK, Free To Learn, Twin, and Creative Process Digital were the successful bidders following a procurement process in June and July.

The contracts were bid for in 13 lots covering maths, English and essential digital skills for the north and south of the county, as well as routes into retail, hospitality & catering, the digital sector, the green sector, education & teaching, health & social care, and construction, engineering & manufacturing.

The council also awarded ‘no commitment contracts’ to eight organisations, including the Chichester College Group and Runway Apprenticeships, to act as back-up providers.

Essentially, if one or more of the organisations fail to deliver on the contracted service or fail to meet performance expectations, the back-up organisation would be called in to take over.

All contracts will run from September 1, 2023, to July 31, 2026, unless the county council decides to extend them for up to two years.

The awarding of several contracts represents a change in the way adult learning is managed by the council. A report from Derry Richardson, head of Service, education, communications & enterprise, said a new model – which offers both in-house and external provision – was decided on following a consultation and review in 2022.

It will see 62 per cent of the annual £3.228m adult education budget received from the Education Skills Funding Agency used to fund the contracts.

Ms Richardson added: “The new delivery model offers better value for money by targeting more of the funding towards the actual cost of delivering courses under the direction of a council team who create a strategic curriculum that meets skills, educational and economic needs across the county.”