
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
16 | VOCATIONAL SKILLS SOLUTIONS
I didn’t cope well when I came out of
the army and found myself slipping
back into the old ways. I thankfully
got myself out of it and, in early 2003,
discovered the world of training.
Subcontractor days
I started working for other people
delivering commercial training, and I
stumbled onto government-funded
training in 2008. I started working
with a large Nottinghamshire-based
provider, before setting up on my own
in 2010 with a business partner.
It was then that we outlined our own
vision: we wanted to give people the
qualifications they needed to allow
them to proceed in life.
We created a business where
unemployed people who had been
failed by society and their families
could thrive. We helped to get them
on a career path that was suitable
and change their lives as a result.
Unfortunately, we were not paid a
large sum of money from our main
contractor in early 2014, which meant
we had to shut that company down,
and we started fresh with VSS.
Vocational Skills Solutions
When we set up VSS, we had a clearer
picture of what we could do, and
all the mechanisms and experience
in place to achieve that. We wanted
to reach the people who were the
furthest away from employment
– be that because of entrenched
deprivation, homelessness or economic
inactivity – and provide them with
a career path to a better future for
themselves and their families.
We take adult learners in at Entry
Level 1, where they have a maths and
English age of between five and seven
years, and develop them up to Level 2
basic skills. The aim is for them to then
achieve a vocational qualification and
move into full-time employment.
This career development is so
important, and it has to come from a
plan. It’s not just about giving people
the skills – it’s about changing their
mindset. Family-wide social issues and
deeply entrenched deprivation are
such obstacles for people to overcome.
The people we work with need to
understand that there is a better life
available to them – and that reaching it
is achievable.
Government devolution of
adult education
In 2018, the government announced
their intention to devolve the adult
education budget from August 1,
2019, in a number of areas, four of
which were our catchment areas –
London, Manchester, Liverpool and the
West Midlands – and the value of our
contract was going to be decreased
by around £800,000 as a result. This
caused us real concern.
After writing new tenders for these
devolved areas – a fairly arduous
process in itself – we have now
secured that funding back from local
authorities. Government intervention
Maths and English
courses to increase basic
skills
We created a
business
where
unemployed
people who
had been
failed by
society and
their families
could thrive
“
“
17VOCATIONAL SKILLS SOLUTIONS |
EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT
is always a big challenge for us –
education support is a volatile industry,
and as policy changes we continue to
experience difficulties.
Staffing and quality issues
As funding has been cut over the
years, we have continually struggled
not just to recruit, but to recruit high-
quality staff. We want to provide high-
level courses in line with Ofsted and
ESFA recommendations – our provision
needs to help people to move forward
and develop, rather than just achieving
pass marks – and with that we need
quality staff.
The problem arises, however, when
we recognise that there just isn’t the
money in the apprenticeship industry
to pay the salaries that we think we
need to in order to deliver true quality.
There are a lot of good apprenticeship
assessors in the industry, for instance,
who have gone back to their
vocational sector rather than working
in the further education sector.
We do pay above and beyond, but
it’s not enough to really pull the best
people back from another sector. As
such, we’ve had to look at addressing
our skills gap with younger people –
finding those that have the mindset,
the ethos and the drive and developing
them appropriately.
We need to have the right philosophy
if we are to overcome this obstacle,
and I’m positive that we do, but it
is a challenge. We don’t tolerate
poor performance, and retention is a
constant problem – there is a balance
to be struck, but our learners simply
cannot suffer from poor delivery.
Planning for future prosperity
After the devolution of the AEB,
we weren’t invited to tender in
Manchester, but were for Liverpool,
the West Midlands and London. We’ve
recently been notified that we have
won all three tenders and we are the
only training provider in England to
win all of these areas. This is a massive
achievement for us, and it will allow us
to more than triple in size throughout
2019 in line with our business plan.
We know where we want to be in
five years’ time as a business. We also
recently celebrated our first Ofsted
monitoring visit, which went well, and
can confidently say that we’re past a
turning point and are looking forward
to the next year in our growth.
Now, our focus is on becoming a
provider of choice for learners and
employers alike. The landscape of
education may be ever-changing,
but we are now positive about our
role within it and look forward to
delivering high-quality provision for the
people who need it the most for years
tocome.
The people we
work with need
to understand
that there is a
better life
available to
them – and that
reaching it is
achievable
“
“
Career development
should be a priority for
everyone