New non-levy procurement launched

Previous funding allocations to training providers were due to be reduced by up to 89% by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for non-levy apprenticeships.

These government cuts to the funding, designed to help support smaller businesses, would have resulted in many areas of the country having a dramatic decline in apprenticeships.

However, the new tender for apprenticeship provision allocations for non-levy-paying employers was launched last week by the skills and apprenticeships minister Anne Milton.

What the apprenticeship provision allocations mean for non-levy-paying employers

The DfE explained how its new tender has a number of “critical differences” from the previous one, including new tender value caps and contract award limits to “ensure greater confidence that awards are set at realistic levels”.

Ms Milton explained that “we didn’t get the previous procurement exercise for apprenticeship training provision for non-levy paying employers quite right,”

She went on to confirm that they are launching a new procurement exercise worth a minimum of £440 million, and will deliver the stability and geographical spread that is needed.

It was described as “really fantastic” that the skills minister has “listened to AELP and its members in coming forward with a solution that should strike the right balance between stability of provision, promoting competition and offering choice for employers” by Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.

How CognAssist can support apprenticeships

CognAssist offers apprenticeship and work-based learning providers a solution to identify, support and fund learners with additional learning needs.

CognAssist can quickly and easily identify neurodiverse learners, provide them with an assessment report and access to tailored learning strategies to support their needs.

The solution can give your organisation the tools it needs to support neurodiverse learners and provide the evidence needed to support the drawdown of Learning Support Funding1 for those learners identified, which is £150 per learner, per month.

Client Ofsted inspections show how inspectors have identified that CognAssist is supporting learners with additional learning needs, and helping providers to identify learners with hidden needs, who may have previously struggled to progress and complete their qualification.

Learning Skills Partnership’s June 2017 report highlights that “Managers have introduced recently a robust system to identify support needs, which has highlighted that more apprentices require support than previously identified. Reports generated by the system show that current apprentices are using the resources available.”

Approximately 20% of all learners have an unmet learning need; CognAssist is pioneering technology which will support such learners.  We would like to invite you to understand CognAssist in more detail and how it can support other providers of Apprenticeships to improve quality of support for learners with additional learning needs.

If you would like to find out more about how we can support your organisation and learners please email Sales Executive Leah Grimshaw or call on 07766916221.