Adult Education Budget

In August 2019, the WMCA took over responsibility for the Adult Education Budget (AEB) and how it is delivered. For the year 2020/21, this budget is £128m.

In the Regional Skills Plan, we set out the key difficulties in the local labour market. Support to tackle these issues is now even more important due to the impacts of Covid-19.

The key challenges are:

• A low employment rate in some parts of the region

• Growing issues of poverty for those in employment, driven by low wage levels

• Low skill levels in the population, with fewer people qualified to Level 4 and above. There are also more people with no qualifications compared to other city regions

• Persistent skills shortages faced by employers

The AEB funds training to help people find jobs. It also funds specialist training and helps to up-skill people already in work. Adult education can improve quality of life, self-confidence and opportunities for people. It also supports employers by providing them with the skills they need to boost growth.

We align our AEB to priority communities and business sectors. This helps to improve skill levels and provide sustainable jobs so productivity improves. We fund delivery partners to provide training.

• An increase in Level 3 training in priority sectors to 3,600 (from a baseline of 1,500)
• An increase in training leading to employment. We'll do this with new sector based work academies. They'll offer training linked to employer vacancies to at least 4,500 adults
• Stronger local partnerships. We'll do this by working with all providers in an area, with clear and shared commitment to goals
• Promoting schemes to residents through online and community based campaigns.
• Testing Level 4 and 5 training provision
• Link training schemes to the Commonwealth Games and Coventry City of Culture. This will lead to further learning or employment opportunities

There is a range of guidance and information documents available.

For any further questions, please contact us: aeb.enquiries@wmca.org.uk

Here are some useful documents from a recent procurement information event:

Event Notes

Skills Procurement Presentation

If you have a question relating to the WMCA Skills Procurement, please raise your question through the Bravo portal. Click here