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National employment and skills related provision

A look at the current picture of national employment and skills programmes in England.


We estimate that around £20 billion is spent across England on 49 national employment and skills related schemes or services. This is made up of 22 nationally contracted programmes and 27 other national programmes. They are listed in the two tables below.

These programmes are managed by at least nine Whitehall departments and agencies, which include the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Education (DfE), the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Jobcentre Plus (JCP), the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) and the National Careers Service (NCS).

This data is based on April 2021 information of provision that was in live running, or that was about to come on stream.

There is limited information about what provision is available for England. We looked at each of the 49 interventions and identified their geographic coverage (UK wide; England, Scotland and Wales; England and Wales; England and Scotland; and England only) then calculated how much would be allocated to England based on population size (ONS population statistics, June 2021).

We recognise that the funding methodology is more complicated than this, so this aims to broadly illustrate the England allocation.

Nationally contracted programmes

Programme

Cohort

Govt Dept / Agency / Delivery

Available funding information

One year funding average UK wide unless indicated 

Estimated one year funding average for England

Access to     Work: Assessments 

Adults with disability 

DWP /  

Two national contracts 

2020-2024: £30 million 

£7,500,000 ** 

£6,506,250 

Access to Work: Mental Health 

Adults with disability 

DWP /  

Two national contracts 

2020-2024: £30 million 

£7,500,000 ** 

£6,506,250 

Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) 

Unemployed with specialist needs 

DWP / 6 Contract Package Areas (5 - England, 1 - Wales) 

2020-2024: £38 million 

£9,500,000 *** 

£8,995,550 

Job Finding Support 

Unemployed 

DWP  

Serco - national contract 

2020- 2022: £40 million announced. Current contract £10 million 

£20,000,000** 

£17,350,000 

New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) 

Unemployed 

Self-employed UC claimants 

DWP 

14 CPAs  

To 2023: £42.6 million 

DWP and ESF funded    

£7,100,000** 

£6,159,250 

Restart 

Long-term unemployed 

DWP / 

12 CPAs   

2021-2024: £2.9 billion 

£400,000,000*** 

£378,760,000 

WHP: Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) 

Unemployed 

DWP / 

6 CPAs Devolved to London and Greater Manchester 

2020-2022: £238 million 

DWP and ESF funded   

£158,700,000** 

£137,672,250 

Work and Health Programme (WHP Core) 

Long term unemployed 

Disabled 

Disadvantaged groups 

DWP /  

As above  

2018/19: £46 million 

DWP and ESF funded 

  

£46,000,000*** 

£43,557,400 

Career Changers in to teaching 

  

Career changers into teaching 

DfE /  

National contracts with regional focus 

2020: £10 million 

£10,000,000* 

£10,000,000 

High Potential Initial Teacher Training and Leadership Development Programme 

Graduates 

DfE  

Teach First 

September 2021: £35 million 

£35,000,000*** 

£33,141,500 

Information, Advice and Support Programme (IASP) 

Children and young people with special educational needs 

  

DfE 

Ended March 2021: £25 million 

£25,000,000* 

£25,000,000 

National Careers Service 

Adults 

Young people (13+) 

DfE / ESFA 

3 year contracts – end March 2022 

Not available 

Not available 

National Citizen Service (NCS) 

Young people - 16-17 

DCMS /  

NCS Trust 

2018-19: £121.8 million  

£93,800,000* 

£93,800,000 

Step up to Social Work 

Career changers 

National supplier plus 

HE and LA providers 

2022-23: £300,000 

£300,000* 

£300,000 

Think Ahead 

Graduates 

Career changers 

DHSC 

2021-22: £27 million 

£27,000,000 

£22,761,000 

Traineeships 18-24 

Young people 

DfE / ESFA 

2021- 23: £233.5 million  

£116,800,000* 

£116,800,000 

Skills/Digital Bootcamps 

In work and unemployed with sector focus 

  

DfE (National Skills Fund) 

National 12-month rollout (May 2021) 

£36,300,000* 

£36,300,000 

DWP CFO European Social Fund 2014 to 2020 

Unemployed 

DWP / 

LEP  

DWP/ ESF funded 

Not available 

Not available 

Skill Support for the Unemployed (SSU) 

Unemployed 

ESFA /  

LEPs, devolved in London 

2019-2023: £75 million 

£18,800,000* 

£18,800,000 

Skills Support for the Workforce 

Employed 

Facing / recently faced redundancy 

As above  

2019-2023: £145 million   

£36,300,000* 

£36,300,000 

Supporting NEETs 

NEETs 

As above  

2019-2023:  £54 million 

£13,500,000* 

£13,500,000 

Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) 2014-2020 and 2021-2023 

Young People NEET 

DWP / 

NUTS2 areas within LEPs 

2014-20: £490 million 

2021-23: £25.5 million 

£12,800,000* 

£12,800,000 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTRACTED TOTAL FOR ENGLAND £1,025,009,450 

 

Other national programmes

Programme

Cohort

Gov Dept / Funding agency Delivery

Funding commitment

One year funding average UK wide unless indicated

Estimated one year funding average for England

16 to 19 - grant funded 

Young people - 16-19 

DfE / ESFA / Further education (FE) settings 

2018-19: £5.7 billion 

£5,700,000,000* 

£5,700,000,000 

Access to work (AtW) 

People with a disability or health condition 

DWP / JCP / 

Employers 

2018-19: £129 million 

£129,000,000** 

£111,907,500 

Adult Education budget (AEB) 

Allocated / formula funding 

Adults - 19+ 

DfE / ESFA /FE settings 

2020-21: £615.5 million 

£615,500,000* 

£615,500,000 

Adult Education Budget (AEB) 

Procured 

Adults - 19+ 

DfE / ESFA FE settings  

2020-21: £88 million 

2021-22: £73million (no longer covers 18-24 traineeships and more devolved areas) 

£88,000,000* 

£88,000,000 

Advanced Learner Loans and Bursaries 

Adults - 19+ 

DfE / ESFA / 

FE settings,  

training providers 

2021-21: £273 million (other AEB funding) 

£273,000,000* 

£273,000,000 

Apprenticeship Levy 

Young people, 

adults 

DfE, employer funded / ESFA / NAS 

 

 

2021-22: £2.5 billion. ESFA funding (majority from Levy payments and underspends) 

£4,700,000,000 

£3,962,100,000 

Apprenticeships - procured non-levy 

Young people, 

adults 

As above  

Government pays 100% of training costs for employers less than 50 employees, and 95% of training costs for employers over 50 employees 

£1,900,000,000 

£1,601,700,000 

Building Better Opportunities 

Disadvantaged people 

National Lottery, Community Fund 

2014-2022: £300 million.  

£37,500,000* 

£37,500,000 

Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) 

Young people - 13-18 

DfE / CEC and 32 careers hubs 

2019/20 - £21.3 million grant funding  

£21,300,000* 

£21,300,000 

Community Grants 

Unemployed 

ESFA / 

Local grant holders 

To 2023: £36 million 

£18,000,000 

£15,174,000 

Flexible Support Fund (FSF) 

Unemployed 

DWP / JCP 

2019-2020: £40 million. 

£150 million  

announced (Plan for Jobs) 

£40,000,000 

£33,720,000 

Green Recovery Challenge Fund 

Green jobs 

DEFRA 

£80 million: in two rounds of £40 million  

£40,000,000 

£33,720,000 

Help to Grow 

SMEs 

Not known 

2021-22: £60 million 2022-23: additional £75 million 

£60,000,000 

£50,580,000 

Kickstart 

Young people 

DWP / JCP / employers + gateways 

Ends March 2022: £2 billion. 

£2,000,000,000 

£1,686,000,000 

Levelling up Fund (LUF) 

Local authorities 

Cross Whitehall / LAs and delivery partners  

2020-2024: £4 billion. Further £800 million for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 

£1,000,000,000 

£843,000,000 

Life Chances Fund (LCF) 

Disadvantaged people 

DCMS 

2016-2025: £80 million (9 years). 

Excludes devolved Greater Manchester 

£8,900,000* 

£8,900,000 

Sector-based work academy programme (SWAPs) 

Jobseekers, especially young people 

DfE funded - DWP led 

ESFA - AEB JCP, local employers, training providers 

2020-21: £13.2 million. Plan for Jobs doubled SWAP capacity from 40,000 to 80,000 opportunities 

£13,200,000**** 

 

£12,037,080 

 

Strategic Development Fund / College Business Centres 

Training providers 

DfE  

Colleges / training providers, 

business groups 

2021: £65 million 

£65,000,000 

 

£54,795,000 

 

Supported internships 

Young people with EHCP 

DfE / ESFA / 

FE providers, schools, charities, local / community organisations, 

employers 

  

 

 

Towns Fund 

Local authorities 

DLUHC /  

LA-led Town Deal Boards 

£3.6 billion in total 

£3,600,000,000* 

£3,600,000,000 

Traineeships  

Young people 

DfE / ESFA - AEB / Training providers, 

employers, NAS 

2020-21: AEB 

16-18 / 19-24 traineeship 

2021-22: 

16-18 (AEB allocation). 

19-24 (nationally contracted)  

£27,300,000* 

£27,300,000 

Troubled Families Programme (TFP) 

Disadvantaged people 

DLUHC / 

Local authorities 

2015-20: £1.1 billion committed to March 2021. 

2021-22: £165 million    

£165,000,000* 

£165,000,000 

Community 

Renewal Fund 

Local authorities 

DLUHC /  

Local authorities + successful applicants  

2020-21: £220 million  

£220,000,000 

 

£185,460,000 

 

UK Shared 

Prosperity Fund 

  

 

Not known at time 

 

 

Union Learning  

Fund (ULF) 

Employed 

DfE ESF match funded / TUC Unions 

~£11 million  but ending April 2021 

£11,000,000** 

 

£9,542,000 

 

Youth  

Employment Programme 

Unemployed young people - 18-24 

DWP / JCP 

No direct funding - wrapper for other programmes  

 

 

Youth Hubs 

Unemployed young people - 18-24 

DWP Flexible Support Fund JCP 

Local delivery partners 

Not known 

 

 

         

OTHER PROGRAMMES TOTAL FOR ENGLAND 

£19,136,235,580 

         

ENGLAND TOTAL  

£20,161,245,030

Key

* England only

** England, Scotland and Wales

*** England and Wales

**** England and Scotland