Answers To Frequently Asked Questions

What is Train to Gain?
What are the benefits to employers?
What is the Skills Brokerage System?
Who are the training providers?
What are the advantages to employees?
Infrastructure
Where can I get help and contact information?

What is Train to Gain?

Train to Gain is a new service from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to help businesses get the training they need to succeed. The service will offer skills advice and match business needs with Further Education and training providers. Both the training and advice offered by Train to Gain will be flexible, responsive and offered at a time and place to suit businesses.

Train to Gain aims to encourage all businesses and individuals to realise the benefits that learning and skills can bring. The service will enable many more adults to achieve a first full Level 2 qualification and to improve their basic literacy and numeracy skills. Train to Gain is important because without a skilled workforce businesses will not be able to compete; jobs will be lost and fewer people will be able to get the jobs they want.

How does it work?

Working to a plan agreed within each of the nine LSC regions, with consistent features and benefits, Skills Brokers contact employers in the agreed priority target groups and sectors. Sometimes this leads to a face-to-face meetings but some initial brokerage is conducted by telephone. However, although there are core elements to Train to Gain each region will have flexibility to provide additional features relevant to their particular needs.

Why is this service needed?

Skills shortages continue to have a negative impact on UK productivity and competitiveness in the face of fast-growing economies. 2.4 million workers in England do not have any qualifications (Skills in England 2005). This is recognised by all organisations who work in learning and skills and it is vital that we encourage businesses to invest in skills or risk losing their competitive edge.

Train to Gain will be a fundamental part of raising skills levels in businesses across England, enabling every individual to achieve their full potential and businesses to become more economically successful.

What kind of training will be made available and who will it be made available to?

See section below

Who will deliver Train to Gain?

Skills Brokers will help identify and agree employers’ training needs and provide potential solutions. Once selected by the employer, the training provider will advise on the detail of relevant provision and how it should be delivered.

How is this funded?

The Skills Brokerage service is free for employers and is provided through the LSC. Some elements of the training delivered by Train to Gain will attract subsidised funding from government.

2. What are the benefits to employers?

Train to Gain can improve employers’ productivity and competitiveness by ensuring that employees have got the right skills to do the best job. Train to Gain will help businesses meet their skills needs by helping them choose the most suitable training provider/s and to get the best value for money from their investment in training.

Responsive:Through Train to Gain, all firms, big and small, will see a real cultural shift in the way in which training is delivered to make it more responsive. Employers can set the pace as they will agree who, when and how people are trained with the Skills Brokers and providers.

Skills solutions:Train to Gain will make it much easier for employers to find skills solutions to business problems. Skills for first full Level 2 qualifications are the priority for Government funding but that does not mean this will be the only level of qualification delivered, especially if the employer agrees to invest as well (so taking any subsidy even further).

Add value:Train to Gain will mean employers have a service that really adds value to their business, which will be delivered to a high quality and is expected to provide solutions to their business issues and problems.

How will individuals benefit from Train to Gain?

By 2012 85% of jobs will require skills and competencies at or around Level 3. By ignoring opportunities to gain further qualifications at Levels 2 and 3, individuals are limiting the choice of jobs available to them in the future and increasing the likelihood of unemployment. Making sure employees are skilled is good for employers too. By raising individual aspirations to achieve higher level skills, employees will be improving their contribution in the workplace.

A better trained employee will have more confidence in their abilities, pride in the skills which they possess, lead to a better quality of service and a sense of self-assurance. In real terms this can sometimes be achieved by possibly improving their language skills and understanding of English, or through a better grasp of technical instructions, or of computing skills.

Will a contribution to wage costs be a feature of Train to Gain?

Yes. Employers with fewer than 50 full-time employees are eligible for a contribution to wage costs for employees to achieve their first full level 2 and/or approved Skills for Life qualifications. Employers will be offered two levels of contribution; 5 per hour or actual hourly wage costs. The employer decides which rate to apply for but must supply evidence of actual wage costs for that option. By doing so, the Learning and Skills Council is ensuring that the process for making a claim is simple, cutting down on red tape for employers – something that many small businesses cite as a burden. The rate payable for each eligible employee is for the actual number of delivery hours where the learner has been released from their normal duties to undertake training.

Top

What is the Skills Brokerage system

How does the Skills Broker system work?

Brokerage for employers means an individual/organisation appointed as a broker working with the customer (i.e. the employer) to successfully broker a deal with one or more training providers (e.g. skills development, innovation, new technology). These independent and impartial advisers can help employers to diagnose their business need at the start of the process, find the most appropriate solution, help the customer become a smarter purchaser of skills provision, provide access to government funding if available, monitor the quality of the provision and check on customer satisfaction at the end of the process.

How can I see a visual map of this process?

A visual representation of this process is in the Customer Journey Map. This map is available from the Campaign Resources Site (external link). A simple registration process is required to access resources on this site.

Analysis of your current skills training within what your business needs.
Recommend skills training solutions.
Recommendation and referral to other specialist or business advisers.
Design and costing of an integrated learning and skills package (using both employer and government subsidy/investment, but defining clearly what you need to invest).
Recommendation and sourcing of the most appropriate training providers.
Ongoing support for strategies to address future skills training needs aligned with the business.

Who are Skills Brokers and how many are there?

Skills Brokers are specialist advisers who will be trained to national quality standards. The LSC’s National Employer Service also provides the same programme of brokerage and sourcing of training delivery for large (5,000 or more employees), national, multi-sited employers within Train to Gain. Broker organisations have been procured through an open and competitive tendering process. It is a contractual requirement for all brokers to work towards and achieve the competency standards which were published in February 2006.

Continuous employer satisfaction surveys will be used by LSC regions to monitor the independence, impartiality and quality of brokerage. LSC Regions will contract with organisations with a proven track record of providing advisory services to employers. Some regions only have one Skills Broker organisation and other regions have a mix of organisations in order to meet the employer needs of their region. The number of brokers will vary from region to region.

Will Skills Brokers be specialists in a particular industry or geographic area?

There were nine regional contracts for which the Invitations to Tender set out the regions’ requirements. This was stated in terms of sector, size of employer and geography. The Regional Skills Partnership partners identified the place of the sector-specialist brokers within their region.

Can you provide case studies that give examples of a good Skills Broker? (Including college/Broker relationship)

Case studies are available on this website

How does Train to Gain work for employers who know what training they want and might not necessarily want brokerage?

These employers can continue to work directly with their provider so long as the provider is either approved to deliver Train to Gain or will use mainstream adult participation funds already allocated. If not, they will need to find a provider – the Skills Broker can help with this.

How does Skills Brokerage benefit employers?

Skills Brokerage means brokers work with the customer (employer) to “broker” a deal with one or more training providers (e.g. skills development, innovation, new technology). At its broadest, this could include helping to diagnose business need at the start of the process, finding the most appropriate solution, helping the customer become a smarter purchaser of skills provision, providing access to government funding if available, monitoring the quality of the provision and checking on customer satisfaction at the end of the process.

The Employer Training Pilots (on which Train to Gain has been based) have shown that by taking the offer to employers and then helping them identify their needs and appropriate provision, brokers have stimulated demand for basic training. On the supply-side, by working with training providers to encourage them to meet employers’ needs, brokers are also helping to inform the nature and type of learning opportunities organisations need access to.

How are you planning to measure the success of this broker system and the investment of public sector money?

A national performance management framework has been developed by which all broker organisations will be managed. Skills Brokers will be measured primarily on the number of ‘hard to reach’ employers they engage, employer satisfaction levels they achieve, and their achievement of the new competency and quality standards.

What market research has been done around Skills Brokers? Is there any evidence to suggest that Skills Brokers will have a positive impact on the quality of the provision of training?

Brokerage is not a new concept and has been used successfully elsewhere in Government programmes. Considerable resources have been devoted to the design and development of the brokerage element of Train to Gain to ensure it helps facilitate easy access for employers and employees to the plethora of training opportunities available to them. Positive case studies demonstrating the benefits of Skills Brokers exist from ETP areas, for example: Economy Packing and Project Challenge in West Yorkshire. An independent survey of Employer Training Pilots commissioned by the Small Business Council in 2005 highlighted the benefits Skills Brokers bring to employers.

Will the Skills Broker system take valuable funds away from colleges and other providers?

Skills Brokers will focus on hard to reach employers, those currently not engaged in skills development or working with colleges and providers. Once they have helped the employer identify how training can support their business objectives, the Skills Broker will work with the employer to identify a suitable provider. In this way, Skills Brokers will help generate new business for providers.

Where can I find a Skills Broker?

From this site you can contact your regional Skills Broker.

What competencies and standards do the Skills Brokers need to have/meet?

The LSC National Office and the Small Business Service are currently working with the organisations responsible for the current standards for business advisers to develop one set of standards. A framework for National Standards for brokerage was produced in March 2006.

In 2006/07 broker contractors will be required to supply set information on a monthly basis. The LSC will commission continuous surveying of employer satisfaction with the initial and annual brokerage service supplied by all contractors.

Who holds the contracts for Skills Brokers?

Skills brokerage contractors will operate under regional LSC contract arrangements.

Top

4. Who are the training providers

Who is eligible for discrete Train to Gain funded basic skills provision?

Eligible employees who do not have a full level 2 qualification who also have literacy/ESOL and/or numeracy needs at Level 1 or Level 2 that, if met, would enable the achievement of a first full Level 2 qualification.

Which basic skills qualifications are eligible for discrete Train to Gain funding?

The nationally approved Certificates in Adult Literacy, Adult Numeracy and English for Speakers of another Language (ESOL) Skills for Life at levels 1 and 2 that can be found on the DfES website at :
www.dfes.gov.uk/section96/ and
www.dfes.gov.uk/section97/ .

Which Skills for Life qualifications are not eligible for Train to Gain support?

Key Skills qualifications in Communications and Application of Number at levels 1 and 2, and GCSEs in Maths and English are not eligible for Train to Gain funding.

Will Entry level qualifications be supported?

A learner assessed as having literacy, language or numeracy needs, as appropriate, below Level 1 is unlikely to have the skills to be able to undertake and achieve a first full level 2. Discrete Train to Gain funds will only be available for basic skills learning aims leading to Certificates in Adult Literacy, Adult Numeracy and ESOL Skills for Life at levels 1 and 2.

How will basic skills earner needs at Entry level be met?

Where an employee has basic skills needs at Entry level brokers should ensure that their needs are met through other LSC-funded provision or through non-LSC funded provision funded by the employer, where this is appropriate.

What if a learner with a full level 2 qualification or higher has basic skills needs?

Where the employer and employee want these needs to be met, brokers should ensure that this is through other LSC-funded provision or through non-LSC funded provision funded by the employer, where this is appropriate.

What if an individual needs to improve their basic skills in more than one subject?

Following initial assessment, where a learner needs to improve skills in more than one subject area (for example both literacy and numeracy or language and numeracy) in order to be able to attain a first full level 2 qualification, both learning aims, at either Level 1 or 2, can be funded through Train to Gain discrete funding. Funding should not support both literacy and language (ESOL) learning aims for the same learner as these programmes are designed to meet very similar needs.

Can Train to Gain funding support more than one learning aim in any one basic skills subject?

Train to Gain funding should not be used to support more than one learning aim in any one subject (literacy/ ESOL or numeracy.)

When should Skills for Life provision funded under Train to Gain be delivered?

Since discrete Train to Gain funding can be used only for nationally approved basic skills provision designed to enable achievement of a first full Level 2 vocational qualification, the delivery of a basic skills learning aim will precede or run concurrently with Level 2 provision.

What if an individual needs some basic skills support but does not need to pursue a learning aim leading to a full qualification?

Assessment may show that a learner already has a reasonable level of literacy or numeracy skills (and therefore no need for a separate basic skills qualification) but would nonetheless benefit from some on-course support to meet any residual needs and to ensure that they achieve their Level 2 vocational programme. Good practice suggests that this support should be provided as part of the Level 2 vocational programme and is already accounted for in the Level 2 funding rates. It will therefore not be funded separately.

How important is the initial assessment of learner need?

It is important for two reasons:

It determines the appropriate level of provision according to need, in order to achieve measurable improvement. Within the Skills for Life Strategy this is defined by, and measured as, a learner moving up a level of attainment from, for example, Entry 3 to Level 1. A learner assessed as already having skills at, for example, Level 1 has a need for a provision at Level 2 in order to achieve measurable improvement.
It determines the appropriate LSC funding stream, or whether the employer should meet the costs. The following examples are designed to help:

An employee without a full level 2 qualification is assessed as having basic literacy needs at Level 1. Both the Level 2 and the literary learning aims leading to an Adult Certificate at Level 1 can be supported through discrete Train to Gain funds.
An employee without a full Level 2 qualification is assessed as having literacy skills at Entry 2 and numeracy skills at Entry 1. As both needs are at Entry Level the costs could only be met through other LSC-funded provision or by the employer.
An employee with a thin level 2 qualification needs support for some numeracy elements (eg fractions and percentages) in order to achieve a full level 2 qualification. The residual numeracy needs would not be funded separately under Train to Gain but would be expected to be delivered and funded as part of the Level 2 programme.
An employee without a full Level 2 qualification has ESOL needs at Level 1 that are considered important enough to be met before undertaking the vocational Level 2 programme. A learning aim leading to an Adult Certificate in ESOL Skills for Life can be supported by discrete train to Gain Funding subject and prior to the learner embarking on a Level 2 programme.

Employers will be expected to invest towards the cost of additional learning and training that falls outside of the core offer of Train to Gain.

18,631 employers have been engaged of which 14,631 are new employers.
There are 62,379 learners starting on Level 2 and Basic Skills qualifications.
The majority of learners are from sectors where low skills predominate in roles such as plant and machine operatives, elementary occupations, for example. (data for learners starting April-November 2006)
The clear majority of employers supported through Train to Gain are small:

94.5% of Engagements are from employers with less than 50 employees;
95.4% of Hard to Reach engagements have come from these small employers.

Where does the Employer’s Guide to Training Providers fit in with Train to Gain?

Train to Gain is not just about funded training, it is about identifying business’s training needs, including those that the employer will pay for, and sourcing provision for the whole range of training needs. The Employer’s Guide to Training Providers can be used by employers and Skills Brokers to source the full range of training provision.

How will providers benefit from Train to Gain?

Delivering high quality, flexible responsive training for employers is key to the success of Train to Gain and is therefore important to the continued success of training providers. Train to Gain is a major service that will see a shift in raising skills levels and the quality of training across England. Train to Gain will benefit training providers by responding to the exact skills and training needs of employers and building long term relationships and trust.

Train to Gain will be a huge opportunity for the learning sector to engage more employers and learners and to grow the training market. It also presents an opportunity for providers/colleges to win business from employers by ensuring that standards remain high, or are raised, as well as delivering training flexibly to meet employer needs. This will be challenging and, for some training organisations, will require a big cultural change. We need to encourage all providers who offer (or have the potential to offer) a quality service, to embrace this change and help them realise the opportunity this presents for them.

Top

5. What are the advantages for employees?

6. Infrastucture

What targets does Train to Gain have and how will these be measured? What targets are in place for 2006/7? What are the success measures?

By 2008 and 2010 the LSC aims to meet the following Public Service Agreement targets, whilst positioning the LSC as the organisation that is leading the transformation of the sector and enabling it to deliver for employers, individuals and communities.

To reduce by at least 40% the number of adults in the workforce who lack NVQ 2 or equivalent by 2010. This equates to an additional 3.6 million first Level 2 or higher qualifications
By 2006, to increase the proportion of 19 year olds achieving Level 2 or better by three percentage points (from 67% to 70%). By 2008, to increase the proportion by a further two percentage points (from 70% to72%)

Train to Gain is targeted to achieve:

Engaging with 33,000 employers in 2006-2007
Engaging 53,000 employers in 2007-2008 and in successive years to 2010

At least 51% of these employers will be ‘Hard to Reach’. Engagement is defined as the employer becomes involved in skills development activity as a result of Train to Gain.

Top

How will quality be assured?

A national performance management framework has been developed by which all Skills Broker organisations will be managed. Skills Brokers will be measured primarily on the number of eligible employers they engage, employer satisfaction levels they achieve, and their achievement of the new competency standards.

Will models of good practice, case studies about what works, and employer feedback be shared?

Train to Gain has a successful assess-train-assess model for workplace delivery. Many areas of good practice and case studies have been developed and these are being used to further develop Train to Gain. There are Case Study examples on this site under Success Stories.

Top

How much will Train to Gain cost?

Train to Gain will cost £230million in the first year (2006-2007) and £399million in 2007-2008. The money for 2006-2007 includes £40million to ensure that learners continuing Employer Training Pilots can complete their programmes. Another £30million will be to cover the costs of the brokerage in the first year which rises to £36million in 2007-2008 as the volume of learners increases. The remainder of the funding is to support new learners starting programmes from April 2006. This level of investment is critical if we are to compete in the global market place.

In addition to the figures above there is up to an extra £38million each year to provide for a contribution to wage costs towards learners who work for small employers of less than 50 employees. This will encourage increased participation from this important sector of the workforce.

Train to Gain is demand led and so are the costs. Funding is not be released to the training providers until learning starts. Employers set the pace as they agree the training required with the independent Skills Brokers and then they select which providers they wish to use. We are working closely with the Sector Skills Councils and regions in determining the precise shape and scope of the programme.

Top

What kind of technical support and systems are in place behind Train to Gain?

There is an integrated system across a number of work areas to manage and measure data and information, which is central to the success of Train to Gain. The system is designed to meet the needs of the LSC nationally, regionally and locally to plan, manage and evaluate the effectiveness of Train to Gain in a consistent way.

The system aims to minimise bureaucracy for both the LSC and Skills Brokers by enabling electronic uploads of data using a standard system.

7. Where can I find help and contact information?

There is comprehensive list of marketing and communications support material for those involved in delivering Train to Gain. The brand guidelines, logos, templates, artwork, case studies and information on access to pre-printed materia such as leaflets, brochures, folders are available to download from the
Campaign Resource Site(external link).

Contact a Skills Broker

Find your region

Based outside England? Please call your regional office:
Northern Ireland: 0800 100 900
Scotland: 0845 8502 502
Wales: 029 2090 6801

Top