Workforce Development Fund 2018 19 Partnership application form guidance January 2018 (v1.0) Contents Introduction... 2 The application process and timetable... 2 Qualifications and learning programmes eligible for funding... 3 Essential grant management criteria... 3 Accessing funding... 4 Grant management... 4 Completing the application form... 6 Section 1 Details of lead organisation... 6 Section 2 Membership, workforce planning and promotion of the Workforce Development Fund... 6 Section 3 Partnership management and disbursement strategy... 7 Section 4 Grant management and relationship with Skills for Care... 8 Section 5 Outputs and funding summary... 9 Table 1 - CPD qualifications... 10 Table 2 - Diplomas and apprenticeships... 10 Table 3 - What is the evidence for claims?... 10 Completing the workforce plan:... 11 Funding to support WDF disbursement... 13 Section 6 Declarations... 14 Lead organisation declaration... 15 Submitting your application... 15 The following important supplementary information is available separately to download at www.skillsforcare.org.uk/wdf (WDF 2018-19 section): Workforce plan (appendix 1) this must be returned with the application form. Funded qualifications and learning programmes. A unit look up document will be available to successful applicants to support claims for QCF qualifications in the new funding year. Partnership requirements 2018-19. Requirements for completing the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC) for compliance with the Workforce Development Fund. Overview of claims process. 1
Introduction The Workforce Development Fund (WDF) for 2018-19 is a funding stream from the Department of Health and Social Care disseminated by Skills for Care. It will support the continuing professional development of staff across the adult social care sector by providing a contribution towards the costs of eligible Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) and Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) vocational qualifications and some non-accredited learning programmes. These will be delivered under licence by Skills for Care s endorsed providers. At the stage of tendering the only non-accredited programme which will attract a funding contribution is Lead to Succeed but further programmes may be included as they become available. The fund is distributed by Skills for Care directly and via a network of large organisations and employer led partnerships. Lead partners must ensure that as far as practically possible partnerships are open to all employers within the adult social care sector, including micro-employers. Please note that the Workforce Development Fund can only be utilised by adult social care employers within England. Learning providers and individual consultants cannot hold a grant agreement for this funding. There are a number of changes to the adult social care learning and development landscape, many of which are beyond our control, but which have implications for our work. A number of changes are being made to the Workforce Development Fund 18/19 as a result and you should read this guidance carefully, prior to starting to complete the application form to ensure that you understand the changes and their implications for the fund. This tendering process is being undertaken subject to confirmation of funding from the Department of Health and Social Care. This document provides guidance to help you through the application process. If after reading this guidance you have any further questions, please direct all enquiries to: wdf@skillsforcare.org.uk The application process and timetable The process of claiming the Workforce Development Fund consists of two phases. Firstly there is the process of tendering. Following the award of a grant the second phase involves the submission of claims by set milestone points during the year to draw down funding. The key dates for both phases are outlined below
Activity Phase 1 Date Tendering opens 26 January 2018 Tendering closes 23 February 2018 Grant agreements issued to successful applicants April/May 2018 Phase 2 Milestone 1: 25% of funding claimed 28 September 2018 Milestone 2: 50% of funding claimed 30 November 2018 Milestone 3: 75% of funding claimed 31 January 2019 Milestone 4: 100% of funding claimed 29 March 2019 Qualifications and learning programmes eligible for funding The Workforce Development Fund will support continuing professional development in the adult social care sector and a broad range of health and social care qualifications and learning programmes are funded. Claims can be made for QCF and RQF qualifications where the date of issue of the certificate is between 1 January 2018 and 31 March 2019. Certificates for QCF qualifications must include a full breakdown of units. Funding contributions for advertised non-accredited learning programmes can also be claimed on completion of the programme, using the completion certificate dated between 1 January 2018 and 31 March 2019. A list of funded qualifications and learning programmes is available to download from the website, which includes the awarding organisation and qualification number, plus credit and funding values for QCF qualifications, total qualification time and funding value for RQF qualifications and funding values for learning programmes to support the application process. A QCF unit code reference document will be available to successful applicants to make claims. This information should not be required to complete your application. In 2018/19 the amount of funding available for QCF and RQF qualifications will be as set out in the funded qualifications and learning programme document. Award and certificate qualifications have been allocated to a funding band based on credit value or total qualification time. Diplomas, apprenticeships and learning programmes will be funded to the values advertised, on completion. Important to note: In 2018/19 QCF qualifications will be claimed on completion of the full qualification, evidenced by a copy of the learner s certificate. However, full unit detail must be completed on the claim form to prevent duplicate learning being claimed. Essential grant management criteria To be considered eligible to hold a grant agreement with Skills for Care for the Workforce Development Fund applicants must ensure that: they will be operating a partnership as defined below 3
they complete all sections of the correct application form and the workforce plan the application form and workforce plan are emailed to wdf@skillsforcare.org.uk by 13.00 on 23 February 2018. Accessing funding Skills for Care defines a partnership as being, a collection of adult social care employers, which may include micro employers, who come together to pool their workforce development needs and potentially commission training to collectively meet those needs. Skills for Care will make a grant award to the lead organisation for the partnership who is then responsible for disbursal of the fund to their members, and for supporting those members to comply with Skills for Care s eligibility and evidence requirements. Partnerships may also provide services to their members above and beyond the disbursal of the fund. Partnerships must be open to new members. Skills for Care has six areas across England: Eastern, London and the South East, Midlands, North West, South West and Yorkshire & Humber and the North East. Areabased partnerships operate within these areas, national partnerships operate across more than one of these areas. If you have any further questions please email us at wdf@skillsforcare.org.uk Grant management Following the award of a funding allocation for successful applicants, Skills for Care will closely monitor the delivery of the grant during the course of the year, with particular focus on the criteria detailed below. Please use this information to inform your approach to managing the grant and describe this when required within the application form. Milestone management We expect all grant holders to manage the grant effectively. Milestone dates are the latest date by which claims for the stated percentage of funding to support learning in the grant should be made to Skills for Care. On receipt of funds from us you must pay all WDF directly to the employer who has made the claim and cannot pay the funds to any third parties. Grant holders are encouraged to make claims throughout the period of the agreement and do not need to wait for a milestone date before submitting. If there is any deviation between actual and projected progress we will notify the grant holder and where necessary reduce the value of the grant by the amount of under achievement. Where grants have to be reduced Skills for Care may record this as poor performance which will impact on any future applications made by the grant holder. If grant holders overachieve there may be opportunities to request additional funds during the funding year. 4
Evidence submission (sampling) We expect all grant holders to supply the required evidence in a timely manner as set out in the sample request. Organisations have to comply with the claims sampling process to ensure that Skills for Care receive complete and accurate evidence. We note that some errors may occur but in cases where the evidence does not meet the grant requirements we will reclaim funding, adjust grant values and if necessary record this as poor performance which will impact upon any future applications made by the grant holder. 5
Completing the application form The following section of the guidance provides help and advice in completing the application form. In addition to this guidance the yellow boxes throughout the form provide specific help on each question. Please ensure you fully complete the summary information on the front page of the application form. We have not set word or character limits but you are limited to the text box available for each question. You are advised to save the application form regularly as you complete it. Section 1 Details of lead organisation The first section captures key information about your organisation. Details you provide here will be the primary details we use to contact you so if these change you need to let us know. Please also bear in mind the criteria set out above when completing the area tick boxes and ensure that you have ticked the correct number of boxes to identify the areas in which you operate. Sections 2, 3 and 4 Sections 2, 3 and 4 pose specific questions which explain your bid and explore your ability to successfully manage the grant. Please provide as much information as possible and use your knowledge and expertise to support any statements you make. Please also make best use of the help guidance contained in the application form itself as this will give you an indication of what we are looking for. By members of your WDF partnership we mean those employers who have completed a members declaration form which has been submitted to Skills for Care and have not subsequently left the partnership. For any new applicants, this will be the employers that you have consulted to put together your application and who will access the fund through your partnership if your application is successful. You should read the partnership requirements 2018/19 prior to completing the funding request form. These requirements clearly set out Skills for Care s expectations of lead partners and meeting them will be a grant condition. Section 2 Membership, workforce planning and promotion of the Workforce Development Fund Section 2 captures information about the geographical area that your partnership will cover, how you have identified the workforce planning needs of your membership to inform your application, how you will expand the reach of your partnership during the funding year and how you will promote the role of the Department of Health and Skills for Care in relation to the fund. Question 2a should be used to outline the geographical area covered and the support you will offer to employers in that area to access the fund. The resource available and approach to support should be sufficient to cover the geographical area indicated. For
national partnerships, if there are any exclusions to coverage within the areas you have indicated that you operate this should be specified within this question, otherwise it will be expected that you will cover all of the areas indicated. In question 2b you need to summarise the key workforce development objectives of your members, e.g. upskilling workers in dementia care, increasing the number of apprentices etc, and how these objectives have informed your funding application. The methodology used to collect this information should be outlined as part of your answer to this question. In question 2c you need to demonstrate how promotion will be undertaken to attract new members to join the partnership and access the fund. This should include your ambition of what you will achieve within the funding year in terms of new employers who will access the fund. This question should not be used to cover how you will increase the number of existing partnership members who claim the fund as this is addressed in question 3a. The Department of Health and Social Care and Skills for Care have key roles in relation to the Workforce Development Fund but this is not always clear to employers. Use question 2d to explain how you will promote the role of both organisations in relation to the fund to ensure the funding source is known. Section 3 Partnership management and disbursement strategy This section explores how the partnership and funding will be managed to maximise the number of members who are able to claim WDF and how you will support that. Expanding the reach of the fund remains a key ambition for 2018/19. Question 3a seeks to address this by exploring how you will increase the number of claimants amongst those who are already aware of the fund and signed up to the partnership. This question is not about attracting new members to the fund as this has already been covered in question 2c. You should include an estimate of the total number of employers that you expect to claim within the funding year. 3b should be used to detail how you will manage your funding to ensure that all members have an opportunity to draw down funds, this includes new members. Any limits which are being applied should be outlined here. You should also ensure that you demonstrate how you will prevent a small number of employers from claiming a disproportionate amount of any funding allocated as WDF is a resource to the whole of the adult social care sector. 3c explores how you will support your members to comply with the eligibility criteria for the fund. Further details of the eligibility criteria for the fund can be found in the WDF 7
section of the Skills for Care website along with our NMDS-SC offer of support to partnerships. 3d should be used to declare any plans you have to sub-contract any aspect of administering the funding. Skills for Care must be notified of all planned sub-contracting arrangements before they are put in place, as we reserve the right to refuse permission to sub-contract any element of the funding administration. Where sub-contracting arrangements are utilised it is expected that a formal agreement will be put in place between the lead organisation and the sub-contractor which clearly articulates the responsibilities that are being sub-contracted. A copy of this agreement must be provided to Skills for Care by successful applicants at the time of signing and returning the grant letter. It is also expected that any sub-contractor will fully comply with the partnership requirements and terms of the WDF tender as set out in the grant letter. Where we find that a sub-contractor is not complying and does not meet our partnership expectations we reserve the right to raise this with the lead organisation and request they seek alternative arrangements. If you are will not be sub-contracting any aspect of administering the funding please state not applicable. Partnership contact details will be available on our website for potential new members. Your lead administrator will be advertised as the contact. If you need to change these details during the year then please email wdf@skillsforcare.org.uk Section 4 Grant management and relationship with Skills for Care We expect all WDF grant holders to fully support Skills for Care activity, engage with our wider offer to ensure your members benefit and proactively link with key colleagues within Skills for Care. This section explores the following points: how you have successfully managed WDF or similar contracts previously how you will ensure successful delivery of the grant against the advertised milestones and any remedial action you will take should you fall behind the internal controls you have in place to ensure accuracy of claims the resource you have in place to administer the funding and contingency or succession planning arrangements in case of long term sickness or a key member of staff leaving your relationship with Skills for Care how you will facilitate networking and sharing of best practice between your members and promote our wider offer of support. Where relevant we will consider previous Workforce Development Fund grant delivery. New applicants should demonstrate how they have delivered similar contracts/grants previously. Question 4a should be used to demonstrate your previous experience of 8
successful contract/grant delivery either with or outside Skill for Care. Failure to include evidence of previous or similar contract/grant delivery will be taken into account when applications are assessed as part of the decision making process. For successful applications, failure to include this evidence will result in a lower grant award. The Workforce Development Fund is subject to audit and checks may be undertaken at any time on any recipient of the funding so records must be kept. A general overview of the claims process can be found on the website. 4b explores how you will manage the grant if you are successful in your application as each grant will contain four milestones which need to be met. You should also explain how you will identify any slippage and the action that you would take to address this. Any internal quality assurance processes which relate to the management of this grant should be included in question 4c. Applicants should demonstrate in question 4d that they are able to support and/or manage the process in a manner that is quick, efficient and error free and that this can continue in case of absence or a key member of staff leaving the organisation. A good working relationship between successful applicants and Skills for Care is key to effective grant delivery. Question 4e should be used to outline what you would see as the benefits for both parties of such an arrangement and how you would ensure these are realised. Skills for Care undertakes a range of work, organises events and develops many resources which are beneficial to the sector. It is expected that if you are awarded a grant you will promote and support the work of Skills for Care to ensure maximum added value to us from awarding funding. Question 4f should be used to detail how you will promote our wider work and events to your members and how you will facilitate networking and sharing of best practice between your members. You should clearly explain how this will add value to the adult social care sector. Skills for Care will undertake national evaluations of the Workforce Development Fund and grant holders will be expected to participate in these if requested. Section 5 Outputs and funding summary You must complete the excel workforce plan template (appendix 1) which has been provided and return this along with your application form. Guidance as to how to complete the workforce plan is included below. We expect you to submit a realistic application informed by workforce planning information from your members. We acknowledge that applications are based on 9
estimates at this stage. The milestone dates for the grant are set out in the application timetable on page 2 of this document. WDF 2018/19 will be for advertised QCF qualifications, RQF qualifications and learning programmes completed between 1 January 2018 and 31 March 2019. Important to note: In 2018/19 we are changing the funding values of qualifications. These will be funded as set out below. The list of funded qualifications and learning programmes details what will be funded and to what value. Table 1 - CPD qualifications QCF credits RQF Total Type of qualification Funding value Qualification Time hours 1-4 1 40 Small award 60 5-8 41-80 Medium award 120 9-12 81-120 Large award 180 13-20 121-200 Small certificate 300 21-28 201-280 Medium certificate 420 29-36 281-360 Large certificate 540 Table 2 - Diplomas and apprenticeships Level Funding value 2 690 3 870 4 1,050 5 1,200 Important to note: In response to the move from the QCF to the RQF framework, the 60 credit limit will be removed next year to enable larger qualifications to be claimed but will be replaced by a financial limit per learner. A maximum of 1,200 can be claimed per learner per funding year from 2018/19. Table 3 - What is the evidence for claims? Type of qualification QCF award, certificate or diploma RQF award, certificate of diploma Apprenticeship Framework Evidence A copy of the learner s certificate from the awarding organisation including full unit breakdown. A copy of the learner s certificate from the awarding organisation. A copy of the learner s diploma certificate from the awarding organisation. 10
Apprenticeship Standard Learning programme A copy of the learner s diploma certificate from the awarding organisation. A copy of the learner s certificate from the licenced endorsed learning provider. We will still need the full unit breakdown for QCF qualifications to ensure that we do not fund units more than once. Important to note: Under RQF, the name used for qualifications may vary between awarding organisations and may differ from the Skills for Care specification. Employers are advised to check that learning is funded prior to commissioning it. Skills for Care has added awarding organisation and qualification numbers to the list of funded qualifications and learning programmes and has set up a webpage listing approved RQF qualifications, their qualification number, the awarding organisation and the name on the Skills for Care qualification specification. Completing the workforce plan: Name of partnership Include the name of your partnership in column B, row 1 Membership breakdown Employer size Number of employers in the partnership Number of employers expected to claim funds Funding requested Small awards Medium awards This section summarises the total membership of the partnership by employer size. The categories listed are based on the total number of workers in each member organisation. It is not just the number of workers in the establishments which are a member of your partnership. Enter the total number of employers in the partnership as per the categories set out in the table. Enter the total number of employers that you expect to claim funds as per the categories set out in the table. This section should be completed based on the employers that you expect to claim funds. Enter the total number of qualifications for this classification, as set out in table 1 above, being requested into column B. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value. Do not type into column C as this will Enter the total number of qualifications for this classification, as set out in table 1 above, being requested into column B. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value. Do not type into column C as this will 11
Large awards Small certificates Medium certificates Large certificates Diplomas Apprenticeships Lead to Succeed Total Enter the total number of qualifications for this classification, as set out in table 1 above, being requested into column B. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value. Do not type into column C as this will Enter the total number of qualifications for this classification, as set out in table 1 above, being requested into column B. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value. Do not type into column C as this will Enter the total number of qualifications for this classification, as set out in table 1 above, being requested into column B. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value. Do not type into column C as this will Enter the total number of qualifications for this classification, as set out in table 1 above, being requested into column B. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value. Do not type into column C as this will Diplomas are broken down into levels 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the table. Enter the total number of diplomas for each level being requested into column B. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value based on the values set out in table 2 above. Do not type into column C as this will Apprenticeships are broken down into levels 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the table. Enter the total number of apprenticeships, whether SASE frameworks or standards, for each level being requested into column B. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value based on the values set out in table 2 above. Do not type into column C as this will Enter the total number of lead to succeed learning programmes requested into column B. This is a non-accredited learning programme which will be delivered under licence by Skills for Care s endorsed learning providers. Column C contains a formula and will automatically calculate the funding value. Do not type into column C as this will overwrite the formula. The final row will give a total number of qualifications/learning programmes requested for funding and an overall funding 12
Funds requested for new members Total funds requested Summary value. Do not type into this row as you will overwrite the formula. The total value of funds requested for new members should be entered into column B. The funds requested for new members should align to the information provided in question 2c of your application. This cell contains a formula and will add together the funding requested for the existing members you expect to claim and new members as set out in this plan. Finally the summary must be completed. For area partnerships your locality breakdown should relate to question 2a. For national partnerships your breakdown should be across the Skills for Care areas e.g. London and South East, North West, South West etc. The percentage figures are purely an indication of the proportion of funding that you expect to spend in each of the areas you are including in your application and must add up to 100% in total. This information will be helpful to the tender panel when making funding allocations. You should refer to supporting documentation to help you complete the workforce plan template. The list of funded qualifications and learning programmes 2018/19 will provide details of the awarding organisation, qualification number, minimum number of credits (where applicable), total qualification time (where applicable) and funding values for all health and social care qualifications funded. A funding value is provided for all learning programmes funded. Funding to support WDF disbursement Partnerships need to complete this section by summarising what they will do to deliver the required activities to disburse the fund. The information provided should be succinct. There is an opportunity to provider further detail within the previous sections of the application form. The activities have been divided between fixed and variable cost activities, see below for the definition being applied to variable cost activities. The proportion of grant funding that can be used to support disbursement activity is necessarily capped at 10% of the value of funding to support learning which is awarded. Skills for Care will favour low cost models that demonstrate efficient use of existing resources and networks. Lead partners must not use disbursement of this funding to make a profit. Economies of scale are expected from larger funding requests. Costs should be completed in the cost summary table which is broken down into fixed costs and variable costs. Variable costs are those which are expected to change 13
depending on the amount of funding to support learning which is disbursed. Where grant variations are undertaken in 2018/19 these are the costs which will be adjusted up or down as a result of a grant variation. There is a maximum of 10% of the awarded value of funding to support learning available for disbursement activity. You need to include percentage figures for fixed and variable costs ensuring that when added together the figures do not total more than 10%. A value of 0% cannot be included against either section as the activity set out is required to effectively disburse the grant. Where a grant reduction is undertaken the cap of 10% of the new value of funding to support learning will still apply. Skills for Care will calculate the disbursement fee using these percentages when the tender panel has identified the allocation of funding to support learning for the grant. E.g. you may indicate that your fixed costs are 5% and your variable costs are 5% and bid for 100,000 of funding to support learning. If you are awarded 50,000 of funding to support learning, your total fee would be 5,000 of which 2,500 would be fixed costs and 2,500 would be variable costs. Any grant increases would then attract an increase of the variable costs only which would be 5% in this example. Disbursement funding for partnerships will form part of the grant agreement between the grant holder and Skills for Care. Section 6 Declarations Declarations of interest There are three types of declarations that need to be made: 1. Potential conflicts initial declarations: The grant holder has a continuing duty to update Skills for Care of any relevant interests that may lead to a conflict. For example, if the grant holder (or their employees) have an interest in another organisation that is likely to have either a financial or business interest/conflict with Skills for Care. 2. Potential conflicts - situational conflicts: The grant holder must declare any proposed transactions/contracts contemplated. For example the grant holder or an organisation they are connected with is taking part in any Skills for Care tendering process. 3. Transactional conflicts: The grant holder must declare any actual transactions/contracts. For example the grant holder or an organisation they are connected to is in receipt of funding from Skills for Care or is being paid for services provided to Skills for Care. Please use this opportunity to highlight if you or any of your staff have any declarations of interest related to Skills for Care. This section must be answered yes or no and if yes details of the interest must be declared. 14
Lead organisation declaration A person authorised to sign up to the declaration on behalf of the lead organisation needs to read this section carefully, then complete their name, job title and date on the form. Tick the box then the individual who has made the declaration needs to submit the completed form from their email address before 13.00 on 23 February 2018. Please allow sufficient time to submit the application successfully, the final deadline is non-negotiable; any application that arrives after the deadline will be automatically disqualified. Skills for Care will acknowledge receipt of applications via an email reply. Submitting your application To submit your application, please send an email to wdf@skillsforcare.org.uk by 13.00 on 23 February 2018 including your partnership name in the email subject title, with your fully completed application form and workforce plan template. 15