4.0 Attracting Learners

There is not one single approach that works best for everyone at all times. However, there are some fundamental approaches which all providers should take when marketing PEP:

• Establish clear referral routes Create partnerships and market courses to external organisations able to refer unemployed people. Ensure you get a named contact from partner organisations, and equally provide them with a named contact from your organisation – preferably someone able to talk with confidence about your PEP courses. Key partnership organisations all providers should contact include:
• Jobcentre Plus (JCP) - Each JCP district will have its own procedure for doing this – you will need to find out who best to contact in your area. Some districts prefer to collect marketing information centrally before distributing to local Job Centres, whilst others prefer you to directly contact your local Job Centre.
Please note, JCP have a very specific understanding of the term Pre-employment Training (PET, which is a term often used for PEP) – within their organisation PET relates directly to specific courses set up as part of a Local Employment Partnership (LEP) see web link http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/SouthEast/Basically_2_-_LEP.pdf In order to communicate effectively, when talking to JCP it is important to clarify the nature of your PEP courses – that they are broad and not necessarily related to LEPs.
• Probation Services - Probation Areas support many unemployed people – not just offenders, but also their families. Many Probation offices run specific initiatives for offenders and their families, and some have a specific focus e.g. unemployed women. Many offenders in receipt of probation services have not committed serious crimes and would be ideal participants in PEP programmes.

All offenders have a designated Offender Manager who carries out a comprehensive risk assessment on them. Offender Managers can advise learning providers on each individual and take responsibility for risk assessment. Probation Areas also employ specialist ETE (Education, Training and Employment) Officers. These Officers work with offenders who are assessed as having an ETE need, and it is part of their role to refer offenders into learning, and to support their retention and achievement in learning. Probation ETE Officers always welcome information about available learning, and all Probation Areas run an induction for offenders. These inductions provide an ideal opportunity to promote PEP courses. PEP providers can develop partnerships with Probation ETE Officers by providing them with information about courses, agreeing referral processes, and by attending Probation Area Inductions to promote their provision. See Appendix 9 for contact details for ETE Managers across South East Probation areas. To find out more about how the Probation Service supports offenders in the community to learn, follow the links National Offender Management Service (NOMS) National Probation Service

We worked with local providers to develop agreed referral processes and improve access to all available learning for our offender caseload. A consortium of local providers responded by using their different funding streams and programmes to develop a package that suited our needs. We now have a good flow of learners progressing and succeeding right the way through employability skills programmes and Skills for Life to employment based programmes like Train to Gain.
(Donna Leigh, ETE Manager, Kent Probation Area)

• IAG Provider - In the South East this is Nextstep, they provide advice on learning and work to prospective learners, find your local Nextstep Adviser through the link http://www.nextstepsoutheast.org.uk.

Nextstep SE also works with the Continuing Employment and Support Service (CESS). CESS access people who have just been made redundant or are about to be made redundant, often prior to contact with JCP. To find out more follow the link http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/SouthEast/Basically_7_-_CESS.pdf ALR PEP providers should not contact CESS directly, Nextstep is sufficient – they will liaise with CESS and the related employers.

• Local Voluntary and Community Organisations in your area – These will vary. Consider who in your organisation might know about these, i.e. Adult and Community Learning, Adult Basic Skills, Health and Social Care department, a member of staff who is heavily involved with community work. Your local authority website should have information about community services, i.e. East Sussex County Council http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/libraries/reference/escis.htm

Community groups such as Job Clubs and organisations such as Family Centres can provide ‘ready-made’ groups of learners.
(Ingrid Widdows, Get That Job Project Manager, OCVC).

• Other providers in your area, both those funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). They may have learners to refer to you and vice versa

• Embed PEP marketing within your mainstream marketing activities, i.e. open days, road shows, link to/part of mainstream adult learner prospectus and information on your provider website. Link in and target new and existing learners
• Very important! Register your PEP provision on the Careers Advice Service database (also known as the Learndirect database, or the National Learning Directory.) This database should then be publicised generally.

Use the online Course Manager to upload provision rather than sending in a prospectus. Courses should appear on the Careers Advice Services database in 3 working days, for further information follow this link: www.advice-resources.co.uk/learningproviders/ or telephone 0208 600 5308

This database also feeds into various systems including links from Skills Accounts and the JCP direct gov jobseekers database of training opportunities, so information does not need to be uploaded twice http://jobseekers.direct.gov.uk/homepage.aspx?sessionid=58334d67-3c15-49a6-b0bc-b2fb1c915809

In the future there will be an LSC provision database for PEP in the South East, further details will be listed here as this progresses

Quotes from pathfinder providers about attracting PEP learners:

It helps if you can go to the job centre, meet the learners and make direct referrals, and also to take groups from the Job Centre to visit your provision/site. Make the enrolment process as easy as possible and have a clear route established for transferring information between JCP and yourselves.
(Ingrid Widdows, Get That Job Project Manager, OCVC).

It's important to build relations with JCP, to gain intelligence and information about what is needed. At the time of the launch [of Act NOW!] a senior manager went to the Job Centres, for 2-3 hours per session, so to understand the issues for those who were unemployed… and to promote the ACT NOW! programme
(Lesley Donoghue, Vice Principal, OCVC).

Partnership working is central to the delivery of this programme and we have actively enhanced our relationships with Jobcentre Plus, Working Links, the LSC, Nextstep Advisors and Tourism Futures. We utilise these relationships alongside our own well established employer network to market and recruit to the programme and to identify viable job opportunities for learners. Through partnership working we are also able to ensure that the ongoing programme of training opportunities meets, and continues to meet, the needs of the local labour market and thus offer the maximum benefits for the learners engaged on the programmes
(Elizabeth Funge, Head of Planning, City College Brighton and Hove).

Clearly, a key factor for all providers is to develop a reputation for high quality PEP provision with well qualified staff, strong success rates and links to real employment opportunities. Some practical steps which can be taken during the planning stages include:

• Developing a clear marketing strategy and as part of that, create firm partnerships with organisations who will refer unemployed people (see 4.1)
• Looking internally at marketing courses to existing learners and their families who might benefit from PEP and are either due to become eligible/are eligible/could pay for PEP in the future
• Special offers – i.e. Could your organisation offer a fast track route to assessment of prior learning to enable adults with significant experience and expertise to 'cash in' this experience for units of a qualification?
• Marketing the courses to all externally e.g. learners who can self-fund as well as those who are claiming unemployment benefits/are unemployed
• Offering blended modes of delivery including the possibility of distance learning for some learners where appropriate

A ‘SHINE’ client attends courses which includes full-cost clients who are in employment.  This creates a balance of learners who can share from each other’s experiences, for example those in employment share their knowledge with SHINE clients who have aspirations of working within the sector.
(Elizabeth Funge, Head of Planning, City College Brighton and Hove).