257. CPA11 Prospects Tender -Final Redact

8/3/2019 257. CPA11 Prospects Tender -Final Redact

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/257-cpa11-prospects-tender-final-redact 1/72

EMPLOYMENT RELATED SUPPORT SERVICESFRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

MINI COMPETITIONS FOR THE PROVISION OFTHE WORK PROGRAMME

Invitation to Tender Form





PART 1: ORGANISATION DETAILS

[1.1] Your response to Part 1 is for information purposes only. If any of this informationhas changed since the Framework Agreement application stage, please state this withinthe table below including a short explanation as to why. If you cannot provide any of theinformation below please explain this within the table.

DWP will not be responsible for contacting anyone other than the persons named in thispart of your form. If any of this information changes during the bidding period you mustinform DWP of the changes by email to:[email protected]

Name of the Legal Entity in whose name thistender is submitted and with whom DWP willcontract:

Prospects Services Ltd.

Trading Name (if different from above): As above

Company Registration Number: 3042176

Company Registered address: Prospects House19 Elmfield RoadBromleyKent BR1 1LT

Head Office Address, if different: As above

VAT Registration Number: 801 9043 61

Website Address (if any): www.prospects.co.uk

Name, address and company registration number of parent company, where applicable:

Not applicable

Name and Job Title of main contact: RedactedStrategic Development Director

Address: Prospects House19 Elmfield RoadBromleyKent BR1 1LT

Telephone no: Redacted

Mobile telephone no: Redacted

Fax no: Redacted

E-mail address: Redacted

Alternative contact Name and Job Title: Redacted

Address (if different from above): As above

Telephone no: Redacted

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Mobile telephone no: Redacted

Contact e-mail: Redacted

PART 2: TENDERER DECLARATION

[2.1] You must complete this Declaration by Tenderer. Failure to include this declarationmay result in your bid being disqualified.

To: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

For the benefit of the Department for Work and Pensions, we hereby warrant andundertake as follows:

1. We have examined, read, understand and accept in full the proposed Contractdocuments and all other documents and Annexes provided with this declaration andthe clarifications issued during the Invitation to Tender period.

2. We have completed and submitted all information required in the Invitation toTender Form in the format and order required.

3. We confirm the information set out in our response is complete and accurate to thebest of our knowledge and belief .

4. We hereby acknowledge and agree that we have read, understand and accept theWork Programme Call-Off Terms and Conditions, the Work Programme Specificationand the draft Order Form.

Scanned Signature: Redacted

Date: 14/02/2011

Name: Redacted

Job Title: Executive Chair

Duly authorised to sign Tenders on behalf of: Prospects Services Ltd.

Name of Organisation: Prospects Services Ltd.



PART 3: THE WORK PROGRAMME CALL-OFF CONTRACT TERMS ANDCONDITIONS - ALTERNATIVE AND/OR ADDITIONAL CLAUSES

[3.1]

3.1 The terms and conditions of The Work Programme will be the Standard Call-Off

Terms and Conditions (set out in Schedule 4 of your Framework Agreement), asmodified by The Work Programme service requirements (“The Work ProgrammeAdditional Requirements”).

3.2 The Work Programme Additional Requirements are set out in the ‘Call-Off Termsand Conditions for The Work Programme’ which is supplied with your Invitation toTender. A document highlighting the modifications made to the Standard Call-Off Terms and Conditions to reflect The Work Programme Additional Requirements isalso supplied with your Invitation to Tender; for ease of identification, the changesmade since the draft version issued on 8 December 2010 are shown in boxeswithin the document.

3.3 Any proposed amendments to The Work Programme Additional Requirement mustbe detailed by completing the section below, giving full details of the clause(s) youwish to amend and your proposed amendments. DWP will consider proposedamendments strictly on their merits. Please note that you may only proposeamendments to The Work Programme Additional Requirements; proposedamendments to the Standard Call-Off Contract Terms and Conditions will not beconsidered.

Comments on The Work Programme Additional Requirements: -

MINI COMPETITION – ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS (For Framework Supplier Comments only)

No. of the clause(s) youwish to amend

Proposed amendment with proposed wording

Other than those provisions identified above, [Tenderer to insert name] confirms that ithas reviewed the Call-Off Terms and Conditions for The Work Programme and agrees inprinciple to each of their provisions.



Name: Redacted

Scanned Signature: Redacted

Position: ExecutiveChair

Telephone No: Redacted

Date: 14th February2011

DWP reserves the right to amend any provisions of The Work Programme AdditionalRequirements at any time during the mini-competition procurement exercise.



PART 4: SERVICE REQUIREMENT

NOTE: MINIMUM SCORE APPLIES TO ALL QUESTIONS THAT ATTRACT A SCORE WITHINTHIS SECTION. BIDS SCORING 2 OR LESS ON ANY QUESTION WITHIN THIS SECTIONWILL BE REMOVED FROM THE COMPETITION. PLEASE NOTE SCORES ATTAINED INTHIS SECTION MAY ALSO BE USED IN A TIE-BREAK SITUATION WHERE APPROPRIATE.

[4.1] Customer Journey - Process

Please submit a process map showing the proposed end to end customer journey(s) andattach the process map as Annex 1.

This should include a detailed supporting description of the customer journey(s) specific tothis CPA. Your response must describe how you will ensure the customer journey istailored to meet the specific needs and barriers of individual customers, and include thecustomer requirements defined in the Specification.

Please note your response to this question will not be scored but will act as areference point for the scoring of questions 4.1a and 4.1b

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to five sides of A4.

Note: Format requirement and page limit does not apply to the process map which youmust insert as Annex 1.



4.1 As a result of our analysis and feedback from partners and customers, we havedeveloped the Ascent Programme, which is described below and in the attached processmaps. Annex 1 details: the Ascent Programme depicting Engagement (1.1); Overview of the Ascent Programme (1.2 – the customer journey); The Ascent Assessment Diagram(1.3 – customer progress); Example of customer journey/case studies for JSA, IS and

ESA groups (1.4-1.6).

The Ascent ProgrammeProspects has developed an innovative and bespoke customer journey which will enablethe eight customer groups across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset to address their individual barriers and the challenges of their local area. The Ascent Programme isdesigned so that every customer undertakes a unique customer journey based on their Ascent assessments completed every two weeks with their Ascent Cohort Adviser. Weare aware that ‘cross cutting customer groups’ means that people in different groups mayhave similar circumstances e.g. disabilities or health conditions, caring responsibilities,aged over 50, socially excluded (including ex-offenders, homeless, substance

dependency) and are likely to be represented in all groups. The programme ensures thatall issues are addressed, even the ‘hidden’ barriers. The range of interventions andsupport from our specialist partners are designed to meet customers’ disparate andsimilar needs.

Ascent concentrates on challenging and changing ingrained behaviours in a systematicway via a combination of appropriate Ascent Interventions, on-going Ascent Assessment,one to one support and where required, specialist assistance. Our customer journey is notdefined by customer group, but defined by individual need including timescales i.e. wewould expect to work with someone who has been on IB over a longer period of time.

We are aware that while each customer will have a different combination of barriers andneeds, the groups highlight common criteria such as ESA and IB groups requiring supportwith access to work and advice on managing their condition in the workplace. The IncomeSupport group of whom the majority are lone parents, will need specific advice onmanaging childcare and potentially debt advice.

Prospects has invested substantially in multi-media solutions including the development of an Ascent call centre managed by our partner, The Listening Company (TLC), wherecustomers will have access to highly trained graduate Ascent Advisers from 8.00am to11.00pm Monday to Friday. Customers will have a personal online Ascent Tracker

available 24 hours a day so that they can instantly follow their progress. The Tracker willshow interventions carried out and due, action points, top tips, progress reports anddistance travelled.

Ufi will provide licensed flexible access to online, employment focused accredited andnon-accredited learning to join up skills acquisition with the customer journey.

The Ascent Programme ProcessEngagement (see page 1 of Annex 1)Customers will be referred via a JCP adviser regardless of which group they are in. Thiswill include volunteers i.e. JSA voluntary early access, ESA Work Related Activity Group

lone parent (youngest under 5) and full time carers, other ESA volunteers, incapacitybenefit and income support claimants. Each referred customer will be provided with aninformation card by their JCP adviser (provided by Prospects for all job centres) which hasdetails of how to log on to the public area of Prospects’ Ascent Programme website. The



customer and the JCP adviser will be able to view videos and testimonials of successfulcustomers on the website and see details of Ascent activities. The JCP adviser willexplain what happens next to reassure the customer and provide a ‘warm handover’.

Prospects will receive the referral from JCP via PRaP following a telephone call from theJCP advisor and will pass on the information to our partner, TLC via a secure encrypted

system. The customer will be telephoned by an adviser from TLC (see Annex 1.1) whowill confirm the customer’s details and take him or her through an initial assessment toascertain their situation and assign them to the most relevant end to end delivery partner by need and geography. As per Annex 1.1, customers who do not have a telephone willbe sent an appointment letter to visit a centre within 30 minutes of their home toundertake their initial assessment and evaluation.

As part of the initial engagement by The Listening Company (TLC), an Ascentassessment will be undertaken to plot the customers’ current position on the Ascenttracker (refer to Appendix 1.3). Each of the six core areas (aspiration/ motivation; skills for the future; challenges; employer desirability; notable influences; transferable skills) will be

scored between 1 and 10 points where 1 is the lowest and 10 highest. This informationwill be completed by the TLC adviser with the customer over the phone. The TLC adviser will explain the reasons for doing the assessment and will use the information to assignthe customer to the end to end delivery partner.

The customer will be provided with details of their provider and their assigned AscentCohort Adviser (ACA) and location. TLC will forward the information to the customer’sACA who will contact them to make an appointment for the customer to attend within fiveworking days of the initial assessment.

Assessment and action planningAt the first meeting, the Ascent Cohort Adviser will explain to the customer about the WorkProgramme and specifically the Ascent Programme and how it will support them in towork. The ACA will show the customer their private Ascent website section (and log ondetails) which will include their personal action plan and tracker showing their progress.The ACA will explain how the Ascent assessment process works so that the customer isable to assess their own programme and progress.

The Ascent Programme ensures that each customer undertakes the journey mostappropriate to them, tailored to address all challenges/barriers which may be preventingthe customer from achieving sustainable employment. The ACA will work with the

customer to ascertain the level of assistance required based on the Ascent Assessmentwhich will ensure that no customer gets left, forgotten or parked. The ACA will re-assess the customers using the Ascent Assessment every two weeks. This will inform theaction plan which will be updated and amended accordingly.

Ascent Programme core areas (for all customers)The Ascent Programme concentrates on six core areas which experience has shown usneed to be addressed to achieve sustainable employment. These are as follows:

Aspiration and Motivation – How genuinely motivated is the customer in returning to thelabour market? What are the customer’s confidence/self-esteem levels? Does the

customer believe they are well enough to work?Skills for the Future – Does the customer have the required level of functional skills? Canthey manage their personal circumstances effectively? Is the customer maintaining ahealthy lifestyle which would promote a good work/ life balance?



Challenges – What personal challenges are preventing the customer from finding andmaintaining employment? For example homelessness, debt, criminal behaviour,addiction, discrimination, health problems and disability. Does the customer have caringcommitments e.g. lone parent, full time carer?Employer Desirability – Is the customer ready for the competitive labour market? Do theyhave a basic work ethic? Is assistance with personal presentation required? Are

references available? Has the customer been unemployed for a long period?Notable Influences – Is there a generational unemployment issue? Are customers beingpressured not to work by family, friends or partners? Is being unemployed considered tobe the norm in the customer’s social circle? Do they live in neighbourhoods affected byhigh unemployment in comparison to the surrounding area?Transferable and Specialist Skills – Does the customer have up-to-date skills which matchthe labour market need?

By using a 1- 10 point scoring system for each of the six core areas (1 low, 10 high), theAscent Programme produces a diagram detailing the customer’s current distance from thelabour market. This enables the customer’s Ascent Cohort Adviser (ACA) to select the

most appropriate Ascent Intervention to help move the customer forward in their journeytowards sustainable employment.

The unique nature of the Ascent Programme ensures that no two customer journeysare the same. It is highly unlikely that a customer will undertake every Ascent Interventionas not all interventions are appropriate to every customer. Prospects has created aninnovative mix of interventions which challenge behaviour and identify areas for action,steering individuals into employment and providing continuous support in work.

Annexes 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 depict examples of customer journeys for three different groups – we have chosen three: ESA; JSA and IS but are aware that individuals will have varyingcombinations of challenges and needs. For example Ex IB customers and Early Accesscustomers are likely to require more interventions than the majority of customers in theJSA 18-24 age group. JSA 18-24 age group are less likely to have substantial experienceof working and will benefit from work trials and entering an apprenticeship. For example,Heroes to Inspire may be the most appropriate first intervention for an 18-24 year old. Anachievement project may be the most appropriate for an Ex IB customer. Interventionsalso need to take place at the best time and in the correct order for the customer e.g.Ascent Skills Enhancement Projects occur towards the end of the customer journey whenthe customer is closest to the labour market and ready to revisit personal work ethics.

Ascent Interventions/activitiesAll customers will undertake at least one activity per week which we have depicted on theprocess map (Annex 1.2) between each fortnightly assessment. Activity levels willincrease as customers progress to replicate a more structured, work-style routine so thatthe work ethic becomes ingrained. Interventions will be undertaken in groups and one toones from the following activities:Ascent Workshops – 36 different 45-minute workshops covering the six core ascentareas: Aspiration and Motivation, Skills for the Future, Challenges, Employer Desirability,Notable Influences and Transferable/Specialist Skills. The workshops are stand-alone,based on CBT techniques and have an immediate positive effect which can ultimatelychange the behaviour of people attending. All customers will undertake a minimum of four

Ascent Workshops; these can be any four of the 36 available.Heroes to Inspire - ex-servicemen/women will be employed by Prospects to act asmentors and role models for customers with the aim of helping them to increasemotivation and change negative, limiting mind sets.



Reality Camps - customers will attend a reality camp (away from their home area) wherethey will learn survival basics, undertake physical challenges, gain new skills and learn towork as part of a team.Life Checks - customers will attend a workshop delivered by actors who will demonstratehow the customer’s current behaviour has an impact on others, their environment andtheir personal future. Customers will role play and visualise the future, comparing

differences of a life on benefits and a life in employment.Aspiration: Rewards and Consequences - customers will be given the opportunity towork towards one of their own personal aspirations e.g. attending a football match, a spaday, visiting an upmarket restaurant, visiting a museum or amusement park. By workingtowards their aspiration, they are rewarded for that work and given an insight into thedifferent lifestyle that can be achieved through a life of employment.Motivational Speakers - inspirational people will deliver motivating and life changingtalks about what can be achieved when you overcome challenges and fulfil your potential.Speakers will be drawn from backgrounds similar to customer groups e.g. a person whohas overcome considerable ill health to run a successful business.Achievement Projects - customers will complete different activities which result in ‘quick

wins’ to build their confidence e.g. taking part in a music group, undergoing a makeover,taking part in an arts/craft project, completing DIY or learning a circus skill.Well Being Groups - customers will learn how to adjust their lifestyle to improve their health, fitness and personal circumstances. Group work and 1:1s will tackle weight loss,addiction, fitness, mental and physical health and money management.Come Dine With Me Workshops - customers will complete a four week healthy eatingcourse which demonstrates how to shop and cook healthily on a limited budget usinglocally sourced ingredients.Relocation, Relocation, Relocation – where appropriate, customers will be helped tomove to a new area with a plentiful job market. Prospects will provide accommodationand assist the customer to integrate with the local community. When employment isgained, Prospects will provide assistance with rent payments for up to six months.Prospects Sports Teams - various sports teams will be created across the CPA so thatcustomers have the opportunity to play in local leagues.Ascent Community Events - customers will be encouraged to work on local communityevents where they will have the opportunity to see the results of their work and becomeinvolved with the local community.Ascent Skills Enhancement Projects - community and social enterprises will beavailable to customers increase their skills and gain valuable references. Customers willhave the opportunity to gain enhanced skills in strong and emerging employment sectors.Projects will include Ascent Accessories, Ascent at Home (renovation of furniture /

electrical goods), Ascent Hair and Beauty, Ascent Catering, Ascent Landscaping, AscentClothing, Ascent Retail, Ascent Administration Services, Ascent Marshalling Services,Ascent Low Carbon & Marine Opportunities, Ascent Care. All customers will have accessto at least one project lasting four weeks. This will be mandated activity for somecustomer groups.Ascent Radio - customers will be assisted to run their own community radio slotsincluding “Skills for Hire” enabling customers to sell their skills to potential employers.

Specialist SupportThe Ascent Programme is flexible to meet the needs of the eight customer groups. Thecore programme will be supported by specialist partners who will help customers address

individual challenges such as debt, housing, addiction, support for ex-offenders, physicaland mental health advice, apprenticeships, self-employment and well-being. ACAs willrefer to our specialist partners as appropriate to support the customer’s journey.



Into Work SupportWhen the customer is assessed as reaching Point 8 on four or more of the Ascent coreareas (Appendix 1.3), the Employer Solutions Team will work alongside the ACA toprovide appropriate work opportunities for the customer. Customers will work one to onewith an Employer Solutions Team Adviser (ESTA) who will ascertain the customer’s skillset, personal qualities, realistic job goals and USPs. The ESTA will utilise an Intelligent

Job Search System (IJS) where applications will be made on behalf of the customer,eliminating poor practise in applications and increasing the chance of selection for interview. ESTAs will undertake interview training with the customer and provide worktrial opportunities and part time work/slivers of time combinations to create the equivalentof full time opportunities. The customer will continue undertaking Ascent Interventionswhile working with their ESTA and ACA.

Customers interested in self-employment will be supported by a specialist self-employment partner who will guide them through the process of setting up in businessincluding taxation, employment, raising finance and budgeting.

We anticipate that some of our customers, particularly from the JSA 18-24 group, willundertake apprenticeships. Our specialist partners include training organisations providingapprenticeship training and support.

Post-Employment SupportAll customers will benefit from weekly contact in the first month of employment, thenfortnightly contact up until week 26, and bi-monthly contact until sustainability has beenachieved. We will support customers using The Listening Company’s high qualitycustomer contact centre and ESTAs. Each customer will have access to their onlineAscent Tracker providing them with tips about work and access to multi-media supportfrom 08.00 to 23.00 Monday to Friday. They will be encouraged to contact ESTAs or their ACA if they are uncertain about their situation at work or concerned about issuessurrounding their ability to work e.g. a change in their physical/mental condition, loss of confidence in their ability to maintain the job, travel and carer issues. Advisers will provideappropriate support and advice by telephone, email, through the Ascent site or in person.

Additional information Childcare and carers support will be provided to customers to enable full participation ACAs will work with family members/mentors if appropriate. For example, an IB

customer may feel more comfortable in attending an intervention with the support of afamily member or mentor.

Customers who experience a break in their employment will return to their ACA and be re-assessed. Where possible the customer will receive immediate support from their ESTA.If the customer has regressed on their Ascent Tracker due to the break in employment,the ACA may postpone ESTA engagement until the customer is again ready to enter employment.

[4.1a] Customer Journey - Rationale

Please describe in detail:

• your rationale for your proposed Customer Journey(s) detailed abovein 4.1 within this CPA; and



• the benefits to the individual customer groups of this approach.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to four sides of A4.



4.1aRationale for our proposed Customer JourneysProspects has developed its proposed end to end customer journey based on extensiveinvestigation and evaluation of what works for the eight customer groups, and importantly,what doesn’t. We have spoken at length to welfare to work service users, providers

(including our proposed supply chain), employers and stakeholders including localauthorities, third sector and faith groups, NHS providers and CBT practitioners.

Traditionally, employment programmes work through a Red, Amber, Green system, withcustomers who are more able receiving the most assistance, while those who are lessable left with little chance of finding employment. With the ability to assist customers for longer and in more innovative ways than before, The Ascent Programme enablescustomers to tackle barriers and address individual need. Customers will benefit frominterventions and support which match their individual circumstance (Annex 1.2 customer journey and 1.3 assessment). The further away from the labour market a customer groupis deemed to be, the more interventions and assessments will be undertaken.

Our model concentrates resource in the pre-employment support period becauseexperience from Prospects’ delivery and its subcontractors has shown that wherecustomers are pushed into taking jobs too early, the majority leave their job and return tobenefits within the first 13 weeks. In a survey of 500 New Deal customers by Prospects,67% of customers felt they were made to job search too early and that problemspreventing them from working were not dealt with fully. To address this, our customer journey ensures that individuals are at an appropriate point in their journey prior to beingreferred to the Employment Support Team to search for work.

The estimated average timeline for each customer group in our model is differentaccording to their distance from employment. Prospects holistic approach will helpcustomers achieve sustainable employment because every aspect of a customer’s lifeincluding location and access to transport, experience of generational unemployment,health issues, caring responsibilities, disabilities, work experience, qualifications/skills andmotivation and confidence will be assessed and addressed.

Prospects will ensure all customers undertake a minimum of one activity per week(building on frequency/length during their engagement on programme) to help themprepare for the structure of a working day.

Rationale for including some of our innovative activities are explained as follows:Ascent workshops: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) based workshops whichaddress the 6 core Ascent areas (Annex 1.3). Rationale: Use of CBT has been proven toprovide "jump start" results with up to 46% of people making significant progress within just 12 weeks of undertaking a CBT session.

Heroes to Inspire: Ex-service people will provide motivational workshops and mentoring.Rationale: Prospects recently recruited an ex-naval chief to work with Gateway to Work(GTW) customers As a result job entries for GTW doubled over a 6 month period, 87% of customers citing the ex-naval chief adviser as being the major contributing factor tofeeling more motivated to find work.

Reality Camps: Provision of ‘outward bound’ style 5 day course away from thecustomer’s home area. Rationale: Feedback from customer motivational away daysstated: 92% of customers had gained new skills, 79% had made new contacts that could



help them to find a job, 96% felt better about themselves and 88% felt more motivated tofind work.

Ascent Skills Enhancement Projects: Community/social enterprise projects will enablecustomers to increase their skills and gain valuable references - mandated activity for some customer groups. Rationale: 82% of customers (recent Prospects’ survey) stated

that they believed ‘real work’ would help them to find a job. 78% of employers surveyedstated that recent experience in the work place was a contributing factor in selection.

Employer Solutions Team Adviser (ESTA) - Intelligent Job Search: All job searchactivities will take place 1:1, with the ESTA undertaking applications on behalf of thecustomer. Rationale: 63% of customers surveyed felt that job search in a group wasdistracting and did not improve their chance of securing interviews. 97% said they wouldhave been more successful if they had undertaken 1:1 job search only.

Multimedia support via The Listening Company (TLC): Multi-media support will beaccessible for all customers via their online Ascent Progress tracker and a helpline

available Monday to Friday 08.00- 23.00. Rationale: 53% of customers stated they oftenwanted to speak to an adviser outside office hours. 26% of customers said they oftenfound it easier to discuss difficult issues on the telephone or by email. A research projectcalled “Do helplines work?” found that “Many service users spoke about their relief of being able to talk about things ….. as well as obtain advice, particularly out of hours”

• The benefits to the individual customer groups of this approachProspects’ customer journey is highly flexible enabling customers’ varying needs to beaddressed. This means that individual customer groups will benefit from support tailoredto their requirements. The Ascent Programme has been developed to tackle six coreareas which our experience indicates need to be addressed to change behaviours, tackleissues and achieve sustainable employment (see 4.1 & Annex 1.3). Many customersshare common barriers to employment, for example: low confidence, low self-esteem, lowsense of self-worth, low motivation levels, poor personal presentation, out-dated skills,poor job search abilities/lack of job search tools, no/little/fragmented work experience andfear or losing their benefits and returning to work. Every Ascent Intervention benefits thecustomer by tackling at least one of the above issues as demonstrated below:

A s c e n t W o r k s h o p s

H e r o

e s t o I n s p i r e

R e a l i t y C a m p s

L i f e C h e c k s

A s p i r a t i o n ( C & R )

M o t i v a t i o n

a l S p e a k e r s

A c h i e v e m

e n t P r o j e c t s

W e l l B

e i n g G r o u p s

C o m e D

i n e W i t h M e

A s c e n t E m p

l o y a b i l i t y K i t

R e l o c a t i o n

, R e l o c a t i o n

A s c e n t O n l i n e T r a c k e r

S k i l l s E n h a n c e m

e n t P r o j e c t s

A s c e n t S p o r t s T e a m s

C o m m u

n i t y P r o j e c t s

I n t e l l i g e n t J o b S e a r c h

S p e c i a l i s t S u p p o r t

All Customers (potential needs and barriers)Low motivationlevels

Low self confidence

Lack of recent

transferablework skills /references

Personalpresentation



issues

Low self-worth

Lack of workethic

Fear of returning towork

and losingbenefits

Lack of jobsearch tools

Lack of jobsearch skills

Low levelfunctional skills

We have highlighted below the Ascent Programme’s examples of benefits for customer groups by benefit type and addressed specific needs:

Customers claiming job seekers allowance

We are aware that the range of customer groups claiming job seekers allowance is highlydiverse. We have compared their similar needs and how they will benefit from the Ascentcustomer journey above. To ensure that our programme benefits all customer groups wehave engaged end to end partners and specialist to implement Ascent and providespecific support. For example, a key characteristic of the JSA 18-24 group (research fromCTF in Devon and Cornwall 2010/11) is that many have chaotic lifestyles - 40% fromsingle parent backgrounds; approximately 20% from 2nd and 3rd generation unemployedfamilies; almost 30% have a criminal record; many use recreational drugs. We haveengaged partners including Barnardo’s to support young people who have left care, havemental and physical health issues/disabilities and require additional support to access andmaintain employment. Their track record is good - 80% achieve independent employment.

JSA 25+ - key characteristics include significant periods of unemployment and reliance onbenefits so many are fearful of living independently and sourcing work. Prospects will useHeroes to Inspire, Ascent Workshops, Life Checks, Aspiration and motivational speakersto raise confidence levels and demonstrate a more productive lifestyle off benefits.Specialist providers will demonstrate budgeting techniques, better off in work calculationsand the Ascent Cohort Adviser will promote in-work benefits. Many 50+ customers (84%)believe that they are victims of age discrimination– we have engaged partners withextensive experience of working with this group e.g. Tomorrow’s People who deliver Working Communities in Bristol focusing on older people.

Tomorrow’s People also has specific experience with ex-offenders and people with mentaland physical health issues/disabilities, lone parents/disadvantaged parents and will workacross many of the customer groups including JSA Early Access which will includessome of the hardest to help customers e.g. offending, housing, debt, functional skills andmental health. Early Access includes young people with significant barriers and NEETs(not in employment, education or training). Prospects has engaged specialist partnerssuch as Fifteen Cornwall who train disadvantaged NEETS (long term workless, mentalhealth and learning difficulties, homeless, BAME groups in particular) to become chefs.Our partner, the Prince’s Trust helps young offenders back into employment, education or training (EET) dealing with the most disadvantaged. In 2009/10 they supported 3,000+

disadvantage young people in the South West; 80% moved into EET.

JSA Ex IB – many ex-IB people will have been unemployed for a significant period of timeand may resent having to look for work, feeling the decision to move them to JSA was



unfair. Our model will enable us to address their attitude using CBT trained advisers andAscent Workshops. Partners engaged to work with ESA/IB customers include St Loye’sFoundation who focus on helping people with disabilities and health conditions. Over thepast 4 years 49% of the people they helped found work and over 50% sustained their jobduring this period. The Ascent journey provides the flexibility to work with specialistpartners; customers will benefit from excellent support network including Access to Work,

CAB, MIND, Workways and DEAs.

Employment Support Allowance customersProspects’ model enables us to meet the very varied needs of the ESA groups byproviding Ascent interventions to match their specific requirements. We have plannedlonger periods of time in which to support them; we expect to work with the averagecustomer for 52 weeks before they get into work. ESA customer groups will benefit fromadditional assistance from the Employer Support Team who will be working withemployers to provide opportunities in their local area so that any disabilities or healthconditions the customer has can be managed effectively in work. This will include jobcarving, slivers of time and in-work support. We will work closely with the Access to Work

teams and ensure that customers are clear about any additional in-work benefits they canaccess to make work sustainable.

We have designed the Ascent Programme so that this group of people, some of whomare likely to have very severe disabilities either cognitive, mental or physical, will have theconfidence to commit to their customer journey. We have selected partners (See StLoye’s above) who have experience of working with people with disabilities and long termill health and we recognise, for example, that ESA Volunteers are unlikely to be ready for the labour market immediately. They will need specialist support provided by our range of partners in addition to working with the Ascent Cohort Adviser who will recommend themost suitable interventions in keeping with the customer’s individual limitations, yetfocusing on what the customer can achieve. Voluntary ESA Flow customers are likely tobe in a similar position. Abilities Ltd, a key partner, specialises in helping people withdisabilities and long term health issues return to work. Partners, including PLUSSspecialising in mental health, physical disabilities, learning difficulties, 50+ and offenderswill support our customer journey across a range of groups including the ESF IB/ISgroup. The IB volunteers will have similar requirements to ESA volunteers and thereforethe Ascent Programme will benefit them by providing a flexible journey which will adapt totheir requirements.

A high percentage of customers claiming IS are likely to be lone parents or people with

caring responsibilities. Many will have been unemployed for a considerable period and willneed advice and support across a range of indices e.g. updating skills, increasingconfidence, knowledge of the labour market and understanding in-work benefits. Our programme will provide them with the varied support they require and Ascent Workshopswill help them breakdown negative patterns of thought regarding their abilities and thework option. Prospects understands that a major concern for lone parents and carers ishow to fit care responsibilities around work. ESTA’s will work with the customer to decideavailability for work sourcing flexible employment opportunities to accommodate thesespecific time periods. In-work support continuing up to a year and a half after they enter work will provide them with additional confidence to stay in work.



[4.1b] Service Requirement

DWP expect all customers to receive a minimum level of service. Please clearly define:

• Your minimum service delivery levels for all customers within this CPA;

• Your rationale that supports your approach:

• How it addresses the needs by customer groups.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to two sides of A4.



4.1b In accordance with the specification, compliance with DWP standards and currentlaw (Equality Act 2010 in particular), expected customer volumes and indicative budget,we will provide the following to each customer as a minimum. We will also provide a copyof minimum service levels to each customer at their point of referral from the Jobcentre sothat they understand what to expect and when.

Specific service delivery levels90% of customers will undertake an initial assessment within 10 days of referral Rationale: To ensure that following referral by their Jobcentre, customers will benefit assoon as possible from joining the Work Programme maintaining momentum, enablingtheir initial assessment to be completed quickly and maximising time on programme. All customers will be provided with an appointment with their Ascent Cohort Adviser (ACA) within 5 days of their initial assessment and will undertake their first Ascent intervention within 5 days of their meeting Rationale: In order to maintain momentum, it is vital to begin the relationship between theACA and customer as quickly as possible, eliminating the possibility of losing the

customer between referral and start on programmeNo customer will be at a financial disadvantage from attending the Ascent Programme. All travel costs will be reimbursed, childcare funded and carer support supplied for all approved Work Programme activitiesRationale: Work Programme customers will have little disposable income and will needadditional support to attend. Programmes that provide entire cost refunds have a 40%higher retention rate than those that do not. All customers will have access to the Ascent Employability Kit and will receive a minimumof one item for example a haircut, personal hygiene kit, alarm clock, work or interview clothing Rati onale: Prospects currently provide a discretionary fund on the CTF programme of £15.00 per customer. Job Entry rates for this programme are at 45%, which is double thatof contracts where assistance is not available for personal items. All customers will have their own secure log-on for their Ascent Online Progress Tracker Rationale: All customers will have a unique ID which enables them to access their owninformation securely and can only be accessed by the customer, Prospects and TheListening Company to protect their data. All customers will be able to view their Personal Action Plan and Ascent Tracker onlineRationale: Distance travelled is a key motivator in maintaining progression. Customerswill be able to view their progress whenever they want and see how far they have movedtowards their goals. Of particular importance in large rural areas is the opportunity to link

with advisers and other support easily. The Ascent Tracker will be a personal portal to tipsand hints on job search, job vacancies, adviser links and live web chat. All customers will be reminded of their Ascent appointments and interventions by phoneand/or text following the appointment letter Rationale: Reminding customers of their appointments increases attendance rates –comparison across a CTF contract found that attendance was 30% better after reminders. All customers will be able to contact an Ascent Adviser between 8am and 11pm Monday to Friday Rationale: Provides extensive opportunity for customers to follow up any concerns raisedat interventions or during their job search. The extended contract time enables employedWork Programme customers to talk to an adviser outside office/core working hours.

All customers will have an assigned Ascent Cohort Adviser Rationale: Customer builds trusting relationship with the adviser and communication linksare easier. Retention and job outcome rates for programmes with assigned advisors are35% higher.



All customers will receive 1:1 contact with their Ascent Cohort Adviser once every twoweeks as a minimumRationale: The adviser will work closely with the customer assessing progression andproviding the driving force towards sustained employment helping the customer adapttheir customer journey/action plan to keep them moving forward. All customers will undertake at least one activity per week on the Ascent Programme

Rationale: Customers who engage less than once a week are less likely to remainengaged with the programme and less likely to gain employment. All Ascent Cohort Adviser 1:1 contact will take place within 30 minutes travel of thecustomer’s homeRationale: Prospects has identified that customers who travel shorter distances are morelikely to remain engaged than those who have to travel over 30 minutes. In Devon andCornwall retention rates for customers within 30 minutes of a delivery centre were 36%higher than those who had to travel further (Community Task Force 2010).On progressing to employment all customers will benefit from weekly contact until week 24 followed by fortnightly contact until week 26, followed by a minimum bi-monthly contact until sustainability has been achieved. All customers will have continued access to

Ascent Workshops following entry into employment for a minimum period of 12 monthsRationale: Many customers experience a difficult transition period when they first findwork. All customers will receive continued in-employment support to ensure sustainment.The Ascent Workshops are motivational and confidence building and will continue tosupport them until they are settled.

How our minimum service delivery levels address the needs of the customer groupsProspects’ minimum service delivery levels focus on ensuring that all customer groupshave equal opportunity to access the Ascent Programme. We have taken intoconsideration customers who may have specific barriers, such as physical disabilities,which could make travel on public transport difficult. We are therefore committed toensuring that no-one has to travel further than 30 minutes for contact with their ACA, andto paying travel costs.

A key consideration for all the groups we will work with is to maintain their involvement.We are therefore committed to making sure we complete our initial assessment within 10days of their referral from JCP, followed up by their first 1:1 with their assigned AscentCohort Adviser within 5 days of their assessment. We are aware that some of the ESA/IBand Early Access groups in particular, may need more support than others to participate.Our minimum service level will ensure that all customers, even the most reluctant, will be

followed up assiduously. We will use these service delivery levels to monitor our supplychain including specialists.

A key barrier to the ESF IS group will be the cost of care. By promising to providefacilities/funding for this we will ensure that lone parents and carers can access theAscent Programme fully. Provision of additional support costs, particularly for people withdisabilities/health issues will also help customers attend.

The provision of an online site giving 24 hour access to a customer’s personal action planand progress together with a helpline available from 8am to 11pm Monday to Fridaybenefits all customers, but in particular people who have limited mobility (ESA/IB), caring

responsibilities which keep them at home (IS and JSA groups) or anyone living in aremote area with poor transport links.



PART 5: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

[5.1] Delivery Strategy

Please describe in detail your delivery structure for all elements of the Work Programmeprovision across this CPA and explain why you consider your delivery strategy to be thebest approach for customers in this CPA. You should clearly state how you intend to workwith your sub-contractors and how you will ensure the needs of all your customers,including the hardest to help, are fully addressed from within your supply chain includingvoluntary sector organisations where appropriate.Please also complete:

• Annex 2 to show the structure to be put in place within the supply chain todeliver the Work Programme provision in terms of overall percentage of delivery, specialism and geographical coverage; and

•

Annex 3 (Sub-contractor Declaration) for your proposed sub-contractors asappropriate.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to three sides of A4.



5.1 Overarching Strategy: Our delivery structure to deliver the Ascent model includeskey strategic partners, end to end subcontractors responsible for the core customer journey for up to 104 weeks plus in-work support for all customer groups and specialistpartners. Annex 2 does not include local stakeholders and programme partners fromthe voluntary and community sector and statutory services who will support customer’s

journeys and be a key part of our delivery structure.

Strategic Partners Rationale: The Listening Company (TLC) will (alongside other services) provide freephone support for customers from a trained Advisor(s) between8am-11pm Mon-Fri including in-work support as well as providing online access. Napier University research suggests that telephone helplines are particularly popular with jobseekers in rural areas. TLC’s service will help overcome transport barriers to physical job-seeking support in CPA11 as well as increasing the accessibility to key disadvantagedcustomers including lone parents, carers and those with disabilities. Ufi will providelicensed flexible access to online, employment focused accredited and non-accreditedlearning to join up skills acquisition with the customer journey. Our partnership with Ufi

recognises that physical access to post 16 skills provision in the south west has beenhighlighted as a key barrier in the South West England Skills Priorities Statement 11/12.

Our delivery structure at a local level brings together a coalition of organisations from theprivate, public and voluntary sector who have a proven track record of supportingdisadvantaged and hard to help customers into sustained employment locally and arestrongly embedded within their local communities.

Somerset Rationale: Key localised challenges include flexible delivery for ruralcustomers, pockets of deprivation in West Somerset and the main towns and meeting theneeds of the relatively high number of micro employers. Prospects will directly deliver tocustomers across all eight customer groups through bases in key hubs, complemented byoutreach. Prospects has a strong track record of working with the long term workless inSomerset, including multiple disadvantaged and disabled customers supporting onaverage 550 long term workless customers into employment per annum in Somersetthrough New Deal (prime contract) and Work Choice and DWP ESF subcontracts (aimedat the hardest to help customers and those with health conditions and disabilities onIB/ISA). Currently 44% of Prospects’ DWP ESF customers are progressed to employmenton shorter programmes than the Work Programme. Prospects delivery to the IB/IS groupacross Somerset will build on our delivery of an ESF programme, 4Wards Into Work,aimed at customers with mental health and musculoskeletal difficulties across Somerset

which engaged with 300 customers and progressed 260 people (86%) into employment or a positive outcome.

Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole (BDP) Rationale: Key localised challenges in Dorsetinclude rurality, pockets of deprivation in Boscombe and Melcombe Regis and higher thanaverage lone parent numbers in East Dorset. Abilities, a third sector, locally baseduser/disability led organisation with advocacy at their core, will deliver in Weymouth andWest Dorset as well as providing outreach capability. Abilities have delivered exceptionalemployment outcome performance on their New Deal subcontract in BDP with between37 and 49% of customers progressing to employment in 09/10. Bournemouth and Poole(B&P) College will offer coverage across Bournemouth and Poole urban areas and

suburbs. B&P College have a strong track record in the sub region with 46% of customerson their current New Deal prime contract progressing to employment. Additionally thecollege will also bring extensive supporting pre and post-employment training fundedthrough SFA mainstream funds across the sub and wider region. Prospects will also



deliver, principally in Bournemouth and Poole, and has a strong delivery track recordlocally. For instance on our former Programme Centres contract in Dorset 45% of customers, through relatively short interventions, progressed to employment. Prospectsexperience of delivering to IB and IS claimants will build on two local ESF funded projects.Melcombe Regis (Deprived Area Fund) engaged with 100 customers and progressed 55customers into either employment or training. Parents into Work engaged with 376

customers and progressed 51% into a positive outcome.

Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Rationale: This area has the challenge of urban and ruralcustomer bases, lone parent claimants are significant in Plymouth and Torbay and a highproportion of 50 plus customers in some areas. Westward Pathfinder (WP), a charity, witha strong track record of delivering employment and skills related provision through anetwork of pathfinder outreach locations and links with community based organisationsacross rural areas will deliver in Exeter and Torbay and North Devon. Through offender contracts WP have considerable expertise of working with this key target group in Devon.In Plymouth/Devonport Groundwork South West and Tomorrow’s People, successful thirdsector organisations with strong community links, will share delivery; both have

experience of helping the hardest help groups, including those with disabilities, andsuccessfully using social enterprise, community and environmental based initiatives tosupport people into sustained employment. Tomorrow’s People currently deliver Pathways to Work in Plymouth (subcontracted) and localised programmes such asGetting Devonport Working (achieved 38% of starts into employment) and Workroute inNorth Prospect (achieved 32% of starts into employment in the latest operational year).Groundwork South West has created 776 employment opportunities for long termunemployed young people through their Future Jobs Fund work in the CPA in the 6months between October 09-March 10. Prospects will invest in new locations by contractrollout to directly deliver across rural South, East and Mid Devon. This will provide closer support for the supply chain in this sub region where we anticipate the largest flow of customers; build closer links with programme and strategic partners and a further base for managing across the geographically dispersed Devon and Cornwall area.

Cornwall & Scilly Isles Rationale: Our delivery strategy here is for grassroots,community based provision to meet the considerable challenge of rurality and localisedhotspots of worklessness. Access Training is experienced at delivering peripatetic supportto disadvantaged workless customers, as well as providing mental health support andmentoring. Mental health has been identified as particularly significant factor inworklessness in Cornwall. Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change (CN4C) is a communitybased charity and social enterprise with a peripatetic model of employment related

delivery and will deliver across Bodmin, Bude, Launceston, Liskeard, Penryn/Falmouthand Penzance. CN4C’s vision is to create vibrant and thriving local communities. Over thelast eight years they have helped 1,500 individuals into employment, 120 individuals to setup their own business and worked with 102 grassroots community groups. On CornwallWorks Plus (ESF co-financed) aimed at unemployed customers, CN4C has supported60% of customers into employment. Groundwork South West will also deliver in Cornwallfrom Truro. Groundwork will also be able to support delivery through their outreach ‘workclubs’ delivered via a mobile classroom facility in local communities.

Meeting the needs of the hardest to help and specialist need: Our end to end deliveryproviders will be supported through a network of specialist support providers. Devon,

Dorset and Somerset have a higher number of ex-offenders and we have commissionedDorset Probation Trust, Avon and Somerset Probation Trust and Westward Pathfinder (the latter through their mainstream provision) to deliver additional support to thiscustomer group. We have also commissioned support for end to end providers across the



CPA to support customers with severe mental and physical disabilities through thirdsector organisations Pluss and St Loye’s who have proven local track record. Shelter willprovide homelessness advice and support to customers. Close working is alreadyembedded with specialist drug and alcohol agencies including Turning Point. 18-24unemployment has been growing (alongside NEET levels in some areas) so to reflectcustomer need we have included the Prince’s Trust and Barnardo’s who deliver evidence

based interventions that help young people into sustained employment. The south westhas the highest proportion of self-employment in England (particularly in rural areas). Wehave commissioned Gloucestershire Enterprise Ltd (GE), who currently support 250business start-ups per year, to deliver self-employment support across the CPA.Specialist partner Meridian Business Support, operating recruitment solutions across theCPA, will offer an additional dimension to provider Employer Solutions Teams and havehelped source 650 jobs across the south west in the last year. Triangle Fusion run theApprenticeship Training Agency across the south west and will increase access toemployed apprenticeship opportunities for our customers. Our supply chain will also beable to directly deliver pre and in-work training through SFA mainstream contracts,integrating the employment and skills journey for customers.

Capitalising on the strengths of voluntary and community activity:Community projects and the strength of voluntary and neighbourhood organisations inhelping the long term workless back to employment also feature strongly in our deliverystructure. The value of these has been shown on our CTF prime contract in Devon andCornwall – where third sector organisations such as ReZolve Kernow, CornwallFoundation of Promise, Groundwork South West, Volunteer Cornwall have pioneeredcommunity work-like activity/social enterprise creation delivering high levels of customer satisfaction (95%) and importantly helping 45% of customers into employment in the openmarket.

Programme Partners: Key programme partners will include transport accessibilityschemes such as Devon Wheels2Work; Cornwall Wheels to Work and Learning;Somerset Moped Scheme and Slipstream in Dorset. Prospects and our partners haveembedded relations with local community and statutory services such as mental healthservices, Drugs and Alcohol Action Teams, housing, Childcare/Sure Start centres andcommunity organisations. Alignment of these services with Work Programme delivery willbe a key to the successful delivery of the Ascent Programme.

Working with subcontractors and evolving the delivery structureProspects’ approach to working with subcontractors will embed Merlin principles including

transparency, clear performance expectations and open dialogue. All partners will have anominated supply chain manager. Whilst providers will be trained and expected to deliver to the Ascent delivery model and achieve specified service levels and job outcome andsustainment levels, we will encourage providers to innovate and tailor their delivery to thelocal needs that they understand best. Underpinning our working relationship withpartners will be a commitment to sharing good practice which Prospects will facilitatethrough quarterly good practice events. We also recognise that the overall supply chainwill need to evolve and strengthen over time and that our partners will be key tosupporting this. For instance, on taking over the CTF contract in Devon and Cornwall inJanuary 2010, a new area for Prospects, through regular open dialogue and intelligencesharing with end to end delivery partners, we have been able to identify new customer

needs and quickly bring on new programme partners.

[5.2] Management Structure



Please provide:

a description of the proposed management structure and how the requiredmanagement skills and expertise, including working with local stakeholders, havebeen identified and will be delivered. You should also include a description of associated responsibilities and reporting lines ;

a description of how you will work with the management teams of any supply chainorganisations and key delivery partners; and

explain why your management structure is appropriate for the Work Programmewithin this CPA;

Please include an organisation chart (attach as Annex 4) showing the proposed managementstructure for the Work Programme for this CPA.


Note: Format requirement and page limit does not apply to the organisation chart(s)which you must insert as Annex 4.



5.2 Management StructureAnnex 4 page 1 shows that Prospects’ Employment and Training Senior Director will haveoverall operational and financial responsibility for Prospects Work Programme delivery inCPA11, 12 and 4, reporting to Prospects Board. This will include oversight of thecommercial contracts with our three strategic partners, TLC and Ufi who are supporting

our delivery across all CPAs. Page 2 of Annex 4 shows our locally based senior operational management structure which we propose for CPA11, with four Prospects fulltime Operations Managers (OMs) reporting to a full time Operations Director (OD). TheOD role has overall responsibility for the implementation and programme delivery inCPA11 over the life of the contract, as well as stakeholder reporting and management andwill be central to embedding and engaging Prospects and our partners with regional andsub -regional partnerships and local large-scale employment opportunities. The OD hasan in-depth understanding of the strategic context in the south west, good presentationaland networking skills and track record of successfully delivering benefits to localcustomers.

Management Structure RationaleThe Operations Director is an existing Prospects staff member with over 10 years’successful welfare to work director-level operational experience in the south west.Supporting the OD will be existing Prospects corporate managers and their supportteams. This will include a Company Development Manager (existing staff member)reporting to the OD during the implementation stage of the contract who will co-ordinatethe activity of corporate managers. Corporate managers covering functional disciplinesincluding quality, information security, health and safety, procurement, finance,information technology, HR, facilities management and legal services have alreadysupported the implementation of contracts valued at over £25m per annum over the lastsix months. They will provide support to the contract throughout its lifetime.

Reporting to the OD the Operations Manager Supply Chain (SC) will manage a team of two Supply Chain Managers (SCMs) (page 4 Annex 4) based in and covering Cornwalland Devon; and Dorset and Somerset including Bournemouth and Poole. Thismanagement team will contract /account manage all delivery in their geographical areaincluding Prospects’ own delivery using forensic monitoring of MI from the Ascent MIsystem; monthly contract reviews and action planning; and where necessary notifying theOperations Manager Performance of the need to enact notices to improve. Supply ChainManagers will be the first point of contact with partners’ management teams and will alsomanage localised relationships with Jobcentre Plus. Whilst these are new posts we feel

that there is a strong chance that existing, experienced welfare to work managers/TeamLeaders both internal to Prospects in the south west or TUPE transfers will, with further Prospects training, be well suited to these roles.

The Operations Manager – Performance (page 5 Annex 4) will oversee operational andfinancial performance across CPA11, ensuring that targets are being met and initiatingnotice to improve action where required – this is a vacant post requiring a broadexperience of performance management, not necessarily in the welfare to work sector.The OM-Performance will manage a Finance Manager; Ascent Cohort Managers basedacross Dorset, Somerset and Devon, overseeing Prospects Ascent Cohort Team Leadersand Prospects Cohort Advisers responsible for ensuring customers get into and remain in

employment. These posts are existing posts filled by experienced Prospects welfare towork managers with strong knowledge of local provision and operational delivery. The OM – Performance will also oversee the work of the Employer Solutions Team Manager overseeing Prospects’ employer engagement and vacancy sourcing and in-work support



for customers – the current staff member holding this post has 20+ years of recruitmentexperience including working with welfare to work customers. The OM – Performance willalso manage the Engagement Team Manager and Advisers who will encouragecustomers to join the Work Programme who do not respond to the initial engagement callfrom The Learning Company; this will ensure that the maximum number of customersstart after being referred.

The Operations Manager – Delivery (page 6 Annex 4) is a current Prospects employeewith over 20 years of welfare to work management experience in the south west of England who will oversee Prospects’ direct delivery in Somerset, Dorset and Devon,managing Ascent Delivery Managers and Team Leaders based in Somerset, Dorset andDevon. These management posts are filled by Prospects staff managing welfare to workprovision in the south west. The OM-Delivery will also line manage the Innovation andMultimedia Team Leader (new post) responsible for formal communication with partners,stakeholders and customers across the CPA via the innovative use of multimediathroughout the Ascent programme.The Operations Manager – Business Support (page 7 Annex 4) is an experienced

welfare to work manager in Prospects’ south west team who will oversee the local supportfunction across the CPA. The PRaP Manager will manage the PRaP Co-ordinators; twoQuality Managers who will drive quality improvements to the customer journey across thesupply chain of which one (vacant) will oversee staff observations and one (vacant) will beresponsible for other quality auditing. Facilities and Health and Safety Co-ordinators willalso report to the QM – Audit & Compliance. The Observations and Evaluation Co-ordinator will report to the Quality Manager – Observations and Evaluation. The Trainingand Development Manager (vacant post) will report to the OM-Business Support . Thelatter will be a new staff role requiring extensive experience of training and formalqualifications delivery as well as an understanding of welfare to work.Management Structure RationaleCPA11 presents a number of management challenges – geographical size and scale;working with five unitary authorities (including the Isles of Scilly); four county councils;twenty local authorities; which is overlain by changing spatial configurations facilitatedthrough the LEP process and very different localised issues faced by areas which are inclose proximity to each other. We believe our management structure helps meet thischallenge through: Locally based, well known staff with successful experience of managing and delivering

welfare to work provision in CPA11 including New Deal (Somerset), Community TaskForce (Devon and Cornwall), ESF Co-Financed Provision (Somerset and Dorset),Work Choice (Dorset) and JCP Support Contract (Somerset and Dorset), which gives

them an understanding of the challenges and successful management strategies inthe region. This localised knowledge will also apply to our partner’s local managers,all of whom have existing experience of successfully delivering welfare to workprogrammes in their locale

The close monitoring of suppliers performance through two Supply Chain Managersand an Operations Manager Supply Chain across Devon; Cornwall; Somerset andDorset recognises how the large geographical spread requires sub regionalmanagement rather than a pan regional approach. This approach will also facilitatebetter working relations and more frequent contact with partners; enable supply chainmanagers to ‘really know’ their patch and partners and foster clear lines of communication. Our contract management approach has been particularly effective on

Prospects’ CTF programme in Devon and Cornwall which was our first contract in theDevon and Cornwall sub-region

The separation of the performance, delivery and business support management isinformed by current good practice on our welfare to work provision. The rationale for



this split for the Work Programme is that high levels of performance and financialmonitoring will require forensic monitoring and intervention from Ascent CohortManagers and Team Leaders. This monitoring, if incorporated into delivery or supportfunctions may dilute their key purposes of practical day to day delivery managementand the quality of the customer experience

The success of the Work Programme in CPA11 will be underpinned by the ability to

integrate the Work Programme with key partnerships as well as alignment withchanging regional structures e.g. LEPs. The OD will ensure that we are well placed toembed Prospects and our partners into regional and sub regional partnerships such asCornwall Works and Employment and Skills Boards at a strategic level, and alsopractical working at a ground level to maximise the benefits from regeneration or large-scale employment projects such as the nuclear build programme in Bridgwater, or lowcarbon initiatives e.g. wind farm build in Cornwall to ensure our customers benefit fromthese as much as possible. The OD will work with local Supply Chain Managers andsubcontractors’ managers to strategically oversee the better local alignment of services for customers such as health and wellbeing, skills and transport, improvingoutcomes for all our customers and local communities. This community improvement

focus and the benefits this can bring to customers is also reflected in our Supply ChainManager posts who will work to develop this approach in Somerset and Dorset,learning from the important work of partner organisations such as Groundwork inDevon and Cornwall.

Working with partner’s management teamsSupply chain partners: Central to our partnership approach with managers of supplychain partners will be open and transparent account management and clear,unambiguous performance expectations. Local managers of end to end delivery partnersand specialist partners will have one point of contact through their named Supply ChainManager who will have monthly contract review meetings/action planning with them,initiating with the Operations Managers – Performance notice to improve processes if required. Prospects OD for CPA11 will be the first point of contact for complaints/issueswith local supply chain partners which cannot be resolved with their Supply ChainManager as well as being the direct contact with partner’s senior management, who insome cases will be based outside of the CPA11 region. Prospects corporate managerswill also work with the relevant staff member from partner’s functional teams (e.g.Personnel Manager or local manager), facilitated by the OD or Supply Chain Manager.The business support operational management team will regularly undertake monitoringand quality checking and deliver training and development across all supply chainpartners.Key delivery partners: Relationships with Jobcentre Plus District Managers and Third

Party Provision Managers will be sub-regionally managed by the relevant Supply ChainManager, although our partners’ managers and staff as well as local Prospects managerswill have local office-based relations with JCP staff as appropriate. Strategic relationshipswith partners such as local authorities and strategic bodies will managed by the ODCPA11 who, depending on their seniority, will be supported by the Operations Manager-Supply Chain and sub-regional supply chain managers. The OD will have overallresponsibility for strategic relationships, including reporting on performance to strategicbodies either through existing structures such as employment and skills boards (whichsome sub-regional stakeholders have suggested) or other partnerships. We will expect alllocal managers across the supply chain to actively co-operate with the Prospects strategicengagement approach to better align statutory and community services across the CPA

with our Work Programme delivery.

[5.3] Management of Delivery



Please clearly describe:

• How you and your supply chain will manage and monitor the quality of delivery of the Work Programme to ensure that the whole provision within thisCPA is of a consistently high standard and meets your minimum service levels;

• Your approach to performance improvement activities for your supplychain as a whole, outlining how you and your supply chain will act on thefindings of any monitoring activity including the resolution of issues from withinyour own supply chain, partners or other bodies.




5.3 Managing and monitoringProspects Ascent Management Information System, a secure online portal, has beendesigned specifically for our Work Programme model of delivery by our key strategicpartner, The Listening Company (TLC). It will be central to monitoring and ensuringconsistently high standards of delivery and the achievement of minimum service levels

across the supply chain. Delivery and administrative staff (depending on their securityaccess rights) will record each customer’s contacts, interventions and action plan reviewsduring their personalised journey to sustained employment. The Ascent MI system willalert Prospects and supply chain partners’ staff and management when individualcustomers have actions outstanding or fall behind their programme milestones. TheAscent MI system will enable live monitoring of progress at customer and aggregatecustomer level against our 13 minimum service level indicators and job entry, andoutcome and sustainment contractual targets throughout our delivery.

Our CPA11 management and performance review structure will enable a keen focus onquality and performance. End to end delivery partners and specialist partners will have

clearly defined, measurable contracted volumes and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)combining performance (job entry, job outcome, sustainment by customer group) andminimum service level indicators ( specified in 4.1b); key qualitative indicators andmeasures, and a financial payment profile. Prospects’ direct delivery and partners’ directdelivery will be reviewed against KPIs at monthly contract review meetings with their Supply Chain Manager (SCM) who will account manage partners by sub regionalgeography (Cornwall and Devon and Somerset and Dorset including Bournemouth andPoole). Partners delivering across more than one sub-region will be managed by theOperations Manager – Supply Chain. Contract review meetings will be informed byforensic, detailed performance data supplied by our Performance Management team andqualitative information provided by our Business Support functions including qualitymonitoring and customer feedback analysis. Our Performance Management function willprovide daily, detailed forensic monitoring of the performance of Prospects and our partners, making full use of the Ascent MI system, and enabling early intervention to avoidperformance slippage. For Prospects’ delivery in Somerset, Dorset and Devon AscentCohort Managers/Team Leaders will, using the MI system, pro-actively identify customersbehind their programme interventions/milestones and work with the responsible AscentAdviser to help the customer back on track.

Where contract review meetings identify under-performance against minimum servicelevels, outcome targets or quality measures, a timebound action plan (reviewed at

subsequent contract review meetings) will be agreed between the responsible SCM andpartner. The plan will identify areas for improvement and agreed actions (with appropriateProspects support e.g. training), with timelines for monitoring and review. Action plans willbe copied to the Operations Manager-Performance and the Operations Manager -Business Support who will log this on the quality improvement matrix. In circumstances of repeated under-performance against outcome targets or minimum service levels, refusalto implement action plans or failure to comply with quality standards, a ‘notice to improve’will be issued by the Operations Manager – Performance and agreed by the CPA11Operations Director. Notices to improve will be the first step to the removal from thesupply chain of a partner (although in examples of gross misconduct Prospect will reservethe right of immediate dismissal) detailing the SMART improvements that must be

achieved and explaining that failure to achieve will lead to removal from the supply chain(this will also apply to Prospects’ own locations). Prospects has successfully managedsupply chains delivering employment provision in the south west for ten years and hasimplemented notice to improve processes leading to the removal of only one partner from



our delivery network. Our typical approach is to work with partners to improve their performance, offering them support through training/development which also helps toensure consistently high delivery standards. We will have a dedicated business supportmanagement team across CPA11 which will include Training and Development Manager.

The Operations Manager - Performance will cascade monthly data on individual partner’s

performance against outcome targets and minimum service levels to enable transparentcomparison of performance. Monthly data reports will also analyse performance outcomesand minimum service levels across all social groups. Action planning through the monthlycontract review process will identify measures to address under-performance. At threemonthly intervals throughout the contract, end to end delivery partners will have their delivery benchmarked by the Operations Manager – Business Support against a star rating. The star rating will benchmark partner’s performance (against service levels and job entry, outcome and sustainment targets) and quality (compliance audits; customer feedback; observations) to provide a transparent rating of each partner’s provision.

Quality monitoring implemented by our business support function will further standardise

delivery practice across the supply chain. This will include: Observation of all delivery staff by the Prospects Quality Manager (Observations)

or trained supply chain line managers at minimum six monthly intervals.Observations will use standardised paperwork and benchmarking against a tailoredversion of the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework. This will inform training anddevelopment undertaken by individual staff as well as the annual training anddevelopment plan developed by the Prospects Training and Development Manager

Common practices and policies including Data Protection, Information Security,Equality and Diversity, Health and Safety, Fraud and Whistleblowing and Staff Development across the supply chain – we recognise that some organisations inour supply chain have policies/ procedures which are equivalent to Prospects.Where these are not in place the OM – Business Support will work with suppliers inthe implementation stage to ensure these policies are in place

Internal audit checks undertaken six monthly by the Prospects Quality Manager (Audit and Compliance) which will: assess customer journeys and experienceswhile they are on the programme using focus groups; check paperwork for financialand security compliance and check the continued suitability of premises to providea professional location for customers which meets health and safety, DDAcompliance, legal and customer needs by type.

Performance ImprovementContinuous performance improvement will be driven by our strong supply chain account

management structure allied with the strong performance monitoring and qualitymonitoring processes which are outlined above. All our supply chain partners have strongperformance management, staff development and quality management systems whichhave been assessed through our open and competitive tendering process. We will notduplicate or replace these systems; rather it is our role to set in place the structures,systems and processes that build on these. Our approach to facilitating performanceimprovement across the supply chain will include:

An annual training plan for CPA11 which will be developed by the Training andDevelopment Manager informed by contract review feedback; skills audits of staff across the supply chain; feedback from staff observations and audits and needs

identified through customer and stakeholder feedback schedules (see below). Theannual training plan will typically include a mix of formal qualification based training(such as NVQs in IAG which Prospects is accredited to deliver); themed trainingsuch as observations; MI use; self-assessment; employer engagement and



working with disadvantaged customers. This approach has been particularlysuccessful on our Community Task Force (CTF) programme in Devon andCornwall, which had positive feedback from partners and continuously improvedperformance against contractual outcomes

Quarterly good practice sharing events arranged by SCMs – this has been aparticularly successful innovation on our current CTF contract in Devon and

Cornwall and led to elements of delivery such as job search techniques from our best performing partners being cascaded across the supply chain

Collection and analysis of customer, employer and stakeholder feedback. TheOperations Manager – Business Support will be responsible for implementing our approach which will include twice yearly questionnaires and canvassing of employers and stakeholders e.g. JCP; feedback; online customer focus groupsusing the Ascent MI system; quarterly customer satisfaction questionnaires (onlineand paper based) to customers and quarterly analysis of customer complaints.Customer feedback will be analysed and cascaded to partners’ managementteams quarterly and through the monthly contract review process with action plansagreed to address improvements within a specified period. This comprehensive

approach to soliciting customer, employer and stakeholder feedback has enabledProspects to identify areas for improvement across a range of our welfare to workprovision. For instance analysis of customer feedback from our New Deal basicskills programme in Somerset led to a change in the format of delivery improving job entry rates by 50% over the contract year.

Prospects OM – Business Support will oversee the annual self-assessment andimprovement cycle across the supply chain. Each partner will self-assess their provisionusing performance data, feedback from customers, stakeholders and employers, auditand staff observation outcomes. Self-assessment reports will be moderated by the OM –Business Support and each partner will draft a development plan setting SMARTimprovement targets and underpinning activity, agreed with their SCM to achieve clear performance improvements over the following year. Development Plans will be reviewedquarterly at contract review meetings. Prospects will have defined dispute resolution procedures in place set out in contractswith partners and published criteria for key stakeholders such as DWP, Jobcentre Plus,MPs or employers. Our dispute resolution procedures are based on the Office of Government Commerce’s ‘Dispute Resolution Guidance’ incorporating a pledge betweenProspects and all partners to abide by the commitment to resolve disputes appropriately.Partners (JCP and supply chain partners only) will initially be required to raise disputes

and concerns with their SCM. If this does not resolve the dispute then they should set outtheir concerns in writing to the Operations Director for CPA11 (other partners shoulddirectly address concerns/issues to the Operations Director). The Operations Director (or deputy) will investigate the issue within five working days and provide a written responseto the complainant. In instances where the response is not accepted by the complainant,the Operations Director will refer the matter to the Head of Prospects Performance QualityUnit (based at our Bromley Head Office) who will independently investigate the matter infull and report on the most appropriate form of action e.g. negotiation, mediation,conciliation, expert determination or worst case scenario litigation. The ProspectsOperations Director will also, upon initiating internal investigation, notify DWP and beresponsible for providing regular updates as requested to the relevant DWP Account

Manager.



[5.4] Delivery Locations

• Provide details of the key delivery locations and explain how you andyour supply chain will achieve full geographical coverage of provision for the

delivery of the Work Programme within this CPA; and

• Detail what you have taken into account in terms of the needs of thecustomer groups in determining this approach.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to four sides of A4.



5.4 Premises Location context/Delivery StrategyCPA11 is geographically one of the largest English Work Programme CPAs and ispredominantly rural. To inform our understanding of premises need we have mapped theanticipated flow of customers per annum through different locations to ensure theavailability of delivery sites to meet these needs, taking into account transport patterns

and availability. All premises conform to core standards e.g. availability of job-searchfacilities, interview rooms and training areas as well disability access (all facilities are DDAcompliant). Additional facilities are available at most venues for disabled customers andwhere further specialist support is required these can be accessed through our approvedspecialist partners - St Loye’s and Pluss. Prospects and subcontractors are existingproviders of welfare to work services in CPA11 with extensive experience of working withdisadvantaged customers including people with severe disabilities/health conditions andolder customer group. Premises have been adjusted/equipped accordingly and we havemade provision for customers (key for group 8) needing childcare or daycare facilities.

Poor public transport across CPA11 makes the location of delivery sites and availability of

outreach crucial to the success of the programme. All of our premises are in centrallocations and we have made sure that our delivery sites are located in close proximity tobus and (where possible) train routes. Centralised delivery sites will enable customers toaccess complementary services which may not be available locally e.g. childcare, collegetraining and specialist support. Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset have existingtransport strategies/initiatives, e.g. the SLINKY bus in Somerset which connectscustomers from outlying/rural areas to the main towns. Prospects will promote communitybus/mini bus programmes in Cornwall and Devon and Door to Door Dorset, as well asspecific schemes for those with disabilities through Ascent Cohort Advisers andcustomer’s personal online Ascent pages to ensure customers are able to access todelivery locations and the transport available to them. We will work with local authoritytransport officials to ensure joined up partnership working with these key programmes, aswell as influencing local transport strategies through our strategic engagement work onbehalf of our customers. As highlighted in previous questions all our customers will haveaccess to freephone support from a trained adviser between 8.00 and 23.00 (TheListening Company) as well as online support (although we recognise that in some areasof the CPA such as Cornwall, broadband access is irregular) which will enable customersto access additional support flexibly, overcoming barriers to access in rural areas.

Recognising customer needs We are committed to a minimum service level of 30 minutes maximum travel time for

customers to visits their Cohort Advisers for their fortnightly 1:1 contact. Our premiseshave been strategically placed on main transport routes within each sub region and wewill make use of outreach premises including local facilities such as libraries to ensure thisis achieved. This commitment is recognition of the barriers and disadvantages that someof our customers face including disabilities ranging from the work-restricting to the mostextreme, lone parenthood and caring responsibilities, all of which are compounded byrurality and poor public transport links. We recognise that shorter journey times increasethe likelihood of customer engagement – e.g. in Devon and Cornwall, retention rates for those within 30 minutes of a centre are 36% higher than those who have to travel further.

To achieve our minimum service level we will require a genuine commitment to outreach

delivery, using existing venues such as community centres, libraries or partners premises – this delivery model reflects Prospects’ vision of a genuine community based programmewhich is shared by our partners, many of whom such as Westward Pathfinder Trust,Access, Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change and Abilities have been employing this



model of delivery for some time. Our Next Step model delivered in London at 300+community venues and Next Step delivery in the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber also provides a template and evidence for the success of outreach based approaches.

In the next section we have highlighted our rationale for premises in each sub-region – wefeel that our approach offers the combination of a strong permanent footprint of high

quality premises across the CPA11 combined with the flexibility of outreach delivery (alldelivery sites will be health and safety vetted) which will ensure the full geography iscovered. Please note that all of the premises below are DDA compliant. Supply chaindelivery will be supported by key specialist partners included in Annex 2 (but not in thefollowing list).

FACILITIES

Training room Tr Job search facilities JS Telephones

Interview room/area IR Toilet Refreshment facilities R

IT facilities Lift First aid facilities

Fax machine Photocopier

TRANSPORT LINKS/OTHER INFORMATIONAccess totrain stations

TOn busroutes

BWalking distanceto local job centre

JNearby car park(s)and/or on street parking

Delivery Rationale/Coverage: In Somerset we anticipate the most significant flow of customers through our delivery site in the three major towns of Bridgwater (Sedgemoor),Taunton (Taunton Deane) and Yeovil (South Somerset) which are the most significantemployment and transport hubs in Somerset (10.2% of the total customer volumes inCPA11). In the Mendip area which is predominantly rural, delivery will be provided atcentres in the market town of Frome, Shepton Mallet and the cathedral city of Wells wherewe anticipate the most significant flow in the area. In South Somerset our premises will be

located in Yeovil (which will also take some customers from neighbouring Dorset)servicing customers from the surrounding area of South Somerset. Prospects hasdeveloped strong links within the local communities and organisations in Somersetthrough ten years of welfare to work delivery, enabling us to co-locate delivery atcommunity venues, for example in local village halls, which we will employ to deliver inpredominantly rural areas such as the Mendip and hotspots of deprivation in WestSomerset and elsewhere across the county.

Delivery Locations(size sq/ft)

Facilities Transport/Other info.

Somerset (14.8% of the total volume of delivery)

Prospects Bridgwater Tr JS IR R T B J

Prospects Frome Tr JS IR R T B J

Prospects Shepton Mallet Tr JS IR R T B No J

Prospects Taunton Tr JS IR R

T B J Prospects Wells Tr JS IR R T B J

Prospects Yeovil Tr JS IR R T B J

Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole (19% of the total volume of delivery)

Prospects Bournemouth Tr JS IR R T B J

Bournemouth & Poole College

Bournemouth & Poole (x3)

Tr JS IR R T B J

Prospects Poole Tr JS IR R T B J



Delivery Rationale/Coverage: Our anticipation is that 15.2% of CPA volumes will flowthrough Bournemouth and Poole (including suburbs), and our premises proposal ensuressignificant coverage for this area. A further 2.6% of the CPA volumes will flow through

Weymouth and Portland (which is mainly non rural). East, West, North Dorset andPurbeck are principally rural areas, including market and coastal towns/resorts (examplesof the latters being Swanage and Lyme Regis). Our partners Bournemouth and PooleCollege have additional delivery sites in market towns including Dorchester, Bridport (bothWest Dorset), Blandford (North Dorset - central), Shaftesbury (North Dorset - north); andChristchurch. Abilities use established outreach through co-location at Sturminster Newton (North Dorset) and Christchurch, as well as co-location at community partner venues such as NACRO. This will offer additional coverage across market towns onpublic transport routes. Both of of our partners (as a community college and third sector organisation) and Prospects are strongly embedded across the county and throughextensive partnership working with local authorities, Primary Care Trusts and voluntary

organisations will be able to facilitate outreach delivery at community venues across EastDorset and Purbeck. Some West Dorset customers will be serviced through our deliverysite in Yeovil e.g. customers in Sherborne.

Devon (51% of the total volume of delivery)

Groundwork Exeter JS IR R T B J

Groundwork Torquay Tr JS IR R T B J

Westward Pathfinder Trust Exeter Tr JS IR R T B J

Westward Pathfinder Trust Torquay Tr JS IR R T B J

Westward Pathfinder Trust Barnstaple Tr JS IR R T B J

Westward Pathfinder Trust Bideford and

Brixham (Community outreach)Tr JS IR R T B J

Groundwork South West Plymouth (x 2) Tr JS IR R T B J

Tomorrow’s People Trust Ltd, Plymouth(x2)

Tr JS R T B J

Tomorrow’s People Trust Ltd, DevonportOutreach (x2)

Tr JS IR R T B J

Prospects, premises to be sourced inTiverton and Newton Abbot (outreachdelivery in Honiton and Totnes)

Premises will be located centrally on publictransport routes and meet all premisesstandards

Delivery Rationale/Coverage: Key hotspot locations will be in the Plymouth and

Devonport, Exeter and Torbay areas. Six premises will cover the Plymouth and Devonportarea where we are anticipating 24.4% of the customer flows across the CPA. We will havethree sites in Torbay where we are anticipating 9% of CPA customer volumes and twosites in Exeter (7.4% of the CPA volumes). In rural areas outreach capacity will becritical. Westward Pathfinder Trust’s rural Pathfinder Learning Centres which havepioneered innovative communications technology to enhance service delivery, willcontribute to this based in Barnstaple (North Devon), Okehampton (West Devon),Braunton (North Devon), Westward Ho! (Torridge) and Lynton (North Devon). In CornwallGroundwork South West have established mobile classroom facilities where adviserswork in local communities and deliver services through outreach in village halls.Groundwork South West are currently extending this service throughout the south west

region where there may be premises “gaps” or a need identified to addresstransport/rurality or mobility issues. This approach has proven successful in their deliveryof the Future Jobs Fund and Community Task Force. Prospects will establish a newdelivery site in Tiverton (servicing mid Devon) and also deliver outreach in Honiton (East

Abilities Shaftesbury Tr JS IR R T B No J

Abilities Weymouth Tr JS IR R T B J



Devon). We will establish a delivery site in Newton Abbot (covering Teignbridge), anddeliver outreach in Totnes to offer coverage of south Devon.

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (15.6% of the total volume of delivery)

Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change,Redruth

T JS IR R T B J

Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change will

deliver out of community outreachvenues ensuring coverage of Penzance,Bodmin, Bude, Launceston, Liskeardand Penryn/Falmouth

T JS IR R T B J

Access Training (South West) Ltd, StAustell x 2

T JS IR R T B J

Access Training (South West) Ltd,Redruth x 2

T JS IR R T B J

Groundwork, Truro T JS IR R T B J

Delivery Rationale/Coverage: Cornwall and the Isle of Scilly is predominantly rural withhotspots of worklessness in Penzance, St Austell and Clay Villages, Bodmin, Cambourne-Pool-Redruth, Launceston and Newquay where we anticipate 10.9% of the total CPAcustomers flowing through these areas. Delivery in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly willneed to demonstrate significant outreach due to poor transport links. Our partnersGroundwork, Access Training and Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change are particularlyexperienced at adopting this approach using a range of venues such as arts centres,children’s centres, libraries and cafes – this flexibility is particularly welcomed bycustomers in Cornwall and helps to ensure sufficient coverage across the county.Cambourne-Poole-Redruth, St Austell and Newquay will be covered by Access Trainingwho already successfully deliver peripatetically. Cornwall Neighbourhood for Changehave extensive experience of delivery throughout Cornwall through various contracts

including Response to Redundancy and well established links with the local communitieswith over 100 outreach/community premises to ensure their delivery is in the heart of thecommunity. They will cover Mid, North, West and East Cornwall through this approach.Groundwork will deliver in Truro and the surrounding area in Mid Cornwall.We will work with our specialist partners throughout the region facilitating outreachsupport for all customer groups. For instance, ReZolve has county wide relationships withstakeholders, third sector organisations and employers which could be utilised for delivery.

Premises Strategy throughout the life of the contractWhilst the above represents our premises strategy at the start of the contract, we will

continuously review the locations and delivery methods in line with feedback fromcustomers, intelligence from stakeholders such as Jobcentre Plus Third Party Managersand District Manager, as well as analysis of volume fluctuations and changing customer groups. In these cases, Prospects Operations Director for CPA11 will be responsible for leading the change cycle of assess– change - assess to facilitate new premises or delivery locations across the CPA, as well as updating premises standards andrequirements across the supply chain. A key part of our strategic engagement withstakeholders, led by our Operations Director for CPA11 will be to engage with Dorset,Cornwall, Devon and Somerset County Councils, to provide written evidence (acquiredthrough customer feedback) on the transport barriers faced by customers seekingemployment to influence local Public Transport Strategies. In developing our tender we

have undertaken an assessment of current transport strategies and initiatives locally.



[5.5] Volume Fluctuations and Customer Group Changes

Describe how you and your Supply Chain will maintain service delivery in the event of fluctuations in numbers of customers and changes to the customer groups referredincluding potential alterations resulting from changes to the welfare regime referred to you(see Future Services Schedule). Your response should include the following:

• How you will maintain minimum performance levels;

• How you will manage expanding/contracting business as a result of Market Shift or economic factors without an adverse effect on service delivery.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to two side of A4.



5.5 Prospects and Supply Chain Experience/Lessons Learned: Prospects and our end to end delivery partners, as established welfare to work providers, are expert atresponding quickly and effectively to volume fluctuations/new customer groups whilstmaintaining effective service delivery. For instance, in the last 12 months Prospects has:*Doubled premises size in Bristol within 5 days to accommodate Jobcentre Plus’ (JCP)

anticipation of a growth in New Deal customers; *Scaled down provision in some of our Community Task Force (CTF) locations in Devon and Cornwall as a result of reducedvolume flow, whilst maintaining service levels for all customers; *Rolled out a new, DWPfunded programme for professionals and executives, across the whole of the south westwithin two weeks which has successfully delivered 65% of customers into employment.

We have selected providers for our supply chain who through competitive tendering anddialogue have demonstrated an understanding, track record and the organisationalstructures/expertise geared to responding to volume changes and new customer groups,e.g.: peripatetic/outreach delivery (Access Training and Abilities); multi-skilling of staff (Westward Pathfinder); strong community working relationships (Cornwall

Neighbourhoods for Change). In order to ensure flexibility/responsiveness across our supply chain and maintain service delivery, Prospects and our partners will adopt thefollowing core approaches: *Flexible premises leases negotiated with break clauses; using outreach locations andserviced offices to extend the reach of providers to address volume rises*Regional-wide contracts with staff enabling re-deployment in the event of fluctuatingvolumes; use of fixed term/temporary contracting staff to risk manage flow changes;speedy recruitment of new staff through Prospects recruitment agency CfA*Prospects/partners temporarily delivering in non-core locations to ‘gap’ fill provision*Supply Chain Managers working with JCP Third Party Managers and District Managersand partners to understand anticipated customer group changes or volume flows to informsupply chain responsiveness;*Prospects Operations Director (OD), engaging with DWP and local strategic stake-holders e.g. LEPs and Employment and Skills Boards to understand the anticipatedchanges to customer groups/volume flow. In addition to this Prospects will commission(through procurement) new suppliers to meet volume growth; for instance we successfullycommissioned a new end to end delivery partner in Plymouth within two weeks on our CTF programme in response to JCP’s anticipation of additional volume flow.

Customer Group changes: Prospects understands that target group make-up willchange due to social, economic and policy changes. Our delivery structure commissioning

reflects our anticipation that the number of customers with work-restricting/limitingdisabilities will escalate significantly (current WCA re-assignments trajectories andproposed changes in conditionality). The number of lone parents (in addition to the ESFcustomer group) will rise (reduction in the age of the youngest child at which lone parentsclaim income support), particularly in Bournemouth, Poole, Plymouth and Torbay. We arelikely see a rise in customers who have worked in the public sector, especially Plymouth,Taunton, Torbay and Exeter. Proposals to extend the joint claim offer to parents with adultchildren will require much more ward level family based interventions using approacheswhich have been adopted by our partners such as Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change.

CPA11 has a relatively high number of offender claimants. Additional MOJ commissioned

work will require capacity building of the services we have commissioned throughProbation Trusts. In addition there will be the implications of the universal credit, changesto the economic cycle and socio-geographical complexion of locales. We will work withour supply chain to respond effectively to growing skills needs e.g. the green industry.



Central to managing the volumes/customer group uncertainties will be the embedding of our change management cycle across the supply chain through the lifetime of theprogramme, overseen by the OD. Prospects Change Management Cycle will involve:(1) analysis of change requirements e.g. market shift; new customer groups, projectedreduction in volumes in Devon (2) assessment of the implications of change (3) time-lined,

costed, fully resourced response (4) communication of change elements to staff, supplychain and stakeholders (5) implementation of the fully resourced response and (6) on-going assessment of the effectiveness of the change implementation against objectivesand performance (and if necessary re-institution of the change cycle).Managing expanding/contracting business: Our approach to maintaining servicedelivery in the context of expanding/contracting business as a result of market shift or economic factors will reflect our experience across the organisation. For example on our nextstep prime contract in London in 2009/10 the contract value and customer volumeswere almost doubled as a result of the recession. The contract was also re-focused onworkless groups and had a new delivery structure. The Regional Manager and SupplyChain Manager analysed the changes, assessed the capacity of the 40+ supply chain and

put in place a plan which included: the recruitment of new Prospects staff; procurement of new partners to meet the needs of new groups/additional volumes and sourcing newoutreach locations. A newly recruited MI Manager provided detailed information onperformance against profile over the contract year to ensure that performance/servicelevels against targets were maintained; senior managers intervened when there was anyevidence of slippage. Prospects Supply Chain Manager will hold quarterly reviews withsupply chain and Prospects delivery team to assess staffing v actual volumes to ensurestaffing is in line with proposed and actual volumes. Our proposed delivery model has atolerance of minus/plus 10% on customer numbers before it impacts on staffing.Prospects Work Programme OD will be responsible for: analysing change requirements;consulting with partners; delivering a fully resourced and time-lined plan for action;communicating/ consulting with partners and assessing the effectiveness of the changeintervention. In the case of Work Programme change management planning the OD willalso bring in support from Prospects’ corporate managers, e.g. HR Managers for redundancy support. Prospects recognises that change can be unsettling for staff internally and externally: clear communication through Work Programme newsletters andQ&As will ensure that all staff/ managers are fully updated through the transition process.Maintaining minimum performance levelsStrong performance management will be central to maintaining minimum performancelevels in the context of volume fluctuations and new customer groups. Prospects and our partners will use Prospects’ Ascent MI system which will enable real-time, live monitoring

of progress against targets/minimum service levels and will ‘flag’ when these are near toor have been missed – enabling the supplier and their Supply Chain Manager (SCM) totake immediate action. Prospects SCM will have contract review meetings with allpartners (including Prospects own delivery managers) at monthly intervals using detaileddata from our Ascent MI system. Where service levels have not been met, the SupplyChain Manager will investigate the reasons for this and agree a time-bound, SMARTaction plan to ensure that this is not repeated. This will include additional support thesupplier may need from Prospects. For instance on our CTF programme we haveinstituted discrete training for underperforming suppliers including training in adminrequirements, job search and employer engagement. This approach has workedparticularly successfully and contributed to Prospects exceeding minimum service levels

in the context of significant anticipated changes in volume flow.



[5.6] Managing the Customer Experience

Please describe:

• How you will evaluate and monitor the quality of the Work Programmeprovision to ensure that it meets the needs of individual customers;

• What procedures will be in place for handling complaints as well asfeedback from customers of their experiences on the programme; and

• how you will act on any findings.




5.6 Prospects is committed to delivering a service which meets the needs of each andevery customer and this will be set out in our customer charter at their induction. We arecommitted to bringing together the best possible offer to meet customer needs in CPA11of our Ascent model personalised to each customer, our choice of strategic partners,commissioning of local expert end to end and specialist partners and our commitment to

better aligning local complementary services with the customer journey. We recognisethat each customer will have highly personalised, complex, unpredictable and changeableneeds at a cohort and individual level meaning that Prospects and our partners mustunderstand these quickly, in order to respond effectively. Central to evaluating, monitoringand responding to the needs of individual customers will be our complaints and customer feedback processes and continuous improvement cycle described overleaf.

Evaluating and monitoring the quality of provision to ensure that it meets the needsof individual customers*Operational Level: All customers will have an assigned Ascent Cohort Adviser (ACA)who will be responsible for meeting the customer at maximum fortnightly intervals to

review their personalised Action Plan and undertake an Ascent assessment to understandthe customers progress/needs. The ACA will use this information (which is entered on theAscent MI system) to evaluate how well the customer’s needs are being addressed bymonitoring their progress. In response to this review their action plan will be updated toreflect any new and emerging needs that they might have. The Listening Companyadvisers will update Ascent MI from their phone conversations and webchat withcustomers and this information will feed into our assessment of how successfully TLC’swork is meeting customer needs.

*Monitoring and evaluating performance: Prospects Ascent MI system will enableProspects and our supply chain partners to monitor the needs of customers and evaluatehow the Ascent model is meeting them. The Ascent MI system will record all customer interventions/contacts and Ascent assessments and a system of ‘flags’ will highlight whencustomers fall behind their customer milestones, have not been contacted or have raisedissues either online or on the TLC Freephone. Results from Ascent interventions acrossall delivery will be monitored and evaluated to measure the success of each type of intervention for the 8 customer groups. This information will be used to inform delivery andwill ensure continuous improvement. Prospects Operations Manager (OM) -Performancewill take responsibility assessing overall success of the Ascent model and implementingchanges/adding interventions in response to customers and cohort needs. Ascent CohortManagers/Team Leaders will task the customer’s Ascent Adviser with making sure that

support given to the customer meets their needs. As highlighted in 5.3, monthlyperformance reviews with supply chain partners (and Prospects managers) will identifyhow far delivery is meeting the needs of all customers including by social group.

*Engagement and partnership evaluation: To ensure we have a clear understanding of the needs of customers we will have monthly contract review meetings with deliverypartners to understand new and emerging customer needs as well as quarterly goodpractice forums across the supply chain. *Evaluating the quality of the individual customer experience (feedback): Our approach to gathering customer feedback is based on current good practice on our

welfare to work delivery. The Operations Manager – Business Support (independent of operational functions) will be responsible for analysing and cascading feedback acrossthe supply chain and ensuring follow up action to improve delivery. Our approach: Customer satisfaction questionnaires being issued to customers mid-way through



their customer journey and on exit from the programme as well as after specificinterventions ( paper based or online to encourage greater completion take up) Quarterly cycle of customer satisfaction questionnaires using random sampling(online and hard copy) Web-based, online customer focus groups which customers will access throughtheir personal Ascent journey webpage. We will hold local, focus groups on Mondays

between 10am – 11am facilitated by the Quality Manager – Observations andEvaluation Monthly management ‘floor walking’ at each Prospects and end to end deliverypartner centre. This approach, based on managers actively soliciting feedback fromcustomers at centres, is less formal but has proved extremely successful – for instance, in our Weston centre this led to the re-configuration of the centre layout witha resulting improvement in customer satisfaction and outcomes.

Customer compliments and complaints and customer feedbackProspects Customer Compliments and Complaints Policy will apply across all delivery.The Policy will be explained to all customers as part of their induction with their ACA and

they will be required to confirm their understanding of this. The policy (available in a rangeof languages, large print, braille and audio format) will be publicised in all deliverycentres/venues and online. Customer complaints will be treated in strictest confidence.Customers and their advocates will be able to register compliments and complaints inwriting (using our ‘Tell Us What You Think’ leaflets), by phone, in person and by email. Allcustomer complaints will be sent to the OM – Business Support who will acknowledge allcomplaints within 5 working days, investigate within 10 working days and provide a fullresponse detailing action to be taken. If the complainant is not content with this responsethey can refer the matter to the OD for CPA11 within 10 working days who will re-examinethe matter and either uphold the outcome or investigate further. If the complainant is notsatisfied s/he will be invited to address their concerns to Prospects Executive Chair whowill either commission mediation/resolution between the complainant and Prospectsthrough the Performance Management and Quality Assurance Unit (PMQUA) or inserious cases, commission a full internal investigation chaired by the Head of PMQUA(who will notify DWP of the action being undertaken) and will make formalrecommendations including referral to the Independent Complaints Examiner (ICE).

Acting on complaints and customer feedbackEvery quarter the OM – Business Support will provide an analysis of customer complaintsand compliments, customer questionnaires and focus group conclusions for each partner.The Supply Chain Managers (SCM) will feedback results at contract review meetings with

delivery partners (including Prospects own delivery) with timebound action plans agreedwhere customer feedback highlights key needs/changes. This approach has worked well,for instance, following customer complaints about induction the OM - Business Supportimproved induction by using more interactive materials. Customer feedback will inform theyearly self-assessment and development planning cycle – all partners across the supplychain will assess the quality of their provision using customer, stakeholder andperformance data and agree a development plan with their SCM which sets SMARTtargets for improvement. The OD and SCM will evaluate customer feedback at a sub-regional level to identify gaps in meeting customer needs and commission additionalservices and/or interventions. In cases of serious complaints, where this reaches thestage of referral to the Prospects Executive Chair, following the conclusion of the

investigation or mediation by the Head of PMQUA, recommendations for improvements insystems and processes will be agreed with the Operations Director for CPA11.



PART 6: RESOURCES

[6.1] Staff Resources – Staffing Numbers, Job Titles and Roles

Please provide:

Details of the number of staff, shown as full time equivalents, you and your supplychain propose to employ to manage and deliver the Work Programme for this CPA.You should include a description of why you consider this staffing level is appropriatefor this CPA at contract start date, together with details as to how you will manage thestaffing levels as customer volumes rise and fall over the lifetime of the contract. Thisshould include a description in detail of the number of staff to be drawn from currentresources, those to be recruited by both your organisation and any supply chainorganisations involved.

Please provide details of how you have identified the skills required by staff in your organisation, and that of any sub-contractors, to deliver the service you have proposedat Section 4. You should describe how you propose to acquire staff with these skills or provide the appropriate training to ensure that these skills are available to commencedelivery of the service on the date you have proposed. A resource plan should beprovided (attach as Annex 5) showing how staffing, by full time equivalent and jobtitle/role, will be allocated across this CPA and a description of the job roles of staff shown in Annex 5.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to five sides of A4.

Note: Format requirement and page limit does not apply to the resource plan which youmust insert as Annex 5.



[REDACTED]



[6.2] Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006(TUPE)

Please refer to the Provision Specification and Supporting Information before completingthe following TUPE questions.

[6.2a] TUPE – Managing the Transfer

Please detail your plans and those of any Sub-contractors for managing TUPE transferswhich will/may result from this Work Programme contract. Your response should include:

• measures you propose to take under Regulation 13 of the TUPE regulations,(including any proposals to seek agreement to change terms and conditions of employment or any redundancies for organisational, technical or economic reasonsover the life of the Contract), to enable you to meet their statutory requirements;

• how you propose to communicate with transferring staff prior and immediately after thetransfer date;

• an outline of your plan of activity to transfer in staff;

• how you propose to work with existing employers to ensure a smooth transfer of staff;and

• details of how you plan to ensure that any Sub-contractors will fulfil the requirementsof TUPE Regulations and any relevant Codes and Statements of Practice.




6.2a TUPE - Prospects and subcontractors Prospects has considerable experience of TUPE transfers, successfully managing theinward TUPE of 2,060 transferees from 52 organisations since 1995, including 800 staff in23 transfers in the last two years. We intend to meet fully the requirements of the TUPERegulations (and of “A Fair Deal for Staff Pensions” where it applies) and require our

subcontractors to do the same. Prospects has extensive experience of outsourcing publicservices and establishing appropriate pension arrangements. We have three separateadmission body agreements under which some 560 current employees participate in theLocal Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Our admitted body agreement with theLondon Pensions Fund Authority for the LGPS is an open one and could immediatelyaccept any TUPE transferred staff with this entitlement. Prospects is a participatingemployer in the Prudential Platinum Pension scheme to provide broadly comparablepensions for TUPE transferees in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme. Platinum'score benefit structures are approved by GAD and covered by certificates of broadcomparability. We also have experience of operating the Teachers Pension Scheme.

Our in-depth organisational understanding of TUPE will inform our approach. Prospectswill deliver a proportion of the service directly and subcontract the remainder; we will takea proactive lead role in managing TUPE across the supply chain, as we have anecdotalevidence that ‘hands off’ approaches from Primes in previous transfers created difficulties.Subcontractors will be required to accept TUPE transferees in proportion to the volumesand locations of work they accept. When selecting subcontractors we have made themaware of their TUPE obligations, required compliance as a condition of contracting withProspects, and stated that non-compliance will result in their removal.

We fully recognise the complexity of TUPE in this programme, and will provide anexperienced HR Business Partner (HRBP) in the CPA, to address these challenges andensure coherence. S/he will provide Prospects’ lead Transition Manager, the transitionteam and our supply chain partners with guidance and leadership in managing the TUPEprocess, full time from April-August 2011. S/he will negotiate the transfer of TUPEtransferees from their employers (‘transferors’) with nominated lead contacts in each of our supply chain partners, and oversee compliance with our TUPE management processduring implementation. S/he will provide on-going TUPE and HR support for Prospectsand the supply chain throughout the lifetime of the programme as a 0.4FTE.

Proposals to seek agreement to terms and conditions/redundanciesWe have no proposals at present for changes in terms and conditions, or redundancies,

over the life of the contract. Any such proposals by Prospects or subcontractors for economic, technical or organisational reasons will follow a common process, proven inother Prospects contracts, overseen by the Prospects HRBP. During this process, we will

• identify the need for change and conduct a baselining exercise

• propose appropriate restructuring, circulate new job profiles (if required)

• consult and communicate with employees, and staff/union representatives, thereasons for and nature of changes required including any cost savings, proposed newstructure, loss of posts and proposals for dealing with this

• identify groups of employees affected and consult them, with deadlines for comments

• devise and share the implementation plan and timescales

• consult further if redundancies are involved

• implement a fair, transparent exercise to fill available posts in the new structure

• conduct a performance review after six months.Plan to transfer in staff, working with existing employers and other Primes



With two Work Programme Prime Contractors and several existing providers in this CPA,effective TUPE transfers will require co-operation. We will agree with the other selectedPrime Contractor, by mid-April, a joined up approach to existing service providers toobtain information and a common method for allocating eligible staff.

Should agreement not be reached, Prospects’ HRBP will approach existing suppliers on

contract award to request full, individual TUPE information i.e. total weekly hours/hoursspent on welfare to work delivery; date of birth; job title; location; whether disabled; annualsalary, pending increases; continuous service date; on costs; shifts, unsocial hours or premium rates of pay; any allowance and bonus details over the last twelve months,pending allowances/bonuses; pension scheme membership (if yes, scheme name, type –final salary/ defined benefit/ stakeholder, % employer contribution); annual leaveentitlement; notice period; current maternity/other long leave. We will also request jobdescriptions for each category of job; salary scales; employment terms and conditions;redundancy policies/conditions; Trade Union names/ recognition agreement/s; details of all trade disputes and industrial action at any time during the preceding twelve months.

Prospects and subcontractors will meet existing providers immediately on contract award,explain how we will approach TUPE and arrange access to existing staff. On behalf of thesupply chain, Prospects’ assigned HRBP and Transition Manager for the CPA will formallyreview the TUPE list and challenge the inclusion of employees not clearly assigned,removing the challenge if the evidence for TUPE is clear. At the conclusion of the brief challenge period, we will conduct a full assimilation exercise of eligible staff intoappropriate posts with Prospects and subcontractors.

Communication with staff/Regulation 13Regulation 13 on providing information to and consulting employees on a transfer underpins our approach to TUPE transfer management. We will arrange the earliestpossible access to transferring staff. We recognise that change can be unsettling and willinform staff fully and clearly about plans, expectations and changes that will need to bemade as a result of the new programme. The HRBP will implement a communicationstrategy across the supply chain, to meet TUPE regulations and establish effectivedialogue with transferees and their employers. We will implement our transfer planbetween contract award and go-live on 18th July 2011 as follows:

• Timetable of consultation meetings with staff, representatives, trade unions

• Meetings with all transferees; group and individual

• Information to all staff about Prospects’ and subcontractors’ pension arrangements

• “Measures Letter”, timed appropriately, to transferors

• Assimilation process into new posts, facilitated with current providers ahead of contract start date as far as possible

• Question and answer newsletter and helpline to enable staff to ask questions

• Prospects’ and subcontractors’ existing staff informed of new contract

• Individual letters to transferees’ home addresses confirming transfers of employment

• ICT systems in place at contract start to allow full access for new staff toProspects’/subcontractors’ email and company intranets

• ‘Welcome’ newsletter for all staff on day one and early ‘welcome’/corporate induction

• New, enhanced CRB/ISA checks through Prospects as early as possible (immediately,if without valid, current check); name badges/ID cards on transfer

•Mandatory training as part of induction for all staff across the supply chain in the firstfour weeks of their employment (dates arranged in advance of transfer).

[6.2b] TUPE – Managing the Transfer



Please supply details of what lessons you and any of your Sub-contractors have learnedfrom TUPE transfers and/or major organisational change which will influence how youwould handle similar issues in the context of this Work Programme contract includingdetails of how it influences how you would manage any transfer/change which may ariseas a result of this Work Programme contract.

Please describe what aspects of TUPE you consider will be relevant to this procurement.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to one side of A4.



6.2b Experience and Lessons Learned - TUPE and Organisational ChangeProspects’ very substantial experience of implementing successful TUPE transfers (2,060transferees and 52 organisations) has enabled us to refine our process and identify keystages of effective practice e.g. close working with transferors, clarity of planning, effectivecommunication of accurate information, consultation with transferees and transferors,

“Measures Letters”, early assimilation, regular Q&A newsletters, dedicated, experiencedHR and Transition Managers and effective induction. Lessons from our experience willinfluence our management e.g. in addressing short timescales for transfer we will adoptthe approach we took when transferring Havering Connexions staff in April 2008 (40transferees from two providers in one month). We updated our Q&A documents twiceweekly to unions and staff representatives, answering all questions, and the transfer wentsmoothly. Where existing employers are reluctant to provide access to their staff we willfollow the example of Leeds Connexions transfer of 107 transferees. We demonstratedour willingness to work with the existing employer but made alternative arrangements toidentify and resolve staff issues. This worked well and we were quickly given access tothe staff. To address culture change in moving from one organisation to another, we will

replicate aspects of the September 2010 transfer of 255 home based Ofsted Early Yearsinspectors in the North and Midlands. This involved conducting road shows for transfereesto meet Prospects representatives and providing a full induction and training programme,ahead of transfer. A training needs analysis was undertaken with transferees within 4weeks of transfer to inform a contract wide training plan. Other effective approachesevolved from lessons learned in TUPE transfers include ‘buddying’ managers from thetransferring organisations with Prospects managers to help the transition into the neworganisational culture.

Several of our subcontractors also have substantial, successful experience of TUPE andwe have discussed this with them in detail. We will incorporate the lessons learned intoour management of transfer in the Work Programme: Early, effective consultation and communication with transferees and their

representatives, individually and in groups, including all-staff meetings to introducethe new provider and clarify expectations

Positive engagement and additional support for transferees e.g. telephone helpline Intensive work with transferors, to obtain accurate information and establish

positive working relationships with existing service providers Introductory visits to the new work environment for transferees Skills audits of transferees in relation to new roles, facilitating effective assimilation Negotiated release of transferees for contract specific training before transfer date,

recompensing transferor for staff time and travel costs Formal welcome and thorough induction for all transferees from first day.

Aspects of TUPEProspects considers that all aspects of TUPE, covering employees’ terms and conditions,are relevant to this procurement. Our understanding is that staff currently employed oncontracted out welfare to work programmes (with the exception of JCP staff – referenceDWP letter dated 24th January 2011 – and Provider-led Pathways to Work/New Deal for Disabled People staff, reference DWP letter dated 9th February 2011) will be eligible totransfer under TUPE to new suppliers on their existing terms and conditions. Prospects’HRBP overseeing the transfers will implement a full, compliant process including

staff/representative consultation and review. Should either subcontractors or Prospectswish to change terms and conditions for ETO reasons, a proper process will beimplemented as described at 6.2a. above.



PART 7: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT]

[7.1] Local Stakeholders

Please describe in detail how, in relation to this CPA you and your supply chain willengage with key local stakeholders including smaller and voluntary sector organisations to

ensure effective on-going relationships with them throughout the life of the contract.




7.1Prospects recognises the importance of establishing effective relationships with key localstakeholders, including smaller voluntary sector organisations throughout the lifetime of our Work Programme delivery to improve service delivery for all of our customers. We seekey local stakeholders as including: Jobcentre Plus, sub-regional strategic groupings

including Employment and Skills Boards and new and emerging Local EnterprisePartnerships (LEPs), local authorities and County Councils (in particular officials working inregeneration and transport strategies), adult social care services, local health services,Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and successor GP commissioning bodies, Probation Trustsand existing local worklessness initiatives funded through alternative streams e.g.Cornwall Works and Plymouth Works. Local stakeholders will also include colleges andeducation and training providers, Children’s Centres and the range of locally based,smaller third sector organisations. Key challenges to implementing our approach over thelife of the contract will be the changing complexion of local sub-regional groupings through theLEP process; new organisational structures (for instance the replacement of PCTs) andreduced public sector funding that will impact on the capacity/staffing levels of both public

sector organisations and those funded through public funds.Building on current good practiceProspects and our end to end subcontractors and specialist partners in CPA11 alreadyhave significant experience of engaging effectively with local stakeholders. Our inclusionof a number of smaller voluntary organisations within our proposed delivery structure alsoprovides evidence of our current engagement. Prospects has established links with theDirector of the Regional Employment Skills Board and the South West Forum whilstdeveloping our approach to the Work Programme and our Ascent model. ThroughProspects welfare to work delivery across CPA11 Prospects managers have monthly caseconferences with Jobcentre Plus local managers and Third Party Provision Managers.Local managers and Prospects staff have strong relations with local JCP Advisers. InSomerset Prospects works with Project Taunton a major regeneration programmecombining the local authority, local businesses and charities. Prospects works closely withTaunton Housing Association, the Volunteer Bureau and St Giles Kennels. In DorsetProspects is a member and former chair of Mindful Employer a network bringing together social care agencies, employers and providers of support services. In Bournemouth,Dorset and Poole Bournemouth & Poole College is the largest skills provider across thesub-region and is a key partner of strategic groupings such as the Multi-Area Agreement.Abilities work with adult social care services across Dorset County Council and the twounitary authorities. In Devon Westward Pathfinders are a member of Devon CountyCouncil ‘Productive Skills for Devon’ Workforce Development sub group. They are also

represented on the North Devon Employment and Skills Board and work extensively withlocal voluntary and specialist organisations including the Volunteers Bureau, CAB, PovertyAction Groups, Bideford and Ilfracombe Regeneration, Tarka Housing and Freedom Trust. InCornwall, Access Training are involved with local Chambers of Commerce, the SouthWest Subcontractor Network and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Learning Partnership.Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change work with 102 grassroots organisation across thecounty.Our approach to local stakeholder involvementOur approach will build on existing links with local stakeholders across our supply chain,putting in place a detailed plan over the life of the programme to improve and embedengagement. We do not intend to ‘take-over’ embedded relationships that work well –

we see our role as helping to maximise engagement for the benefit of the customer experienceand ensuring the programme as a whole is strategically aligned with sub regional and localpriorities/activity. The Operations Director (OD) for CPA11 will be responsible for overseeingour stakeholder engagement strategy and yearly plans, with the Operations Manager – Supply



Chain and Supply Chain Managers in Somerset and Dorset; and Devon and Cornwall, takingdaily lead responsibility for stakeholder engagement in their sub-regions.Contract Award and Communication StrategyAt contract award Prospects will agree a marketing and communications plan withDWP/Jobcentre Plus (JCP) as part of the RAG Implementation Process. Part of this plan

will include communication with local stakeholders, including third sector networkorganisations, about Prospects and our supply chain through our website, local media anddirect e-mailing. This will provide information on our model; our aims for the programme;and a contact name for further information. The OD for CPA11 will lead this work and beresponsible for setting up follow up meetings with local stakeholders two weeks after thecontract award. We will send out a bi-monthly email newsletter to all local stakeholdersbuilding up our network and subscription list throughout the programme. The newsletter will include a list of local management contacts across the supply chain so that locallybased stakeholders know who to contact about Work Programme delivery in their area.This approach has worked particularly effectively in engaging with new partners andgenerating interest in partnership working on our Community Task Force programme in

Devon and Cornwall, building up the number of programme partners both from the publicand third sector.Strategic InvolvementTo maintain the engagement of key local stakeholders throughout the life of theprogramme, the Operations Director for CPA11 will have meetings with key stakeholdersacross the CPA within two weeks of contract signing. In the first three months the OD willconsult with partners, particularly Jobcentre Plus District Managers and Third PartyProvision Managers, Employment and Skills Boards, SW Councils and actual andemerging LEP groups about the geographical coverage of this/these groups/groupings (toavoid duplication) with an understanding that different sub regions may wish to work withWork Programme suppliers differently. For instance some may wish to link the steeringgroup to existing structures like Employment and Skills Boards (Workforce DevelopmentStrands) rather than a new structure. The strategic involvement of partners will bring ashared understanding of progress against contract throughout the life of the WorkProgramme and enable the strategic insights, experience and knowledge of partners toinput into programme design and delivery throughout (aligning delivery more effectivelywith sub regional and local priorities). Prospects is also aware that steering groupstructures may adjust over the lifetime of the programme due to changing regionalstructures.Effective working protocols throughout the life of the contractKey partner for day to day working with Prospects and our supply chain will be Jobcentre

Plus (JCP). Prospects currently have working relationships with job centres across thewhole CPA through our welfare to work delivery (all of our partners as existing providershave strong local, job centre based relationships). Prospects will take responsibility for strategically managing the relationship with JCP through the Operations Manager – SupplyChain (overall) and Supply Chain Managers in their respective sub regions. TheOperations Manager Supply Chain and Supply Chain Managers will attend District meetingsand liaise where appropriate between DWP/JCP and the supply chain partners at anoperational level. We will expect our local partners and managers to establish strongworking local relationships with individual job centres. We will share with JCP a regularlyupdated list of local contacts. Agreements, procedures and working protocols will beagreed with JCP to manage the referral of customers to the programme and referral of

customers to JCP for sanctioning as part of the pre implementation of the programme. TheOperations Manager – Supply Chain will also be responsible for establishingagreements/working protocols with local partners delivering employment related provisionthrough alternative funding streams, guidance services and local colleges to maximise the



benefits for customers and minimise duplication (in preparation of skills conditionality).Prospects has significant experience of developing partnership agreements with colleges andtraining organisations through our Next Step and Connexions work.Aligning local service deliveryCentral to our vision for the Work Programme is a better alignment of service delivery for customers at ground level, for instance, access to drugs and alcohol services, social care

provision and debt counselling. This will build on Prospects current practise of invitinglocal and regional support services to work with customers in our network of centres. For instance, once every two weeks a member of the Turning Point Drug & Alcohol Teamcomes into a centre that we operate in the south west and provides an information service. Atour Bristol centre we recently ran a Healthy Living Week for customers that was organised inpartnership with NHS Bristol, Citizens Advice Bureau and Bristol Mind where customersgained direct access to support on-site. We see this sort of pro-active approach toengaging with local stakeholders and partners as being instrumental to improving thewellbeing of customers and helping them to overcome barriers to employment.Supply Chain Managers will be tasked with embedding this approach across thesupply chain during the life of the contract, working with partner’s managers locally and

also evaluating local stakeholder engagement at monthly contract review meetings. Wewill also use the Ascent online customer portal to communicate the availability of relevantsupport services for our customers. This will build on the already effective approach thathas been developed on the Cornwall Works website.Transport strategiesPoor public transport represents a significant barrier to employment in rural areas of CPA11and the OD will engage with Dorset, Cornwall, Devon and Somerset County Councils toprovide written evidence (acquired through customer feedback) on the transport barriersfaced by customers seeking employment to influence local Public Transport Strategies.Engaging with smaller voluntary sector organisationsProspects will actively engage with the South West Forum (inviting representation onto theProspects led strategic grouping if appropriate) which aims to strengthen the voice andinfluence of the third sector in the region as well as the local VCS networks. We havealready got demonstrable links with smaller voluntary organisations in the region which isevidenced by our supply chain. To build on this, throughout the life of the programme wewill also arrange twice yearly Work Programme networking and development events for smaller organisations. These have been very successful on our Devon and CornwallCommunity Task Force programme - engaging new organisations as programme partnersand increasing the innovation of our delivery for customers. Prospects’ Ascent Programme willbe strongly embedded in each community. Within our delivery chain we have includedthird sector organisations such as the Cornwall Foundation of Promise (Fifteen Cornwall),

ReZolve Kernow and network organisations such as Volunteer Cornwall, who will support aninnovative approach to meeting the needs of customers.Evaluation of Engagement and Maintaining ImpactThe Prospects OD will be responsible for managing and monitoring our Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and updating yearly plans. Throughout the lifetime of the programmethe OD will initiate, through the quarterly good practice workshops, an assessment of theeffectiveness of our stakeholder management across the supply chain. In addition to thisthe Prospects OD will also be responsible for soliciting formal feedback through a yearlyquestionnaire to key stakeholders. This will inform the annual plan of engagement whichwill include targets for stakeholder engagement and voluntary sector engagement. Across thelife of the programme any disputes with stakeholders will be addressed through our

complaints policy that is outlined in question 5.6.



[7.2] Employers

Please describe in detail how you and your supply chain will actively engage withemployers to develop proposals that accurately reflect local needs and describe how youwill work collaboratively with employers on an ongoing basis to secure job outcomes for customers attending the Work Programme in this CPA.




7.2 Prospects recognises that a key component for the success of the Work Programmewill be the ability to actively engage with local employers to meet their needs and securesustained job outcomes for our customers across the CPA. Employer engagement inCPA11 will also need to take into account the higher proportion of smaller employers;greater number of part time employment opportunities; and the needs of our customer

groups for flexible employment opportunities and intensive in-work support. Keychallenges over the life of the contract will be the reduction in public sector employmentvacancies in the region; a reduction in unskilled vacancies; and the emergence of newemployer skill needs in green industries.

Building on current experienceOur selection of end to end delivery partners has been informed by their demonstrabletrack record, through current welfare to work provision, of working closely with localemployers to help customers back into employment. We have also engaged with arecruitment agency, Meridian, as a specialist partner to build capacity for employer engagement across the south west. Prospects currently works with 6,000 employers of

all sizes across the south west through our welfare to work programmes - a recent surveyof employers across Somerset and Dorset indicated that 75% of employers who hadpreviously worked with Prospects would work with us again to support their recruitmentneeds; Bournemouth and Poole College work with 1,000 employers across theBournemouth, Dorset and Poole area; Abilities work with 500 employers inBournemouth, Dorset and Poole, many of whom are small employers who use Abilities tomeet their recruitment needs; Access Training work with 1,000 employers to supporttheir recruitment needs in the south west annually; Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change work with 500 employers through their welfare to work programmes, as well ashaving set up thriving social enterprise businesses and accessed grants and charityfunding to help a number of small businesses set up in deprived wards across Cornwall;Groundwork South West work with over 1,000 employers across the south westannually; and in Plymouth, Tomorrow’s People have developed key relationships withemployers to support disadvantaged customers back to employment.

Meeting local employer needs – our approach throughout the life of the programmeProspects’ approach will be to build on the success of our supply chain in meeting theneeds of local employers, rather than re-inventing the wheel. Our experience, and that of partners, suggests that employer engagement works successfully when it has thefollowing characteristics: a simple ‘one point’ of access for employers to meet their recruitment and advice and guidance needs; clear account management for each

employer from a named (locally based) staff member; and additional support for employers when they take on a new employee – these features underpin our proposedapproach. Across the supply chain we will put in place an Employer Solutions Teamoperating locally, and covering the whole CPA, comprising Employer Solutions TeamAdvisers (naming conventions may differ across the supply chain) who will identify andengage with local employers to understand their needs, identify vacancies, and work withcustomers to help them to develop the skills and confidence to meet employer recruitment/skills needs. This approach has proved particularly effective on Prospectscurrent welfare to work provision enabling a better understanding of employer needslocally; building our reputation as the first point of contact for local recruitment needs; andmost importantly securing more job outcomes for long term workless customers. For

instance for a recent Tesco store opening in Taunton Prospects employer engagementstaff held a job fair for Tesco recruiters. As a result of this 15 New Deal customers had aninterview and 12 found employment.



All of our partners have existing staff responsible for engaging directly with employers tosource placements and employment opportunities for workless customers. In Prospects’current employment team, staff have a non-typical welfare to work background, oftenhaving worked in sales or recruitment previously. The experience of these staff in workingclosely with employers in a target-driven environment, combined with IAG trainingprovided by Prospects has enabled us to develop a particularly effective employer facing

team. The creation of an Employer Solutions Team (EST) across multiple partners in thesupply chain, will be facilitated by the Prospects Ascent MI system. The Ascent MI systemwill provide an integrated account management system for employer relationships bybeing the single point of data entry for any employer engagement activities by ESTAdvisers, avoiding multiple approaches to the same employer and facilitating accountmanagement. Employers, through one point of access, will also be provided with a free,Ascent Jobs Board to directly access ‘job-ready’ customer CVs (through intelligent searchfacilities), and will be able to submit vacancies online. Vacancies will also be matched tocustomers through their online Ascent page, and their assigned EST Adviser. We willwork with Jobcentre Plus around protocols for information-sharing on job vacancies.

Across the supply chain Prospects will hold regular training and development sessions for Employer Solutions Team Advisers sourced by the CPA11 Training and DevelopmentManager (with support from the Prospects Employer Solutions Team Manager). This willbuild common skillsets/knowledge so that the service to employers and customersdelivered by EST Advisers are of a consistently high standard across the CPA.

EST Advisers will be responsible for a caseload of customers, matching them to localemployer opportunities and needs. EST Advisers working for Prospects will be set targetsthat are monitored on a monthly basis through the Ascent MI system, including thenumber of employer contacts made; vacancies sourced; job-carving opportunities created;work trials sourced; work experience placements generated; customers placed intoemployment; and customers reaching sustainment milestones. These will be clearly linkedto the Work Programme targets. Supply Chain Managers will work with partners tointroduce similar performance management processes (if this is not already in place).Alongside support for employers in meeting their recruitment needs, all EST Advisers willprovide comprehensive aftercare support for customers and employers. EST Advisers willwork with employers to source help such as Access to Work enabling employers to makeadjustments in the workplace for customers with health conditions or a disability; seekspecialist support for employers through our partners such as PLUSS; work alongsidedisabled customers in the workplace to ease transition; and broker in-work training. AnEmployer Helpline (provided by our strategic partner The Listening Company) will be

available to all employers employing our customers, Monday – Friday 8.00 am to 23.00pm. The Employer Helpline will provide information on employment law and be a practicalsource of support for employers on all workplace issues. Through the Helpline theemployer will be able to request follow up support from their EST Adviser e.g. a visit to theworkplace to resolve issues with the customer – our experience having shown that whenemployers are able to contact a named Adviser to resolve issues with customers, thisenables their speedy resolution. To provide additional support to employers Prospectsand our partners will also arrange quarterly seminars and information sessions on a rangeof relevant subjects using organisations such as HMRC and Business Link particularlyaimed at small and medium employers who form the majority of employers in the CPA.

Working collaboratively to meet local needs throughout the programme

Responsiveness to change: Throughout the duration of the programme we recognisethat employers needs will change and our employer facing service will need to evolve to



reflect this. Twice yearly Prospects will survey our employer customers to establishsatisfaction levels with our service and solicit key suggestions for improvements (thisprocess will be co-ordinated by the Operations Manager – Business Support). Resultsfrom these surveys will be analysed alongside the latest strategic labour marketinformation and data from partners such as Employment and Skills Board (Prospects hasa centralised, corporate Knowledge Management function). Analysis will be shared with

partners through the monthly contract review process and service improvementsintroduced as appropriate.

Consultation and responsiveness to employers: Prospects and our partners will alsoarrange local employer open days/events, this is an approach we have adopted on bothour current New Deal and Community Task Force programme, enabling us to better meetlocal employer needs. For instance, as a result of open days/events we havecommissioned new training such as SIA and CSCS and short focused training for customers at local colleges.

Responding to new needs: Throughout the life of the contract the Prospects

Employment Solutions Team Manager and Operations Manager – Supply Chain will alsowork across the CPA to identify upcoming local regeneration or large-scale developmentsto meet employment needs and maximise employment opportunities for our customers.For instance, as a result of the construction of a new nuclear power station at HinkleyPoint near Bridgwater there will be considerable demand for labourers with CSCS cardsand construction specialists. We will work with Bridgwater College to provide training andbroker routes into employment opportunities with EDF and their subcontractors. We willadditionally engage with large, pan regional employers to set up strategic relationships toprovide employment opportunities for our customers; as well as engaging more effectivelywith social enterprises in the region to source sustainable employment opportunities for customers. For instance our partner ReZolve Kernow currently deliver the Cornwall Worksfor Social Enterprise programme that through support, mentoring, work placements andtraining has helped 127 unemployed people get in to employment in a Social Enterprisecontext over the last two and a half years.

Meeting sector skills need: Across the supply chain we will extend and develop joborientated Skills Enhancement projects. These provide real life work experience and skillsdevelopment opportunities in sectors of identified regional and local needs, as well as newand emerging sectors. For example in CPA11 employment remains buoyant in the retail,hospitality, food and drink, service sector and care sectors and customers will be toaccess Skills Enhancement projects relating to these sectors across the CPA. Over 45%

of customers who gain employment on Prospects programmes do so through their workplacement provider. Prospects would look to build on this through the SkillsEnhancement projects. Our partner ReZolve Kernow currently lead the EnvironmentalSkills Network, an ESF funded sectors programme that provides business support andtraining to the environmental goods and services sector, working with over 180 greenbusinesses. Strategic engagement of employers: We would seek to build on these strong links byencouraging our partners to join Chambers of Commerce and trade associations.Prospects is currently a member of the Somerset Chambers of Commerce which hasenabled us to develop links with a range of employers across the county, and develop

working relationships to support our customers back into employment.PART 8: CONTRACT PERFORMANCE

[8.1] Performance – Job Outcomes



Using worksheet “C. Outcome Volumes” provided in the Pricing Proposal document,please detail your expected performance in this CPA and provide comment on how thiscompares to the national benchmark levels detailed at paragraph A4.18 of the WorkProgramme Specification. Your response must address individual customer groupsseparately and differentiate between job starts/outcomes and sustained job outcomes.

Please note your response to this question shall not be scored but will be used toinform the evaluation of your response to question 8.1a Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to two sides of A4.



8.1 Job StartsDue to the unprecedented level of customer interaction and the holistic approach of theAscent Model, customers accessing provision will be more prepared to enter work thanever before. Customers will not be put forward for employment opportunities until their individual needs and barriers have been resolved to a point where they are able to sustain

employment. Due to the approach being adopted by the Ascent Programme, Prospectsexpect that only 10% of all Job Starts will return to benefits (and then to WorkProgramme) prior to qualifying for a job outcome payment.

Job Outcomes Overview - Customer Groups 1- 8 Years 1 - 7

Customer Group ProspectsProposedJob Starts

DWPIllustrative

Job OutcomePerformance

Levels

ProspectsProposed JOPerformance

Levels

Increase onDWP

IllustrativeJob Outcome

Levels

25+ 5805 4651 5224 12.3%

18-24 2353 1805 2118 17.3%JSA Early Access 785 619 707 14.2%

JSA Ex IB 583 284 524 84.5%

ESA flow 1341 953 1207 26.7%

ESA Ex IB 654 388 589 51.8%

ESA Vol 2391 1836 2152 17.2 %

ESF IB/IS 392 352 353 0.3%

Total 14,304 10,888 12,874 18.2%

Prospects proposes to exceed the benchmarks in all customers groups for Job Outcomes

and has significantly increased the proposed number of job outcomes for customer groups such as ESA Ex IB, ESA Flow and JSA Ex IB. Across all of the customer groups,Prospects will exceed the national benchmarks by 18.2%, which equates to an additional1.3 job outcomes per working day for 7 years above DWP minimum requirements.

In 2009, Prospects placed a customer into employment every working hour of everyworking day. Prospects’ Ascent Programme in CPA11 will place a customer intoemployment every 55 minutes, providing 14,304 customers into a job, with 90% achievingto a job outcome payment.

Outcomes and Sustainment Details

JSA 25+Prospects will achieve a job outcome rate of 33.9% of referrals for this customer groupacross the life of the contract. This will be achieved by placing an additional 573customers above DWP illustrative figures into employment exceeding 26 weeks. Joboutcome rates for the year 1 cohort will be 35%, rising year on year to 45% by year 5.The number of sustainment 4 week blocks for this customer group will be 54502compared to DWP illustrative figures of 32548, an over-performance of 67.5%

JSA 18-24Prospects will achieve a job outcome rate of 46.6% of referrals for this customer group

across the life of the contract. This will be achieved by placing an additional 313customers above the DWP illustrative figures into employment exceeding 26 weeks. Joboutcome rates for the year 1 cohort will be 48%, rising year on year to 63% by year 5.



The number of sustainment 4 week blocks for this customer group will be 17877compared to DWP illustrative figures of 9832, an over-performance of 81.8%

JSA Early AccessProspects will achieve a job outcome rate of 21.1% of referrals for this customer groupacross the life of the contract. This will be achieved by placing an additional 88 customers

above DWP Illustrative figures into employment exceeding 13 weeks. Job outcome ratesfor the year 1 cohort will be 21%, rising year on year to 26% by year 5.The number of sustainment 4 week blocks for this customer group will be 5950 comparedto DWP illustrative figures of 4347, an over-performance of 36.9%

JSA Ex IBProspects will achieve a job outcome rate of 24.2% of referrals for this customer groupacross the life of the contract. This will be achieved by placing an additional 240customers above DWP illustrative figures into employment exceeding 13 weeks. Joboutcome rates for the year 1 cohort will be 17%, rising year on year to 19% by year 4.The number of sustainment 4 week blocks for this customer group will be 9492 compared

to DWP illustrative figures of 3464, an over-performance of 174%

ESA FlowProspects will achieve a job outcome rate of 22.4% of referrals for this customer groupacross the life of the contract. This will be achieved by placing an additional 254customers above DWP illustrative figures into employment exceeding 13 weeks. Joboutcome rates for the year 1 cohort will be 22%, rising year on year to 30% by year 5.The number of sustainment 4 week blocks for this customer group will be 21059compared to DWP illustrative figures of 18832, an over-performance of 11.8%

ESA Ex IBProspects will achieve a job outcome rate of 11.8% of referrals for this customer groupacross the life of the contract. This will be achieved by placing an additional 201customers above DWP illustrative figures into employment exceeding 13 weeks. Joboutcome rates for the year 1 cohort will be 11%, rising year on year to 15% by year 4.The number of sustainment 4 week blocks for this customer group will be 9927 comparedto DWP illustrative figures of 7493, an over-performance of 32.5%

ESA Volunteer Prospects will achieve a job outcome rate of 44.4% of referrals for this customer group

across the life of the contract. This will be achieved by placing an additional 316customers above DWP illustrative figures into employment exceeding 13 weeks. Joboutcome rates for the year 1 cohort will be 45%, rising year on year to 65% by year 5.The number of sustainment 4 week blocks for this customer group will be 29841compared to DWP illustrative figures of 27883, an over-performance of 7.0%

ESF IB/ISProspects will achieve a job outcome rate of 40.0% of referrals for this customer groupacross the life of the contract. This will be achieved by placing an additional 1 customer above DWP illustrative figures into employment exceeding 13 weeks. Job outcome ratesfor the year 1 cohort will be 44%, rising year on year to 48% by year 3.

The number of sustainment 4 week blocks for this customer group will be 4195 comparedto DWP illustrative figures of 3150, an over-performance of 33.2%

[8.1a] Performance - Rationale



Please provide your rationale for your expected Job Outcome Performance levels, byindividual customer groups as detailed in 8.1.

Explain the activities and support that will be introduced to help secure the achievement of these performance levels together with any other best practice evidence to support your

proposed performance. Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your responseMUST be limited to four sides of A4.



8.1aProspects and our supply chain partners have substantial experience of helpingdisadvantaged customers into work across the CPA, and as a result of this, an in-depthknowledge of the challenges faced by disadvantaged workless groups in their locale andlocal labour markets. The Supply Chain has placed over 30,000 customers into work over

the last 10 years. At an overarching level Prospects’ Ascent Programme andmanagement framework, has the following key characteristics and innovations that makeus confident of delivering our job outcome and sustainment performance offer:

More flexible support: Through our strategic partner The Listening Company (TLC) wewill provide helpline support for our customers, as well as employers from trained advisersbetween 8.00-23.00 Monday to Friday providing additional, flexible support for our customersMore time on programme: Evidence suggests that longer programmes deliver better outcomes. For instance our 26 week programmes achieve on average 50% higher joboutcomes than 13 week programmes since there is more time to address barriers to

employmentMore opportunities for customer’s to develop skills linked to labour market need:Skills Enhancement Projects will be designed to provide customers with the directexperience and skills needed in key employment sectors such as retail (Somerset);renewable energy (Devon and Cornwall) and catering (Dorset)More 1:1 time: 1:1 time with a dedicated Adviser has proven effectiveness in welfare towork programmes – customers on the Ascent programme will have tailored 1:1 contactwith their Ascent Cohort Adviser (ACA), at minimum fortnightly intervals, as well as havinga dedicated Employer Solutions Team Adviser (ESTA) at the appropriate point in their programme. The Ascent Programme will resist the narrow focus on job-search until thecustomer is at a point in their journey to progress to employmentMore real personalisation: Too many current/predecessor welfare to work programmesadopt a one size fits all approach or even ‘label’ or ‘RAG’ customers on referral to pre-determine their journey. Ascent offers a genuinely personalised approach with an infinitecombination of interventions, which will form a unique customer journeyMore specialist support: Prospects has built a comprehensive supply chain of specialistpartners that covers the CPA, including support for specific disadvantaged customer groups such as those with disabilities and health related problemsMore accountability: The Ascent MI system will enable comprehensive monitoring of customers, so that no customer ‘gets lost’ or ‘falls behind’,More employer engagement: Employer Solutions Team (EST) Advisers will operate

across the supply chain creating and sourcing employment opportunities for customers,building on the extensive links Prospects and our partners have in place already.Currently, Prospects and our partners work with in excess of 10,000 employers across theCPA. To support our performance offer we anticipate our Employer Solutions TeamAdvisers who each be tasked with providing a minimum of 35 job opportunities per monthfor customers.More in-work support: At present, around half of people who leave benefit return to itwithin six months. In-work support is relatively underdeveloped on welfare to workprogrammes and Ascent aims to address this. As a minimum the Ascent Programme willoffer weekly in-work contact for the first month from a TLC Adviser, followed by fortnightlycontact until week 26 and then once a month alternating between the TLC and a local

Adviser throughout the sustainment period. This is intended to trouble shoot problems(referring issues to the customer’s Adviser when appropriate) and provide work-relatedsupport. In addition to this each customer and their employer will have access to onlinesupport and helpline support. Customers will also be able to attend Ascent Workshops



available to all customers for a year to help maintain contact and support. This minimumoffer, will be combined with personalised support for all customers and their employer from their ESTA throughout the sustainment period – our experience suggesting thatwhere this point of contact (who knows both the employer and customer) is available,issues that arise in the workplace between the employer and customer, a frequent case of the customer dropping out of work, can be mediated and resolved. We are confident that

this robust approach to in-work support will support a step change in sustainment. Thestructure of the Ascent model is presupposed on customer’s progressing to employmentwhen they are ready to sustain this outcome. Our assumption is that once a customer hasprogressed to employment, 90% will sustain in one of more periods of employment to theminimum period required to achieve a job outcome. The following provides further evidence and a rationale for our performance offer, by each target group.

18-24 JSA Evidence of Achievability (Overall Job Outcome Rate 46.6%): Our offer for this group reflects the strong current performance of Prospects and our partners.Bournemouth and Poole, on a yearly basis consistently helps over 45% of customers fromthis group into work across CPA11 (including Community Task Force (CTF) in Devon and

Cornwall and New Deal in Somerset); Westward Pathfinder are achieving 33% and 30%employment outcomes on the Young Person’s Guarantee Work Focussed Training andRoutes into Work programmes respectively; Abilities are currently achieving 37% job entryon their 18-24 New Deal programmes. For this target group, the number of second andthird generation unemployed is growing – lack of positive influences will be addressedthrough community events and positive mentors (Heroes to Inspire) and new positiveexperiences (Aspiration – consequence & rewards), whilst lack of work experience/in-work skills will be addressed through Skills Enhancement projects. Low skills and in-worktraining for this group will be critical to supporting them into sustained employment and wehave commissioned this through our partners Triangle Fusion (apprenticeships) and Ufi(on-learning and skills training). With 1 in 10 graduates being unable to secureemployment within 12 months the EST team will focus on providing this customer subgroup with Work Trials which match their qualifications. For the overall customer group,experience has suggested that in-work support to both the employer and customer needsto be particularly targeted in the early weeks, enabling quick interventions where there isdanger of employment drop out. Experience from our CTF programme (where we haveset up a Facebook site) also demonstrates how effective online support is for this group.

25+ JSA - Evidence of Performance Achievability (Overall Job Outcome Rate33.9%): Prospects has exceeded the national average job entry rate for this customer group on our New Deal provision consistently helping over 25% of customers into work.

On our Programme Centres programmes for unemployed customers in Dorset, 45%progressed to employment (the average customer was aged 42). Abilities achievebetween 49% and 39% of customers from this group progressing to employment andCornwall Neighbourhoods for Change delivery of Cornwall Works Plus in Mid Cornwalldeliver 60% of customers into jobs. The Ascent Programme will provide interventionswhich tackle the challenges of this particular customer group, including Ascent workshops(using CBT techniques), life checks and support through our specialist partners. In CPA11customers aged over 50+ are the largest long term unemployed age group. Oftenupskilling or re-skilling are important for this group, which will be available through our partnership with Ufi. Our ESTAs will also work with 50+ positive employers, such as Asda,B&Q, Sainsbury’s. Prospects’ SEESAM project for unemployed 50+ customer gave

customers the tools to become self employed and was highly successful with over 80% of customers achieving sustained self employment over 6 months. To recognise thepotential of self-employment, particularly amongst this cohort, our specialist partner Gloucestershire Enterprise Ltd will deliver this support.



JSA Early Access Evidence of Performance Achievability (Overall Job OutcomeRate 21.1%): This group will be quite polarised including young people who are NEETaged 18; and those with a long record of unemployment (‘repeaters’), and early referralsfrom multiply disadvantaged groups. Prospects delivers to similar groups, for instance, onour current CTF programme aimed at some of the hardest to help unemployed group

aged 18-24 achieve a 45% job entry rate; and New Deal 25+. We see the core of theAscent Programme as supporting this group into employment, for instance, positive rolemodels; new positive experiences; and Skills Enhancement projects. The AscentWorkshops will include specialist sessions for ex-offenders and other disadvantagedgroups, to provide an open and non-judgemental forum. Prospects will also provide arelocation package for customers who will benefit from seeking work away from their localarea due to reputation or discrimination. Our approach will be bolstered through theavailability of support from our specialist partners. For instance our partner the Prince’sTrust, supported 3,000+ disadvantage young people in the South West last year, of which, 80% moved into EET. Other specialist partners will include Shelter (housing) Avon& Somerset Probation Trust and Dorset Probation Trust (offenders) and innovative social

enterprise projects through organisations such as ReZolve. More intensive in-employmentsupport will be provided to this this group through their ESTA.

JSA Ex IB Evidence of Performance Achievability (Overall Job Outcome Rate 11.8%): This is a challenging group, of whom many will have genuine work restrictingdisabilities or illnesses and will have been workless for a long period of time. This will be arelatively new group to welfare to work delivery. At present we are starting to see agrowing number of customers from this group on our welfare to work programmes in theWest of England and Somerset who with additional support are progressing toemployment. Entrenched beliefs and outdated skills will be particular issues for thiscustomer group – the Ascent Programme will address these issues through AscentWorkshops, Well Being Groups, Skills Enhancement Projects, skills training andAchievement Projects. When customer’s reach ‘work readiness’ ESTAs will work withthem and potential employers to smooth the journey into the workplace, including helpingto broker Access to Work support for employers. Throughout the customer journey theywill also be able to access specialist support from our partners St Loye’s and Pluss whohave an exceptional record in helping customers with disabilities and health conditionsback to sustained employment.

ESA Volunteers Evidence of Achievability (Overall Job Outcome Rate 44.4%): ESAVolunteers will include those unlikely to be fit for work in the short term and contribution

based volunteers. Our assumption is that given these groups are volunteers they will bemotivated to address their barriers and move nearer to the labour market, even if they arenot, due to illness or disability, able to enter the labour market. Our performance offer isbased on a Deprived Area Fund contract in Melcombe Regis aimed at a similar (IB)customer group where out of 100 customers, 55 progressed to employment.For this group our Well Being Groups and Ascent Workshops (underpinned by CBT) willprovide a strong offer for customers complemented by potential activity such as slivers of time, which will give customer’s the opportunities to develop their work facing skills asthey become more ready to engage in work related activity and the labour market. ESTAswill work employers to source appropriate vacancies and work with both the customer andemployer in the workplace to intensively support the customer in employment, reflecting

the supported approach adopted by Prospects on our Work Choice subcontractedprovision where we support 63% of customers in the workplace.

ESA Flow Evidence of Achievability (Overall Job Outcome Rate 22.4%): This group is



a likely to have had a shorter time on workless benefit than groups 4 and 7, but will either have limited capability for work (three month prognosis) or limited capability for work-related activity (Support Group). The Ascent Programme will help with Well Being Groupsenabling customers to adjust their lifestyle to improve their health, fitness and personalcircumstances, enabling them to manage their key barriers more effectively. For customers in the work related activity group interventions will be tailored to help prepare

them for being actively ready to progress to job-seeking. This group are likely to requireadditional support from our key partners. Partners we have engaged to work with ESA/IBcustomers include St Loye’s who focus on helping people with disabilities and healthconditions. Over the past 4 years 49% of the people they helped found work and over 50% sustained their job during this period. Into work support will be critical for this groupto help sustainment, with ESTAs working closely with employers in the workplace.

ESA Ex-IB Evidence of Achievability (Overall Job Outcome Rate 11.8%): This groupwill, overall, be the hardest to help, more likely to have had a long period of worklessnessand either a limited capability for work (three month prognosis) or limited capability for work-related activity (Support Group). The Ascent Programme will help these customers

with Well Being Groups enabling customers to adjust their lifestyle to improve their health,fitness and personal circumstances and manage key barriers more effectively. For customers in the work related activity group interventions will be tailored to help preparethem for being actively ready to progress to job-seeking. Specialist support will be criticalfor this cohort –our partners such as Pluss have a particularly strong track record of supporting customer’s with acute disabilities back to employment, and working with themin the workplace. To support this Pluss adopted a bio-psycho-social model which involvesbuilding customer’s confidence to enter employment; facilitating adjustments; and workingclosely with the employer and colleagues in the workplace to provide a supportiveenvironment for the individual .

Incapacity Benefit/Income Support Customers (ESF) Evidence of Achievability(Overall Job Outcome Rate 46.6%): The majority of Income Supportcustomers will be carers or lone parents, with some customers who are on IB. All of our partners have experience of working with these target groups. Our assumption is thatgiven these groups are volunteers they will be more motivated to address their barriersand move nearer to the labour market, even if they are not, due to illness or disability,able to enter the labour market. Prospects track record of delivering to similar groupsevidences the achievability of this target. For instance, Prospects co-piloted the Parentsinto Work programme, focusing on assisting lone parents into work, the programmeachieved a 51% positive outcome rate with a job entry rate of 26%. Prospects currently

deliver Launch Pad (LP) in Somerset, which works with Lone Parents, Prospects haveachieved a 40% job outcome rate with LP customers. The flexibility of the Ascentprogramme in terms of interventions that build confidence and engagement with thecommunity e.g. Ascent Workshops (combining CBT techniques), Achievement Projectsand community events will be designed to re-engage this group, build skills, aspirationsand transferrable skills. ESTAs will work to source part time and flexible opportunities,including slivers of time opportunities to re-engage customers with the labour market; aswell as helping customers to put in place childcare and caring arrangements in placelocally to meet these needs.



PART 9: IMPLEMENTATION

NOTE: MINIMUM SCORE APPLIES TO ALL QUESTIONS WITHIN THIS SECTION. BIDSSCORING 2 OR LESS ON ANY QUESTION WITHIN THIS SECTION WILL BE REMOVEDFROM THE COMPETITION. PLEASE NOTE SCORES ATTAINED IN THIS SECTION MAYALSO BE USED IN A TIE-BREAK SITUATION WHERE APPROPRIATE.

[9.1] Implementation Plan

Please provide:

• an Implementation Plan for the Work Programme in this CPA clearlystating the date on which you are proposing to commence delivery of theservice. The plan, which must be in the form of a Gantt chart (insert as Annex6), must include the key activities required to put provision into place by theservice commencement date. It must include key milestones, timescales for activities including start and end dates and who is responsible for each activity

including the expected start date for delivery. It will also show the critical pathand interdependencies.

• A narrative to expand on the implementation plan which must identifyand address all the key risks, including the impact of winning multiple WorkProgramme contracts and how these shall be mitigated.


Note: Format requirement and page limit does not apply to the Gantt chart which you

must insert as Annex 6.



9.19.1 Prospects has extensive experience in large contract start up and we have basedour detailed implementation plan on this experience. Central to successful implementationwill be the transition team of senior operations and functional managers co-ordinated bythe Company Development Manager (CDM) who will report to the Lead OperationsDirector. The CDM will assign key milestone responsibilities and ensure that transition

adheres to the critical path timelines, implementing remedial action to address slippage.

Our implementation plan is enclosed showing critical path activities which we have usedto populate the interdependencies chart in annex 6. The chart clearly shows that on-timedelivery is dependent on the implementation of our MI system, the finalisation of contractdetails with subcontractors, the assignment of staff under TUPE and any other recruitmentrequirements, implantation and auditing on all quality areas (i.e. policies, procedures,premises), in-depth understanding of the Ascent Programme by subcontractors andProspects delivery staff and adherence to DWP security requirements across all areas of delivery. As a result of this timeline analysis we have chosen Monday 18th July as golive date.

We have split the Key Milestones into main areas corresponding with individualresponsibilities: Pre ITT Submission; Post ITT Submission; DWP ITT actions; TransitionPlanning; Supply Chain; HR including TUPE; Prospects delivery units (Finance; Quality;Marketing and Communications); Service Development (The Listening Company – MI,engagement, tracking and in-work support) and Security Plan. Key risks are detailed inAnnex 6 as part of the implementation plan (Implementation Risk Register) with specificrisks noted against the key milestones. We are very aware of the challenge of implementing more than one CPA and we have mitigated this risk by assigning separatetransition teams for each area which will include CPA assigned Lead OperationsDirectors, Company Development Managers, HR Business Partners and specialistmanagers. Requirements including information security management, financial systems,quality manuals, CBT-adviser training and development of procedures for equality, qualityassessment and marketing will provide opportunities for economies of scale and/or shared intelligence.

Detailed below are the most critical implementation milestones, risks and remedies:Post tender negotiations (PTN) with DWP completed and contract signed 11 to 18April 2011: PTN phase will be completed by Prospects ODs and contract ratified byFinance Director and Executive Chair. This period will include Post Contract AwardBriefing with key DWP/JCP staff.

Supply Chain finalised 18 April to 18 July 2011: Finalisation of subcontractor negotiations and contracts signed by 4 May 2011 (led by Operations Director). TUPEallocations will be agreed following HR Business Partner (HRBP) Manager’s assessmentand agreement with current providers (see HR/TUPE below) - we will provide support for any subcontractor requiring it.

Operations Manager - Performance will deliver a ‘walkthrough’ of the Ascent Programmeto subcontractors and specialist providers. Subcontractor staff training needs analysis,quality checks (including premises and provision of quality manual), subcontractor staff recruitment and intensive training support will be implemented for supply chain staff. Our

Information Security Manager (ISM) with the quality team will assess delivery/MI systemsand provide support/remedial actions to ensure subcontractor delivery meets DWPsecurity requirements. Key risk: Subcontractor pulls out of delivery prior to contract start.Mitigation: Prospects has selected subcontractors with the capacity and capability to



expand their delivery footprint if required should a subcontractor withdraw. We maintainstrategic alliances with large scale, successful providers of employability programmes andwe have a range of additional providers if necessary. In addition Prospects has theflexibility to expand our direct delivery either permanently or as an interim action.

Prospects staff and subcontractor training – 6 July to 8 August 2011: 5-week

comprehensive training programme and manual will be delivered to our staff/managersand subcontractors’ management, delivery and administrative staff. Training will cover the delivery model, security, the DWP Code of Practice, administrative requirements,innovations and ICT systems. This will include CBT-based adviser training. Prospects willselect and train PRaP co-ordinators, advising DWP of names. Key risk: Training on theAscent Programme not implemented in time for go live. Mitigation: Training programmecurrently under development and will be finalised during April. CBT training for advisershas been delivered to over 100 advisers. The Training and Development Manager will beresponsible for implementing training across the CPA and will work closely with our staff and subcontractors to ensure sufficient training is provided prior to ‘go live’.

HR including TUPE April – 18 July 2011: A dedicated HRBP manager experienced inTUPE will work with the CPA OD and CDM to oversee staff transfers and HR. The HRBPwill be the central contact for TUPE transfers to the supply chain and will provide advice toorganisations with little or no experience. Following receipt of the final list of providers withstaff TUPE rights the HRBP will assess TUPE-ing staff and allocate accordingly toProspects and subcontractors. Following the completion of TUPE allocation recruitmentfor any remaining vacancies can be implemented. Key risk: Allocation of staff fromexisting contractors not agreed results in issues and liabilities for staff and problemsdelivering the contract. Mitigation: We will agree a joined-up approach with existingcontractors to agree allocation process. Prospects’ team has extensive experience of challenging appropriately and agreeing way forward. The HRBP will be working on TUPEtransfer full time and will be focused on TUPE agreements.

The Listening Company (TLC) (MI, engagement, tracking, and in-work support) – 11April to 29 August: TLC are providing Prospects with an MI system and call centre withexperienced advisers trained to deliver key aspects of the Ascent Programme. Our implementation plan includes TLC key milestones split into contracting, implementation,people, resourcing, training, processes, technology, telephony and networking,development, QA & testing, transition and service ‘go live’. Key risk: Failure toimplement secure management information system on time. Mitigation: Extensiveassessment of TLC’s delivery expertise and track record demonstrated their commitment

to delivery of high quality contact centre services and development of epiCentre (email,phone, internet) which has an established track record on a range of public sector projects. Detailed timelines have been provided by TLC who are working closely with theISM.

Security Plan implementation – critical date: submission of completed SecurityPlan before 20 June (20 working days before go live): Prospects ISM is on target tocomplete security audits/actions. Our selected subcontractors have completed draftsecurity plans enabling the ISM to assess gaps and draft plans to remedy followingcontract award. Key risk: Information systems and procedures fail to meet DWP securitystandards and contract cannot go live. Mitigation: All systems will be built according to

and reviewed against DWP standards prior to contract start. Action plan implemented toachieve ISO 27001 and ISO 27002 and appropriate staff trained in the use of PRaP.

9.2 Contingency Arrangements



Please describe:

• how your proposals for delivery of services within this CPA will be putin place without adversely affecting your organisation’s or your Sub-contractors’ability to deliver existing and recently won contracts as well as other contracts

you are bidding for.

• in detail your contingency plan for maintaining the entire scope of your proposal within your bid should members of your supply chain withdraw prior tocommencement of delivery of this contract.




9.2Delivery of service without adversely affecting other contractsProspects and our supply chain subcontractors are confident that we can implement theWork Programme across CPA11 without adversely affecting existing and recently woncontracts. Prospects and our key subcontractors have the resources to implement our

proposal using existing infrastructure for premises, managers and staff. The WorkProgramme has synergy with much of the work currently delivered and links withemployers, services supporting customers with criminal records, projects and placementswhich we will be able to utilise for the Work Programme. We have mature relationships atstrategic and local level with partners, stakeholders and employers and knowledge of thesub-regions within CPA11 (including labour market, demographics, geography, and keyplayers) which we can utilise to implement this new service efficiently and effectively. Wesee this as a major strength of our offer. As part of our decision to bid for three CPAs weassessed our structure financially and operationally to ensure that we have the capacity toimplement more than one CPA and have discussed this at length with DWP in theDelivery Capacity Clarification Process. In Annex 6, our implementation plan includes a

detailed risk register showing contingencies to meet multiple deployments including:

Full financial assessment of ability to meet financial demands of one or more contract – agreements in place to access additional funding if required Cohort of Company Development Managers involved in co-ordination of new contracts – each CPA will have a Company Development Manager who will report to the CPAOperations Director Additional staff to support rollout identified from existing contracts which are likely tosee reductions/run-down due to Local Authority funding cuts e.g. Connexions directorsand senior managers with appropriate project management and implementationexperience Resource-intensive transition staff will be the Information Security Manager and HRBusiness Partners. HR Business Partners have already nominally been allocated to thethree CPA areas and we are currently recruiting additional staff support for our Information Security Manager; work on three CPAs may confer economies of scale Economies of scale for some elements of transition management e.g. the work of our Performance Management and Quality Assurance Unit Finance and Legal Services if we are awarded more than one contract Prospects has a tranche of experienced senior managers with experience of implementing new contracts who will be assigned to Work Programme contracts for theduration of the transition.

Contingencies to ensure subcontractors have the ability to deliver including:

Detailed negotiations including the assessment by Prospects and the subcontractor about multiple contract delivery Prospects has a reserve list of possible subcontractors who have completed initialquality assessment and would be interested in delivery Limited use of potential prime contractors in supply chains so that subcontractors arenot stretched by delivering a prime contact Volume allocation risk assessed pre bid submission to ensure capacity of selectedsubcontractors.

Our businesses structures and those of our supply chain partners are geared tomanaging contracts across the region and managing multi-site businesses.Implantation planning has been developed based on the possibility of winning more thanone contract - the distinct transition teams will meet following award to cross-reference



start dates and duplication (separate transition teams will be assigned to each contract).

Contingency plan for maintaining entire scope of proposalIn order to mitigate against the withdrawal of any key members of our supply chain weinstigated a robust selection process which included: financial assessment with suitablecash flows to meet volumes; evaluation of their capacity to deliver - what other contracts

they are delivering; which contracts they are tendering for; capability track record;systems and processes in place to meet outputs and quality levels required andpremises/outreach locations to support the geographic requirement.

In the event of a subcontractor withdrawing or having to withdraw from the supply chainbecause of unexpected issues e.g. loss of premises, failure to install sufficiently robustsecurity systems, Prospects will:Revisit the initial list of potential subcontractors who expressed an interest in workingwith Prospects in CPA11. Subcontractors were ‘shortlisted’ against criteria includingcontract area coverage (location of delivery venues), current delivery and potentialdelivery commitments to other contracts being tendered for, performance against

contractual outcomes, DWP League Table, previous experience of working with thecustomer group and Ofsted inspection grades Identify an appropriate replacement subcontractor in the area required who can offer all the services needed to ensure our proposal has not been weakened by the withdrawalof the original subcontractor Commence discussion with proposed subcontractor immediately and completenegotiationsAdvise DWP Implementation Team and local Contract Manager of changes.

Prospects has experience of acting swiftly, sourcing and putting in place new supplychain partners when proposed partners have withdrawn prior to commencement e.g. amajor subcontractor had to withdraw one week prior to commencement of CTF Devon &Cornwall contract. Prospects instigated the action described above and reallocateddelivery to a new and an existing supply chain partner. Full scope of the CTF contractwas delivered across the contracting area from day one.

Contingency strategy includes the ability for Prospects to take over direct delivery whichwe have successfully done. In the West of England, Prospects undertook ProgrammeCentre delivery when the incumbent provider closed down overnight. Prospects was ableto support JCP/DWP by undertaking delivery with 10 days working notice. This includedsourcing and procuring premises and resources, employment of staff of previous provider

to undertake delivery, staff induction and training and notification to all customers of changing delivery venue and provider. Prospects would utilise this option if there was nota suitable alternative subcontractor or to fill a time-gap should the newly selected provider need more time to set up.

Our contingency strategy includes working closely with preferred suppliers following

Documents

257. CPA11 Prospects Tender -Final Redact