Guidance

Connect to Work Grant Guidance for England and Wales: Appendix B: Delivery Plan template

Published 26 November 2024

Applies to England and Wales

To access Connect to Work Grant funding, Accountable Bodies are being asked to complete a Delivery Plan, setting out how they intend to use the funding and deliver the programme. The delivery plan should be completed by using information contained in the Grant Guidance and technical notes, as set out below. Since this is the first step in the Government’s Get Britain Working Strategy, we are keen that your Delivery Plan not only captures information about your specific plans for delivery of the programme, but also starts a process of considering your wider strategy on work, health and skills, and how this support will fit within it.

Accountable Bodies are asked to develop their Delivery Plan in collaboration with local partners and particularly Additional Delivery Area Members (where appropriate). Plans will need to be agreed by both the Accountable Body and DWP before entering into a Grant Funding Agreement.

Capitalised terms and acronyms referred to in this Delivery Plan Template shall have the meanings given to them in the Grant Guidance or Grant Funding Agreement.

Please note, that when answering the following sections, you are doing so on behalf of your Delivery Area.

This Delivery Plan should be completed with reference to the following documents:

1. Connect to Work Delivery Plan Guidance 2. Connect to Work Grant Guidance 3. All applicable Technical Notes (see Technical Note: General, for a schedule of future Technical Notes) 4. Connect to Work Grant Cost Register

Section 1 – Contact information

The following information is to help support communication during this Delivery Plan process.

Information needed	Response
1.0. Name and address of the Accountable Body for your Delivery Area:	[Insert response here]
1.1. Please provide the following details for the Accountable Body:	[Insert response here]
Single Point of Contact Name:	[Insert response here]
Single Point of Contact Email:	[Insert response here]
Single Point of Contact Phone:	[Insert response here]
Role of Single Point of Contact:	[Insert response here]

Section 2 – Connect to Work delivery

Within this section, please set out your response to how you will deliver your service, who you will work with to deliver and integrate it, and how you will ensure you have a suitably qualified workforce (either in-house or via commissioning) in place, to deliver the Supported Employment model.

Information needed	Response
2.0. In the delivery of Connect to Work please indicate which delivery method you intend to use across your Delivery Area (Please select one option only)	1. In-house – – 2. Commissioned – – 3. Mixed (both in-house and commissioned)
2.1. Where a mixed delivery method is indicated, please provide details on the proportion and nature of how the model will be split. Is this by provision (IPS and SEQF)? Is it by geographical location? Is it by Participant group? etc.	[Insert response here]
2.2. Please detail your high-level plan for delivery which captures the key milestones and indicative timings for implementation activities. These could include: – – The date your team will be in place to start delivering the programme – – The date you will be ready to start receiving ‘Expressions of Interest’ – – Your anticipated timeframe for scaling up and the associated starts volumes – – The date you plan to be fully operational – –Please attach a copy of your draft project plan, which shows your key milestones and timeline.	[Insert response here]

Capacity and Capability

Within this section, please provide details of the capacity and capability to deliver Connect to Work across your Delivery Area.

Information needed	Response
2.3. Please describe the capacity and capability to deliver Connect to Work across your Delivery Area. – Please include the key capacity and capability challenges you have and what further support you may need to help address these challenges. Please highlight any challenges across your whole Delivery Area.	[Insert response here]
2.4. Please provide details of how your project will be administered. Where possible, please describe the individual posts within the team(s) that will be delivering the project: How is the team set up to manage the project? – – What resources, expertise, skills, responsibilities and experience do they have? – – Will existing staff be employed, or will new staff be recruited (if recruited, how and when)? – – Where you have indicated some, or all your delivery will be done in-house, please also provide the following details: – – Staff roles and responsibilities, including volumes. – – Recruitment plans and timelines, including any specific skills and knowledge needed for those roles. – – Please refer to job titles rather than the actual names of individuals.	[Insert response here]

Commissioned delivery

Where you have indicated that some, or all, of your delivery of Connect to Work will be commissioned, please provide the following:

Information needed	Response
2.5. A summary of the procurement process (including timeline) that will be followed to identify and appoint Delivery Partner(s), including how the process will ensure the following is met: Requirements of the Grant Guidance – – Conditions of the Grant Funding Agreement – – Support for all eligible and suitable Participants – – Full coverage across your Delivery Area	[Insert response here]
2.6. If you intend to appoint a managing agent to oversee the implementation and delivery of Connect to Work, please provide details below, including your rationale for this decision.	[Insert response here]
2.7. Please provide details of the market assessment and engagement strategy for your commissioning activity.	[Insert response here]
2.8. Are there any Delivery Partners that have already been identified or commissioned? Please provide details of how they were identified and commissioned and how you plan to utilise existing contracts, if applicable.	[Data entry

Section 3 – Connect to Work design

Design principles

You will recognise from the Grant Guidance the importance of adhering to the principles and the 5 stages of the Supported Employment model for both IPS and SEQF. This section is to understand how you will design your overall programme in line with these principles.

Principles	Response
3.0. Please provide a clear description of your proposed Connect to Work offering and how this meets the requirements set out in the Grant Guidance.	[Insert response here]
3.1. Please provide details of how you intend to ensure the support provided to Connect to Work Participants, adheres to the fundamental principles of Supported Employment, Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF). This should include: – –supporting people into competitive employment in the open labour market. – – ensuring Participants receive commensurate pay for work carried out. – – providing appropriate support through all the stages of the five-stage process. – – (See Technical Note – Supported Employment Delivery Model for more information)	[Insert response here]
3.2. Please provide details on how you will engage with local employers, to support them to develop more inclusive employment practices, ensuring their jobs are accessible to Connect to Work Participants and individuals are supported to sustain those roles.	[Insert response here]

Identification of Participants

Identification of the appropriate volumes of eligible and suitable Participants is an important element of Connect to Work, with the programme being targeted at the right people, at the right time and based on individual circumstances. Take up of Connect to Work will be promoted and marketed to citizens to help identify eligible/suitable potential participants in your Delivery Area.

Information needed	Response
3.3. Please provide details of how you will generate interest, including marketing of Connect to Work to meet your expected profile volumes?	[Insert response here]
3.4. Which introduction channels would you expect ’Expressions of Interest’ to come from and how do you expect to monitor and manage these routes in live running to ensure they remain effective throughout the grant period?	[Insert response here]
3.5. If you propose to prioritise specific groups of people, please describe your rationale and describe how you will do so within the agreed Eligibility and Suitability Criteria.	[Insert response here]

Participant journey

This section is to outline how you will support and manage Participants through the Connect to Work process.

Information needed	Response
3.6. Please provide details on how you will provide tailored support for each Participant, as described in the Grant Guidance?	[Insert response here]
3.7. How will you safeguard Participants, including those who are subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Agency (MAPPA) arrangements and embed the public sector equality duty into the design and operation of your service e.g. through appropriate ongoing equality impact analysis?	[Insert response here]

Estimated costs and volumes

Please complete all sections of the Grant Cost Register (GCR), which has been supplied separately. The GCR is a service costing tool which we are asking Accountable Bodies to use in planning and costing their Supported Employment provision. Guidance on completing the GCR has been included within the model. DWP Commercial Finance are also available to provide general support on completing it where requested. – – DWP recognises that costs may change during the live running of the programme and any changes can be discussed as part of the annual review.

Information needed	Response
3.8. Please embed the completed Grant Cost Register	[Insert response here]

Risk

An understanding of your risks involved in delivering Connect to Work and the need for having effective systems in place to manage them, is important to enable the delivery of Connect to Work, from implementation to live running.

Information needed	Response
3.9. Please describe the key risks and mitigations, including operational, commercial and financial, that could affect Connect to Work delivery.	[Insert response here]
3.10. Please detail your approach to fraud risks that could affect your delivery and how you might mitigate these.	[Insert response here]

Section 4 – Governance

Outline of governance approach and experience

Within this section, please provide details of the governance arrangements for Connect to Work across your Delivery Area.

Information needed	Response
4.0. Please summarise the governance structure you will have in place across your Delivery Area, including how any advisory panels or associated partnership groups are made up. Please specify whether these are pre-existing structures, new structures, or whether contingency arrangements are temporarily being put in place. Please explain how these arrangements will be sustained through the life of the programme. Please also include details of any challenges you foresee in relation to the governance of Connect to Work and any support you may need to develop your governance structures.	[Insert response here]
4.1. If the proposed governance structures are not yet in place, please indicate when these are likely to commence.	[Insert response here]
4.2. What controls and assurance mechanisms will you put in place to ensure that all spend incurred in delivering Connect to Work is accurate, valid, and reasonable?	[Insert response here]
4.3. What controls and assurance mechanisms will you put in place to ensure that the quality of delivery of Connect to Work, is of the required standard and how frequently will this be reviewed?	[Insert response here]
4.4. How you will demonstrate continuous improvement to the quality of your services, safeguard high standards of care and create an environment in which excellence will flourish?	[Insert response here]

Section 5 – Performance and Management Information (MI) reporting requirements

The agreed set of MI will be essential to the effective running of Connect to Work. This will include shared MI which will be used to monitor and manage the Grant, including the agreed performance measures.

MI/data gathered will also be used to provide a source of evidence for the monitoring and evaluation of the programme, and additionally to enable wider evaluation activities such as sampling for research and impact analysis.

Please note that in this section we are referring to the collection of data/Management Information and ensuring quality across your Delivery Area.

Information needed	Response
5.0. How will you manage performance within the Accountable Body, to achieve the levels set out in your Delivery Plan, including the agreed performance measures?	[Insert response here]
5.1. How will you manage the accurate and timely collection of Management Information, including the timelines agreed in the Grant Guidance (and the Technical Note: General).	[Insert response here]

Section 6 – Developing an integrated support offer with strategic fit to local priorities

As set out in the Grant Guidance, a key element of the Supported Employment models is that services are well embedded with other local support for the target groups and local labour market systems. The funding will be the first contribution to enabling you to stand up (over time) a wider offer to tackle inactivity, by connecting broader work, health and skills support and, in turn, supporting the Government’s Get Britain Working strategy, bringing fundamental reform and transforming our relationship with local areas. Please set out your intended approach to building partnerships and integration across all appropriate local services and stakeholders.

Information needed	Response
6.0. Please set out details of your current understanding of how integration with local services, including health services, is being delivered to ensure holistic support for individuals. What do you plan to do in the future, including steps to drive greater local join up between employment, health, and wider community place-based services for the target groups and in turn how do you anticipate this will improve the effectiveness of your supported employment delivery.	[Insert response here]
6.1. Please provide details of your current relationships with key partners and how you will build and develop relationships with these partners during the delivery of Supported Employment funded by this Grant, with consideration of partners for future integrated support offers. This may include health partners, the JCP, voluntary sector, and other relevant local services.	[Insert response here]
6.2. Please provide details of how you will maintain relationships with key partners, across both the geography and full spectrum of services, to ensure regular and frequent contact throughout delivery of the programme.	[Insert response here]
6.3. Please provide details of how this Supported Employment provision will fit strategically within your local priorities and overall plans to tackle inactivity – building towards your work, health and skills planning. Please provide information about how the Supported Employment funded by this Grant will join up with and provide additionality to local provision in your area, including pre-existing Supported Employment or other support funded from UKSPF, WorkWell, and the Adult Education Budget.	[Insert response here]
6.4. Tell us about any challenges you may face in developing partnerships and an integrated approach to mobilising this Supported Employment and your approach to managing those challenges. Describe what, if any, support you may require from DWP in this process.	[Insert response here]

Section 7 – Protecting Participant data

It is important for personal data to be collected, stored, and always used appropriately and securely in line with legal and statutory requirements. The Accountable Body and their Delivery Partners are required to meet established standards for data security, including UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and other applicable data protection legislation.

Information needed	Response
7.0. Briefly describe how you are embedding data protection by design into the design and delivery of Connect to Work.	[Insert response here]
7.1. Explain the data sharing and data governance mechanisms within your Delivery Area, to support the delivery and evaluation of Connect to Work. This work can be ongoing, but please elaborate as far as you are currently able on work undertaken so far.	[Insert response here]
7.2. As the Accountable Body for your Delivery Area, it will be your role to ensure that the required Data Sharing Agreements (Agreements) are in place with (and where necessary, between) Delivery Partners, so that data can be shared for delivery and evaluation purposes, including sharing data with DWP. Please advise where Agreements are already in place or, where these are not yet agreed, outline what plans are in motion to put these in place.	[Insert response here]
7.3. Provide details of the procedures and systems that you plan to deploy, to ensure that Participant information is being stored securely at all times.	[Insert response here]

Section 8 – Subsidy control

The following questions relate to subsidy control. Connect to Work is not intended to be a subsidy (as defined in the Subsidy Control Act 2022) and therefore DWP needs assurances from the Accountable Body and its Additional Delivery Area Members that the Grant will not constitute “financial assistance that confers an economic advantage on one or more enterprises”.

Please detail and provide DWP with responses to the questions set out below together with sufficient evidence (if appropriate) to substantiate the responses given, to provide assurance to DWP that either a) no or only minimal economic activities are undertaken by the Accountable Body and each Additional Delivery Area Member); or b) any funds that may be granted under Connect to Work will be adequately ringfenced from any economic activities the Accountable Body and each Additional Delivery Area Member carries out.

An “economic activity” for these purposes means the offering of goods or services on a market.

Read further detail on subsidy control, economic activities and ringfencing.

Please provide responses in respect of the Accountable Body, and each Additional Delivery Area Member.

DWP reserves the right to raise further questions if needed to establish whether or not any funding may constitute a subsidy, and ultimately decide not to award the Accountable Body the Connect to Work Grant.

Information needed	Response
8.0. Is the Accountable Body or any Additional Delivery Area Member involved in any economic activities? – – NB. for the avoidance of doubt we do not consider ‘in-house’ delivery (i.e. for themselves and not commercial in purpose) by Accountable Bodies or Additional Delivery Area Members to be ‘economic activities’ as these services are not being offered on a market (as per the definition above) and they are not acting for a commercial purpose.	Yes/No
8.1. If the Accountable Body or any Additional Delivery Area Member is involved in any economic activity, what proportion of the Accountable Body’s or Additional Delivery Area Member’s capacity do the economic activities constitute?	[Insert response here]
8.2. Please provide a description of the Accountable Body’s or the Additional Delivery Area Member’s economic activities and how they relate to activities proposed to be funded under the Connect to Work Grant (including any areas of overlap).	[Insert response here]
8.3. What measures, if any, will the Accountable Body’s or the Additional Delivery Area Member implement in order to ring-fence the Connect to Work Grant funding from the Accountable Body’s or the Additional Delivery Area Member’s economic activities?	[Insert response here]

Section 9 – Accountable Body declaration

By submitting this Delivery Plan signed by an authorised representative, the Accountable Body confirms that:

• the information set out in the Delivery Plan is accurate and true.
• the Accountable Body is the lead local authority applying for the Connect to Work Grant on behalf of the Delivery Area. As such, the Accountable Body confirms that it is appropriately empowered by legally authorised Additional Delivery Area Members to deliver the Connect to Work service proposed in the Delivery Plan. This includes due consideration of the mechanisms available to them to deliver the Connect to Work service.
• it will put in place its own arrangements across the Delivery Area.
• it is committed to completing and collecting MI as part of delivering a Connect to Work service (see section 8.0 of the Grant Guidance for further details).
• it is committed to participating in a regional/national network to share good practice between other Accountable Bodies’ delivering Connect to Work.
• it is committed to delivering Connect to Work in accordance with the final Grant Funding Agreement between the DWP and the Accountable Body.

Signature:

Name and position of authorised representative:

Date:

For and on behalf of the Accountable Body.