Adult Education In Gloucestershire Subcontracting Fees Charges Policy

In this section

Scope

The policy applies to all supply chain activity supported with funds supplied by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), the Student Loans’ Company or any successor organisations.

Policy Statement

The Education and Skills Funding Agency require that we:

Publish supply-chain fees and charges policy on our website before entering into any subcontractingagreements for the 2021 to 2022 funding year.
Submit a declaration of subcontractors each year and updates as required.

Adult Education in Gloucestershire is committed to the overarching principle that it will use its supply chains to optimise the impact and effectiveness of service delivery to learners in Gloucestershire. The service will therefore ensure that:

It will undertake fair and transparent procurement activities, conducting robust due diligence procedures on potential subcontractors to ensure the highest quality of learning delivery is made available, demonstrating value for money and a positive impact on learner lives.
The funding that is retained Adult Education in Gloucestershire will be related to the costs of the services provided. These services, and the levels of funding being retained for them, are outlined in the paragraph “Fees & Charges 2021-22” below. The rates of such retained funding will be proportionate to the actual services being provided.
Where disputes between supply chain partners cannot be resolved through mutually agreed internal resolution procedures, the Service will submit to independent outside arbitration or mediation and abide by its findings.

(See relevant clauses of the contract legal agreement)

Rationale for Subcontracting

The Service engages in subcontracting to better meet the needs of learners in Gloucestershire.

Subcontracted partnerships enable us to meet the following objectives:

To enable us to engage with hard to reach learners via partnerships with appropriate community organisations.
To secure county-wide provision as far as is practicable.
To provide a wide range of expertise to meet the skills and learning needs of adults and employers in Gloucestershire.
To enable community based organisations to develop the capacity necessary to provide learning programmes to meet the needs of their clients.

The contracts with a wide range of partners to deliver classes and courses right across the county. Its partners have included colleges of Further Education, schools, independent training providers and community organisations. The support and services we provide enable local voluntary and community organisations to access training and learning resources for their client groups, even though their main purpose may not be learning delivery.

Quality Assurance

Subcontracted activity is a fundamental part of the Adult Education Service’s provision. The quality of the provision will be monitored and managed through the existing Service QA processes and procedures outlined in the Contracting Responsibilities document (Schedule 1 of our Contract).

The Contracting Responsibilities document ensures that subcontracted provision is embedded as a core part of the Adult Education Service’s activity and subject to the key standards, quality assurance and improvement processes that operate across all provision, both directly delivered and sub-contracted.

Publication of Information Relating to Subcontracting

In compliance with Education and Skills Funding Agency and other agency funding rules that apply, the Service will publish its subcontracting fees and charges policy and actual end-of-year subcontracting fees and charges on its website before the start of each academic year (and in the case of actual end of year data, as required by ESFA). This will only relate to ‘provision subcontracting’ i.e. subcontracted delivery of full programmes or frameworks. It will not include the delivery of a service as part of the delivery of a programme (for example, buying the delivery of part of an Apprenticeship framework or outreach support).

The Service will ensure all actual and potential subcontractors are aware of this policy and any other relevant documents.

Communication

This policy will be reviewed annually and updated as required. It will be published on the Service’s website prior to the start of the academic year in which it will be applied. Potential subcontractors will be directed to it at the starting point in any relationship.

Fees and Charges

These fees represent the total cost that the Service incurs in effectively identifying, selecting and managing all subcontracted provision. All subcontractors are managed and monitored closely via regular QA procedures and other audit activities to ensure that they comply with contract requirements.

The fees and charges information is available to all actual and potential subcontractors and is designed to ensure transparency. Performance against annual contracts is reviewed regularly to ensure performance is in line with the required standards.

Programme	% Paid to Subcontractor	% Retained by the Service	Terms of Payment
Community Learning
All providers	80%	20%	Paid four times per year (Nov, Feb, May, August) on the basis of the value of enrolments delivered for each contract at the end of the preceding month. 10% of the overall funding earned by the subcontractor will be retained by GCC until the subcontractor has met the required quality and learner survey requirements. Once these requirements have been met, the final 10% of funding will be released.

Adult Skills Funded Provision
All providers	80%	20%	Paid four times per year (Nov, Feb, May, August) on the basis of the value of enrolments delivered for each contract at the end of the preceding month. 10% of the overall funding earned by the subcontractor will be retained by GCC until the subcontractor has met the required quality and learner survey requirements. Once these requirements have been met, the final 10% of funding will be released.
Gloucestershire County Council’s policy is to endeavour to pay all valid invoices within 30 days of receipt.

Breakdown of retained 20%

Description	% Allocated
Overheads, Expenses and Office Requirement	12%
Administration Systems Curriculum Planning and Course Set-up Enrolment Processing and Data Control ILR Returns and PDSAT Service Funding Reporting Internal Subcontracting Audit and ILR Audit	36%
Exec Performance Reporting and Governance	2%
Contract Management and Performance Monitoring Subcontracting File Management Induction checks including prior learning Learner eligibility checks Devolved and Delegated Combined Authority postcode checks Compliance and verification checks on learners via calls and visits Announced and unannounced Visits On Track Management Performance Management Contract Profiling	40%
Quality Observations Teaching and Learning observations Unannounced Teaching and Learning observations Reviews of learner progress Training and Support as requirement through CPD sessions Quality Observation Feedback and Action Planning Learner surveys and feedback Teaching and Learning Intervention and Improvement Support Delivery Subcontracting’ SAR and QIP	10%

Rationale for Percentage of Funding Retained by the Service

A proportion of funding is retained from Community Learning Contracts to reflect the additional costs of:

Providing quality assurance procedures across a wide range of organisations to ensure that funding body and Ofsted requirements are met.
Developing, implementing, standardising and monitoring methods and procedures for recording non-accredited learning aims.

Support Provided for Subcontractors

The Service works with its subcontracted providers and partners to ensure that learning meets the highest quality standards. To ensure consistency of approach and improve quality all providers are required to use Adult Education paperwork and adhere to our processes and procedures.

GCC Adult Education Support Services include:

Observations and other visits to ensure the quality of provision.
Standardisation and verification of the observation schemes and other quality assurance mechanisms of subcontractors.
Implementation and analysis of surveys and other forms of learner feedback.
The provision of appropriate Professional Development and Training programmes for tutors, managers and administrative staff employed by commissioned organisations.
Targets are set and monitored for each contract by training type for numbers of enrolments and learners, success, attendance and retention rates.
Collection and submission of data to funding bodies.
The allocation of a member of the GCC Adult Education Team as a first point of contact for curriculum issues for each provider.
All policies, procedures and paperwork are available on the Adult Education Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) website
Provision of Adult Education paperwork to all subcontractors.
Guidance for the production of self assessment reports and the implementation of quality improvement plans to meet Ofsted & other regulatory body standards.

Adult Education in Gloucestershire Subcontracting Fees & Charges Policy (PDF, 326.6 KB)

Last reviewed: 15/05/2025

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