Annual conference report 2010 (Annual report)

AnnuAl conferencereport 2010

Our mission

We will transform workers’ life chances through lifelong learning

www.unionlearn.org.uk

Unionlearn has gone from strength to strength this year. The Board continues to play an active part in sharpening unionlearn’s strategic thinking and in raising its profile. This year saw Billy Hayes retiring from the Board; as chair, he played a pivotal role in championing unionlearn from the first day it was established four years ago.

This year has seen a consolidation of unionlearn’s activities. The Board has been fully involved in revising our strategic plan, recognising the need to improve evidence gathering and to strengthen alliances with employers’ associations, skills bodies and providers. The board has been involved in embedding unionlearn in the skills landscape, building a higher media profile, demonstrating and building quality and consolidating and strengthening internal management and planning.

Understandably, there has been some uncertainty concerning unionlearn’s future during this election year but we have a good story to tell the new government. The evaluation that we have commissioned provides robust evidence of the positive impact of union learning on unions, organisations and the learners themselves. The key message from employers as well as unions is that union learning adds value and that union learning reps are unique champions of learning.

We look forward to working with unions, employer organisations, partners and the new government in continuing to promote and support this valuable work. I hope that this annual report will help to do this.

Mary BoustedChair of the unionlearn board

Annual Report 2010 » 3

ForewordMary Bousted

Contents

04 > Introduction

05 > Our goals

06 > Key achievements this year

07 > Our structure

08 > The unionlearn board

09 > Partners’ Advisory Group

10 > Union Learning Fund

12 > Improving skills

14 > Equality and diversity

15 > Engaging with employers

16 > Collective Learning Funds

17 > Apprenticeships

18 > Union learning reps

20 > Skills: recession and recovery

22 > Regional activity

24 > TUC Education

26 > Supporting sectors

27 > Supporting learners

28 > Working with partners

30 > Policy and research

31 > Securing quality

32 > Communications

33 > Funding

34 > Contacts

Unionlearn has continued to provide a robust framework to support unions in their learning activity. Almost 234,000 learners will have been supported by their unions this year as a result of unionlearn’s work. Unionlearn has stepped up its support to unions in relation to re-skilling in the recession through its Skills, Recession and Recovery team. It has also helped unions engage with apprenticeships through unionlearn’s Apprenticeships Project. Helping unions to engage with sector skills councils (SSCs) on green skills has also been a priority. There is a need to provide more support to unions to establish learning agreements with employers. Our project to help unions collectivise the new right to request training will help.

We now need to measure the impact of unionlearn’s activity in relation to its objectives set out in the strategic plan. We commissioned the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change at Leeds University Business School to identify and

evaluate the key outcomes that union learning is delivering for learners, unions and employers.

Results from the first stage of the evaluation are very positive. A survey of four years of Union Learning Fund projects found that almost all were inclusive, opening opportunities to all employees and not just union members. Projects were also contributing to the embedding and mainstreaming of learning within union policies and structures. They were also having an impact on employee attitudes towards unions and membership recruitment.

The evaluation also surveyed the views of employers involved in union learning with 415 employers responding, covering almost one million workers. Learning agreements had been signed in around a half of the workplaces and half had established workplace learning committees. Issues affected most by union learning, according to the employers, were addressing basic

skills gaps, increasing the number of employees attaining qualifications and increasing job-related training. Looking to the future, almost nine out of ten employers stated that they will continue to be involved with union learning activities.

Unionlearn’s achievements have been the result of partnerships with providers, SSCs and other learning organisations and, most importantly, the considerable support from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). We hope that this support will continue in the future so that unionlearn can adapt and continue to flourish in the new learning and skills landscape.

Tom WilsonDirector

4 » unionlearn

IntroductionTom Wilson


�»1 We will help unions support their members to access and progress through lifelong learning, based on quality standards. «

»2 We will help unions engage with employers and providers to increase the quantity, quality and fairer distribution of learning opportunities. «

»3 We will strengthen union capacity on learning by training and supporting union learning reps and embedding learning within core union activities and structures. «

»4 We will help unions provide effective representation in the workplace through training of union representatives and staff. «

��»5 We will establish and extend partnerships with key union learning stakeholders. «�

»6 We will embed high quality standards in all union learning activity and work towards a culture of continuous quality improvement. «

»7 We will continue to promote the added value of union learning. «

»8 We will provide an effective, responsive and value-for-money service to the unions. «

Our goals

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6 » unionlearn

Progress towards achieving the headline targets agreed with government:

Target Progress

250,000 learners supported through the union route by the end of 2010

25,000 of union learners to be Skills for Life learners

The training of 22,000 union learning representatives

�»�»�»

There were 233,458 learners supported in 2009/10

There were 32,210 Skills for Life learners in 2009/10

25,341 have been trained since 1999

Other achievements

>> 58,321 union reps and 1,424 union professionals undertook a training course with TUC Education.

>> 117,105 people accessed learning as a result of Union Learning Fund projects.

>> 83 new learning centres opened as a result of ULF projects.

>> 2,119 new ULRs have been trained and 1,952 follow-on modules have been delivered.

>> 123 formal learning agreements have been signed between unions and employers.

>> The unionlearn Quality Award has been given to over 36 providers that met good practice criteria on working with unions.

>> Memoranda of understanding have been signed with four national learning organisations helping to open up access to learning.

Keyachievementsthis year

ULRs recruited Learners via the union route Skills for Life learners via the union route40000

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The driving force behind unionlearn is its board, comprising 17 General Council members, to whom the director is accountable.

The board has a Finance and Audit Committee to advise on the adequacy and effectiveness of unionlearn’s systems of internal control and its arrangements for risk management and securing economy, efficiency and value for money. The committee includes two board members. It is advised by the Head of Internal Audit and the TUC’s external auditors. A similar committee oversees the Union Learning Fund (ULF) and reports to the board. Both committees also include government representatives.

A partners’ advisory group of external experts from key learning and skills organisations advises unionlearn on

how it can most effectively engage with stakeholders, to secure quality and mainstream best practice.

There are regular meetings of union learning staff on ULF, policy and research, and trade union education.

Unionlearn has seven sections: communications and marketing; business and finance; quality; trade union education; policy and research; and union development, which includes the ULF. Six are based in Congress House, with union development located in the TUC north west office. There is also a regional structure, with six regional managers. The national and regional managers are members of the Senior Management Team, led by the director.


National structure

Director

Board

Business and finance

Union development

Policy and research

Trade union education

Standards and quality

Communications and marketing

Regionalstructure

Our structure

The unionlearn board

Remit>> Oversee and govern unionlearn.

>> Assist in maintaining unionlearn as a high profile organisation that is the union voice on learning at work.

>> Maximise the potential of unionlearn to support union organisation and growth.

>> Monitor the progress of unionlearn against its goals, its ULR and learner targets and its key objectives.

>> Help promote and build on the success of TUC Education in union representative training and union professional development.

>> Consider and approve a three-year strategic and financial plan.

>> Approve budgets, receive quarterly and annual financial reports, and audit reports.

>> Ensure that unionlearn fully reflects the General Council’s commitment to equality and diversity.

The board is elected by the TUC General Council. In addition it includes the TUC deputy general secretary, unionlearn director and the business and finance manager as well as two external government observers.

ChairBilly Hayes* CWUMary Bousted** ATL

General Council membersBob Abberley UNISONSheila Bearcroft GMB Christine Blower NUTGail Cartmail UniteSue Ferns ProspectAllan Garley GMBTony Kearns*** CWUChris Keates NASUWTMichael Leahy CommunityLeslie Manasseh Connect Doug Rooney Unite (TUC President)Mark Serwotka PCSAlison Shepherd UNISONPat Stuart Unite John Walsh Unite (co-opted)Fiona Wilson USDAW

Staff membersFrances O’Grady Deputy General Secretary, TUCTom Wilson Director, unionlearnMatthew Fernandez-Graham Business and Finance Manager, unionlearn

ObserversKirsty Pearce, BISDavid Cragg, Skills Funding Agency

* resigned from board September ** elected chair September *** elected September

8 » unionlearn

Partners’Advisory Group


Remit>> Contribute to discussions about the strategic direction of unionlearn.

>> Advise unionlearn on ways in which it can better achieve its objectives and develop its role.

>> Champion the value of union learning in the wider world of learning and skills.

ChairFrances O’Grady TUC

PartnersSimon Bartley UK SkillsRichard Beamish Asset SkillsJill Brunt National Open College NetworkDinah Caine SkillsetMartin Doel Association of CollegesTricia Hartley Campaign for LearningGarry Hawkes Edge FoundationPaul Head College of North East LondonGraham Hoyle Association of Learning ProvidersAnn Jones Skills Funding AgencySimon Jones Investors in People UKPablo Lloyd UfIJohn McGurk Chartered Institute of Personnel and DevelopmentJames Norman Qualification and Curriculum AuthorityGavin Teasdale National Extension CollegeGrahame Smith STUCJohn Stone Learning and Skills NetworkJohn Taylor ACASPeter Templeton Workers Educational AssociationAlastair Thompson NIACEProfessor David Vincent Open UniversityDavid Way National Apprenticeship Service

UnionlearnTom Wilson Director, unionlearn

The ULF was created in 1998 with the aim of promoting activity by trade unions in support of the objective of creating a learning society. This remains a key objective of unionlearn.

Unionlearn has had full responsibility for the management of the ULF since April 2007. The Fund has involved more than 53 unions in over 700 workplaces and has helped people to access over three quarters of a million learning opportunities. For example, over the last three years there has been a threefold increase in the number of learners taking first Level 2 programmes supported through ULF projects.

Trade unions have embraced the learning and skills agenda and have developed successful, inspiring and innovative projects. Economic, social and workplace priorities are reflected in their projects ensuring that ULF remains a high profile, mainstream programme today and an integral part of trade union activity. The strategic direction of ULF is agreed by the unionlearn board. An assessment panel comprising representatives from unionlearn, nominated trade unions and BIS meet to make decisions and recommendations on all submissions to the Fund.

Key goals of the ULF are to:>> build union capacity to sustain

and embed work on learning and skills so that it becomes a core activity for all trade unions

>> develop the key role of ULRs in raising demand for learning, for low skilled workers and other disadvantaged groups

>> help unions and ULRs develop a framework to provide high quality information, advice and guidance to stimulate the take up of learning and promote progression

>> help unions form active partnerships with employers and develop learning agreements to tackle both organisational and individual skills needs

>> help unions form active partnerships with learning providers

>> develop union capacity to engage in effective partnership working with other key partners and stakeholders

Key themes for Round 13 include:>> employer engagement>> responding to the recession>> ULRs>> equality and diversity>> supporting learners (IAG)>> informal adult learning>> Skills for Life>> apprentices and other young

workers>> progression and professional

development>> learning centres>> sectoral learning priorities

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Number of learners on first full Level 2 courses

Union Learning Fund

Case study Unite Migrant Workers Project, London

The Unite project promotes learning to migrant and other vulnerable workers in the contract cleaning sector in London, building on the union’s Justice for Cleaners campaign. With an estimated 25,000 migrant workers involved in cleaning services in the capital, the ULF project has sought to organise these workers to promote labour rights, using education as a means of giving them access to trade union representation. It started with 15 learners on a Saturday English class, but demand soon grew. Over 1,000 vulnerable workers have received learning and 1,479 has received information, advice and guidance. Currently there are 240 workers learners that attend sessions on Saturdays and Sundays at premises provided by Syracuse University. Twenty-seven new ULRs have also been trained, the majority of whom are migrant workers.

Over the past 12 years the ULF has enabled workers to access a wide range of learning activity in innovative ways. ULF projects have strengthened union engagement with employers through the establishment of workplace learning centres and the signing of learning agreements.

Leeds University were commissioned to evaluate unionlearn, including an in-depth analysis of projects funded by ULF Rounds 8–11 (2005–2008). The union learning activity was found to be inclusive with 9 out of 10

projects open to all employees and not just union members. A third of projects were also targeted at specific ethnic, migrant or minority groups.

More than eight out of ten union officers managing ULF projects reported that company policy on learning had improved, nearly two-thirds that senior management were more supportive (65 per cent) and over half (57 per cent) that joint workplace learning committees had been established.

ULF outcomes: union capacity. April 2009–March 2010 New ULRs completing initial training 2,093

ULRs completing follow-on training modules 1,962

New learning centres opened 83

Learning centres significantly enhanced 86

Learning agreements signed with employer 123

Partnership agreements with providers 120

ULF outcomes: total learner opportunities April 2009–March 2010 Total learning opportunities supported via the union route: 117,105

Others 1,002

ESOL 1,855

22,203Skills for Life

26,181CPD

16,392First Full Level 2

20,970ICT

18,667FE

4,645Level 3

4,071ULR training

3,123HE


Improving skills

12 » unionlearn

Skills for LifeSkills for Life continues to be at the heart of union learning and skills work. ULRs are recognised by government and stakeholders as the key people able to reach the parts of the workplace others fail to reach. This trusted peer role is especially effective in encouraging the kind of literacy, numeracy and language training that can transform lives. During 2008–09 Skills for Life reached over 22,000 learners.

Since unionlearn was established there have been big changes in learning and skills. The Leitch Report in 2006 highlighted in particular the importance of numeracy and for the first time set separate targets for both literacy and numeracy to reflect the challenge of lifting low national levels. These targets are for 95 per cent of adults to achieve at least Entry Level 3 numeracy by 2020 and for 95 per cent of adults to possess Level 1 literacy skills.

Unionlearn played its part in wide-ranging consultation to support the then government’s updated national Skills for Life strategy, Skills for Life: Changing Lives, which was launched in March 2009 to reflect the changing skills landscape. To reflect this, and to maintain the high profile of unions in this area, unionlearn has developed its own updated Skills for Life strategy. We took into consideration the importance of good levels of literacy, language and numeracy in a changing economic climate and

addressed the key challenges in Skills for Life: Changing Lives:

>> employability – ensuring that the development of literacy, language and numeracy all help people to find, stay and progress in work

>> raising standards and achievements in literacy, language and numeracy

>> delivering flexible Skills for Life provision.

We have developed a specific Numeracy Action Plan to support the wider unionlearn Skills for Life strategy. Numeracy achievements delivered through union-led learning have been impressive and unions deliver a higher proportion of numeracy achievements than non-union provision. It is important that we continue to build on existing good practice and are able to get the deserved recognition for the role of unions.

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)Unionlearn has been delivering a BIS-funded project into workplace ESOL and the impact of the changes to ESOL funding introduced in 2007. The project ran from 2008 and concluded in June 2010. Originally the project was tasked to explore:

>> the needs and experiences of second language speakers at work; good practice; and the further barriers they face to accessing learning

>> practical models for delivery of ESOL for Work qualifications

>> how best to support ULRs in persuading employers of the need for ESOL and to increase their financial and other contributions to learning

>> the benefits to employers and wider society of ESOL learning at work

>> the needs of learners not currently met by the ESOL for Work qualifications, particularly at lower entry levels and explore ways to meet those needs with key partners.

During the life of the project the economic climate changed completely and the primary aims – to review the then new ESOL for Work qualifications and encourage higher employer contributions to fees – no longer met the needs of the changed situation. With the support of BIS and project partners the National Research Development Centre,


Business in the Community and Asset Skills the project has been the main national vehicle for examining the impact of the removal of universally free ESOL, in particular on the most vulnerable groups in the workplace.

The project produced a formal report to BIS and has delivered dissemination events and a guide for unions, employers and providers. We have made recommendations to BIS and stakeholders on how best to position ESOL within the changing skills landscape.

Learning centresUnionlearn supports the development and running of a wide variety of union learning centres located in a range of settings, offering a suite of learning opportunities delivered in an accessible and flexible way. Learning centres are an integral element and cornerstone of many unions’ learning and skills strategies. The range of learning opportunities varies according to the needs of the membership, but ICT and Skills for Life are an essential part of the offer to union learners, especially to non-traditional learners who have few or no formal qualifications and who are digitally excluded.

Some centres are open only to employees on site whilst others are open to friends, family and also the wider community, in some cases. Union centres are supported by local providers who are in partnership with the union to ensure that the learning is delivered by professional and sympathetic tutors. Many learning centres are supported by the Union Learning Fund.

In 2010, following the Beyond Standards review of unionlearn, which identified union learning centres as a “potentially unique selling point”, unionlearn undertook a major review of union learning centres by carrying out a mapping of where centres are and what they offer. The mapping exercise identified 420 centres and unionlearn is developing an interactive web-based directory to showcase them.

U-NetU-Net is the branded network of unionlearn-managed learning centres who deliver learndirect as a key element of their provision. The network receives Skills Funding Agency funding from UfI and is therefore accountable to Ofsted.

All U-Net centres have fully qualified professional staff who are able to provide 1-2-1 support to learners as well as e-tutor support. A recent Ofsted report in 2009 graded the provision as “good”, amongst the best in the country, and said that U-Net was supporting the most disadvantaged groups in the workplace, for example isolated workers and those with unsociable shift patterns as well as those lowest in confidence to learn.

Ofsted found that 70 per cent of the publically funded learners were doing literacy and/or numeracy. This is proof of U-Net’s ability to reach and support the most vulnerable in the workplace. Ofsted stated that “ULRs are an outstanding peer support model” and said that learners cited their ULR as the single biggest factor in them entering learning.

Equalityand diversity

Unionlearn’s core projects and key areas of work have addressed equality and diversity both in processes and activities. Union Learning Fund project managers and workers have been supported to help them develop learning and skills strategies with equality and diversity at their core. Several ULF and other projects aim to help disadvantaged learners.

For example, Skills for Life, ESOL, and informal adult learning (IAL) programmes have focused on those adults who face barriers in accessing learning. There are over 400 workplace centres supported by unionlearn. Many of these are linked to ULF and form a network known as U-Net (see page 13). There are also colleges linked to learning centres which aim to help union learners gain computer skills and help make it easier to access digital learning. Digital Divide Centres and U-Net both prioritise learning for the disadvantaged.

Equality is a key theme integrated in all areas of the TUC Education programme and with a particular focus on tutor development. Equality issues have been mainstreamed within the programme as well as the more specific courses on race, gender and disabled workers. Equality-specific programmes

available in 2009–10 doubled that available in 2006.

A range of specific equality and diversity focused activities have been delivered around the regions, including:

>> short management skills courses for women, black and minority ethnic and disabled workers

>> the utilisation and recognition of the skills and qualifications of migrant workers

>> migrant workers’ forums

>> mental health projects and training

>> older workers project activity

>> equality forums, conferences and equality training for reps, including ULRs

>> work on apprentices, including gender and social disadvantage perspectives

>> learning centre development aimed at retired and unemployed people

>> support for regional women’s conferences and women’s development days

>> Learning at Work days that provided an opportunity to reach new learners and encouragement to hold activities that met the needs of the diversity of workforces

>> Festival of Learning, including Black History Month events and other equality-focused learning

>> vulnerable workers projects

Unionlearn has also commissioned an independent equality impact assessment of all its activities in respect to the seven strands of equality and diversity: age; gender; sexual orientation; ethnicity; religion/faith; disability; and socio-economic group. This will report in the autumn and help embed and mainstream equality across all unionlearn activity.

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Equality programmes offered by TUC Education

Working Women, Bargaining for Equality, Equality in the Workplace, Equal Pay, Disability Champions at Work, Equality Reps, Tackling Racism, Countering the Far Right, Women and Health and Safety, Organising Migrant Workers, Mental Health Awareness, Introduction to Employment Rights for Polish Workers, Sexual Orientation and Religious Belief Regulations, and Understanding the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations.

Engagingwith employers

The key to supporting union learning is working in partnership with employers. This involves unions signing learning agreements with employers that set out the rights and roles of ULRs and the rights of employees to get paid time off to train. It also means establishing joint union/employer learning committees to agree on access and providers and to monitor take up and learner progression. It also involves setting up workplace learning centres.

As part of its evaluation unionlearn commissioned a survey of employers involved in union learning by the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change at the University of Leeds Business School. Over 400 employers responded and the results evidenced effective employer engagement (see table below left).

There was also evidence of positive impact of union learning on organisational indicators (see table below right). Almost half of the employers felt that the engagement helped to address skills gaps; 42 per cent felt that it increased levels of trust between management and unions and raised staff morale; with almost a third stating that it impacted positively on organisational performance.

There was virtually no negative impact in respect to any of the

learning practice or organisational indicators and the positive impact was considerably higher when a learning agreement was in place.

Perhaps most telling was that employers recognised the added value of union learning and were positive about its longer-term future. Four in five felt that union learning benefited individuals taking part and over three in five stated that it benefited the organisation. Eight in ten were very supportive of the union role in learning, with almost nine in ten stating that they would continue to be involved with unions in such activities.

The right to request time to trainThere will be increasing union engagement with employers over training through implementation of the right to request time to train. Since April 2010, a statutory right to request time to train has been in force for organisations with more than 250 employees. From April 2011, this will be extended to employees in organisations of all sizes. Individuals requesting this right can be accompanied by a union representative.

The TUC is advising unions whenever possible to come to a collective agreement with the employer where there is a multiple request for training within a workplace. Unionlearn has established a project to raise

awareness of unions to the right to request and advise them of how they can best help their members to use it. It has published a guide and numerous awareness events have been held for ULRs and other union reps in the regions.


Organisational involvement with unions on learning (percentage of employers saying they were engaged)Facility time for ULRs 88 Funding employees to take work-related courses 78

Addressing basic skills gaps 77 Introducing qualifications 71 Employee time off to discuss learning with ULRs 69 Development of a learning centre 54

Case study Bombardier Transportationand the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU)

Part of a transnational conglomerate and manufacturing rolling stock for the global market, Bombardier partnered with the CSEU union in 2006 to set up a learning centre at their East Midlands site, providing Skills for Life and basic ICT courses to their workforce. The learning has since broadened and evolved to the extent that it is now fully integrated into the organisation’s training and development strategy through their coaching and mentoring scheme. The managed learning centre is sustained with full financial support from the organisation at a cost of around £80,000 annually. The initial support from unionlearn was essential to the set-up of this now invaluable resource, as noted by the Site General Manager: “Without the initial investment from the unions, we probably wouldn’t have done it on our own, but if we had known the potential benefits beforehand, we certainly would have.”

Impact of union learning on organisationallearning practices (percentage of employersagreeing there had been an increase) Equality of access to learning/training opportunities 56 Number of employees attaining qualifications 55Positively addresses basic skills gaps 46Take-up of job related training 41

Organisational performance 32

CollectiveLearningFunds

Collective Learning Funds (CLFs) are union-led initiatives to stimulate co-investment in the personal development of the workforce to make such learning affordable. They have been piloted by unionlearn in the North West and the East Midlands to test different models in different contexts.

Half the pilots were in the private sector and half in the public sector. The pilots involve increasing funding from employers, obtaining greater support from unions and enhancing employee commitment. Such co-investment can help tackle skills shortages as well as deliver training to hard-to-reach groups. Although they are in their early stages, CLFs are establishing learning partnerships between employers, unions and providers, which are opening up learning opportunities in workplaces.

CLFs are arrangements where employers might provide cash, loans, time off to study or in-kind provision such as a learning centre. Employees might study in some of their own time or contribute to the fees. Colleges might subsidise courses and provide laptops.

Unions can put in resources and time. Union learning representatives can help support learners. Each pilot was given £4,000 by unionlearn to kick-start their CLF.

Cash contributions are held either in the company account or in the union account.

Most of the fifteen pilots in the North West have been operating for two years and the eight East Midlands pilots for one year. The evaluation by the Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change at the University of Leeds Business School found that CLFs have considerable value.

CLF outcomesThese include:

>> Over 2,700 learning opportunities were created, including 721 Skills for Life, 527 ICT, and 884 NVQs.

>> Over 580 of the opportunities were courses for personal development such as British Sign Language, Spanish, bricklaying/plastering and learning related to arts and crafts.

>> Five new learning centres have been opened.

>> Nine learning committees have been established.

The evaluation found that companies identified the most common benefits as ‘soft’ outcomes such as “improved morale” and “improved employee engagement”. The involvement of the union ensures that the learning

opportunities are accessible to the entire workforce including those with few or no qualifications. Unionlearn has published reports on the pilots in both regions to raise awareness of the benefits of CLFs. A toolkit to help unions set up a CLF at their workplace will be published in early Autumn.

16 » unionlearn

Case study USDAW Check Out Learning, Merseyside

The pilot is delivered in partnership with seven colleges and two learning providers. Shop workers are getting a £50 voucher to subsidise new learning across colleges on Merseyside. The vouchers are distributed by union learning reps to learners on-site or at their local learning venue. The union USDAW contributed £10,000 to the Fund. USDAW project worker Julia Baldwin states: “The voucher scheme has been a great success across Merseyside and is certainly an idea we would like to roll out in other areas if we can.” Greater Merseyside Connexions is a key stakeholder in the project, which aims to provide affordable and accessible learning opportunities to USDAW members. They receive a subsidy on their chosen course and can access the same fund for a new learning opportunity every year.

The TUC’s apprenticeship project is funded through the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS). Its main focus is promoting apprenticeships to unions and employers, developing TUC policy on apprenticeships and supporting affiliate unions’ work on apprenticeships across the country. A key element of the project is supporting unions in recruiting and organising apprentices and advocating for high quality apprenticeships.

The project was launched at 10 Downing Street in November 2009 with the then Prime Minister and TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, with apprentices from workplaces such as Merseytravel and Cardiff City Football Club. The launch was attended by 150 trade unionists, employers and partner organisations.

The project has worked with TUC Education to design and deliver two courses on apprenticeships for reps. One course, Apprenticeship Awareness, covers bargaining and negotiating on apprenticeship issues. The other course, Mentoring Apprentices, focuses on how ULRs and other reps can get involved in supporting apprentices in their workplaces.

In addition to the two courses, a 40-minute briefing on

apprenticeships was included in all reps courses, from health and safety courses and Stage One Reps courses to ULR courses. This enabled the project to disseminate some basic information and key messages about the apprenticeships agenda to a wide range of reps.

A pivotal goal of the project is to encourage reps to engage their employers in a discussion about apprenticeships, whether that discussion might be about improving the pay and terms and conditions of existing apprentices or whether it might be to suggest to an employer that they take on an apprentice for the first time.

To this end, the project created the Apprenticeships Toolkit; a simple, tabulated set of factsheets that provide clear information about a range of topics such as apprentice pay, equality and diversity, health and safety, and mentoring. The toolkit was launched at a national conference in April 2010 attended by around 140 people. Speakers included Brendan Barber; Rod Kenyon, Director of the apprenticeships Ambassador Network; Stephanie Harrison, a BT apprentice; and Jane Hobbs, HR director of BT Openreach. Workshops were held on organising apprentices, apprentice pay, apprenticeships in the public sector, mentoring

apprentices, and apprentices and equalities.

As part of the project, a network of 40 union Apprenticeship Advocates has been developed to champion apprenticeships in their unions, share information between unions, and improve the flow of communication between the TUC and affiliate unions on information, case studies, and data about apprenticeships.

The policy work of the apprenticeships project over the past year has focused on pay, the growth of Group Training Associations (GTAs), and the advent of Apprenticeship Training Agencies (ATAs). Current areas of policy work include occupational segregation/equality issues in apprenticeships and progression routes, from Level 2 to Level 3 Apprenticeships to Advanced and Higher Apprenticeships and from vocational training into higher education.

Regional briefings and workshops on apprenticeships have been held in all regions. The briefing sessions were well attended by ULRs, other reps, union officials and providers. NAS gave presentations at each event and workshops were held to raise awareness and to dispel common myths and misconceptions about apprenticeships.


Apprenticeships

Union learning representatives are pivotal to union learning. Late in 2009 unionlearn commissioned the University of Central Lancashire to carry out the biennial survey of ULRs and their employers. The survey, published as Learning Works, demonstrated that union learning is continuing to attract a much more diverse cohort of representatives than is found in the more traditional roles, and one which is much more closely aligned to the diversity of the workforce itself. Forty three percent of today’s ULRs are women, and 8 per cent are from black and ethnic minorities, compared with 27 and 4 per cent respectively in a similar study of health and safety representatives. Furthermore, of the 37 per cent of respondents for whom this is their first union role, 50 per cent are women.

ULRs are found in all sectors of the UK economy and, although most work for large organisations, a significant proportion (almost 13 per cent) are in organisations with 250 or fewer employees.

Support for ULRs takes a variety of forms. Most ULRs operate with the benefit of a learning agreement, are satisfied that they have adequate

office facilities and have received sufficient training. Just over one third have the additional advantage of a learning centre.

Reasonable time off for training and for carrying out their duties is a legal right for ULRs, and an increasingly large percentage of them are satisfied that this is what they receive. Nevertheless, over two

Unionlearningreps

ULR activity (%) 2007 2009

Helped colleagues to get funding for learning n/A 48.5

Conducted a learning needs assessment 47 53.2

Recruited (or helped to recruit) new members into the union n/A 74.3

Arranged (or helped to arrange) courses for colleagues 59 76.7

Provided information and advice to colleagues onlearning opportunities 85 94.2Source: Learning Works (2010) unionlearn and UCLAN

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Case study Self-employed training in Devon and Cornwall

Jill is one of seven ULRs in Devon and Cornwall for the union Equity. Jill is an atypical ULR in that she is self-employed, just like her members, and receives just a nominal honorarium from funding she secures for learning projects. Over the last 12 months her ULR activity has increased a lot; she has helped 40 colleagues with learning and training issues and has a current target of 72 information, advice and guidance interviews to be completed this year. She maintains a database of members’ interests, as some members have technical and professional skills or management skills and are able to act as tutors, so long as she is able to pay them for their time.

fifths of ULRs don’t receive cover for their regular job, only a quarter have a reduced workload, and the average amount of time spent on ULR activities is double the average amount of actual working time used.

Support in the form of encouragement can be provided by managers, colleagues and through the various union structures, and can range from general encouragement to networking opportunities facilitated by unions and unionlearn.

More than three-quarters of ULRs feel that they have the support of their union, unionlearn and their work colleagues, and two-thirds feel that they have adequate support from their line managers. Nevertheless, only half feel that they are actually valued by their line managers, while only one third feel valued by senior management.

In the relatively short period of time that ULRs have been active in UK workplaces (statutory rights came into effect in 2003) their effectiveness at supporting colleagues has been recognised at the highest levels of government and industry, and the latest survey demonstrates that their level of achievement is still on the increase. On all three of the indicators used in both 2007 and 2009, the proportion of ULRs reporting activity has increased significantly. On average, each ULR helped 44 colleagues during the previous year, with many having assisted more than 50.

ULR achievements The survey showed almost half of ULRs helping colleagues to access funding, and approximately three-quarters actively involved in recruiting new members into the union.

Learning Works also reports on overall activity levels, changes in those levels and the impact on the provision of learning and training. Key findings indicate that most ULRs have succeeded in increasing awareness of learning opportunities (95 per cent), have increased access to them (78 per cent) and increased actual take up (75 per cent). Those ULRs who feel valued by their managers and colleagues tend to be the most successful, and where there is a learning agreement in place two-thirds of ULRs report high levels of activity, compared with just one-third where there is no learning agreement.

More detailed findings from the survey, including responses from a matched survey of ULRs’ managers, are being published in a detailed research report later in the year.


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Responding to recession and especially to risk of redundancy has been high on the agenda of the Skills: Recession and Recovery team since the start of the project in autumn 2009. The UK economy has since moved towards a modest recovery but in the workplace the threat of downsizing and loss of jobs has stayed severe. The project was set up to help unions build their capacity in responding to and dealing with the impact of the economic downturn and to boost members’ skills.

Working with unions has been at the heart of the project objectives and to bring relevant support to trade union members the project has engaged extensively with external bodies and stakeholders, such as Jobcentre Plus, regional development agencies, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service and the Consumer Financial Education Body. The project has delivered briefings, produced materials and acted as a broker to

provide advice and find funding and resources to enable union reps, ULRs, project workers and union officers to help members improve their employability and find learning opportunities. The project has been brokering for opportunities for union members to improve their CV-writing skills and to access training courses for re-skilling or up-skilling.

The project has also made connections with trade union community projects to support unemployed people and worked with government initiatives such as the Future Jobs Fund that was set up to get young people into employment.

The project is due to run till the end of March 2011. It is funded by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) via the Union Learning Fund and it covers England. The project team consists of nine Regional Development Workers and a National Coordinator.

Case study Disabled workers into management

In the East Midlands the PCS learning coordinator at Revenue and Customs in Nottingham, together with the unionlearn Skills: Recession and Recovery project development worker, organised a workshop for workers under threat of redundancy. These workers all had a long-term physical disability or mental health difficulty that was affecting their day-to-day work.

Eleven employees from local tax offices took part in the free workshop, which aimed to provide a starting base for workers with disabilities facing redundancy to consider their potential to become first line managers or supervisors. It also aimed to build confidence and look at their options for personal and professional development. The workshop was delivered as a bespoke programme in line with the Institute of Leadership and Management unit from the Level 3 First Line Management Award.

Amy came to the workshop facing redundancy or redeployment to a job on a lower grade, but left seeing a middle-management post as a realistic prospect. “The training gave me a real boost after my confidence had taken one almighty knock,” she said. “Practising giving presentations and feedback was great preparation for interviews for management posts, and the session on disability discrimination legislation was really useful.”

Skills: Recession and Recovery

SKILLS recession and recovery

SKILLSrecession and recovery

SKILLS recession and recovery


North West

The region is supporting unions and employers to work together to create apprenticeship opportunities in the workplace. The region has set up two new projects that are looking at innovative ways to engage workers aged 50 and above to develop their skills to either prolong their working life or create new opportunities after retirement. Another project is aimed at developing skills at Level 4 and above for those who are under threat of redundancy.

The Mental Health Awareness project is aimed at raising awareness of the needs of members who have experienced a mental health episode and encouraging employers to create a supportive workplace for their employees.

The region’s Learning and Skills for All Fund is currently supporting over 30 workplaces across the region to develop learning opportunities in the workplace and encouraging learners to improve their Skills for Life and gain qualifications at both Level 2 and Level 3.

Over 60 workplaces across the region were supported to promote Informal Adult Learning with funding for Learning at Work Day projects.

Midlands

During a period of recession, union learning has continued to open up learning opportunities for thousands across the region and unionlearn has provided specific support around skills in the context of recession and recovery.

The region’s network of learning centres has continued to grow, with a West Midlands funded project completing the set up of 21 centres.

Whilst many union learners have continued to benefit from Skills for Life, NVQs and ICT learning, others have taken up the progression opportunities facilitated by regional projects and ongoing work with partners to promote access to HE in the region. Particularly successful have been programmes encouraging women, BME and disabled workers into management, and opportunities provided to migrant workers to establish equivalence of their existing qualifications.

Support for apprenticeships has been provided, with a particular focus on local authorities in the East Midlands.

Northern

Over £750,000 was allocated by the region’s Learning for All Fund Panel to support 44 union-led workplace learning projects, leading to 2,000 adults undertaking Skills for Life learning – 600 passed their National Literacy Test; 650 have passed the Numeracy Test.

Learners are now showing increased motivation to progress from Skills for Life learning, with over 600 Level 2 achievements and over 180 adults achieving a Level 3 qualification. There have also been 380 Level 4 referrals made and 43 Level 4 completions.

In the past 12 months through the Higher Level Skills Project, 550 adults have been briefed on the importance of higher level skills and over 15 are working towards Level 5 qualifications.

Nearly 30 have participated in a project management workshop and 38 ULRs are working towards a Level 4 qualification in information, advice and guidance.

Most of unionlearn’s activity is delivered at regional level, where staff support projects and manage trade union education programmes. These are a few of the many activities the regions have been involved with in the past year.

Regionalactivity

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Southern and Eastern

A major achievement was the opening of the Community and Trade Union Learning Centre at the Olympic site. It has been awarded the prestigious Inspire Mark which is given to accessible, participative, inspiring and stimulating projects.

The region has agreed a memorandum of understanding with Kingston University to increase access to higher education, offering a 50 per cent reduction of fees in some foundation degrees.

The region has also engaged with unionlearn’s Apprenticeship and the Skills and Recovery projects. A Supporting Learners event offered the opportunity for union officers and ULRs to be updated about the Adult Advancement and Careers Service.

The unionlearn Quality Award was presented to five unions and other providers. The regional annual conference attracted 350 delegates and over 400 ULRs attended the 6 ULR network meetings. The region has worked with 12 FE colleges and one WEA resulting in over 16,000 reps trained through its TUC Education programme.

South West

The region is working with unions to combat the effects of the recession. This includes the region’s Skills for the Future Fund, the ‘Crunch Fund’ in Cornwall and partnership with Jobcentre Plus. A guide to skills and redundancy, Coming out on Top was launched in late 2009.

Nine unions across a range of sectors have projects with the Skills for the Future Fund, including six redundancy projects. The region’s effective partnership with Jobcentre Plus has resulted in case studies where rapid union assistance has benefited from additional expertise from Job Centre Plus.

The region trained more than 3,000 reps and held successful events for health and safety reps, union learning reps and BME activists.

The Festival of Learning 2009 and Adult Learners’ Week 2010 resulted in over 70 union events, including multicultural family celebrations.

The region highlights the effective work of its union reps in publications on women activists, Adult Learners’ Week and employer partnership work.

Yorkshire and the Humber

Building upon partnerships in the region unionlearn has increased activity around apprenticeships and the Skills Pledge (working with unions, employers and brokers to examine the importance of such policies). This has led to the delivery of funded provision, as well as wider training opportunities and activities.

The region continues to develop links between unions and the community, increasing union capacity for community-based learning in preparation for the Festival of Learning. Adult Learners’ Week saw 100 events taking place and the team are also engaged in regional work on continuing professional development and higher education.

Unique to this region is the unionlearn Skills Passport (an online tool that captures accredited and non-accredited learning). This is an important development in the context of the economic downturn.

The team continues to be engaged in work with unions on a wide variety of learning issues, and is committed to sourcing funding for the delivery of learning opportunities.

TUC Education offers high-quality, accredited union reps and professionals’ training through a network of colleges of further and higher education across the UK. Participation in the programme for union reps and professionals has again broken records, overtaking the previous high of 2008. Figures show that for the first time ever, course enrolments have reached 58,321 union workplace reps undertaking a training course with TUC Education. In addition, around 1,000 union professionals participated in courses. With now fourteen consecutive Adult Learning Inspectorate/OFSTED “Grade 1, outstanding” inspection reports and an unrivalled reputation for quality and innovation in adult education, TUC Education is an essential part of unionlearn’s work.

The QCF and fundingLearners are now being awarded the first qualifications through the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) – more than 100,000 credits and 25,000 full qualifications have been awarded since the QCF went live in September 2008. The Pan Sector Skills Council, responsible for trade union standards, and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) have agreed that nine of the qualifications within the framework have full Level 2 status (the equivalent of five GCSEs) and a further six Diploma courses have full Level 3 status. This brings benefits to trade union learners, builds the status of the programmes and adds value to the trade union education curriculum within FE.

As part of the transition from LSC to the SFA new arrangements for the confirmation of public funding for qualifications have started to

take effect. By January 2011, no vocational qualification will receive public funding unless it is in the QCF and is approved and recommended for funding by employers through their SSC. The SFA will take account of the mix and balance of provision as well as affordability issues and the priority will be full Level 2 and 3 qualifications, called “target-bearing qualifications”. A number of TUC Education qualifications fall into this category, but the Skills Funding Agency approval process had excluded 16 of the 37 qualifications from public funding. This is a significant change of emphasis for public funding, excluding many of the smaller qualifications which fit with the short course programme, for which there is a huge demand from unions. The growing difficulties in getting paid release for reps training has contributed to switching the emphasis from the more comprehensive ten-day provision to the shorter, and now more vulnerable, programmes.

Following negotiations with SFA and with the support of the Pan Sector Skills Council, an extension until August 2011 has been agreed to reconfigure the programme within

the new arrangements.

Course developmentWork has been taking place for some time to redesign and develop a new approach to the training of ULRs. A new version of the Stage 1 Union Learning Reps course was piloted in April 2010 and will be finalised and printed for September. It has a strong union rep focus, combined with a new unionlearn website portal called Keeping Up, which will contain tailored and contextualised information for union reps as part of their continuing development. The ULR part of the portal will contain up-to-date union and unionlearn information, guidance on new government initiatives and campaigns on learning in a relevant, digestible form.

The ULR follow-on programme has always presented problems of coherence and for the recruitment of necessary numbers. As part of the review, a new five-day course, Stage 2 Union Learning Reps, will be piloted for the autumn term. This will take ULR development a stage further whilst also capturing some of the key learning issues such as dyslexia and Skills for Life, and will be designed to respond to the needs of ULRs on the course in the same way as the Stage 2 programmes for reps and safety reps.

Cancer in the workplace Trade unions have been at the forefront of the campaign against the use of carcinogens in the workplace, with a particular emphasis on preventative measures through negotiating and campaigning. As part of a new partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, TUC Education

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020100 03 04 05 07 0806

60,000

40,000

50,000

10,000

20,000

30,000

0

9998

Total number of reps trained

TUC Education


TUC Education Online

TUC Education Online now offers a genuine alternative to its classroom-based equivalent; a convenient and effective online solution to union reps seeking to develop their skills and knowledge.

During the past year, TUC Education has continued to develop and expand its online programme. Demand for online courses is strong: 1,000 learners this year on 68 online courses, with some affiliates commissioning their own online programmes. An increase in tutors undertaking the LeTTOL (Learning to Teach Online) course has increased capacity to deliver.

The numbers in the above chart are derived from the dates each learner last logged in to the system. More at www.unionlearn.org.uk/education or from Craig Hawkins, Online Learning Officer [email protected]

Union professionals training and developmentThis crucial trade union segment has been a priority for TUC Education since the closure of the National Education Centre in 2005. The programme has grown exponentially since then, with a 23 per cent increase in 2008 over the 2007 figure, a total of 1,424 union professionals from 36 unions accessing training. Almost half (49 per cent) of all union professionals trained are women. Figures for 2009 will be published for Congress.

Much of the training continues to take place in London, but regional programmes are running in Scotland, the Midlands, the South West, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North West, making a reality the prospect of

an expanded, regional offer which can be accessed close to home.

Several new courses have been added to the updated core programme and details can be accessed at www.unionlearn.org.uk/education or from Martin Hegarty, TUC Education Officer, [email protected]

The impact of training on reps’ workThe results of a major piece of research into the impact of trade union education on Britain’s workplaces was published in the spring. This is the largest survey of trade union education ever conducted, with full survey returns from 1,046 reps, and it goes to the heart of what TUC Education seeks to accomplish. The results are impressive. More than 800 union reps took the trouble in this survey to give concrete examples of what they have done back at work as a consequence of being trained. Copies of the report, called Making a Difference, are available from the website www.unionlearn.org.uk/education or from Jackie Williams [email protected]

The national manager for trade union education is Liz Rees who can be contacted at [email protected]

has developed a new workbook, Cancer in the Workplace, designed to assist union reps in supporting members with cancer or with caring responsibilities for family members. The activities and resources are designed to be used flexibly for:

>> a union representative who wishes to improve facilities and policies at work concerning cancer

>> a union health and safety rep who has concerns about substances or work processes that may be cancer causing

>> a union learning rep who wishes to promote learning and awareness about cancer in the workplace

>> an equality rep who wants to ensure that work situations are improved and fair treatment is practiced when dealing with employees who have disabilities or require reasonable adjustments as a result of cancer

>> a union activist involved in developing and organising campaigns and events or learning partnerships where you can involve other reps, union members and staff.

800

1000

1200

1400

200

400

600

0

05 06 07 0908

Online learners 2005–2009

Supportingsectors

The sector skills councils (SSCs) bring together employer and union representatives from a sector of the economy to discuss and agree policies and skills. During the year unionlearn continued to support the trade union board members on each SSC with electronic communications and regular meetings of both cross-sector and sector specific networks. In addition, two meetings were arranged jointly by the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils and unionlearn to which the CEOs and trade union board members of all SSCs were invited.

At the unionlearn conference 2009 unionlearn and the health sector unions signed a memorandum of understanding with Skills for Health which has facilitated the work of a Joint Action Working Group with an agenda focussed around widening participation across pay groups 1–4, increasing the number of apprentices and improving access to information about the various tools available to ULRs from the SSC. Following a selection procedure in which unionlearn was fully involved, Skills for Health seconded a union rep to assist with this agenda.

Unionlearn has also supported SSCs by organising events to raise their profile with ULF project managers. Two seminars were held during the year and, at the unionlearn

conference 2009, all SSCs and project managers were offered a space in the ‘learning lounge’ to promote an aspect of their work in poster format.

As the Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative enters its fourth phase, unionlearn continues to have a presence on the operations group, and to promote these innovative schemes for up-skilling women to gain access to non-traditional roles where there is a skills shortage. The evaluation of phase 2 of this project, published in May 2010, indicates that there have been some long-term benefits from these projects, with women being able to improve their pay rates, and employers becoming more likely to fund similar initiatives for other women employees.

In response to a recession briefing from the TUC, which trade union board members were asked to table at their next board meeting, the five SSCs in the manufacturing sector, together with unionlearn and their unions, formed the Manufacturing Skills Alliance working group jointly to promote those resources available from SSCs that can help to limit the impact of the recession. With support from the Skills: Recession and Recovery project team the group organised regional workshops to promote these resources and to

find out what further resources are needed. Follow-up work resulting from these workshops includes the development of a sector specific briefing sheet on the economic benefits of skills training for union officers and reps to use with employers.

Unionlearn has worked with Asset Skills to roll out two complementary qualification packages. The Level 1 ‘Getting on at Work’ suite of employability modules is appropriate for workers in any sector. It was developed for unionlearn, and includes a set of learning materials freely available from the unionlearn website. The Public Sector Skills Framework project, involving PCS, UNISON, Unite, Unionlearn, IIP, the Improvement and Development Agency, RDAs and employers, as well as Asset Skills, produced a Level 2 qualification ‘Skills for Supporting Public Services’ aimed primarily at workers in the services sector working on government contracts. During February and March 2010 these two qualifications were presented to almost 300 representatives of unions, employers, providers and awarding bodies in regional workshops. As a result of this activity, and depending on the availability of funding, the indications are that both packages are proving popular with employers and employees.

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Supportinglearners

Supporting Learners strategyThe Supporting Learners strategy embraces the work unions do to give members information, advice and guidance. The strategy is based on implementing and mainstreaming a ‘network’ model within unionlearn, affiliated unions and the network of careers advice providers both nationally and regionally.

The unionlearn Supporting Learners strategy is now embedded in the work of unionlearn in the following ways:

>> It underpins the work that ULRs do with members at all levels of learning, from Skills for Life to higher level learning.

>> It complements current TUC work on supporting members in the economic downturn.

>> It is a key theme in the ULF and the majority of current projects include Supporting Learners activities.

>> Partnerships with key organisations, including the Careers Advice Service, nextstep, the Open University (OU), Foundation Degree Forward and the SSCs are active and ongoing, and unionlearn is part of the Stakeholder Group for the new Adult Advancement and Careers Service.

>> In some unions and regions, qualified ULRs are offering services to members funded by nextstep, and are achieving the matrix Excellence award for information, advice and guidance.

>> The unionlearn Quality Award has been developed and adapted to include colleges’ careers information and advice services.

>> Supporting Learners materials have been updated, including the Supporting Learners guides for ULRs.

Higher learningUnionlearn seeks to encourage progression and learning at all levels. Union membership includes a large proportion of people who already have qualifications at Level 2 or above, and those who have returned to learning and achieved Level 2 qualifications have aspirations to progress. The implementation plan following the Leitch Review of Skills sets a target for 40 per cent of adults to be qualified to Level 4 or above by 2020.

Unions work in a range of ways to help members access higher level opportunities. Unionlearn has a strategy for developing pathways to higher level learning for union learners, and has strategic agreements with AimHigher, the OU and Foundation Degree Forward to take this forward. Regional projects have been set up in the Southern and Eastern and Northern regions to work with universities to make local opportunities more accessible for union members. Resources and joint arrangements have been created by unionlearn with these partners to help ULRs and other reps. Special agreements are in place with the OU that give union members a 10 per cent discount on course fees. Negotiations are under way to extend this to other universities.

The union learning Climbing FrameThe union learning Climbing Frame is now online. This free website for ULRs has been revamped and rebranded, offering even more to help ULRs support learners. A great deal of work has gone into trialling, piloting and testing out the new website with the unions Prospect, PCS and USDAW playing a key role.

The Climbing Frame continues to provide up to date information for ULRs and learners within the Learning Themes area along with the Learner Management section, which is where ULRs can record their sessions with learners and help them plan their learning journey.

The website includes a number of new features which include a search function for the Learning Themes, a useful links area, archive action option, expandable hexagonal grid for recording progression and customised and exportable reports.

The two-day Climbing Frame training module has been re-written and will be available from the autumn term. An information leaflet and a number of guides have been produced to provide information about the new website and how it can most effectively be used.


Working with partners

Foundation Degree ForwardUnionlearn is working with Foundation Degree Forward (fdf ) in championing and supporting work-based progression to higher education. Unionlearn and fdf share a common mission to support the career development of working adults, to raise their aspirations to higher education and help realise them through flexible and work-based learning such as Foundation degrees. This MOU provides a framework to help encourage and support progression of union members to higher education and raise knowledge and awareness of ULRs about Foundation degrees.

Unionlearn and fdf are working on a joint project in the Southern and Eastern region to support employer and employee engagement in Foundation degrees and higher level skills development. As part of this project a new guide, called Higher Education at Work, has been produced for reps. The guide is about the skills and knowledge reps will

need to make a case for support for learners who want to progress to higher education.

Open UniversityUnionlearn is working in partnership with the Open University to help support union members to access higher level learning opportunities. A key benefit from this MOU was the OU offer to union members of a 10 per cent discount on fees for OU first year undergraduate courses that carry 30 and 60 points towards their qualification. As a result of this arrangement over 4,000 union learners have claimed their discount and are now studying OU courses.

A national unionlearn/OU Steering Group has been established to oversee progress on the key priorities contained in the joint action plan. These include: working with employers and sector skills councils to close skill gaps; developing progression pathways for workforce development; and providing access courses for potential OU students

in the union movement. The OU has also achieved the prestigious unionlearn Quality Award for its Make Your Experience Count programme.

Careers AdviceAn integral part of this MOU is the unionlearn learning and careers advice service which is operated by Careers Advice to support ULRs. ULRs and union members can call free from any landline on 08000 92 91 90 to access the full range of services offered by Careers Advice, tailored to the needs of unions. Course searches and other enquiries can be made via a web portal on the unionlearn home page. This service is proving to be extremely popular with ULRs and members with over a thousand users a month. The service can be accessed in nine languages for migrant workers and others whose first language is not English

Investors in People UKIn April 2010 the ownership of the Investors in People framework transferred to the UK Commission

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Unionlearn can only meet its objectives by working with partner organisations. That is why it has established programmes of work with a number of leading organisations, often set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOUs underpin detailed joint work plans, which are regularly monitored and reviewed. Unionlearn has signed MOUs with the following partner organisations:

for Employment and Skills (UKCES). Unionlearn and UKCES are working together to help maximise the contribution both organisations can make to promoting learning and skills among employers and employees, and boost organisational effectiveness.

Some of the areas of joint working include: UKCES to raise awareness among its networks about the role of unions and ULRs and their role in workplace learning; unionlearn to raise awareness among unions and ULRs about the revised Investors in People Standard and Profile; sharing of good practice; developing case studies; and undertaking research. Unionlearn will continue to be involved in further revisions of the standard.

National Extension CollegeUnionlearn is continuing to work in partnership with the National Extension College (NEC) to develop a long-term strategic relationship, initially in the area of widening participation, including progression pathways and access provision. The partnership between unionlearn and the NEC gives union learners access to over 120 Level 2 and 3 accredited courses. Unionlearn and the NEC have undertaken a number of joint marketing and publicity activities to promote the 10 per cent discount to union learners on NEC courses and targeted help for disabled, young and minority ethnic members.

National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE)The TUC and NIACE partnership recognises the positive role both partners play in engaging constructively with employers to identify how aspirations of employees can best be met in relation to workforce development. This MOU is

built on a mutual goal to support the personal development and lifelong learning of working adults.

Some of the areas of joint working include: increasing union learners’ awareness and involvement in adult learners week; showcasing and disseminating good and effective practice in workplace learning; sharing in-house knowledge and expertise; promoting equality and diversity; and promoting literacy, numeracy and ICT activities in the workplace.

National Training AwardsUnionlearn and National Training Awards are working together to encourage more organisations to invest in creating a highly skilled workforce to improve performance and productivity. Both partners share a distinctive commitment to recognising best practice and raising awareness to inspire more organisations to invest in learning and development.

Unionlearn and National Training Awards have collaborated on joint marketing initiatives to promote union activity and involvement in the National Training Award. The partnership has helped to identify exemplars of union learning good practice and case studies about NTA entries that have union involvement.

Campaign for LearningUnionlearn and the Campaign for Learning partnership aims to support an increase in the total number of adults engaged in learning; and at the same time take positive action to improve opportunities and widen access to learning opportunities for those communities under-represented in current provision.

This partnership has helped to promote and support Learning

at Work Day activities through unionlearn and union communication channels. Joint work was undertaken to encourage and support union learning reps in organising learning opportunities and help them maximise funding available to support their events and activities. In addition, joint work has been carried out on the development of a model for effective regional liaison and raising awareness of the unionlearn Quality Award with providers.

Quality AwardThe unionlearn Quality Award is designed to help unions secure good quality provision. Providers can achieve the award if their programmes and courses meet the standards of good practice criteria on working with unions and teaching and learning. The success of the Quality Award has led to a new version being launched. The Quality Award has been developed and adapted so that careers information and advice services can attain the award. Greater Merseyside nextstep, the Careers Advice Service and the CWU have achieved the new award for their information and advice services and now many more providers are working towards achieving this new standard.

The Quality Award has been operating since 2007 and now nearly 100 providers have received the award for a diverse range of programmes and services. A recent evaluation found a high degree of satisfaction with the Quality Award process. In one case a provider reported that the Quality Award had resulted in structural changes that led to a net improvement in achievement of learners.


Policy and research

ResearchUnionlearn is now recognised as a key centre for research on union-supported learning. It continues to commission high quality research from a number of prestigious university business schools. Ten papers have been published in the unionlearn research series and widely disseminated within the union movement and academic community. All these research papers are free of charge and can be ordered at: www.unionlearn.org.uk/researchpapers

Research paper 10, published in November 2009, was prepared for unionlearn by Dr Bill Lee of the University of Sheffield Management school and Professor Catherine Cassell of the University of Manchester Business School. It compares union learning representatives in the UK with their counterparts in New Zealand. It demonstrates that an important factor in sustaining both initiatives is the commitment of the individual learning representatives to progressing learning within their organisations.

A key research project over the past year has been the biennial survey of union learning representatives and their employers which was commissioned from the University of Central Lancashire. The findings of

this survey are covered in detail in the ULR section of this report.

One of the most significant research initiatives undertaken over the past year has been a major study commissioned from the Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change at Leeds University Business School to identify and evaluate the key outcomes that union learning is delivering for learners, unions and employers. As highlighted in the introduction to this annual report, the results from the first stage of this evaluation are very positive.

PolicyOver the past year there has been regular dialogue between unionlearn and government on a number of key aspects of skills policy, in particular the development or improvement of learning initiatives that can be supported by unions at the workplace level. This dialogue has ranged from direct communications with government ministers to a wide range of consultative meetings with government officials. Dialogue has particularly focused on the union role in supporting key programmes such as apprenticeships and also the implementation of new individual rights, such as the right to request time to train. Regular policy briefings specifically aimed

at a union audience are also made available on the unionlearn website.

Unionlearn also provides policy support to union officials involved in a range of learning and skills bodies, including the role played by the TUC General Secretary on the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. Unionlearn staff are also engaged in representing the TUC on a number of international bodies, including the Advisory Committee for Vocational Training of the European Commission.

SeminarsUnionlearn’s learning and skills policy network exists to promote the dissemination of research and policy findings to the wider union movement and also to other stakeholders, including the academic community and policy bodies. In September 2009, unionlearn hosted a seminar on the future of 14–19 education, featuring a key presentation by Professor Richard Pring of Oxford University and lead director of the Nuffield Review of 14–19 education. In February 2010 a meeting of the network focused on some of the policy challenges around improving the quality of apprenticeships and included a presentation by Professor Lorna Unwin of the Institute of Education, University of London.

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Securing quality

Unionlearn quality improvement workFurther to extensive consultation, significant progress has been made in designing a new Quality Improvement Framework (QIF) during the year. Based on a six-stage quality improvement process it helps meet unionlearn’s strategic priority Goal 6:“Embed a quality framework across all unionlearn provision to drive up and maintain high standards and work towards a culture of continuous quality improvement”.

Unionlearn has acknowledged the critical role that quality improvement will play within the organisation in the ever-shifting funding landscape. It is determined to ensure that the framework is fit for purpose to position unionlearn to be able to work effectively in the challenging years ahead.

The framework underpins unionlearn’s commitment to offering professional services to unions and will evidence unionlearn’s role in ensuring unions and union learners receive the best possible service and support available. It will capture individual and team contributions to the success of unionlearn, demonstrate the impact that union learning has in the workplace and evidence unionlearn’s contribution to unions and to the learning and skills agenda. It will provide staff with a framework of national standards to guide their work and support their continued professional development.

The framework encourages a diversity of approach to support innovation but ensures standardisation of verifiable outcomes. It provides standardised templates and pro-forma to avoid duplication of

effort and clear guidance on what is required at each stage of the process. The process is not linear and therefore can be used flexibly to suit the various requirements of national, regional and localised reporting.

To carry this work out a series of development events for all national and regional teams has been delivered to ensure a full understanding of roles, responsibilities and reporting requirements. A baseline self-assessment has been completed which will inform the full self-assessment review and action planning process planned for autumn 2010. This will in turn inform unionlearn’s future strategic and operational planning priorities.


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Communications

Ensuring that information about unionlearn has been available to the unions, partners and the wider public has been a key part of the work of this last year. Improvements have continued to be made to the unionlearn website making access to documents and publications easier as well as using it to promote work with partners. We have moved into the world of social media by setting up a unionlearn Twitter account which has been valuable in promoting our work and events to a new and wider audience. Traditional methods of communication also remain and our magazine, The Learning Rep, continues to be published quarterly.

Several high profiles events have taken place during the year, including the first ULF awards ceremony to celebrate the achievements of the ULF over the last 12 years. We also took the winners of the unionlearn/Quick Reads writing competition to Downing Street to celebrate World Book Day along with a range of people from the literary and publishing world.

A range of publications have been produced over the year on a variety of subjects and we have extended the range of media work we do ensuring that we have advertised the role of ULRs and unionlearn across a range of high profile media outlets with the aim of engaging

more employers. In April this culminated in a special unionlearn supplement produced with The Independent newspaper.

Support has come from a variety of sources from celebrities such as authors Lola Jaye and Alvin Hall, comedians Jo Brand and Lenny Henry and a range of government ministers including the then Prime Minister. We hope and plan to keep this high level of endorsement over the coming year both at government level and with supporters from the wider world.


Funding

The figures in this section are based on the draft 2009/10 outturn. The final 2009/10 outturn is reported through to the Finance and Audit Committee and then to the Board in July each year.

Unionlearn’s financial performance for the calendar year is reported in the TUC’s annual accounts. This shows a break even position for 2009, with most project balances carried forward to 2010. (Note 1)

The TUC has a grant agreement with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to support the core work of unionlearn in promoting and enabling union-led learning and education in all areas of the country and to manage the Union Learning Fund, which distributes funding to unions to support projects to enable them to work effectively with employers, employees and learning providers to encourage greater take-up of learning in the workplace. Funding received under the grant agreement totalled £21,603,529 in 2009/10 (Note 2 and Note 3)

The TUC continues to fund the core work of trade union education from the affiliation fee. In 2009/10, £962,443 of the affiliation fee was spent on trade union education. The TUC also supports unionlearn

through the provision of support services and accommodation. Provisional estimates, based on staff numbers as at 31/3/10, show that the estimated contribution from the TUC to unionlearn is £1.2m

Unionlearn received funding of £666,631 in 2009/10 from UFI Limited to pay for learndirect provision through the U-Net network of learning centres.

At a regional level unionlearn has received funding from regional learning and skills councils, regional development agencies and the European Social Fund for specific projects aimed at recruiting more union learning representatives and bringing more union members into learning.

There are now regional learning funds in the South West, North West and Northern regions and unionlearn intends to create these in other regions where funders are willing.

During 2009/10 unionlearn has developed the Skills: Recession and Recovery project which has been working in all English regions to help unions and their members cope with the effects of the economic downturn. It has also launched a Community and Trade Union Learning Centre on the

Olympics site, with the support of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

Unionlearn’s largest expenditure is on grants to unions through the ULF (44 per cent) and regional funds (13 per cent) and then staffing costs (25 per cent). As at 31 March 2010, 171 staff worked within unionlearn across the country. Staffing has come down as a proportion of total expenditure since 2008/09. Office and support costs have risen due to significant expenditure on the external evaluation of unionlearn and the ULF by Leeds Business School and increased expenditure on quality.

Further information

Note 1 The TUC’s annual accounts are reported to Congress every September as part of the General Council’s Report. The report to Congress 2009 can be found at: www.tuc.org.uk/congress

Note 2 The grant funding agreement between the TUC and BIS for 2009/10 is available via the unionlearn website:www.unionlearn.org.uk

Note 3 Details of expenditure on Union Learning Fund projects are available via the ULF website:www.unionlearningfund.org.uk

National and regional

funding sources for unionlearn

2009/10

BIS ULF 54%

BIS 21%

Learning and Skills Council 10%Regional Development Agencies 7%TUC 3%UFI Limited 2%

Other 2%

National and regional unionlearn expenditure

2009/10

Union Learning Fund grants to unions 44%Regional grants to unions 13%

Staff, training and recruitment costs 25%

Office and support costs 9%Travel and meetings 4%Direct payments to U-Net 2%Accommodation 2%

Other 1%

Contacts

unionlearn

Tel 020�7079�6920Fax 020�7079�6921Web�www.unionlearn.org.uk

Tom�Wilson, DirectorT 020 7079 6922

National unionlearn

ManagersJames�AsserCommunications and Marketing ManagerT 020 7079 6942

Ian�BorkettStandards and Quality ManagerT 020 7079 6940

Bert�CloughResearch and Strategy ManagerT 020 7079 6925

Matthew�Fernandez-GrahamBusiness and Finance ManagerT 020 7079 6936

Catherine�McLennanUnion Development Co-ordinatorT 0151 243 2558

Iain�MurraySenior Policy OfficerT 020 7079 1264

Liz�ReesTrade Union Education ManagerT 020 7079 6923

Judith�SwiftUnion Development ManagerT 0151 243 2568

Regional unionlearn

Southern and Eastern teamBarry�Francis Regional ManagerT 020 7467 1251

Midlands teamMary�Alys Regional ManagerT 0121 236 4454

Northern teamElizabeth�Killoran Regional ManagerT 0191 227 5557

North West teamDave�Eva Regional ManagerT 0151 236 2321

South West teamHelen�Cole Regional ManagerT 0117 947 0521

Yorkshire and the Humber teamAlan�Roe Regional ManagerT 0113 245 4909

34 » unionlearn

Published by unionlearnCongress�HouseLondon�Wc1B�3Ls

Tel�020�7079�6920Fax 020�7079�6921www.unionlearn.org.uk

July 2010

Design�by�Chapman�Design�Photography�by�Justin�Tallis�(cover);�Jess�Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk�(p14�and�p�31);�Chris�Gleave�(p16);�Lorne�Campbell/Guzelian�(p17);�Mark�Thompson�(p19);�Rod�Leon�(p20);�Sarah�Turton�(p26)Printed�by�Newnorth�Print

All�unionlearn�publications�may�be�made�available�for�dyslexic�or�visually�impaired�readers,�on�request,�in�an�agreed�electronic�format�or�in�accessible�formats�such�as�Braille,�audio�tape�

and�large�print,�at�no�extra�cost.�Contact�TUC�Publications�on�020�7467�1294.

Documents

Annual conference report 2010 (Annual report)