Tag Archive for: skills

GET Group update. October 2024.

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By Jigna Vyas Gosal, CCVS Development Officer

Get Group Logo. text reads: Guidance, Emplyment, and Training (GET) A collective of organisations who support the community with advice and guidance around education and training.

What is GET?

GET stands for Guidance, Employment and Training and was formed in 1989 with a mission to provide an ‘umbrella’ Infrastructure Group for the adult skills not-for-profit sector of Cambridgeshire.

Over the years membership has grown significantly, becoming more fluid and diverse. It includes voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSE), statutory bodies, private sector providers and individuals.

The original organisation that delivered GET has closed and the work has been taken over by the Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS).

The GET Group meet 4 times a year. Speakers are invited to attend and share relevant organisational updates and information, we often have funding updates to share and update on as well.

A “lack of funding” is a consistent problem across the sector (57% of respondents classified lack of funding as a big issue, State of the Sector Survey 2024.) Recent news has focused on the increase in the number of people out of work due to ill health (Guardian article 2/10/2024). The return to employment and/or education after periods of time for whatever reason can be challenging. This is where the voluntary sector can step in. Supporting individuals on the path to formal employment or education via an informal approach be it via a voluntary role or community group participation. For example, the Work Well project (with the Cambridge and District Citizens Advice Bureaux – CAB and The Abbey people) is working with the GET Group, the voluntary sector, and health (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Systems – CPIS) and statutory services (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority – CPCA) to directly tackle these issues collaboratively.

Get Conference 2025

We are excited to announce the return of the GET Group conference on Wednesday 5th March 2025, taking place online. We will be discussing how the voluntary sector can work with organisations offering guidance, education and training . We will also look at how we might put on some supporting training in that same week.

In the past GET ran an in-person celebration event where learners were able to tell their story. As we are now a truly county wide organisation we want to continue this idea but enable people from across Cambridgeshire to contribute. This means we want you to break out your phones and make short videos (a maximum of 2 minutes) that introduce your organisation, and that gets your learners to tell their stories. You can do more than one if you have a number of learner stories but we do suggest you keep them short. We will then arrange for you to submit the videos to us along with a permission form so that we can share these on the GET website and across social media. We will look to show some of these at the event on the 5th March but we will highlight them across that week. We are looking forward to celebrating our groups and organisations’ adult learners, so if you have an adult learner with a story to share and celebrate, please do get in touch with Jigna: jigna@cambridgecvs.org.uk

Click here for more information about the GET Group Network.

We hope to see you at the next meeting.

Adult Education Budget Re-Procurement: Bid for a place on the Cambridgeshire Skills Approved Provider List

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Funding opportunity for voluntary and community organisations who are interested in delivering learning as part of Cambridgeshire Skills offer for the academic years August 2024 – July 2026.

Cambridgeshire County Council are inviting Adult Education providers to bid for a place on the Cambridgeshire Skills Approved Provider List’ to deliver AEB. Successful bidders will have the chance to be granted funding for the academic year(s) 1 August 2024 – 31 July 2026, with the possibility to extend the Approved Provider List for two further years.

There is total funding of £638,000 available per year.

The Council receives two separate Adult Education Budget (AEB) grants from:
1. Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)/Department for Education (DfE)
2. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA)

The Council delivers adult education in-house, but a proportion of the grants are sub-contracted to independent providers that deliver training that complements the in-house delivery.

The Adult Education Budget (AEB) aims to engage adults and provide the skills and learning they need to equip them for work, an apprenticeship or other learning. It enables more flexible tailored programmes of learning to be made available, which may or may not require a qualification, to help eligible learners engage in learning, build confidence, and/or enhance their wellbeing.

The relevant CPCA and ESFA Funding Rules and eligibility criteria for the academic year (1 August 2024 – 31 July 2025) will apply to this funding.

Opening date to register interest: 18/04/2024 12:00

Closing date to register interest: 31/08/2026 12:00

For more information and to register interest please visit: https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert/Index?advertId=306695c0-d1fb-ee11-812a-005056b64545