Introduction
Wigan Council’s Adult Learning and Skills Service currently works with schools, training providers, third sector organisations, and local community groups to deliver a range of learning opportunities for adults, families, and communities across Wigan borough. For 2025/26, the learning opportunities were secured through an open, transparent, and competitive tendering process for external providers and through an application for funding which was completed through ‘The Chest’, the North West's Local Authority Procurement Portal.
Service delivery is a combination of provision delivered by the service’s direct delivery unit, and provision which is sub-contracted with a range of partner organisations such as training providers, schools, and voluntary community sector organisations.
The service is funded from Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) for the Adult Skills Funding (ASF). The Council is responsible for the delivery of the provision in accordance with any specific requirements of the GMCA.
This policy outlines the management charges and fees for those providers who are sub-contracted by the council to deliver the agreed programmes through the budget lines outlined above.
The service encourages a relationship with its providers from one that extends beyond the definitions of the contract to one which operates in a spirit of support, guidance, co-working, transparency, and challenge, where necessary, in order to drive improvements and to ensure the best possible service delivery to learners.
Fees and charges
The Adult Learning and Skills service sub-contracts a proportion of its provision in order to ensure that it:
- Actively responds to a wide range of individual learner, family, and community needs across the borough
- Engages with hard-to-reach learners from within the borough
- Maintains a balanced and wide-ranging, high-quality programme offer
- Is able to respond rapidly to local, regional, and national initiatives
- Engages with the best local providers of skills and learning across the borough
- Maximises the use of its funding for front-line delivery, providing excellent value for money
- Identifies and shares best practice from a diverse provider base to continually improve the provision and reduce risk
- Fully aligns with Wigan Council’s commissioning and procurement strategy.
A strong emphasis is placed on improving the quality of teaching, learning, and assessment through the application of the Quality Framework with Providers, class visits, observations of teaching, learning, and assessment, sharing best practice as a standard agenda item at the Network Provider meetings.
A management fee of 15% will be charged and invoiced monthly, based on the actual earnings received by each partner delivering ASF programmes.
Management costs include staffing, overheads, management information systems (MIS), administration, meetings, and the support of the Learning and Skills Manager and the Contracts and Performance Manager.
Subcontractor fees are discussed at network meetings and individually between the Contracts and Performance Manager and the training provider/subcontractor.
In return for the charge, providers receive the following support, guidance, and challenge:
- A named Contract Manager as first point of contact who will respond promptly to any queries and monitor the contract throughout the year
- Reports from class visits, joint lesson observations, and observations of learning, teaching, and assessment
- Regular contract monitoring meetings where provider performance against contract and the quality of delivery against the Quality Framework are discussed and action plans for improvement agreed
- Monthly/termly network meetings where best practice is shared and providers can raise issues for discussion/clarification
- Monthly provider updates to ensure providers are kept informed of developments
- The services of a Curriculum and Quality Manager
- The observation of teaching, learning and assessment, and moderation processes
- Processing of individual learner record returns, data validation and reporting
- Continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for tutors, plus bespoke staff development as and when required
- Access to Wigan Council’s Marketing and Communication team who will support and advise providers on how to correctly display Wigan Council’s logo
- Access to Wigan Council’s Business Engagement team for referring potential business employment opportunities.
The payment schedule, terms, and timescale for paying invoices and claims for funding received are detailed in the provider contracts and are in line with Wigan Council’s financial regulations.
This policy is to be viewed by current and potential subcontractors and will be reviewed annually.