EMPLOYMENT RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT MINI COMPETITIONS FOR THE PROVISION OF THE WORK PROGRAMME

Invitation to Tender Form

Tender Round title: Organisation Name: Lot: Contract Package Area (CPA):

The Work Programme esg Holdings Limited 6 15 Coventry & Warwickshire, Staffordshire & The Marches

PART 1: ORGANISATION DETAILS

[1.1] Your response to Part 1 is for information purposes only. If any of this information has changed since the Framework Agreement application stage, please state this within the table below including a short explanation as to why. If you cannot provide any of the information below please explain this within the table. DWP will not be responsible for contacting anyone other than the persons named in this part of your form. If any of this information changes during the bidding period you must inform DWP of the changes by email to: WORK.PROGITTCLARIFICATION@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK Name of the Legal Entity in whose name this tender is submitted and with whom DWP will contract: Trading Name (if different from above): Company Registration Number: Company Registered address: Head Office Address, if different: VAT Registration Number: Website Address (if any): 700348769 www.esggroup.co.uk esg Holdings Limited

06397426 12 Europa View, Sheffield Business Park, Sheffield. S9 1XH

Name, address and company registration number of parent company, where applicable: Name and Job Title of main contact: [REDACTED] Senior Bid Executive Address: 12 Europa View, Sheffield Business Park, Sheffield. S9 1XH Telephone no: [REDACTED] Mobile telephone no: Fax no: E-mail address: Alternative contact Name and Job Title: Address (if different from above): Telephone no: Mobile telephone no: Contact e-mail: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Group Business Development Director

PART 2: TENDERER DECLARATION

[2.1] You must complete this Declaration by Tenderer. Failure to include this declaration may result in your bid being disqualified. To: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

For the benefit of the Department for Work and Pensions, we hereby warrant and undertake as follows: 1. We have examined, read, understand and accept in full the proposed Contract documents and all other documents and Annexes provided with this declaration and the clarifications issued during the Invitation to Tender period. 2. We have completed and submitted all information required in the Invitation to Tender Form in the format and order required. 3. We confirm the information set out in our response is complete and accurate to the best of our knowledge and belief. 4. We hereby acknowledge and agree that we have read, understand and accept the Work Programme Call-Off Terms and Conditions, the Work Programme Specification and the draft Order Form. [REDACTED] Scanned Signature: 13th February 2011 Date: [REDACTED] Name: Group Business Development Director Job Title: esg Holdings Limited Duly authorised to sign Tenders on behalf of: esg Holdings Limited Name of Organisation:

PART 3: THE WORK PROGRAMME CALL-OFF CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS - ALTERNATIVE AND/OR ADDITIONAL CLAUSES
[3.1] 3.1 The terms and conditions of The Work Programme will be the Standard Call-Off Terms and Conditions (set out in Schedule 4 of your Framework Agreement), as modified by The Work Programme service requirements (The Work Programme Additional Requirements). The Work Programme Additional Requirements are set out in the Call-Off Terms and Conditions for The Work Programme which is supplied with your Invitation to Tender. A document highlighting the modifications made to the Standard Call-Off Terms and Conditions to reflect The Work Programme Additional Requirements is also supplied with your Invitation to Tender; for ease of identification, the changes made since the draft version issued on 8 December 2010 are shown in boxes within the document. Any proposed amendments to The Work Programme Additional Requirement must be detailed by completing the section below, giving full details of the clause(s) you wish to amend and your proposed amendments. DWP will consider proposed amendments strictly on their merits. Please note that you may only propose amendments to The Work Programme Additional Requirements; proposed amendments to the Standard Call-Off Contract Terms and Conditions will not be considered.

3.2

3.3

Comments on The Work Programme Additional Requirements: MINI COMPETITION ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS (For Framework Supplier Comments only) No. of the clause(s) you Proposed amendment with proposed wording wish to amend 7.1.3 and 7.1.7 We would request that the limit of liability reflect that included within the Framework Agreement of 10m. 7.1.5 The contracting body may, amongst other things, recover as a direct loss, subject to the limits included within clause 7.1.3: 1.8.2 . Shall pay all costs (at the contracting bodies then prevailing rates) and reasonable expenses, subject to an overall maximum limit of 10% of the contract value in the relevant year. 8.5.2 the contracting body may recover from the Prime contractor the costs reasonably incurred, subject to a maximum of 10% of the contract value for the period of the notice. 8.5.3 Subject to clause 7, where the Contracting body terminates the contract under clause 8.3 (break), or clause 8.4 (Framework Agreement), 8.5.3 The Prime contractor shall submit a fully itemised and costed list of such loss, with supporting evidence of losses reasonably and actually incurred by the Prime Contractor,

including unamortised set up costs,

Other than those provisions identified above, [esg Holdings Limited] confirms that it has reviewed the Call-Off Terms and Conditions for The Work Programme and agrees in principle to each of their provisions.

[REDACTED] Name: Scanned Signature: Position: Telephone No: Date: [REDACTED] Group Business Development Director [REDACTED] 13th February 2011

DWP reserves the right to amend any provisions of The Work Programme Additional Requirements at any time during the mini-competition procurement exercise.

PART 4:

SERVICE REQUIREMENT

NOTE: MINIMUM SCORE APPLIES TO ALL QUESTIONS THAT ATTRACT A SCORE WITHIN THIS SECTION. BIDS SCORING 2 OR LESS ON ANY QUESTION WITHIN THIS SECTION WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE COMPETITION. PLEASE NOTE SCORES ATTAINED IN THIS SECTION MAY ALSO BE USED IN A TIE-BREAK SITUATION WHERE APPROPRIATE.

[4.1] Customer Journey - Process Please submit a process map showing the proposed end to end customer journey(s) and attach the process map as Annex 1. This should include a detailed supporting description of the customer journey(s) specific to this CPA. Your response must describe how you will ensure the customer journey is tailored to meet the specific needs and barriers of individual customers, and include the customer requirements defined in the Specification. Please note your response to this question will not be scored but will act as a reference point for the scoring of questions 4.1a and 4.1b Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to five sides of A4. Note: Format requirement and page limit does not apply to the process map which you must insert as Annex 1.

4.1 The esg customer journey has 5 stages, each with a maximum timeline before progression to the next stage becomes mandatory. This approach enables a consistent and coherent journey, matched to the highly individualised needs of each customer, where there is constant progression towards the labour market. The esg customer journey will be delivered by all end-to-end / 2nd tier subcontractors for Coventry & Warwickshire, Staffordshire & The Marches.

Stage 1: iDENTIFY - This stage of our business process takes the customer from point of referral, through their first appointment and assessment and transfer to the most appropriate end-to-end provider / Case Manager. Maximum timeline of fifteen days. Stage 2: CONNECT - This stage takes the customer from their first Case Management meeting to the point where they engaged with the programme and are ready to take meaningful action linked to work. Maximum timeline of six months. Stage 3: ACTION - This stage commences as soon as the customer is fully engaged with the programme and are ready to commence employability and skill training modules. Maximum timeline of eighteen months. Stage 4: ACHIEVE - This stage spans the transition from job start to sustained job outcome. Maximum timeline of six months. Stage 5: PROGRESS - This stage takes the customer from sustained job outcome to long term sustainment of the job including work based learning. Max timeline 24 months. iDENTIFY: 1) Referral - esg will receive Customer referrals via PRaP. All PRaP referrals will be transferred via CSV file and uploaded into our bespoke and secure CRM System Cascade. The data is held within an ISO 2001 certified hosting provider with FIPS140-2 encrypted connections to secure end points. Where a PRaP referral is preceded by a warm JCP telephone call, this will be recorded on Cascade and assigned a unique customer reference number which will be applied to the customer case file when the PRaP referral is received. Referrals are allocated to the relevant 2nd tier provider by geography within 4 working hours of receipt. The customer case will enter the Cascade appointment setting queue from which customers will be contacted by phone and invited to an Initial Assessment interview. This will be confirmed followed by a posted letter and welcome pack and reminder SMS. Cascade will be updated with the appointment and every interaction with the customer throughout their journey will be recorded. All occurrences of non-attendance will be flagged on Cascade. Where a customer fails to attend an appointment, the Referral Agent will contact the customer at least 4 times by phone, to find out the reason for their absence and to make a new appointment. Where the Agent has not been successful in contacting the customer, Cascade will send out an automated letter to the customer with a new appointment time. For mandated customers the letter will highlight the importance of attendance and sanctions which could result. Cascade will also send a diary reminder to the Referral Agent to contact the customer two days prior to the new appointment to confirm their attendance. If a customer fails to attend or cancels appointments 3 times in a row, Cascade will diary an appointment for an Assessor home visit. If the customer does not answer the door, we will leave a card through their door asking them to contact the Assessor. Cascade will generate a weekly report by subcontractor, on % attendance and number of missed appointments for the relevant Contract Manager. We will register attachments within 15 days of referrals for a minimum of 90% of customers. 2) iDENTIFY Assessment - All Customers attend a 2 hour first appointment with a trained, qualified Assessor. This meeting comprises of an induction to the programme; introduction to esg/2nd tier contractor, process overview, the assessment, customer rights and responsibilities, service levels for both parties. This is followed by iDENTIFY, esgs unique diagnostic assessment tool. This 2 part assessment

4.1 (continued) starts with an online psychometric questionnaire which lasts up to 45 minutes and a 30 minute structured forensic interview to discuss the results. This diagnostic has been developed for esg by JCA Occupational Psychologists, specialist providers of welfare to work psychology services. All staff using the JCA products will be trained and accredited by JCA to administer the tools and correctly analyse the results. Both JCA and esgs Quality Assurance team will spot audit the application by Assessors of this service to retain high standards of assessment. The iDENTIFY assessment is primarily on-line but can be utilised in paper or Braille formats and will be administered in subcontractor premises or DDA compliant outreach locations. The assessment measures four key domains: a) Attitude & Behaviour to measure levels of Engagement on Work Programme b) Cognitive skills to measure basic skills, work based skills and capability c) Wellbeing to measure mental health, physical health i.e. CV, muscular etc. d) Barriers to work to measure customer perceptions of their obstacles to employment. Underpinned by Criterion Referenced Scoring the on/off line assessment will measure and generate a report to the Assessor based on a matrix of Engagement Levels vs. Volume of Needs. Using this report, the Assessor will then use a scripted interview to drill into the results and test the assessment tools judgement with the customer. The combination of online assessment and forensic interview will produce a final set of measurements on the Engagement vs. Needs matrix. By measuring Engagement the Assessor can ascertain the potential willingness of the individual to truly participate in WP; this will prompt discussion on methods to increase the engagement of the customer i.e. a specialist case manager rather than a generic one. By measuring Needs the Assessor can understand the volume and type of actions required for an action plan. Based on the results of the assessment, customers with low levels of need and reasonable levels of engagement (e.g. JSA 25+ made redundant, JSA 18-24 who lack work related skills etc) will be streamed as Green, the most job ready customers with reasonable levels of engagement/willingness to participate in WP. These clients will move immediately to a Case Manager that will initiate the ACTION stage of the journey. Customers with high needs and reasonable engagement will be streamed Amber, (e.g. IB/IS volunteers, JSA 25+ with mild to moderate mental health, debt, and housing needs; ESA Flow with moderate mental health issues etc). Customers who exhibit low levels of need allied to lower levels of engagement will also be streamed Amber, (e.g. JSA ex-IB, ESA ex-IB who may not suffer from particular health issues anymore but have been sickness benefit dependants for many years). Customers with high levels of need and lower levels of engagement will be streamed Red as these are our hardest to help customers regardless of benefit label; they have complex multiple barriers allied to very poor levels of engagement i.e. they do not want / able to participate in WP (e.g. JSA early access ex-offenders, travellers, ESA ex-IB with more complex health needs, drug/alcohol dependants etc). At no point in the process will the Assessor mention any categorisation of customer or streaming based on our assessment process to clients. Once streamed into the right group the Assessor will then assign and diarise a meeting with a relevant case manager from within the 2nd tier contractor or select a specialist case management provider for that customer. This is the first action on the Customer Action Plan; that is generated by the Assessor from the initial appointment. Green customers will be case-managed by the 2nd tier subcontractor; Amber clients will be case-managed by the 2nd tier contractor or a specialist case manager supplier dependant on needs; Red customers will be managed predominately by specialist case management suppliers. In CPA15 we have developed a call off list of specialist case managers to provide the full service for those customers deemed by our assessment as the hardest to help e.g.

4.1 (continued) Changes for people with complex health issues, CWCDA for people with drug/alcohol addictions ARCH for people with offending backgrounds. CONNECT: 1) Action planning: The assigned Case Manager will meet with the customer no later then 5 days after the assessment and thereafter contact will continue on a minimum fortnightly basis to review the Action Plan. The Action Plan will document: a) information about the assessment / needs of the customer; b) all appointments and interventions booked and attended i.e. with special support agencies; training modules; volunteering; c) progress against the 5 stages of the customer journey. Case Managers will devise appropriate SMART targets linked to activities for the Customer Action Plan. Targets are short term (next month); medium term (next 3 months) and long term (6 months+), progress towards targets is monitored at each review meeting. 2) Case Management meetings: The first case management meeting will introduce the Case Manager, discuss the customer journey process and agree the frequency of meetings (daily, weekly, and fortnightly), the length of meetings (2 hours, 1 hour) and the location (a training centre, outreach or community location). From this process a highly personalised programme for the customer begins to evolve. 3) Support services: Green customers are already reasonably engaged and although they may have some limited barriers to participation, the majority of their needs are focused on work related issues e.g. lack of skills, poor work experience, limited job search experience etc. The Green Case Manager will therefore move these clients to the ACTION stage to commence work related skills development in the earliest time possible max two weeks. Amber customers will definitely need additional support to overcome barriers to allow full participation on the WP i.e. housing issues, childcare issues, health related issues etc so the Amber Case Manager will utilise call off services from esgs directory of specialist interventions e.g. Sanctuary Group and Mencap. The Amber Case Manager will have up to four months to progress their customer to the ACTION stage by addressing the barriers that are preventing them from conscious participation in the WP. Some of these interventions i.e. drug counselling services; bereavement etc will continue alongside the Action skills development activities, as they are ongoing programmes of support. However, after the four-month relationship building phase of CONNECT; customers will have made significant progress towards becoming engaged and able to participate in work focused skills development. Red customers will require even more support services and detailed action planning within the CONNECT phase to overcome or manage complex barriers to conscious participation in the WP. The Red Case Manager will utilise call off services from esgs directory of specialist interventions e.g. North Staffordshire YMCA and Heantun to address barriers to engagement. The Red Case Manager will also utilise a specialist health management provider for customers with complex health needs RehabWorks will provide in-depth health screening/assessment, leading to a modular Health Manager service that includes CBT, Condition Management, Health Activation, Physiotherapy etc. Red Case Managers will have up to six months to progress their customer to the ACTION stage by addressing the barriers that are preventing them from conscious participation in the WP. Some of these interventions i.e. Health Manager service, drug counselling services; bereavement etc will continue alongside the Action skills development activities, as they are ongoing programmes of support. However, after the six-month relationship building phase of CONNECT; customers will have made significant progress, becoming engaged and able to participate in work focused skills activity. All Case Managers will remain with the customer throughout their journey towards and into work and will continue to provide the primary support to help them sustain. At the end of CONNECT all customers will complete an on-line Customer Satisfaction Survey. ACTION: comprises a Core Improvement Programme for basic skills development that can last up to 16 weeks; and 4 levels of 4-week training packages. Each level has a range

4.1 (continued) of 36 interchangeable modules with 275 different activities. Work related training is mandatory at each level. Customers are action planned to start ACTION on the level which best meets their needs and can progress through the complete range if they begin their programme on level one. All training interventions along with Case Manager Reviews will be updated on the customers Action Plan within Cascade. 1) The Core Improvement Programme: Literacy, Numeracy, ESOL, Basic skills, motivation & confidence building modules designed for customers who have basic skills or ESOL needs. These modules run in parallel to each level of Employability Skills 2) Level 1: Lifestyle, Personal Development and Introduction to jobsearch, is designed for customers who are assessed as needing to develop their interpersonal and life skills. The mandatory employability elements include CV writing, supported jobsearch, application letters, completing applications, overcoming fear of interviews and an employer jargon buster. Lifestyle modules include options such as personal hygiene, smoking cessation, and transport to work and healthy living. Personal Development modules include topics such as positive thinking, anger management & managing money. 3) Level 2: Employability skills for the workplace, is designed to provide customers with the soft skills they need to be effective in the workplace e.g. punctuality, health & safety and basic IT skills. The mandatory employability module builds on the content of Level 1 and includes peer supported jobsearch, online applications, self presentation skills and interview skills. Understanding the Workplace modules include punctuality, team work, and interpersonal communication and resolving conflict. Equality and Diversity modules include respect for others, employment rights and managing relationships. Practical IT modules include emailing, using databases and application letter production. 4) Level 3: Sectoral Theory, Sector Routeways and independent jobsearch, is designed to provide the theoretical knowledge required for work in a particular sector. It includes sector routeways in 15 sectors tailored the employment profile of the CPA utilising the Sector Skills Council Employability Toolkits and employer led programmes, e.g. sector route-ways for CPA 15 will include: Retail and Hospitality, Construction and Food and Drink Manufacturing. The mandatory employability module builds on Levels 1 and 2, includes independent jobsearch, online and multimedia CVs, speculative applications and tailoring CVs. 5) Level 4: Practical work placements, volunteering and intensive jobsearch, is designed to provide practical application of the skills learned in level 3 through work experience and volunteering. The mandatory employability module builds on Levels 1-3 and includes intensive jobsearch, video role play and accessing the hidden jobs market. Following on from the intensive period of modular activity customers continue their search for work by accessing independent jobsearch sessions, at a frequency agreed within their individual action plan, together with continued regular appointments with their Case Manager. The Case Manager will also plan additional training linked specifically to live vacancies from local employers who will guarantee interviews to trained customers. Customers who have not moved into work by Week 53 are then re-assessed using ROUTEFINDER. This is a menu of diagnostic tools which can be called off by the supply chain at week 53. This suite of tools provides a deeper psychological assessment of the individual to analyse what course of action the Case Manager could take over the coming 3 months. Actions include: a) Implicit Career search a practical, high impact career development workshop. Customers experience a range of activities and exercises that focus on changing the mindset of individuals to one where they take ownership of their personal situation. This allows the Case Manager to discuss a new set of activities for the Action Plan, and the customer is refreshed and engaged for more activity. b) Continued training from the ACTION modules and /or; c) Volunteering opportunities. These activities continue until the customer has either found work or is referred back to JCP at 104 wks. ACHIEVE: When a customer is successful in securing a job their Case Manager will

4.1 (continued) update the Action Plan and conduct an Exit Interview including a further iDENTIFY assessment. This version of iDENTIFY will analyse the customers willingness to participate in work and in particular within that job role/company. This then gives esg and our supply chain a measure of potential sustainability for that customer. Our suppliers can then offer relevant services that match the needs of the customer to help sustain work: 1) Light Touch in-work support service: This is for customers who are looking for minimal contact and have been assessed as highly likely to sustain employment in that job. They will still receive a tailored package of services linked to need, which can include; weekly contact by telephone from their Case Manager, a monthly meeting with the Case Manager, access to our 24/7 telephone helpline, email and online support via the online Customer Portal of Cascade and the opportunity to undertake some short course work based learning such as an NVQ or sector qualification with permission of their employer. 2) Intensive in-work support service: These customers are assessed as medium risk and will benefit from a menu of services that include: weekly Case Manager reviews (phone or face to face), visits to the employer every month, access to email and our online customer portal, 24/7 telephone support, continuing brokerage of support services to address any barriers they face whilst in work, e.g. Case Managers will continue to refer to partners for debt advice, drug/alcohol abuse services, childcare issues etc. 3) Occupational Health in-work support service: These customers are assessed as high risk with moderate to complex health issues; both mental and physical. These customers will receive the support of our specialist Health Manager partner RehabWorks who will provide a full occupational health assessment and tailored support to prevent relapse and ensure sustainability. Once assessed, customers will be able to access a menu of services that includes; cognitive behavioural therapy, employer liaison workplace assessment and adaptation, access to RehabWorks on-line portal I Move Freely, workplace or community based physiotherapy, and free-phone help lines for customers with mental health issues or physiotherapy needs. Redeployment service: During ACHIEVE if the customer falls out of sustained work the Employer Relations Team (ERT) will work in partnership with the Case Manager to develop a plan for a return to employment. The ERT will provide training programmes linked to specific vacancies with guaranteed interviews for these customers. PROGRESS: Once the customer has sustained their employment we undertake a further iDENTIFY work assessment to understand their distance travelled and offer the employer the opportunity to provide a 360 degree assessment of the customer; this helps our suppliers to further understand the fit between customer and employer. This reassessment occurs every six months and ensures the level of support we are supplying is appropriate. Our expectation is that customers will move from one support strand to another e.g. after receiving Occupational Health In-Work Support they may move to Intensive In-work support; after six months of intensive support they could then move to a Light Touch in-work support service. At the PROGRESS stage the Case Manager will provide a warm hand-over to the Employer Relations team to manage the customer journey into long term employment and career progression. With the employers agreement, we will offer work based learning (e.g. Adult Apprenticeships, NVQs, SME focused SFA provision, vocational courses) to all customers that have achieved a sustained job outcome and would like esgs career progression service. This will be administered by Learning Mentors who provide skills services via esgs SFA funded skills contracts. Customers who have not found work at 104 weeks will have an exit interview with their Case Manager who will update and complete the action plan. Customers will then be referred via PRaP to JCP within 10 working days. We will provide the customers Action Plan, a full history of all interventions and activity undertaken and our recommendations on next steps.

[4.1a] Customer Journey - Rationale Please describe in detail: your rationale for your proposed Customer Journey(s) detailed above in 4.1 within this CPA; and

the benefits to the individual customer groups of this approach.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to four sides of A4.

4.1a esg has designed and delivered 28 employment related service programmes for both DWP and the LSC/SFA since 2000. Whilst we are experienced deliverers of welfare to work, the challenges of delivering Work Programme (WP) led us to widen our knowledge and connect with other skilled practitioners, clinicians and thought leaders in the areas of welfare, health, work and psychology. Last year esg invested in a solutions design group for Work Programme that included; [REDACTED] - Director of Welfare and Employment at the Social Studies Research Policy Unit, University of York; [REDACTED] - Clinical Psychology Consultant, formerly with Leicstershire NHS; [REDACTED] - esgs Director of Employability; [REDACTED] - JCA Occupational Psychologists, a psychology company that specialises in welfare to work; [REDACTED] Clinical Lead at Rehab Works, an occupational health management company and [REDACTED] - Business Development Director at esg. Our design has been tested in the market with local stakeholders, providers in our supply chain, VCS organisations and local authorities; feedback from our consultation process has been extremely positive. esgs design group collectively agreed that there were three underlying principles that provide a policy platform for esgs solution for the customer journey; 1) Benefit label is not a true measure of hard to help: esg believes that everyone is an individual and generalisation of needs through benefit labelling is in many ways not accurate; with the single benefit regime of Universal Credit about to become a reality (2013/2014), esgs WP solution will be ahead of the curve and build our service around the client not the benefit. Hasluck and Green (2007) support this approach believing that claimant types are too all embracing to be useful as a guide to effective provision. 2) Customer engagement is a crucial driver to lift performance: Clinical and occupational psychology practice demonstrates that behaviour change can only be achieved if the participant is truly engaged and willing/able to take action - e.g. An ESA 50+ Muslim female may have never held a regular job and her assigned advisor offers training which she attends in full. However, because the male advisor does not have full understanding of cultural issues from her community she doesnt communicate any personal barriers that if addressed would allow her to become truly engaged with the programme. In the past, providers have typically assigned their advisors to clients based on caseload volumes; these advisors have then tried to change behaviour mainly through work focused activity and/or skills provision. Whilst that has supported some of the cohort into jobs (EZ c.40% jobs; Pathways c.25%) evidence shows that for complex cases, action without true engagement is unlikely to be effective (Apodaca and Logabaugh, 2009). Whilst conditionality will be a tool to enhance attendance, esg knows that when customers make a conscious decision to change, this greatly enhances their chances of finding/sustaining work. Therefore esgs assessment focuses on measuring a) volume of needs / barriers (standard across the industry) and b) their level of engagement i.e. how willing is this person to participate at a conscious and sub conscious level; will they change? (this is not standard). Utilising our psychology based diagnostic product iDENTIFY, esgs providers will be able to stream customers to the right Case Manager on day one of their journey. esg will also allow our providers realistic time to address any barriers to engagement for the hardest to help. 3) Reward not incentives can drive additional outcome performance: There is no real evidence that incentives paid to participants delivers better performance than those programmes that do not. However there is a body of evidence that demonstrates that rewards, not incentives, can nudge participants towards behaviour change i.e. Mindspace (Cabinet Office 2010); Applying Behavioural Economics (CESI 2010). esgs experience supports these theories, and for WP we will provide all clients with access to an esg Rewards card scheme where points can be collected for attendance, completion of key stages and can be redeemed for services or products at milestones in their journey; pre-job entry, sustained job and during their sustained payment period.

4.1a (continued) esg has designed an operating framework of 5 time-bound stages that reflect our policies. Our mandatory framework provides clear structure for providers delivery whist allowing absolute flexibility to design personalised action plans that meet the needs and pace of every individual; this provides every customer with a consistent, high quality and coherent journey. esgs operating framework is: Stage 1: iDENTIFY - is our mandatory psychology based diagnostic process that initiates an action plan & moves clients to relevant case managers based on need /engagement Stage 2: CONNECT - is our case managed engagement stage that provides up to six months to deal with barriers preventing customers from engaging with the programme Stage 3: ACTION is work related skills provision that can now be more effectively applied to customers after CONNECT, as they are more engaged to participate in WP Stage 4: ACHIEVE will support the initial sustainability of our customers with the right tools and most importantly, continuity of case management Stage 5: PROGRESS - delivers work based learning, occupational health support and case management of both employer and employee which will sustain clients in work iDENTIFY: Our rationale for diagnostic assessment is based on our policy of treating every client, regardless of benefit label, as an individual. By utilising two measures i.e. needs & engagement, to assess our clients; esg is able to ascertain not just distance from the labour market but also the relevant provider to deliver case management. This means that esg is able to offer all client groups relevant IAG from day one of their journey not six or seven months after referral as is the case with some providers under FND. esgs assessment mitigates the risk of parking for customers perceived in the market as harder to help e.g. ESA ex IB; as esg will not be passing clients through a plethora of subcontractors before they receive support from a specialist; i.e. the support needed from the outset. The streaming of customers into cohorts will provide all clients with appropriate case management. This is because our assessment process organises into three distinct cohorts that will be managed by dedicated teams and/or providers 1. Green clients, those who are reasonably engaged with low volume of barriers to work (i.e. poor skills, childcare issues etc); 2. Amber clients, those with either; reasonable engagement and high needs (health, housing, prison record, drugs etc) or low engagement & low volume needs; 3. Red clients low engagement and high barriers/needs (mental/physical illness, prison record, housing, debt, drugs/alcohol dependency, ESOL, poor skills etc). CONNECT: esgs rationale for CONNECT is to raise levels of engagement through appropriate case management techniques, relevant Case Managers and a menu of targeted interventions. esg allow contractors up to six months to address engagement barriers for Amber and Red clients via esgs directory of specialist interventions; before undertaking employability skills. esg believes this increases conscious participation of the individual and willingness to make positive change will drive effective jobsearch, outcomes and sustainability. Profiling caseloads allows esg to drive greater productivity into delivery. Performance is lifted through immediacy of appropriate case management but also through the matching skill-set of each group of case managers i.e. esgs streaming delivers Green clients to recruitment trained Case Managers (customers go direct to ACTION); Amber clients to traditional welfare to work Case Managers; Red customers to Specialist Case Managers e.g. Landau for disability and Groundwork West Midlands for ex-offenders. esg believes that case managers should be trusted advisors delivering the entire journey to sustained work. This continuity of relationship will drive participation and job sustainability for clients; especially customers with complex need i.e. health issues, drugs/alcohol misusers, ex-offenders, travellers etc.

4.1a (continued) ACTION: Our rationale for ACTION is built from esgs experience delivering SFA funded employability skills e.g. Work Focused Training, Routes into Work; and DWP provision e.g. New Deal and EZ where in most cases the prescriptive nature of legacy DWP contracts does not provide time for quality training. Our SFA services deliver high participation and job outcomes of 43%. Due to the timeline of WP esg can create a fully Integrated Employment & Skills solution for all customer groups. The preemployment element is a series of 4 week skills packages that ramp up work related activity over a 16 week period. This demand-led programme moves clients via core skills development i.e. Basic literacy and numeracy, communication; (esgs experience shows significant volumes of up to 50% of all client groups will need basic skills and iDENTIFY will diagnose this); through to work experience and vocational training. esg has developed 36 modules & 275 different courses for ACTION (see page 10 for more info). Our modular approach will benefit all client groups as it provides highly personalised training delivery and all sites will be fully equipped as DDA compliant training facilities (ESA, IB clients). At week 53 if esgs ACTION phase has not moved the customer into work, the case manager will conduct a re-assessment of the individual using our Route-finder diagnostic toolkit that can be called off by providers to provide deeper assessments of personality type, values etc. The rationale for this is that esg may have to try something different over the next 51 weeks in addition to employability skills / jobsearch to move this customer into work. We have two additional routes for customers 1. Implicit Career Search (ICS - page 11 for more info) and 2. Volunteering placements. ICS provides a psyche based shift in mind-set which for some clients (likely participants - JSA repeaters, Ex IB JSA and Ex IB ESA) may be needed to develop self efficacy, personal ownership and a revived action plan for the next 11 months on programme. Volunteering will support clients where skills development has worked well but suffer from lack of confidence and need a slower introduction to work this would apply to all client groups. ACHIEVE: (see page 11) Once a customer has secured a job esg conducts an exit interview and work focused version of iDENTIFY to test potential sustainability of the customer in the job and develop an appropriate in-work support plan. The assessment will stream all client groups into light touch, intensive or occupational health in-work support. Complex cases where health issues are not prevalent e.g. early access JSA groups, where sustainability requires brokerage of additional support services are likely to fall into the intensive in-work stream. Clients with health issues e.g. Mental health or physical disability (Ex IB ESA/ESA flow/ESA or IB volunteer) are likely to fall into our occupational health stream delivered by specialist providers e.g. Rehab Works for relapse prevention, CBT, physio, etc to support sustainability. esgs rationale is that every client will have individualised barriers to sustaining work and therefore need differing levels of resource and specialism attached to their programme. Our 3 service lines provide every client with specific support to aid sustainability. All esgs services are linked to needs not benefit label which we believe is a far better rationale for delivering in-work support. PROGRESS: (see page 12) esgs rationale is that this phase of the journey is the transition from sustainment to career progression. We will assess clients via iDENTIFY at regular six month intervals to stream our in-work support plans. Our expectation is that all clients will move from occupational health to intensive to light touch during this period as they embed themselves back into the labour market. We will also assess employer satisfaction for a 360 view on client sustainability. This steady state then provides a platform for the introduction of accredited work-based learning the post employment element of our Integrated Employment and Skills offer to DWP/customers. Our rationale is that by delivering Apprenticeships, NVQs, SFA funded short courses we can enhance sustainability through additional contact by our SFA funded Learning Mentors, deliver better productivity for employers, and support the ongoing journey of clients beyond WP.

4.1a (continued) The benefits of our approach: All client groups benefit from the key elements of esgs customer journey: 1) Our streaming process doesnt discriminate according to benefit which means that there is a level playing field for all. E.g. why should an ex-offender become labelled as hard to help, if they have great skills and the desire to return to work? 2) esgs CONNECT stage provides up to six months of intensive support to address the barriers to engagement for the most complex cases from any benefit category e.g. esg knows from previous experience (New Deal / EZ) that action planning job search and/or intensive skills activity immediately for homeless customers is not productive unless you address the housing issue and any chaotic lifestyle needs first as they will never be engaged with the programme. CONNECT also provides customers with health issues a dedicated health management service from specialist suppliers and clients with complex barriers e.g. ex-HM Armed Forces, claimants with drugs /alcohol dependency; access to specialist case managers that will deliver the entire journey from day one of their induction. 3) ACTION delivers personalised skills packages raising the employability chances for all client groups. As one of the largest private skills contractors to the SFA esg knows that harnessing accredited / non-accredited learning will deliver increased outcomes. 4) Both ACHIEVE and PROGRESS build on the benefits of ACTION by maintaining job placements through personalised in-work support underpinned by forensic assessment of sustainability once in work. The introduction of work based learning is a major benefit to all client groups as it provides clear progression routes to better opportunities in the world of work. In addition to the above benefits: JSA customers - 18-24: As this customer may have a low skill set or no qualifications they will benefit from vocational courses which will be delivered by Shire4Education, they offer a supportive environment in which to learn that encourages customers to take responsibility for their own development; JSA customers 25+: Who suffer from long-term unemployment or poor communication skills will be supported by County Training who involve the customer in planning their own actions to support commitment; JSA customers - 50+: This customer group suffer from distinct barriers such as a lack of understanding of modern job search techniques or transferable skills, unrealistic job goals and poor IT skills. Emplacement, our specialist tier provider, specialise in supporting the 50+ customer group by intensive one to one support and in changing employers perceptions of age; JSA customers mandatory early access: NEET customers often suffer from chaotic lifestyles and a lack of direction, they will benefit from North Staffs YMCA who offer one to one mentoring and training support; Repeater customers will benefit from BTCV who assess why the customer has a sporadic work history and offer intensive in-work support. Ex IB customers will benefit from Stoke JET who offer a health in work service for both the customer and the employer; JSA customers voluntary early access: e.g. Lone Parents who have significant gaps in employment, poor numeracy & literacy skills and childcare commitments will benefit from North Staffs YMCA who will support them through basic skills training and childcare advice. Discretionary early access: e.g. Ex Offenders who will be supported by CWCDA through a unique mentoring programme ran by ex-service users who have empathy with the customers barriers and needs; Disability customers: ARCH will provide direct support to those with a disability, their specialism lies in a comprehensive understanding of disability needs and in offering e-learning solutions. Mild to moderate Mental Health customers will benefit from Changes who offer a flexible and responsive service; Homeless customers will benefit from are relationship with Registered Social Landlords in the region such as Sanctuary Group who will provide support with housing needs. Substance dependency problems customers will benefit from CWCDA who offer a personalised service offering real alternatives; ESA WRAG customers: will benefit from Groundwork and their bespoke regeneration projects.

[4.1b] Service Requirement DWP expect all customers to receive a minimum level of service. Please clearly define:

Your minimum service delivery levels for all customers within this CPA; Your rationale that supports your approach: How it addresses the needs by customer groups.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to two sides of A4.

4.1b esg and our supply chain will provide a personalised programme for every WP customer in CPA 15, where each customer will benefit from a programme of interventions and activities tailored to their needs. Within these flexibilities we have defined clear and measurable service levels and have mandated to our supply chain the following service level framework. This is our service delivery promise to DWP and our customers, and will ensure parity of service both across the CPA and for all customer groups, monitored and measured as part of our Performance Management Framework. 1) All customers will receive an invitation to assessment sent within 8 business hours of PRaP referral. The rationale is to ensure that all customers are invited to attend assessment immediately following referral. This will assure all customer groups that esg is responsive to their needs and will ensure that motivation to attend is not lost through waiting. It further maximises the time available to register an attachment within 15 days. 2) All customers will receive a Welcome Pack and letter within 2 days of referral. The rationale is to ensure that all customers are informed of the programme quickly. The Welcome Pack will give information about the programme (see page 8). This will serve to allay any fears or uncertainness which customers may have, particularly those who are furthest from the labour market e.g. JSA Early Entrants and JSA Ex-IB. 3) All customers will receive a reminder by SMS or phone call 2 days prior to the assessment. Our rationale is based on evidence from our EZ and New Deal contracts where we introduced this approach. As a result, attendance at first appointment has increased by 19%. This particularly addresses the needs of JSA 18-24 claimants whose prime communication is using text and those with busy lifestyles such as lone parent IS customers. Voluntary ESA, IB and IS customers who want to attend but are nervous will benefit from a friendly phone call where they can ask any questions they may have. 4) Missed appointments will be rescheduled 4 times during the 28 days from referral. The rationale is to ensure and maximise the number of opportunities to attach those customers who either may not wish to engage with the programme, e.g. long term Ex-IB claimants, ESA flow customers. It addresses the needs of those with chaotic lifestyles, e.g. JSA Early Entrant substance users or JSA 18-24 homeless claimants. 5) Home visits for all customers who fail to attend their 3rd appointment. Our rationale is to maximise attendance from resistant customers from all customer groups. 6) All customers will receive a 2 hour initial assessment within 5 working days of referral. The rationale is to maximise customers attending their first appointment. By not allowing much time esg will reduce the failure to attend rate between PRaP referral and induction. This timely induction to our service will benefit all client groups. 7) All customer attachments will be reported within 15 days of referral. The rationale is to enable DWP to monitor the speed of referrals across contracts. All customers will benefit from our responsive service. 8) All customers will receive a suitable Case Manager appointment within 5 days of Assessment. Our rationale is to ensure that the first appointment with the Case Manager is as early as possible to maintain engagement and at a suitable time/place for the customer. This ensures momentum is not lost and that the needs of customers are met to enable full attendance e.g. IS lone parents may need to meet during school hours. 9) All customers will receive a letter confirming their first Case Management appointment. This will serve as both a reminder and a record of attempted contact with the customer to attend their appointment. 10) All customers will keep the same Case Manager throughout their journey until job sustainment or week 104. Our rationale is that the customer will build a relationship of trust and constancy with their Case Manager. Feedback from all customer groups on our current provision tells us that this is important to customers and particularly those who have complex barriers to overcome, e.g. a JSA Early Entrant with an offending history and multiple barriers, or an ESA flow with a history of mental ill health.

4.1b (continued) 11) All customers will receive fortnightly Case Management Reviews as minimum. Providers will be free to deliver more frequent contact for all or part of the journey, but there must be minimum fortnightly reviews. The rationale is that this will ensure meaningful contact every two weeks for our customers and that progress towards the achievement of job goals is closely monitored. This will benefit all customers. 12) All customers streamed Amber or Red will have a maximum of 26 weeks for the CONNECT stage. Our rationale is that behavioural change can only be achieved if a customer is truly engaged and willing to participate (see page 10). Allowing a significant timeline for customers to engage will particularly support customers who have complex needs and barriers; in particular clients with health issues e.g. ESA flow, ESA ex-IB; people with chaotic lifestyles, homeless, ex-offender e.g. Early Access JSA. 13) All customers will have an online and offline action plan to track and record progress. All providers will use Cascade to generate an online action plan that tracks all customer activity. All customer groups will be able to download this from their web portal and will have a hard copy version as a record of participation and progress towards work. 14) All customers will receive an esg Rewards card. Based on the findings of the CESI: Behavioural Economics 2010 report, the rationale is that that long term unemployed people are more likely to engage if rewarded for their hard work. All customers will benefit by redeeming their reward points for services and products at key stages in their journey. 15) All customers will receive a minimum of 4 weeks intensive training activity. Our rationale is to provide a personalised intensive skills training phase for all customers selected from 36 interchangeable modules with 275 different activities. All customers will benefit by undertaking a programme tailored to their needs, aspirations and experience and their proximity to the labour market. E.g., a JSA 25+ customer who has a recent work history, skills and qualifications will join at Level 4 for 4 weeks (see page 10) whereas a JSA 25+ customer who has not worked since redundancy in 2005 will receive a more intensive programme perhaps from Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 for 16 weeks. 16) All providers will offer clients unlimited use of jobsearch suites and our VMS jobs board. Our jobs board will scrape data from all UK jobsites including JCP, and will be updated with additional vacancies from our Employer Relations Function. By ensuring that this system is utilised by everyone at least weekly will drive traffic to our jobs, increase applications and raise job outcome performance. Every client group will benefit from guaranteed access to jobsearch facilities. 17) All customers who have not found a job by week 53 will be re-assessed. The rationale is to determine what has worked and what hasnt. All customers will benefit from a refreshed programme of activity designed to provide the support they need to get a job. 18) All customers who get a job will have an assessment and interview. Our rationale is to assess each customers willingness to work, psychological and practical barriers and assess the likelihood of job sustainability (see page 11). All customer groups will benefit from streaming to the right package of in-work support to help them sustain. 19) In-work re-assessment every 6 months. The rationale is to ensure that customers continue to receive the right level of support and to highlight any emerging issues. All customers will benefit from a tailored package of support which changes with their needs. 20) All customers will receive an in-work support plan. Every customer will receive a highly personalised in-work support plan. By providing this our rationale is that we will be able to maintain sustained work for more customers. By providing very specific occupational health support for those with complex health conditions e.g. ESA flow, ESA ex-IB, we are able to sustain even the very hardest to help in work. 21) All customers not in work at 104 weeks will be referred to JCP via PRaP within 10 working days of week 104. This is a contractual requirement. We will provide the customers Action Plan, a full history of all interventions and next step recommendations

PART 5:

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

[5.1] Delivery Strategy Please describe in detail your delivery structure for all elements of the Work Programme provision across this CPA and explain why you consider your delivery strategy to be the best approach for customers in this CPA. You should clearly state how you intend to work with your sub-contractors and how you will ensure the needs of all your customers, including the hardest to help, are fully addressed from within your supply chain including voluntary sector organisations where appropriate. Please also complete:

Annex 2 to show the structure to be put in place within the supply chain to deliver the Work Programme provision in terms of overall percentage of delivery, specialism and geographical coverage; and Annex 3 (Sub-contractor Declaration) for your proposed sub-contractors as appropriate.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to three sides of A4.

5.1 esg has delivered DWP contracted services, via our Sencia division, to over 100,000 unemployed customers since 2000. We have 11 years experience of designing delivery structures for DWP e.g. Employment Zones, New Deal Primes and NDDP, that deliver parity of service for customers regardless of location or barriers to employment. esgs delivery model for Work Programme is underpinned by four key strategies that have driven both the design of our model and the specification of our subcontractors. These strategies are guiding principles which esg believes are the best approach for customers and vital to increasing the number of job outcomes for jobseekers and contractual performance for DWP. Strategy 1) esgs delivery architecture must be flexible and organic to adapt our services to change events we believe will occur during life of contract. Events we anticipate will require investment from Prime Contractors are; a) the impact to customer behaviour from Universal Credit in 2013/2014, b) DWP change control processes, and c) the shifting profile of JSA and ESA cohorts following the rollout of the new Work Capability Assessment. To deliver this flexible operating model, esg is providing our supply chain with a formal change management service. Delivered via an esg Project Office, a specialist team will implement new processes at no cost into our supply chain via PRINCE2 programme methods. Strategy 2) esg must create a robust layer of end-to-end provision in our supply chain to deliver a base-line performance offer from day one of the contract; it will be esgs frontline innovations, best practice sharing and efficiency driven into the supply chain that will incrementally lift performance. Strategy 3) esg believes that the welfare to work industry needs stimulating with fresh ideas and that supply chain management is only part of the answer to optimise delivery. esg believes that innovation is the key ingredient for the Prime Contractor to meet and exceed minimum performance expectations. esg will commission, run and test a series of innovation pilots throughout the life of the contract, at no cost to DWP. In CPA 15 esg has engaged a number of stakeholders e.g. Telford and Wrekin Council, Regional Action WM, CWCVA, Worcestershire Council, Coventry Council, Stoke-on-Trent Council and Regional Observatory WM to discuss our plans. Following these discussions we are keen to test a number of potential services e.g. our joint working proposal with Coventry City Council will link our innovation pilots directly to the development and delivery of the co-design pilot project servicing the 10 consistently deprived wards in the city. To maintain objectivity, all pilots will be evaluated independently by University of Yorks social policy research unit. The University is contracted exclusively to esg to evaluate our innovations and assess value to both the customer and DWP. esg will publish all evaluation data to share best practice and continuous improvement with the sector. Strategy 4) esg must implement upfront innovations to lift the day one performance of partners currently delivering legacy programmes for DWP e.g. Pathways, New Deal. esg has invested significantly in the development of a customer journey underpinned by a framework of clinical psychology to move the hardest to help customers into work, a suite of unique assessment products and an innovative support structure for our supply chain. The Contract Delivery Structure: Our 4 tier delivery structure combines Sencia with a second tier of established providers and large not-forprofit agencies providing full coverage linked to sub regional geographies. Supporting our 2nd tier contractors will be a 3rd tier of specialist case management organisations linked to either specific communities / wards or particular customer groups to offer customers a deeper level of engagement i.e. empathy and understanding born from real life experience of similar issues. esg believes that engagement between customer and case manager drives conscious participation and this will be a key to increasing job outcomes for harder to help groups. Supporting all case management tiers are a fourth tier of services from community based private, social enterprise and third sector organisations to support the highly individualised needs of every customer. All providers have been selected following a 2 stage tender

5.1 (continued) and commercial dialogue process, fully compliant with the Merlin standard. esg received 146 applications and our procurement team used a consistent scoring matrix to assess all aspects of delivery capability, operational capacity, innovation, financial risk; in order to select suppliers. The 1st Tier Prime Contractor: esg is responsible for all aspects of contract performance, supplier management and strategic stakeholder engagement. esg will manage our supply chain as neutral vendor i.e. Sencia is an esg business but will not receive any preferential treatment, operating with the same opportunities and conditions as suppliers in the 2nd tier. [REDACT] Subcontractors will deliver esgs Common Practice Framework (CPF), our blueprint for the customer journey. CPF details service levels for customers i.e. minimum contact levels, maximum timelines for each phase, criteria for movement in each stage and tools accessible to support that progression. To deliver CPF, esg is providing suppliers with: 1) IT Infrastructure esg has developed an enterprise wide CRM provided at nil cost, to all tiers of contractor. Our CRM delivers portals for each stakeholder; customer, employer, funder, Prime Contractor and provider. The provider portal provides encrypted case management software, a vacancy matching database that scrapes data from all leading job boards inc JCP, and online action plans. The provider portal also delivers a fast, secure e-billing service which esg believes will improve cashflows for VCS partners in the 4th tier of supply. An SSRS reporting platform will provide management information for delegated authorities; providers, DWP and esg. Developed by Cognisoft, the CRM complies with DWP security standards, is a FIPS140-2 encrypted database, ISO 27001 and is able to integrate with PRAP. 2) Change Management Service esg will manage change through a dedicated Senior Change Manager, whose team will manage all change events i.e. the rollout of new services and change control via PRINCE2 programme methodologies. This project team will also oversee our main mechanism for innovation development; esg will create a controlled, project based environment within our Sencia delivery, operating our pilot schemes in silo to the rest of the supply chain. If pilots are successful the change management team will then rollout these new processes across the supply chain at no charge; this will generate performance gains. 3) Dedicated Contract Management Team esg will provide a team of experienced Contract Managers (CM) to operationally support subcontractors. Each CM will manage 3 end-to-end case management contractors and will be the named contact for escalation of issues arising from third or fourth tier organisations. The CMs will manage subcontractor performance with weekly, monthly and quarterly KPIs in place and real time MI reporting to measure success. The esg contract management team also houses functional leads for all other contractually binding requirements e.g. esgs Quality Manager will be responsible for the implementation and management of the Quality Management System; the Premises Manager will audit Health and Safety and DDA compliance at all sites; and esg will monitor contract compliance through a dedicated Policy & Compliance Manager. 4) Shared Services Function esg will provide HR advisors for subcontractors that require assistance with TUPE, recruitment, or employment law. We will utilise project managers from our corporate centre to support subcontractors with the implementation process. esg will deliver subcontractors first and second line software support, and obligatory CRM training. Our training team will also train CPF business processes, quality assurance and contract compliance requirements into subcontractor teams. esg will also train delivery staff to administer our diagnostic assessment tool iDENTIFY. esg shared services menu also includes access to reduced rates from our preferred supply list for IT Hardware,

5.1 (continued) Recruitment Agencies, contact centres etc; access to esgs other businesses to provide complimentary skills services i.e. SFA Apprenticeship programmes; and access to other business opportunities via the DWP framework and other funders. The 2nd Tier End to End Case Management Provision: These contractors were selected as highest scoring bidders based on our published procurement criteria. Each will manage the entire customer journey in designated geographies, calling off provision from partners in the 3rd and 4th tiers of our supply chain. Our chosen suppliers are:1) Stoke Jet 50% of customer volumes in Stoke on Trent and 100% of customer volumes in Staffordshire Moorlands. Stoke JET is the delivery organisation of Stoke on Trent Council. Stoke JET deliver JCPSC and have a Job Entry Rate (JER) of 58% against a target of 35%; 2) Seetec 100% of all customer volumes in Cannock Chase, Stafford and South Staffordshire. Seetec are a national provider and are currently FND Prime Contractor in Birmingham and Solihull with a JER of 44%; 3) Juniper Training (JT) 50% of customer volumes in Telford and 100% of customer volumes in Burton and Lichfield. Juniper Training is a local provider who are currently a subcontractor oork Choice in the Black Country, and report 65% of customers into supported employment and 50% into unsupported employment; 4) County Training (CT) 50% of volumes in Telford and 100% of volumes in Shropshire, they currently deliver FND with a JER of 58%, with 82% sustained 5) JHP 100% of customer volumes in Herefordshire and 70% of customer volumes in Worcestershire; currently deliver Step 1 of FND for Serco with a JER of 35% against a target of 30% with 82% sustaining 6) Sarina Russo (SR) 30% of volumes in Worcestershire, 100% of volumes in Warwickshire and 50% of volumes in Coventry, currently deliver Step 1 of FND for Serco with a JER of 34% against a target of 30% with 70% sustaining at 13 weeks and 82% sustaining at 26 weeks 7) Sencia approx 50% of volumes in Coventry, 100% of volumes in Tamworth, 50% of volumes in Stoke on Trent. esgs employability division has been selected to provide strategic competition to Stoke JET in Stoke on Trent and JHP, SR in Coventry, CT, JT and Seetec in Shropshire and Staffordshire, with 22% of customer volumes in the whole CPA. esgs hot-housing of new delivery concepts within Sencia delivery and the rollout of successful pilots across the chain will also lift performance. Sencia is an established provider of DWP programmes e.g. EZ 47% JER (AprDec 2010) and NDDP 60% into work and an 83% sustainment rate (Dec 2010). The 3rd Tier Specialist Case Management Providers: These contractors were selected as highest scoring bidders for our 3rd tier based on our published procurement criteria. Each will provide specialist case management linked to cultural/community based needs, customer groups or barriers that prevent customers from being fully engaged in the Work Programme. The full list of providers is detailed in Annex 2, but some examples of selected 3rd tier case management providers that will sit on our framework are Learning Disabilities (Mencap); Drug/Alcohol (CWCDA); Ex-offenders (NACRO); Lone Parents (North Staffs YMCA) and refugees (British Refugee Council). The 4th Tier Specialist Intervention Providers: esg has also sourced a range of specialist provision to address individualised barriers for each customer. We will produce a directory of these intervention providers which will be on our CRM system for call-off by all case managers. The full list of providers is also detailed in Annex 2, but some examples of selected 4th tier providers that will sit on our framework agreement are: Housing (Sanctuary Group); vocational courses (South Staffs College) Social Enterprise start-up (SEWM); placements/volunteers (Groundwork).

[5.2] Management Structure Please provide: a description of the proposed management structure and how the required management skills and expertise, including working with local stakeholders, have been identified and will be delivered. You should also include a description of associated responsibilities and reporting lines ; a description of how you will work with the management teams of any supply chain organisations and key delivery partners; and explain why your management structure is appropriate for the Work Programme within this CPA;

Please include an organisation chart (attach as Annex 4) showing the proposed management structure for the Work Programme for this CPA.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to three sides of A4. Note: Format requirement and page limit does not apply to the organisation chart(s) which you must insert as Annex 4.

5.2 esg has 11 years experience of designing and implementing appropriate management structures for DWP programmes, incorporating complex services across large geographical areas including JCP Support Contract and NDDP. To manage and deliver the full scope of the Work Programme (WP), esg has designed our management structure to fully accommodate all stakeholder needs in Coventry & Warwickshire, Staffordshire & The Marches i.e. customers, DWP, the supply chain, regional stakeholders and employers at strategic, operational and contract management levels. Proposed Management Structure / Roles and Responsibilities: esg has split our management resources into five distinctive functional areas to support our WP solution. 1) Contract Management Structure: esgs Contract Management team is appropriate for the WP as it will manage contract performance, supplier management and strategic stakeholder engagement. The team that will deliver this function will be: Contract Director, [REDACT], reporting to the Group Operations Director. [REDACT] has over 30 years sector experience, having worked for 20 years in the Benefits Agency and Dept of Employment before moving to the private sector with A4e. [REDACT], currently manages over 20m p.a. DWP and SFA revenues via contracts like NDDP, New Deal, and Routes into Work and a supply chain of 26 2nd tier contractors. We consider this role as vital for WP as it ensures complete management oversight of the CPA. It delivers an accountable, experienced senior person to work with DWPs PMD team, and will offer a credible strategic operator for regional stakeholders to connect with on the patch. Reporting into [REDACT], are 4 key management roles: a) 2x Contract Manager: An appropriate role as they will deliver supplier management for seven 2nd tier case management providers. This role ensures supplier performance is managed closely and effectively by an experienced Contract Operations Manager. They will develop high quality relationships with their suppliers, working in partnership to achieve all contractual obligations. The Contract Manager will also develop local stakeholder relationships such as local authorities, Employment and Skills boards, LEPs, regional partnerships and Employment Strategy groups and will contribute to local strategies, working parties and steering groups in the communities they service. b) Quality Manager: [REDACT]. This role will ensure effective implementation and management of our Quality Management System and performance improvement across the supply chain. c) Change Manager: This role is appropriate to our solution as it will project manage pilot programmes as part of our R&D function, manage change control processes from DWP and manage project plans to increase/decrease customer volumes of the supply chain. If pilots are successful the Change Manager will then rollout new processes across the supply chain. d) Delivery Training Manager: This role is necessary as training will be a key requirement for our supply chain e.g. training in our CRM system Cascade; the esg business processes; our assessment tool iDENTIFY; quality assurance and contract compliance requirements. 2) Implementation Structure: esgs implementation team is appropriate for the WP as it will ensure timely implementation of all programme strands; achievement milestones; mitigation of slippage from the critical path. Management roles are: a) Implementation Programme Manager: [REDACT]. A PRINCE2 qualified, MSP accredited professional with a background of 20 years programme implementation and management experience. The role is vital as it provides clear accountability for the esg business change programme. Steve will manage the individual project teams assigned to each CPA we are successful in bidding for. Reports to the Contract Director for the duration of this project. b) Implementation Project Manager: [REDACT]. This role is necessary as it manages all the project outputs to prepare the CPA for service delivery at contract start. Reports to the Implementation Programme Manager. 3) Audit & Compliance Structure: esgs Audit and Compliance Team is appropriate for the WP as it ensures contract policy management, delivery of the DWP compliance audit schedule and the design of risk controls that will provide assurance that contract delivery

5.2 (continued) and outcome claims meet DWP requirements. Management roles are: a) Policy & Compliance Manager: [REDACT]. This role is appropriate as it manages the local compliance team, and ensures the DWP Compliance Audit Schedule is delivered on time. Reporting independently to esgs Audit Committee, this role is fundamental to manage contractual risk, fraud policies and contract compliance in line with DWP requirements. 4) Corporate Services: esgs Corporate Services team is appropriate for the WP as it provides the expertise of shared services functions for the benefit of our supply chain and contract management team. Management roles are: a) HR Manager: [REDACT]. This role is needed as he will manage the delivery of our HR strategy across our supply chain e.g. HR advice and guidance to senior management / operational teams; recruitment & support for TUPE. Reports to the Group HR Director. b) Premises Manager: [REDACT]. This role will ensure all facilities are screened in terms of Health and Safety and DDA compliance. [REDACT] will lead on all policy areas for premises, Health and Safety, accidents, etc. Reports to the Group Operations Director. c) Administration Manager: Fiona Butler. This role is a key part of our shared services function leading on all aspects of PRaP administration for the CPA. Reports to the Group Operations Director. d) Information Security Manager: [REDACT]. This role is vital to ensure confidentiality and integrity of information systems; managing our data security policy, assessing risk and working with subcontractors to deliver a controlled, secure information environment. Reports to the Head of Financial Control. e) Data Manager: [REDACT]. This role is appropriate as he leads the MI team, and is responsible for the validation of all customer records in Cascade. [REDACT] ensures the effective transfer of data across our supply chain. Reports to the Head of Commercial Finance. f) Head of IT: [REDACT]. This role is appropriate as it ensures delivery of all IT related services for the CPA. Reports to the Finance Director. g) Commercial Finance Manager: [REDACT]. This role is key as it ensures effective reporting of financial data to DWP and manages the financial budget for the CPA. Reports into the Head of Commercial Finance. 5) Subcontractor Delivery: esgs Subcontractor delivery team is appropriate for the WP as it delivers the end-to-end customer journey and drives up job outcomes. Management roles are: a) Subcontractor Regional Manager (SRM): This role is key as it is accountable for all elements of subcontracted delivery to esg. The SRM will be responsible for engaging region-wide delivery stakeholders, including links with VSOs and LAs. The ERM will work with local stakeholders to anticipate skills requirements of the local labour markets and hold quarterly employer engagement events e.g. conferences to share best practices. Reports to the Contract Manager. b) Employer Relations Manager (ERM): An appropriate role as it drives the sourcing of vacancies, delivery of job outcomes and proactive in-work support; and drives Employer Relations Staff through target setting and performance management. Reports to the Subcontractor Regional Manager. c) Delivery Site Manager: This role is key as it manages all delivery resources at site level. Reports to the Subcontractor Regional Manager. Identifying the Management Skills and Expertise Required: To identify the skills required for a high performing Work Programme management team, our Solutions Design Team (SDT) created a management structure appropriate for our delivery model design and specified the structure across the supply chain. The SDT firstly developed a series of key management competencies against the design of the WP, looked for any gaps and developed the key competencies as a result e.g. the Change Manager role must have project management skills and qualifications allied with good business acumen. For our Corporate Services function, the SDT analysed our existing management staff who support DWP provision for each additional role. Following this, esgs HR team developed in-depth job descriptions for each role. To complement our internal HR activities, we consulted with recruitment and executive search agencies e.g. Michael Page,

5.2 (continued) Chamberlain Beaumont, Morgan Hunt to headhunt appropriate candidates. We then ran benchmarking exercises with Hays and Michael Page to determine competitive levels of pay and conditions that would attract the right type of candidate. With the full range of job descriptions in place, we consulted with our delivery partners who have all adopted our specified structure. Working with Supply Chain Management Teams: All supply chain providers and partners will work within our Supply Chain Management Framework, linked to the Merlin standard, to ensure consistency and compliance. In terms of contractual obligations, esg will contract directly with each 2nd tier Case Management provider that we have selected. esg will act as neutral vendor where Sencia, as an esg business, operates within the same contractual obligations as the other providers. Our 2nd tier providers will subcontract to our 3rd tier, based on clear specifications outlined in their contract with esg, such as geography and customer type/group. 4th tier call off intervention providers will be contracted for spot purchase by 2nd and 3rd tier providers on a case-by case customer need. To ensure that the supply chain meets all performance, quality and legislative standards, the Contract Manager (CM) and Contract Director will work to agree all elements of WP delivery and put them into a Service Level Agreement (SLA). This will include KPIs, terms and conditions, performance measures, a review schedule and reporting procedures. The CM will manage the SLA with providers through a monthly meeting and quarterly full contract review to include performance & quality; organise provider forums to share best practice and improve service levels by introducing new ideas; undertake quarterly demand planning/volume forecasts; allowing joint assessment and mitigation of the risk of fluctuating demand; agree a Common Practice Framework with our supply chain providers for our service proposition and customer journey delivery, within which providers will have freedom to innovate, therefore increasing the flexibility to introduce individualised customer solutions. All supply chain activity will be tracked by our CRM system Cascade, linked to workflow, with specific customer, provider, employer and stakeholder portals. Real-time reporting will enable all stakeholders to instantly monitor progress and quality of customer journey provision. Our shared system will enable transparency for all stakeholders; mitigate the risk of perceived unfairness in the supply chain and allow providers to compare performance. To drive quality and performance improvement across the supply chain, our Quality Manager will carry out a series of activities with supply chain organisations, including 1) observations of all frontline delivery staff up to four times a year; 2) monitoring and evaluating Customer Feedback online and through paper-based customer surveys; 3) monitoring and evaluating Customer Documentation through Cascade; quality inspection visits through formal site audits to all 2nd tier contractors every six months as a minimum; 4) monitoring and evaluating the employer experience through quarterly visits to employers and quarterly online surveys and 5) developing of a Quality Improvement Plan as a result of QA findings. Our Change Manager will facilitate and manage any change required during live running of the contract e.g. implementing our innovation pilots, welfare reform, rolling out best practices. This role will also manage project plans to increase/decrease customer volumes in the supply chain. To fulfil all training requirements, our Delivery Training Manager will work with our supply chain e.g. training in our CRM system; the esg business processes; our assessment tool iDENTIFY; quality assurance and contract compliance requirements. Our Policy and Compliance Manager will work with the supply chain to set compliance & audit standards for DWP targets, ensure data security and health & safety; thereby minimising risk and ensuring that contract delivery and outcome claims meet DWP requirements.

[5.3] Management of Delivery Please clearly describe: How you and your supply chain will manage and monitor the quality of delivery of the Work Programme to ensure that the whole provision within this CPA is of a consistently high standard and meets your minimum service levels;

Your approach to performance improvement activities for your supply chain as a whole, outlining how you and your supply chain will act on the findings of any monitoring activity including the resolution of issues from within your own supply chain, partners or other bodies.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to three sides of A4.

5.3 As Prime contractor, esg will be fully responsible for all aspects of contract performance and supplier management, ensuring compliance with DWP contractual obligations. Our contract performance system has been developed to ensure consistency in performance management and monitoring across the supply chain for Work Programme (WP). It is made up of four interlinked elements: 1) Service Delivery Management to ensure that the service is being delivered as agreed, to the required level of performance and quality; 2) Strategic Relationship Management to promote open and constructive relationships as this approach has been proven to drive performance; 3) Contract Governance to ensure formal and documented WP governance; and 4) Performance Improvement Measures to drive innovation and best practice throughout the life of WP and deal with contract changes (DWP Future Services e.g. Reducing Worklessness Households). Service Delivery Management: esg will manage and monitor the performance of each 2nd Tier supplier, mandating in a formal contract: what they will deliver (customer journey); to what standard (quality graded against the principles of Ofsteds Common Inspection Framework); expected volumes; minimum service levels (e.g. all customers will receive a minimum of 4 weeks intensive training activity); and required performance measures (e.g. referral to start rates, job entry rates; sustained job outcomes; ongoing sustainment rates). esg will contract directly with each 2nd Tier provider, who will in turn contract directly with 3rd Tier providers. 4th Tier suppliers will be spot purchased on an ad-hoc basis for specialist call-off interventions by either the 2nd or 3rd Tiers, dependant on need. The esg contract management structure for WP will be as follows: Our nominated WP Contract Director (CD), [REDACT], will have overall responsibility for delivering performance targets at a contract level. She will ensure that delivery is of a high standard and exceeds minimum performance requirements by leading our WP contract management structure, reviewing performance at CPA level, addressing underperformance by developing appropriate remedial measures and reporting progress to DWP through scheduled meetings. Reporting to the CD will be 2 Contract Managers (CMs) who will be responsible for day-to-day sub-contract management and monitoring. They will liaise on a daily basis with suppliers, analyse and evaluate scheduled reports, and monitor performance centrally via Cascade our bespoke, web-based CRM, which will have the capacity to act as an early warning system for CMs to identify underperformance trends. Working alongside them will be a dedicated WP Quality Manager, [REDACT], supported by a Quality Officer. They will monitor, evaluate and improve the quality of the customer experience through staff observations, collection and analysis of customer feedback and documentation, quality inspection visits, implementation of Quality Improvement Plans etc. Our dedicated Change Manager (ChM) will be responsible for dealing with the evolving nature of this contract by implementing innovation and best practice across the supply chain, and leading the implementation of contract changes to our delivery e.g. DWPs Future Services. The CD will also be supported by a Delivery Training Manager who will deliver ongoing training support to suppliers on key contract functions e.g. Cascade; our assessment tool iDENTIFY; quality assurance; contractual compliance; and a Personal Assistant who will organise her day-to-day activities and manage the contract administration process. To ensure consistency in management and monitoring of performance across the supply chain, 2nd Tier suppliers will be mandated to follow the guidelines set out in our Performance Management Framework (PMF), as follows: PMF1) Defined Roles and Responsibilities the PMF clearly defines roles, responsibilities and communication protocols for all sub-contractor personnel. Sub-contractor Regional Managers (RMs) will be responsible for managing the performance of their respective sub-contracts, reporting to CMs and linking with JCP/DWP to identify local labour market trends and pre-empt volume fluctuations. Delivery Site Managers (DSMs) will report directly to the RMs and manage the performance of all delivery site staff (Assessors,

5.3 (continued) Tutors, Referral Agents, Receptionist and Case Managers). Employer Relations Managers will manage the performance of the Employer Relations Team (Advisors and Account Managers) and report to the RMs; PMF2) Formal Reporting Procedures performance reporting to esg will consist of: a) Weekly Updates RMs will send weekly performance data reports to the CMs which will then be discussed (by phone or in person) in detail in order to assess performance trends, agree weekly priorities and identify areas of risk; b) Monthly Performance Review Meetings between the CMs and RMs which will cover performance, risk register, issues, trend analysis, compliance, monthly priorities etc; c) Quarterly Formal Contract Review Meetings between RMs, CMs and the CD which will cover 3-month performance analysis, 3-month rolling forecasts, performance risks, business growth, partnership working etc; PMF3) Standard Documentation suppliers will be required to use and complete standard templates for all performance-related documentation e,g, compliance check schedule, reports, risk registers, Action Plans, Performance Improvement Plans; PMF4) Risk Management suppliers will be required to maintain and update risk registers at 2 levels: site level the site risk register will be owned by the DSMs, updated daily and used to identify all risks relating to the running of the site (staff, premises, customers etc). Significant risks will be transferred to the next level register; subcontract level the subcontract risk register will be owned by the RMs, updated weekly and will cover all risks to the subcontract. The subcontract risk register will be a standing agenda item at Monthly Performance Review Meetings; PMF5) Managing Performance if a subcontract is underperforming against agreed contractual requirements (e.g. below-par job entry rates), then the CMs will work jointly with the CD to assess the severity of the issue and implement subsequent remedial measures. A Performance Indicator Tool, linked to Cascade, will provide a visual indication (traffic lights) of performance against targets (detailed below); PMF6) Change Control our delivery model has been designed to manage volume fluctuations within a tolerance band of +/-20% against ITT indicative forecasts. To respond to higher rates of fluctuation, we will support our suppliers by delivering change through a project managed approach, increasing existing delivery capacity, operating additional outreach services and sourcing additional specialist case managers. Strategic Relationship Management: Our Chief Executive Officer, [REDACT], will hold regular, scheduled meetings with senior government officials, representatives from welfare-to-work industry organisations (e.g. ERSA), key representatives from local governments and our suppliers senior management teams in order to explore opportunities for policy shaping and influencing the strategic direction of the market and to stay abreast of future trends that could impact on WP delivery. In addition, we will organise quarterly WP Provider Forums and invite representatives from each of our suppliers, as well as from strategic stakeholders, to discuss progress, identify weaknesses and suggest measures to improve performance. Contract Administration: We have developed a Contract Administration Manual which will be accessible to all Delivery Site Managers through Cascade. The manual, which will be owned by [REDACT] but managed on a day-to-day basis by her Personal Assistant, will include policies and procedures to ensure consistent and compliant administration of all relevant paperwork. It will clearly describe filing processes, payment procedures, documentation format, distribution lists, work flows etc. Audit and Compliance: esgs Audit and Compliance team will sit independently from the Contract Management structure to ensure separation of duties between those responsible for driving and reporting on performance, and those who report results to DWP. The team will be led by our Policy & Compliance Manager, Claire Copeland, who is already incumbent and will be responsible for ensuring that the DWP Compliance Audit Schedule is delivered on time. Subcontractor Compliance Officers will be responsible for the day-to-

5.3 (continued) day compliance of their organisations delivery. To support our suppliers, we will: provide a policy and advice help line; test initial understanding of compliance procedures during post implementation visits; publish FAQs on the intranet; deliver training on WP compliance and refresher workshops following contract variations. Once WP has reached a state of business as usual, the team will assess whether suppliers are completing their compliance check schedules to the required standard through on-site inspections and observations of the sub-contractor COs. Performance Improvement Activities: We will improve performance by addressing underperformance and implementing continuous improvement activity. 1) Addressing Underperformance esgs Performance Indicator Tool is an early warning system that will be linked to Cascade, provide real-time performance information and will allow CMs to isolate performance at 3 levels sub-contract, site and staff. The use of the traffic light system gives both clear and flexible categorisation: GREEN indicates that performance is meeting targets and that no remedial measures are necessary; AMBER means that subcontract performance is hitting targets but that underperformance is being experienced at site/staff level. A formal action will be developed and implemented, specifying detailed action required, owner of the action, performance measurement to evidence achievement and progress update. The RM will be expected to report on outcomes of the plan on a weekly basis. If underperformance relates to a supplier from the specialist case management (3rd) tier, the RM will be requested to develop a Rectification Plan. The plan, which will be inspected by the CD to ensure it is robust and appropriate, will include remedial actions, timescale, milestones, evidence of achievement etc. The RM will be required to monitor progress against the plan and report to the CM daily. In addition, to support our supply chain in resolving issues, esg will visit underperforming 3rd tier sites to assess the situation and will offer performance-improving assistance which may include staff training, capacity building support, contractual compliance guidance etc. RED indicates either: a sub-contract is underperforming; or trends point towards imminent underperformance. A formal Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) will be agreed, which will include: objectives; daily targets; detailed actions to achieve targets; milestones; performance measurements; progress update. The RM will be expected to report daily on progress against the plan. Should these performance improvement measures prove ineffective, we will terminate the contract with the underperforming supplier and either: a) provide more customer volumes for consistently well-performing 2 nd tier supplier(s); b) bring in a substitute from our reserve list of suppliers; c) conduct an open tendering round to source an appropriate, experienced and proven replacement provider; or d) a combination of the above. 2) Continuous Improvement Activity We are committed to continually reviewing and improving performance throughout the life of the contract. Our dedicated Change Manager will oversee our main mechanism for innovation development (innovation pilots). We will create a controlled, project-based environment within our Sencia delivery to test innovation. The results of the pilots will then be independently evaluated by Professor R. Sainsbury of York University who will publish his evaluation online to generate/encourage new ideas that could potentially result in performance improvements in the wider marketplace. The ChM will then roll out the successful pilots utilising PRINCE2 project methodologies. Contract Managers will continually work to identify new concepts that work from within our supply chain. It will then be the ChMs responsibility to project manage the process of sharing and embedding best practice into our delivery. Furthermore, we will incentivise suppliers to provide a high quality service by rewarding those that are consistently performing well with larger market shares (customer volumes). This will be reviewed and applied yearly. We will also drive best practice and innovation throughout the lifetime of the contract.

[5.4] Delivery Locations Provide details of the key delivery locations and explain how you and your supply chain will achieve full geographical coverage of provision for the delivery of the Work Programme within this CPA; and

Detail what you have taken into account in terms of the needs of the customer groups in determining this approach.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to four sides of A4.

5.4 As an experienced deliverer of DWP contracts e.g. NDDP, Employment Zone and JCP Support, esg knows that accessibility to delivery locations is critical to drive contract performance and support the needs of customers across CPA 14. Our strategy for esgs delivery locations in Coventry & Warwickshire, Staffordshire and The Marches (C&W,S&M) is to: i) utilise the best existing welfare to work infrastructure in CPA 15 to ensure timely implementation; ii) provide a range of sites / providers that can both manage the flows but also are sufficiently able to deliver provision that meets the needs of all customer groups; iii) increase customer engagement through access to services from within the community. To inform our strategy esg gathered detailed information from key local stakeholders e.g. we met with local authorities in CPA 15 including; Coventry, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Stoke on Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire. These meetings helped our planning assumptions and guided our selection criteria for subcontractors, ensuring we locate our provision in areas of high worklessness with good transport links. esg can confirm to DWP that all our proposed sites are DDA compliant, are situated within walking distance of transport links (bus and train) and are sufficiently equipped e.g. extensive jobsearch suites and interview rooms; to facilitate the delivery of our customer journey. esg will guarantee DWP that our customers will not have to travel more than 40 minutes to reach our services. esg will operate a hub and outreach network of sites for our second tier contractors to reach all customers. Our site network is organised as follows: Hubs: Large sites in central locations that service a number of surrounding hotspot wards. These centres comprise of multiple training rooms, extensive jobsearch facilities, private interview rooms, 1:1 case management areas, caf area. Outreach: Outreach sites allow us to work on a peripatetic basis with small clusters of benefit claimants in the community. Purchased on an ad-hoc basis e.g. community centres, JCP offices, libraries and housing association venues. How we will meet the needs of Staffordshire (excluding Stoke on Trent): From our detailed conversations with our supply chain and numerous meetings with local stakeholders esg understands that Staffordshire covers a large geographical area with a mixture of populated towns as well as sparsely populated rural villages. Worklessness tends to be concentrated around the key cities and towns in the area such as Lichfield, Burton, Cannock, Tamworth and Newcastle under Lyme, although there are still significant problems with worklessness in the more rural locations where customers find it harder to access public transport e.g. Longdon. Therefore esg will operate from key areas whilst offering a peripatetic service to customers in areas where transport is a barrier. To deliver a complete service to all jobseekers in the area esg will operate from: Hub centres: Sencia will deliver from Fellgate Court, Newcastle under Lyme covering all wards in the area. Seetec will deliver from Rowley Street, Stafford covering Stafford and South Staffordshire and from Mill Street, Cannock covering Cannock Chase. Juniper Training will deliver from Crown House, New St, Burton covering East Staffordshire and from Guardian House, Birmingham Road, Lichfield covering all wards in Lichfield. Outreach centres: esg will utilise outreach centres throughout the region to ensure customers in the more rural areas receive the same level of service as those in the more easily accessible towns and cities. Sencia will deliver an outreach service from community centres such as Bolebridge St, Darling St, and The Philip Dix Centre, Tamworth if this is preferred by customers in Tamworth. Stoke Jet will deliver an outreach service from places such as Millward Hall Community Centre, Leek and from Biddulph Youth and Community Centre, Biddulph if this is preferred by customers in the Staffordshire Moorlands. If outreach is not preferred then these customers will be serviced from the Hanley Hub (Stoke on Trent). Seetec will deliver an outreach service from places such as Perton Community Centre, South Staffordshire and Juniper Training will deliver an

5.4 (continued) outreach service from places such as Longdon Village Hall. Meeting the needs of Stoke on Trent: Our supply chains experience of delivering local services in Stoke on Trent has informed esgs strategy for delivery locations in the area. Worklessness is spread around all the wards with similar numbers of claimants in each. The area is split between six main towns with Hanley being the most prominent and central. With good transport links to Hanley and across the region it makes sense that our service is delivered via two main hub locations in Hanley and via 3 hub locations in the north, the south and the east. To deliver a complete service to all jobseekers in the area esg will operate from: Hub centres: Sencia will deliver from The Forecourt, Albion St, Hanley servicing Berryhill and Hanley East, Hanley West and Shelton, Hartshill and Penkhull, Stoke and Trent Vale and for those customers who wish to travel to a central location. Stoke JET will deliver from Ingleby Rd, Blurton servicing Blurton, Fenton, Longton South, Meir Park and Sandon, Trentham and Hanford. Stoke JET will also deliver from Brackenfield Avenue, Bentilee servicing Abbey Green, Weston and Meir North, Bentilee and Townsend, Longton North. Stoke JET will also deliver from Moorlands Road, Burslem servicing Burslem North, Burslem South, Tunstall, Chell and Packmoor, Norton and Bradeley, East Valley. In addition to these sites Stoke JET will also deliver from Goodson Building in Hanley servicing Northwood and Birches Head and for those customers who wish to travel to a central location. Meeting the needs of Shropshire (including Telford & Wrekin): Shropshire borders Wales to the West and Staffordshire to the East whilst the north borders Cheshire and the south borders Herefordshire and Worcestershire, whilst this covers a large geographical area transport links are generally quite good throughout the county. Our discussions with Donna Withington at Shropshire Council and Corin Crane at Telford and Wrekin Council, along with our research into claimant figures in the area informed us that worklessness is dominated by the two central locations of Telford and Shrewsbury as well as the outlying towns in the north (Whitchurch, Oswestry and Market Drayton) and in the south (Bridgnorth and Ludlow). This means that esg needs to cover the main areas of worklessness north of Telford whilst at the same time offering an outreach service to those customers who live in the South. Therefore to deliver a complete service that suits the needs of residents across the whole of Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) esg will operate from: Hub centres: County Training will deliver from The Hollies, Shrewsbury servicing Shrewsbury and Atcham. County Training will also deliver from The Victoria Learning Centre, Oswestry servicing wards in Oswestry and North Shropshire. County Training will also deliver from Hollinswood House, Telford servicing wards in Telford and Wrekin. Juniper Training will deliver from Hawksworth Road, Telford - servicing wards in Telford and Wrekin. Outreach centres: esg will utilise outreach centres throughout the region to ensure customers in the more rural areas receive the same level of service as those in the more easily accessible towns. County Training will deliver an outreach service from The Talbot Learning Centre, Whitchurch for those who do not want to travel to Oswestry or Shrewsbury. In South Shropshire County Training will also deliver an outreach service from 47 Old Street, Ludlow. County Training will also deliver an outreach service from Listley Street, Bridgnorth.

5.4 (continued) Meeting the needs of Herefordshire: esg used discussions with our supply chain partner along with research into local claimant figures to inform our delivery strategy for Herefordshire. This informed us that Hereford has the highest levels of worklessness mainly within the wards of Central, Belmont, St Martins and Hinton in and around the town itself. Whilst there seems to be a concentration of unemployment in Hereford the surrounding towns of Ross on Wye, Leominster and Ledbury also have small pockets of worklessness. esgs delivery strategy for Herefordshire therefore is to locate a central office in Hereford whilst servicing the needs of customers in the surrounding areas on outreach. To deliver a complete service that matches the needs of residents across the whole of Herefordshire esg will operate from: Hub centre: JHP will deliver from Packers House, Hereford servicing all the wards in the county of Herefordshire. Outreach centres: JHP will offer outreach services from District Community Association, School Rd, Leominster, Ledbury Community Hall, Ledbury and Larruperz Community Centre, Ross on Wye for those customers who do not wish to travel into Hereford. Meeting the needs of Worcestershire: Our supply chains experience of delivering local services, coupled with esgs extensive dialogue with Aamir Kayani from Worcestershire County Council informed us that the region is a mixture of built up areas and rural locations with the problems within these separate areas quite distinct. The main populated areas of worklessness in Worcestershire are centred around Kidderminster, Worcester City and Redditch with these areas having more harder to help customers e.g. exoffenders, lone parents and those with mental health problems whilst in the more rural areas of Pershore, Evesham and Malvern customers suffer from transport issues and engagement onto worthwhile activities. Therefore the best delivery solution for this area would be to operate from locations within or near the populated hotspots whilst at the same time offering a peripatetic service to customers who live in harder to reach locations. To deliver a complete service to all jobseekers in the area esg will operate from: Hub centres: JHP will deliver from Haswell House, Worcester servicing Worcester, Malvern Hills and Wychavon. JHP will also deliver from Empire Court, Redditch servicing Bromsgrove and Redditch. Sarina Russo will deliver from Church St, Kidderminster - servicing Wyre Forest. Outreach centres: JHP will deliver an outreach service from Pershore Community Resource Centre, Pershore, Wallace House Community Centre, Evesham, Warndon Community Centre, Worcester, Lyppard Grange Community Centre, Worcester, Malvern Community Resource Centre, Malvern for those customers who do not wish to travel into Worcester. Meeting the needs of Warwickshire: Our supply chains experience of delivering local services in Warwickshire, coupled with esgs extensive dialogue with regional stakeholders informed our premises delivery strategy in Warwickshire. High levels of worklessness traditionally occur around the wards of Atherstone Central in North Warwickshire, Wem Brook, Camp Hill, Abbey and Bede in Nuneaton and Bedworth and Newbold and Brownsover South in Rugby. Whilst worklessness appears to be less prevalent towards the south of the county in Leamington Spa and Stratford upon Avon, whilst Warwick has seen a rise in recent years especially within the Crown ward. Therefore we decided to focus our premises within the north of the county whilst also maintaining a presence in the South. To deliver a complete service to all jobseekers in the area esg will operate from: Hub centres: Sarina Russo will deliver from Albion Court, Nuneaton - servicing wards in North Warwickshire and Nuneaton and Bedworth. Sarina Russo will also deliver from

5.4 (continued) Regent Court, Rugby servicing wards in Rugby; and from Clarendon Place, Leamington Spa servicing wards in Warwick and Stratford upon Avon. Outreach centres: Sarina Russo will deliver an outreach service from Clopton Community Centre, Justins Av, Tiddington Community Centre, Main St, and Bishopton Community Centre, Drayton Av for those customers who do not wish to travel into Leamington Spa. Sarina Russo will also deliver an outreach service from the Adult Community Learning Centre, Atherstone for those customers who do not wish to travel into Nuneaton. Meeting the needs of Coventry: Coventry City Council generally has much higher proportions of its population on benefits than neighbouring Warwickshire. From our discussions with Kim Mawby at Coventry City Council we know that the worst performing wards in terms of worklessness are Foleshill , St Michaels, Henley, Binley and Willenhall, Longford, Radford, Upper Stoke and Lower Stoke. Whilst transport links from these wards into the city are good the rates of worlessness have been remarkably consistent over the last ten years. To deliver a complete service to all jobseekers in the area esg will operate from: Hub centres: Sencia will deliver from Copthall House, Station Sq servicing the wards of Bablake, Binley and Willenhall, Cheylesmore, Earlsdon, Foleshill, Henley, Holbrook, Longford, Lower Stoke, Radford, St. Michael's, Sherbourne, Upper Stoke, Wainbody, Westwood, Whoberley, Woodlands, Wyken. Sarina Russo will deliver from Coventry Point, Market Way servicing the wards of Bablake, Binley and Willenhall, Cheylesmore, Earlsdon, Foleshill, Henley, Holbrook, Longford, Lower Stoke, Radford, St. Michael's, Sherbourne, Upper Stoke, Wainbody, Westwood, Whoberley, Woodlands, Wyken. Outreach centres: Sencia and Sarina Russo will also deliver an outreach service from Cheylesmore Community Centre, Arundel Road, Stoke Aldermoor Community Centre, Acorn St, Stoke Aldermoor, John White Community Centre, Grange Ave, Binley and CTK Parish Centre, Westhill Rd, Coundon for those customers who would benefit from being supported in their own community. Meeting the needs of the hardest to help across the CPA: esg understands that customers with more complex needs sometimes require specialised local support, we have therefore factored into our delivery locations strategy a tier of specialist case management providers to meet the needs of the hardest to help groups these include: Coventry and Warwickshire Development Agency with sites in Doe Bank Lane, Coventry Black Swan Centre, Coventry, Family Community Care Centre, Camp Hill, Nuneaton; North Staffs YMCA who have sites in Edinburgh House, Hanley and Community Training, Hanley, Arch who have a site in North Staffordshire, Autism West Midlands who have sites in Shrewsbury and Coventry; Groundwork West Midlands who have sites in Coventry, Warwickshire and Staffordshire, Heantun Housing Association, Landau, Mencap, North Staffs Chamber Business Initiative; Sanctuary Group who have sites in Hanley, Stafford, Cannock, Kenilworth and Telford. Additional Sites in the CPA: We have also secured the use of local college resources through our partnership with West Midlands Colleges (led by South Birmingham College). If any of our or our partners customers attend a course run by the colleges they will receive the same privileges as any other student. This means that they will have access to IT suites, libraries and other resources during their learner journey, giving them access to a range of sites across the CPA including: Burton on Trent College, Henley College, North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, South Staffordshire College and Telford College.

[5.5] Volume Fluctuations and Customer Group Changes Describe how you and your Supply Chain will maintain service delivery in the event of fluctuations in numbers of customers and changes to the customer groups referred including potential alterations resulting from changes to the welfare regime referred to you (see Future Services Schedule). Your response should include the following: How you will maintain minimum performance levels; How you will manage expanding/contracting business as a result of Market Shift or economic factors without an adverse effect on service delivery.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to two side of A4.

5.5 Through 11 years experience of delivering DWP contracts, esg is highly adept at developing, costing and delivering provision against indicative volume forecasts which are subject to fluctuation. In particular we have developed robust measures for managing volume fluctuations within DWP provision and these measures form the basis of the strategy for our Work Programme (WP) delivery model. Customer volumes may fluctuate over the lifetime of the contract due to factors such as welfare reform e.g. introduction of Universal Credit (UC); changes to customer groups; economic conditions and market shift, all of which will have an impact on our service delivery. Managing small fluctuations: esgs Contract Management and Subcontractor Delivery functions will use proven methods to maintain service delivery and minimum performance standards in the event of volume fluctuations and changes to customer groups. If volume increases or decreases are relatively small then esg has already designed our delivery model to manage volume fluctuations within a tolerance band of +/-20% against ITT indicative forecasts. DWP is encouraging competition between providers in the CPA and moving new customers to the strongest performing providers through the Market Shift mechanism. esg welcomes this move by the dept as this will drive better performance from all Prime Contractors. This instrument to reward performance will result in a small change of up to 5% reduced or increased volume per client group. To manage change within our tolerance bands of +/- 20%, esg selected subcontractors with experience of managing volume fluctuation in previous contracts e.g. FND, Pathways, EZ and have mandated these tolerance levels to each supplier. Each supplier has confirmed that they can handle volume change, if required, within their existing delivery sites. We have also tested during our due diligence phase of our selection process, subcontractor HR / people processes; in the event that volumes decrease, all suppliers have robust redundancy plans in place. esg has suggested to all suppliers a range of mechanisms to achieve flexibility to manage within these tolerances: 1) offer some front-line staff part-time contracts, giving them the ability to flex up in hours; 2) offer overtime for full time employees to generate additional hours; 3) utilise temporary staff as a fixed % of FTE headcount, who can be released if volumes drop; 4) lease delivery premises with the option for more additional leased space if volumes increase; 5) insist on break clauses in property leases if case volumes decrease and sites become not viable. Systems and processes remain unchanged as each is scalable and owned by esg as Prime Contractor. In addition, esg has prepared a model project plan to implement changes to staff, premises, IT, business process for increasing and decreasing volumes. The implementation of this plan will be the responsibility of esgs Change Manager from our contract management function. The Change Manager will work with each supplier to produce an individualised version of the model plan to suit the impact to their delivery and will support their operations/project teams to deliver the plan. Each supplier is contracted to deliver the same performance levels regardless of changes in volumes (within tolerances). Utilising our contract management function, scalable IT and scalable customer journey processes; suppliers are well supported to achieve all targeted performance levels. esg does not envisage any drop in performance due to volume changes in line with our tolerances. Managing large fluctuations: If volumes increase above or below our contracted tolerance levels, this represents significant change and therefore we manage a series of processes to inform our contract management team of the potential issue. 1) Monthly meetings to plan staffing and resource needs with each Subcontractor Regional Manager (SRM). A standing agenda item at all monthly contract reviews is quarterly demand planning/volume forecasts. 2) esg will map trends in referral volumes every month and will produce a quarterly report for the Contract Director. 3) esg will also meet our DWP contact manager and JCP e.g. District Managers, and External Relations Managers on a minimum monthly basis; we will discuss volume trends as a standing item

5.5 (continued) 4) esg will also take into consideration a forward view of the local economy; our Employer Relations Manager will be responsible for predicting rising or falling unemployment figures and the consequential local labour market. There are a number of factors that we believe have the potential to exceed contract tolerance levels: 1) Work Capability Assessment: The re-assessment of IB customers in Burnley and Aberdeen using the revised WCA has shown that approx 70% could be eligible for Work Programme (29% were found to JSA / fit for work and 39% were found to be ESA WRAG). If the pilot results are common this could create a radical impact on customer volumes for WP. 2) Economic Factors: Declining economic conditions have a major influence on unemployment figures and potential volumes for WP e.g. if the public sector contracts as forecasted then this will have a major impact on volumes; Coventry City Council announced cuts of over 1,000 jobs in December 2010, over the next 3 years. If the economy improves, unlikely until the second half of the contract, then volumes will probably decrease and the profile of our remaining customer base will be potentially more complex, harder to help clients. 3) Changes to Customer Groups: The expected number of jobseekers may fluctuate across the current 8 customer groups during the contract lifetime and DWP may also elect to add/remove groups from the scope of the services. For example, JSA early access customers may increase as a result of Work Capability Assessment, generating more referrals/starts through large numbers of IB customers moving into JSA/ESA categories following re-assessment. There may be an increase in ex-offender volumes should the Ministry of Justice begin paying a top up to providers who support this group. Within the early access group, JSA 18-24 customer levels continue to be a major feature of the unemployment statistics e.g. graduates facing intense competition for jobs (the number of applicants chasing each job increased from 48 to 70 during 2010). To respond to increasing volumes above 20%, esg and our supply chain will: a) Deliver change through a programme managed approach - esg has developed a programme management function to manage change within Work Programme. Any significant change event, i.e. volumes, contractual, supplier replacement will be managed by our change team using a structured programme methodology, MSP and any projects will be delivered through 3 qualified Prince 2 practitioners. This team sits separate to all operational delivery in order to mitigate any risk of reduced performance from our contractors during change programme implementation. b) Increase existing delivery capacity through scaling up our model implementation plan for increased volumes, working with our suppliers to recruit additional headcount, flexing up existing part time workforce in hours, increasing the leased space within current premises portfolio, rolling out additional Cascade licences and IT. esgs Change Manager will deliver this process, working in partnership with each supplier to prepare individualised implementation plans. c) Operate additional outreach services Our suppliers will secure additional outreach premises across the CPA to increase access to customers and reduce the pressure on current sites. This may be a short term measure depending on the scale of change required as our supply chain will source larger leased sites if the volumes require it. d) Source additional specialist case managers to deliver significant volume changes to specific customer groups, esg will source new supply appropriate to each client type. These suppliers will sit on a call off framework to be managed by our 2 nd tier supply chain in the event of customer volumes exceeding contracted caseload ratios. Our procurement team will run mini Expression of Interest competitions every six months during the live running of the programme. This will encourage specialist suppliers especially those from the third sector to join our family of partners.

[5.6] Managing the Customer Experience Please describe: How you will evaluate and monitor the quality of the Work Programme provision to ensure that it meets the needs of individual customers;

What procedures will be in place for handling complaints as well as feedback from customers of their experiences on the programme; and

how you will act on any findings.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to two sides of A4.

5.6 An established Welfare to Work provider for over 20 years, esg has honed its processes to evaluate, monitor and improve the quality of provision and maximise customer experience. The esg Quality Management System (QMS) is our process for evaluation and monitoring the quality of the customer experience for participants on Work Programme (WP). The QMS is our method by which the customer journey will be monitored, evidence will be collected, and quality of experience will be evaluated vs. recognised standards (Ofsted). The QMS will be applied to: 1) Monitoring and evaluating the quality of our staff: Our WP QA Team, led by our Quality Manager, [REDACT] will carry out observations of all frontline delivery staff, Assessors, Case Managers, and Employer Relations, up to four times a year. Assessors will be monitored on a number of assessments undertaken, quality of assessment process (assessment & interview), customer experience and appropriateness of referral to Case Manager. Tutors will be monitored on lesson planning/management, teaching, strategies to support learning, management of learning environment, learning process and outcomes. Case Managers will be monitored on frequency of contact with customers, quality of reviews/action plans/IAG they provide and appropriateness of referrals to support agencies. Employer Relations Team (ERT) will be monitored on number of volunteering placements, vacancies sourced and filled, and quality of in-work support provided. The QA team will evaluate the performance of each role against Common Inspection Framework (CIF) grading criteria. We will set minimum benchmark for the customer journey process of Grade 2: Good. Should any delivery staff not meet this standard; remedial measures will be implemented (see Quality Improvement Plan below). 2) Monitoring and evaluating Customer Feedback: This will be sought through: online and paper-based customer surveys at the end of CONNECT and ACTION phases to evaluate progress vs. action plans; monthly customer forums led by the QA team for and independent view of satisfaction levels; one-to-one customer interviews conducted by the QA team; online suggestion blogs on our website and suggestion boxes available at delivery sites. Each suggestion service will ask customers to rate their experience from 1 (outstanding) to 4 (inadequate) on key questions e.g. Please rate the effectiveness of your Case Manager. This will help us understand identify the strengths and weaknesses of our frontline teams and ensure that we are meeting the needs of our customers. 3) Monitoring and evaluating Customer Documentation: The QA team will access customer documentation through Cascade, our CRM system. Every month they will spot check samples of customer journey documentation for 20% active customers and 100% of leavers and grade the following against CIF; quality of case management review records; quantitative and qualitative review of action plans; quality of CV; quantitative and qualitative assessment of job applications. Also on a monthly basis the QA team will cross-reference a sample of action plans with data mined from iDENTIFY our diagnostic assessment tool to check interventions are appropriate to the needs and barriers of our clients; effectiveness will be measured in line with CIF. 4) Quality Inspection Visits: The QA team will conduct formal site audits to all 2 nd tier contractors every six months as a minimum. These audits are one-week inspections that will mirror the process and standards of an Ofsted inspection with clear, evidence-based judgements set against defined criteria (CIF). The QA team will monitor the quality of site provision through first hand checks of all customer documentation; customer interviews; delivery staff observation; assessment of environment (health & safety, access, equipment etc). Each centre will be expected to achieve minimum benchmark of Ofsted Grade 2. Should any site not meet this standard, we will develop and implement remedial measures to address quality, increasing frequency of Inspections to 4 months (if Grade 3) or 2 months (if Grade 4).

5.6 (continued) 5) Monitoring and Evaluating the Employer Experience: Our QA team will also monitor and evaluate employer satisfaction through: quarterly visits to employers and quarterly online surveys - employers are asked to grade the quality of our recruitment service. By monitoring the employer experience under WP, esg can react to needs, leading to repeat business/vacancies for our customers. Acting on QA findings: Any findings of less than Grade 3 satisfactory, will lead to the development of a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) setting out: objective/detailed action required; person(s) responsible; target dates; performance indicators; review date(s) for re-assessment. QIPs will be implemented and monitored by the QA team, and all activity reported to the esg Contract Director in monthly reports. Achievement of milestones achieved from QIPs will be reported by the supplier to the QA team on a monthly basis as a minimum. Complaints Procedure: The esg Complaints Procedure supports the DWP Code of Conduct and is embedded in QMS. Our process will be explained to each customer at induction; 1) Complaints should initially be directed to the Case Manager or their line manager, in person, by phone, in writing or by email; 2) The person receiving the complaint must record it on the online Customer Complaint Register (CCR), logging all details of the complaint, as well as actions and decisions; 3) esg will officially acknowledge complaints within 5 days in writing, informing the complainant of our proposed actions to investigate it; 4) esg will appoint an Investigative Officer (IO), a Senior Manager, independent from all parties in the complaint, to undertake investigation. This may include interviewing all parties involved and examining documentary evidence. All conversations during this process will be recorded for future reference and put into the CCR; 5) The IO will send a polite holding response to the complainant if, following investigation, the complaint cannot be resolved within the next two days; 6) A full written response will be provided (typically within 14 days of receipt of initial complaint) stating: a) that complaint is warranted (e.g. breach of conduct) and we have taken appropriate measures e.g. disciplinary action, or b) that following in-depth investigation, we have concluded that no malpractice occurred and explain how we reached the decision; 7) If the complainant wishes to appeal against decisions made/actions taken, we will advise them to do so in writing to esg Group Operations Director [REDACT], within 5 working days of receiving our written response; 8) Appeal Meetings can be arranged and attended by the IO, complainant and Liam, where all documentary evidence will be provided and the complainant will put their case forward. [REDACT] will then decide whether to uphold the appeal against the original decision or if action should be taken. We will send the complainant a letter within 10 working days stating the outcome of the Appeal Meeting; 9) If the complainant remains dissatisfied, we will advise of his/her right to seek support from an independent referee the Independent Case Examiner's office, which will review our handling of the complaint, investigate whether sufficient evidence exists and decide whether the complaint should be upheld. Acting on Findings for Complaints: Following resolution of complaints, the QA team will hold full responsibility for acting on the findings, whether the complaint was upheld or not. The team will review documentary evidence, interview the IO, visit the delivery site and interview the person at whom the complaint was aimed (if relevant) to understand the root cause of the issue. Information gathered through this process could inform the QIP e.g. intensive Equality and Diversity training might be delivered to staff member(s) following a complaint; or might lead to closer scrutiny/observation/spot checks from the QA team for individual staff members.

PART 6:

RESOURCES

[6.1] Staff Resources Staffing Numbers, Job Titles and Roles Please provide: Details of the number of staff, shown as full time equivalents, you and your supply chain propose to employ to manage and deliver the Work Programme for this CPA. You should include a description of why you consider this staffing level is appropriate for this CPA at contract start date, together with details as to how you will manage the staffing levels as customer volumes rise and fall over the lifetime of the contract. This should include a description in detail of the number of staff to be drawn from current resources, those to be recruited by both your organisation and any supply chain organisations involved. Please provide details of how you have identified the skills required by staff in your organisation, and that of any sub-contractors, to deliver the service you have proposed at Section 4. You should describe how you propose to acquire staff with these skills or provide the appropriate training to ensure that these skills are available to commence delivery of the service on the date you have proposed. A resource plan should be provided (attach as Annex 5) showing how staffing, by full time equivalent and job title/role, will be allocated across this CPA and a description of the job roles of staff shown in Annex 5.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to five sides of A4. Note: Format requirement and page limit does not apply to the resource plan which you must insert as Annex 5.

[REDACT]

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[6.2] Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) Please refer to the Provision Specification and Supporting Information before completing the following TUPE questions. [6.2a] TUPE Managing the Transfer Please detail your plans and those of any Sub-contractors for managing TUPE transfers which will/may result from this Work Programme contract. Your response should include: measures you propose to take under Regulation 13 of the TUPE regulations, (including any proposals to seek agreement to change terms and conditions of employment or any redundancies for organisational, technical or economic reasons over the life of the Contract), to enable you to meet their statutory requirements; how you propose to communicate with transferring staff prior and immediately after the transfer date; an outline of your plan of activity to transfer in staff; how you propose to work with existing employers to ensure a smooth transfer of staff; and details of how you plan to ensure that any Sub-contractors will fulfil the requirements of TUPE Regulations and any relevant Codes and Statements of Practice.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to two sides of A4.

6.2a Based on the staff information received so far, esg has not planned any measures under Regulation 13. However, where TUPE does apply; we will fulfil the requirements of TUPE Regulations 2006 and ensure that all parties involved in the transfer process are informed as soon as possible. esg will be clear in our communications and ensure all understand: 1) the reasons for the transfer; 2) when it is likely to take place; 3) legal, economic and social implications; 4) the potential for changes in terms and conditions; 5) the potential measures that could be invoked for transferring staff. The formal TUPE process will start following notification of preferred provider status and will follow the below steps: 1) Identify all TUPE transferees: We will review and confirm information received with the existing employer/s relating to the identity of incoming staff, their contract of employment, collective agreements, pension entitlement and history of disciplinary action or grievances raised by or against the employer (by 15th April). 2) Review terms and conditions: Once the transferring population has been defined, we will review the terms of employment for each individual. In the event that there is a requirement to amend T&Cs, this will be undertaken following discussion, consultation, and negotiation, those who may be affected will be offered terms of employment at least as favourable as their existing conditions. We recognise that engaging and maintaining an experienced workforce is a vital factor in determining the success of the contract, changes in T&Cs is not a step that we wish to take without good reason (by 4th May). 3) Consult with employers: We will meet with employers and agree clear lines of responsibility and communication for the transfer process. This will be committed to a letter for the employer and all affected employees (led by our HR Director by 28th April). 4) Involve trade union representatives: All employees will be given the opportunity of trade union representation or an alternative elected representative (by 4th May). 5) Communicate with employees: esgs team of HR consultants will hold presentations on the TUPE process, rights and responsibilities, an overview of esg and our supply chain partners. One to one meetings will be held with each affected employee. They will receive an information pack setting out the TUPE process, explaining legalities, timescales and actions. We will provide a monthly e-newsletter with FAQs to ensure everyone has up to date information, a 24/7 helpline and meetings on demand for transferees that need extra support (5th-18th May). 6) Plan the transfer: Following consultation we will confirm to the employer and each individual the date of the transfer including any legal, economic and personal issues that may affect the employees transition, e.g. pension, office location (by 27th May). 7) Agreement and employee transfer: Employees that wish to transfer will transition to esg, or one of our supply chain partners, and commence their induction (30 th May). If economic, technical or organisational, reasons result in redundancy, transferring employees will be informed of any potential measures after the transfer has been completed. Details of potential measures will be discussed with the transferor and the representatives during consultation prior to transfer. Any redundancies would follow statutory procedures including announcement, consideration of alternatives, and a clear strategy to protect jobs, followed by an individual consultation period. Staff who are displaced and where alternative positions have been identified will be afforded the statutory trial period in order that they may undertake the alternative employment to enable suitability to be determined (from both parties perspective) and due consideration will be given towards either red circling existing remuneration or a phased reduction to the appropriate remuneration package for the position. If a redundancy situation does lead to termination of employment those affected would also receive in house job hunting advice, guidance and support, and free use of the jobsearch facilities of our supply chain. Our actions will include the following: a) Working with employers: Following preferred

6.2a (continued) provider notification, we will notify employers of our intentions to transition staff by letter and then follow up telephone call to book an initial meeting. esg will supply transferring employers with a named, experienced TUPE Consultant to work with throughout the implementation / TUPE transition. The Consultant will meet (as many times as necessary) with the employer to explain the ideal procedure, understand their needs and mutually agree a process that conforms to TUPE regulations and the timeline for contract implementation. The Consultant will encourage the employer to understand TUPE regulations, directing them to www.acas.org.uk and explaining the legal requirements of staff under TUPE. They will offer the employer the services of our HR partner Peninsula or suggest they speak to third party practitioners, if they need independent advice. In their meeting(s), esgs consultant will also confirm details for those affected by TUPE, and will request personnel records to be supplied to support the process; i.e. terms and conditions; length of service; remuneration; history of grievances; disciplinary record etc. Following receipt of this we will then be in a position to plan the staff communications and will therefore agree access to potential transferees to enable comprehensive discourse. This communications plan will be committed to letter from esg to both the employer and affected employees. b) The communications plan: Our TUPE consultant will hold group presentations to deliver clear information on the TUPE process, staff rights and responsibilities and an overview of esg and partners in the supply chain. Following this esg will arrange 1:1 consultation meetings with all staff affected to assure terms and conditions, discuss issues, agree transferees destination i.e. location, supplier / esg, walk-through the transition timetable and gain commitment. Following consultation, all affected staff will receive an esg welcome pack that; confirms the process, FAQs, details esgs out of hours TUPE staff hotline and includes info on esgs independent Employee Assistance Provider for confidential independent advice. To keep staff engaged with esg during the process we will keep in touch via a dedicated monthly e-newsletter. Where employees are part of a trade union, we will hold Transfer Operational Meetings before, during and after the group presentations and consultations. These meetings will be to circulate information to the representatives in advance of group presentations and gain immediate feedback. If employees are not part of a trade union, and to enable all employees to have a collective voice when raising questions in relation to the transfer process, we will communicate with representatives elected by the employees themselves (as per Regulation 14) through the Transfer Operational Meetings. To ensure impartiality where a Staff Committee does not exist, due consideration will be given towards liaising with the local ACAS Office. Representatives will be fully informed of all the steps being taken and progress towards them. c) Ensuring subcontractors fulfil the requirements of TUPE: A key component of our selection criteria for supply chain partnership was acceptance of TUPE if it applies and experience of managing TUPE transitions. All 2nd tier and end-to-end subcontractors have confirmed acceptance and have previously received new employees under TUPE. All have confirmed GAD schemes are in place and are committed to A Fair Deal for Staff Pensions (2002/2004) and the Equality Act 2010. esg will be responsible for managing the transition and the communications process on behalf of our supply chain; supply chain partners will be responsible for the integration of new staff members into their operations. Service Level Agreements (SLA) will be drawn up prior to the implementation process which will detail their obligation under TUPE and our expected standards for managing the process of staff integrations. We will run a series of workshop seminars before we kick off our planned activities to refresh / inform subcontractor understanding of legal requirements, and present our management process in absolute detail. The primary liaison officer for suppliers will be esgs TUPE consultant who will manage the tri-partite relationship between employer, transferee and supply chain partner in the CPA. The HR consultant will monitor progress vs. SLA and provide specialist advice and troubleshooting as required.

[6.2b] TUPE Managing the Transfer Please supply details of what lessons you and any of your Sub-contractors have learned from TUPE transfers and/or major organisational change which will influence how you would handle similar issues in the context of this Work Programme contract including details of how it influences how you would manage any transfer/change which may arise as a result of this Work Programme contract. Please describe what aspects of TUPE you consider will be relevant to this procurement. Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to one side of A4.

6.2b As an experienced provider of employment related services and skills esg has managed similar TUPE projects to Work Programme (WP). Over the last ten years esg has transitioned 324 staff from DWP contracts e.g. New Deal Prime in NE and 5 x NDDP. Each member of our 2nd tier / end-to-end supply chain has experience of managing TUPE e.g. SEETEC transferred 81 staff for FND and Sarina Russo 38. The key lessons learned by esg and our supply chain are all relevant to managing TUPE during the implementation of WP; 1) Always communicate at the earliest opportunity with trade union officials: esgs experience demonstrates that involving trade unions in TUPE activity lessens the risk of workforce issues occurring later in the process and ultimately supports a timely completion of the plan. Our collaboration with unions and Employee Committees during transitions has supported our achievements resulting in no claims against esg arising from TUPE. esg will continue to engage unions in TUPE for WP as a key activity for successful transition. 2) Build quick relationships with incumbent providers: esgs experience is that employers can delay the process especially if they resent losing the contract, transitioning key personnel or loss of income. By utilising HR rather than operators or development staff to attend meetings, esg finds employers are more open, allowing us to better understand needs and empathise with their situation. This drives information sharing and facilitates a comms plan with the backing of the employer which drives better results. esg will utilise this approach for WP to drive information and communications. 3) Keep subcontractors fully informed: At the earliest point possible, esg passes data to subcontractors when managing TUPE. As a fellow subcontractor on other programmes, esg understands suppliers need to be aware of potential liability to enable contingency planning, and allow enough time & resource to integrate transferees before contract start. For WP, esg will keep suppliers informed through weekly keep in touch calls between TUPE consultant and supplier. esg will also pass data through as soon as we can legally do so. Additionally, esg will work equitably with suppliers to match transferees appropriately to businesses in the chain. For WP esg recommended to all selected suppliers to build risk premiums/contingency into their financial models for TUPE liability. 4) Work in partnership with other Prime Contractors in the region: esgs supply chain has worked with other Prime contractors to facilitate agreements on staff transfers during FND. The key lesson learned was that open communication and early meetings were essential to create joint ownership of this complex scenario. By assigning each Prime to individual employers provided some clarity for all involved in the transition. esg expects to work in a similar way for WP in CPA 15 and upon preferred provider announcement, we will contact the other successful prime to agree how we can work together to ensure an effective process for the transferees. This will include sharing information and agreeing an upfront strategy for the transfer process for e.g. assigning employers to each Prime based on volumes, job roles, recruitment need etc. 5) Always provide extensive information and communication: esgs experience shows that too much information / communications activity is far better than not enough. By delivering a comprehensive package of communications and materials esg has a 100% record of successful transition for staff engaged on our TUPE process. For WP the communications process and production of materials will be managed by esg as part of the implementation project. This maintains consistent quality for transferees and lessens the burden on project / HR resources for subcontractors. 6) Wherever possible harmonise pay rates: In esgs experience when remunerations are lower for transferees than existing staff in the same role, then harmonising pay rates to maintain parity, provides instant engagement for new staff and reduces potential for workforce issues later. For WP esg will oblige our supply chain partners to follow our policy of pay parity between transferees and existing staff.

PART 7:

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT]

[7.1] Local Stakeholders Please describe in detail how, in relation to this CPA you and your supply chain will engage with key local stakeholders including smaller and voluntary sector organisations to ensure effective on-going relationships with them throughout the life of the contract. Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to three sides of A4.

7.1 esg and its supply chain will engage with local stakeholders including smaller and voluntary sector organisations (VSO) to ensure effective relationships. esg believes stakeholder engagement is vital to the success of Work Programme delivery, because; 1) Local stakeholders are an invaluable source of information for the design phase of our bid e.g. esg met with Kim Mawby, Employment & Partnerships Manager Coventry City Council, Kim suggested to us that engagement with hardest to help groups through specialist case management providers was crucial. 2) Stakeholder engagement helps esg to be on the pulse of inward investment and regeneration schemes leading to employment opportunities for our customers e.g. section 106 agreements, new business / retail parks opening, shopping centres; all provide jobs for our clients. 3) Engaging with local VSOs provides esg with knowledge of the structural and social challenges that exist in unemployment hotspots and workless households. VSOs are the key agencies that connect with hardest to help groups and engagement allows esg to develop deeper understanding of these issues, strategies and delivery partnerships to support these clients. 4) Engaging with local authorities enables esg to align delivery to local strategy e.g. Telford and Wrekin Work and Skills Plan; avoid duplication and parallel funding of services; and builds trust with key civil servants, often gatekeepers to many relationships that add value to delivery e.g. VSOs, employers. esgs strategy for stakeholder engagement is to operate a three-phased approach; Phase 1 to work with the voluntary sector, local providers and strategic stakeholders to collaboratively design our bid; Phase 2 to prepare for contract delivery; Phase 3 is the ongoing relationship management of our stakeholder partners. Phase 1: Our activities started Nov 2010 to; support the design of our delivery for bid submission, build initial relationships with strategic agencies and attract delivery partners to our Expression of Interest process. Our WM Development Team, led by [REDACT] has engaged over 150 stakeholders since Nov and has recorded all engagement activity into our Stakeholder Mapping Database. Our first activity was to visit local authorities in the CPA and hold 1:1 meetings with; [REDACT] from Telford and Wrekin Council, [REDACT] from Shropshire Council, [REDACT] from Stoke on Trent Council, [REDACT] from Worcestershire Council and [REDACT] from Coventry Council. In these meetings we presented initial plans for Work Programme and asked for honest feedback. Reactions were all very positive e.g. [REDACT] likened our focus on customer engagement to the successful STAR pilot project on the Bentilee and Townsend estates in Stoke, a project that supports the long-term unemployed by engaging with them in their own community. esgs second activity was to meet VSOs e.g. RAWM, North Staffs YMCA, CWCDA, Groundwork WM, Chase CVS and BTCV to discuss how esg could support VSOs via Work Programme and gather feedback on our delivery designs; Investment, not necessarily through money, in the third sector and treatment as an equal partner is crucial for the success of the Work Programme ([REDACT], RAWM). esgs third strand of activity was with strategic stakeholders e.g. Lichfield and Tamworth Chamber of Commerce, West Midlands Colleges, WM Economic Inclusion Panel, JCP Regional Office, Probation Service and NOMS. During all visits esg received many suggestions for innovation pilots e.g. [REDACT] from Shropshire Council suggested that esg should pilot specific programmes to engage with parents and children to break intergenerational benefit dependency; and[REDACT] from CWCDA was interested in a pilot that would support ex-offenders back to work in Coventry. Brians team was also active in attending events organised by stakeholders; 1) ERSAs Prime Pitch event in Birmingham; where the team met with over 100 potential subcontractors, inc 34 VSOs. 2) In December; the team attended an event organised by Birmingham City Councils Housing Directorate to network with RSLs and housing associations

7.1 (continued) throughout the West Midlands. [REDACT] held detailed talks with Heantun Housing and Sanctuary Housing who both agreed to support esg with engagement of residents. [REDACT] (Sanctuary) was keen to align with esgs partnership and happy to work as a collaboration of housing providers. 3) JCP Regional Office held a partnership event in Birmingham, where [REDACT] was introduced to JCP district managers and operations managers (Jane Beaver, Phil Wright and Lyndley Jenks), and built relationships with incumbent providers e.g. [REDACT] from JHP, and supporting organisations e.g. South Staffs College. [REDACT] collected contact details for 20 potential partners who expressed interest in esgs Work Programme. esgs development team held two Partnership Forums in December which were attended by; local voluntary and private sector providers e.g. Juniper Training, North Staffs YMCA. In these meetings we presented our delivery plans for scrutiny by providers and asked for any suggestions to make these more relevant to challenges in the CPA. [REDACT] from Juniper Training stated the work capability assessment will mean more harder to help customers requiring support and organisations have to be responsive to that. On January 14th, we organised a Senior Stakeholder Forum. Attendees on the day included representatives from Shropshire Council, Coventry Council, Worcestershire Council, Stoke Council, Telford and Wrekin Council, Regional Action West Midlands (RAWM), NHS and local strategic partnerships (e.g. The Coventry Partnership). In this meeting we presented a detailed delivery plan and held Q & A session to receive feedback. Our Phase 1 activity resulted in a number of changes to our original design e.g. all stakeholders were unanimous that specialist Case Managers should manage the customer journey for the hardest-to-help clients from point of referral NOT 12 months into the programme as other providers had proposed. Phase 2: As soon as the bid is submitted, [REDACT] will review all information entered in the database and categorise stakeholders under the following three headings: 1) Strategic Stakeholders: e.g. Jane Beaver JCP District Manager and Martin Bolt External Relations Manager; all Economic Dev / Regen Directors for Local Authorities; Michael Kilduff from WM Skills Funding Agency; other stakeholders sitting on LEPs; Business groups i.e. local CBI, Chambers of Commerce, Fed of Small Businesses; regional VSOs BCVS, DCVS, RAWM etc; NHS, NOMS, Government Office, Probation Service, local MPs, regional employers e.g. Eddie Stobart and Iron Mountain. [REDACT] will continue to develop Strategic relationships during this phase until contract award, focusing his time on addressing any gaps in our stakeholder map. [REDACT] will utilise his relationships with local authorities to identify any missing contacts paying attention to stakeholders that add value to delivery. In tandem to [REDACT] the rest of the WM team will focus on developing relationships with employers to kick start delivery with a bank of 1000 + live vacancies, and pledges of further recruitment for Work Programme. 2) Delivery Stakeholders: e.g. Community based VSOs e.g. Coventry Bangladesh Centre; local delivery agencies e.g. Heantun Housing; JCP Managers and operational staff; local boards / steering groups e.g. Coventry & Warwickshire Recruitment Network; NOMS CFO providers; Probation Service; GPs; SFA Skills Providers e.g. Protocol, Triangle, FE colleges. Most of these organisations will be listed in our Stakeholder database, within esgs Cascade CRM. However those that provide ready funded services (non DWP) for unemployed people e.g. Skills Provision, NOMS provision, will be added to our online directory of intervention providers as funded service providers for 2nd tier suppliers to arrange cross-referral if applicable. 3) Contractual Stakeholders: Examples include; DWP PMD Account Management i.e. Shirley Hammond Account Manager, Jackie Castle - Head of Account Management; Local WM DWP contract management; WM ESF contract management.

7.1 (continued) Phase 3: Upon contract award, esgs marketing team will organise a high-profile launch event in a delivery venue within the CPA, scheduled for the first week of contract start. We will invite a cross-section of stakeholders from JCP, local authorities, DWP, the local LEPs, SFA, VSOs as well as members of local press to meet staff and customers. We will ask a delivery partner from the community to act as keynote speaker and present the benefits of the Work Programme. After contract award, esgs contract management function will hold responsibility for engaging Strategic Stakeholders. In the first quarter of the contract, [REDACT] team will maintain continuity of relationships by working alongside esgs Contract Director [REDACT] and provide a warm hand-over of stakeholder engagement. At this hand-over point[REDACT] will be fully responsible for managing Stakeholders in the CPA. [REDACT] will personally manage relationships for Contractual Stakeholders i.e. DWP, and with region wide Strategic Stakeholders. [REDACT] will meet with Strategic contacts on a 1:1 basis every quarter to update them on progress and discuss strategy. [REDACT] will meet with Contractual contacts at DWP every week during implementation and then monthly to discuss contractual outcomes, progress vs. targets, quality, supply chain, risk and HR. To support her approach [REDACT] intends to offer her expertise to local groups i.e. employment and skills boards, LEPs, regional partnerships. [REDACT] is keen for esg to contribute to local strategies that address worklessness (Telford Council has already asked[REDACT] to sit on the Telford at Work Group if esgs bid wins). [REDACT] will also discuss with her contacts, the option of setting up a regional management board to provide strategic oversight / advice on esgs Work Programme. Supporting [REDACT] will be her team of two Contract Managers (CM) who will work in partnership with designated local authorities regen / economic dev teams. Each CM will manage quarterly meetings with their respective LAs to discuss performance, strategy and local issues. Every Strategic and Contractual Stakeholder will receive quarterly esg management reports highlighting 1) Performance i.e. referrals, starts, job entries, sustained jobs, continuous periods of employment; 2) Media coverage and PR; 3) Case studies; 4) Labour market information i.e. employer data, vacancies sourced, vacancies not filled, pipeline vacancies, training needs by sector, industry skills gaps. Our MI system works via postcode so esg can mine for outcome data at ward level, this will be presented in our reports. This is useful information especially for LAs to understand unemployment in their area. Each of our 2nd tier delivery partners will be responsible for engaging Delivery Stakeholders once the contract is live. Our supplier selection process assessed capability and experience of Stakeholder Engagement, so all successful 2nd tier agencies have links with VSOs, providers and LAs e.g. Stoke Jet is involved with the North Staffordshire Employment and Skils Group, they also work in partnership with Staffordshire Disability Solutions and Aspire Housing; Sarina Russo has strong links with SOVA and Coventry FC in securing voluntary placements; JHP support local Drug and Alcohol Action Teams; Seetec; work with national stakeholders such as the RNID and RNIB Juniper Training has developed close working links with V-Flex for volunteering referrals; County Training produce a quarterly magazine Working Right which they distribute to all stakeholders and shares best practice, opportunities and performance. All 2nd tier partners will utilise esgs stakeholder database to record contract management data and will be required to provide monthly reports to the CM on stakeholder engagement, within their patch. Stakeholder engagement will be a standing agenda item at Contract Management Meetings to review progress. We will also hold six-monthly Stakeholder Breakfast Forums within each local authority to provide a touch point as prime contractor for all delivery stakeholders to hear their views and discuss strategy.

[7.2] Employers Please describe in detail how you and your supply chain will actively engage with employers to develop proposals that accurately reflect local needs and describe how you will work collaboratively with employers on an ongoing basis to secure job outcomes for customers attending the Work Programme in this CPA. Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to three sides of A4.

7.2 The West Midlands (WM) Met District continues to lag behind other regions in terms of economic performance and job creation. Whilst most forecasters predict a net rise of around 12,000 new private sector jobs over the next few years, recent indications of public sector job losses should lead to a stalling of this modest recovery from recession. A contracting labour market and insufficient investment in skills means that competition for vacancies will increase over the next 2/3 years, with 6.7 JSA claimants competing for every vacancy (NOMIS), effective employer engagement on behalf of customers in WM has never been more critical. esg is the largest private sector skills provider in UK; our skills division delivers learning to 20,000 employed adults & young people on behalf of 12,000 employers each year. In WM, we deliver circa 2000 apprenticeships per year to an employer base of 471 companies inc. New Look, Gamestation and BP. Our Work Programme (WP) supply chain is a mix of local, regional and national organisations all with existing local employer relationships; e.g. Stoke Jet recruits for over 400 employers a year inc. Glennans Food and Johnsons Tiles; JHP work with over 500 employers in the West Midlands inc. Yeomans Stores and Eon. esg and our suppliers have a combined database of over 2500 local employers that have pledged to recruit through WP. Whilst this is a good start, esg recognises that of businesses in the area employ under 5 people and that overall, SMEs account for the majority of our database. Based on esgs experience of delivering mandatory employment programmes for DWP e.g. Employment Zone and New Deal, customers require a min ratio of 3 interviews to each job; our supply chain will need to source at least 2000 vacancies in 1 st year, 4400 2nd, 4000 in 3rd, 3400 in 4th year, 3000 in 5th and 1300 in 6th and 7th years of contract. This requires esg and our partners to significantly increase employer engagement activity to attract new employers i.e. higher volumes of SMEs alongside larger companies with ongoing recruitment needs; to generate volumes of live vacancies that can support the performance requirements of WP. esg has therefore worked with our supply chain to re-model engagement methods and develop a service offer to attract more recruiting employers through the WP. The Employer Offer: esg has developed a service offer for employers that is two fold; 1) An Employer Charter for esg and our suppliers that will underpin all our employer facing delivery. esg will publish this charter on our website and in Junes local press e.g. Express and Star, Mail to kick start the contract with positive PR, demonstrate our valuesled approach and attract new employers to work with us: Value we will provide credible candidates that are trained, willing to work, with no recruitment fees Partnership we will work in partnership with your business to recruit and then reduce attrition from employees sourced through Work Programme Productivity we will support you to access Government funded skills services, adding value through increased productivity of Work Programme candidates Contribution by recruiting through Work Programme you can make a real contribution to the lives of families, adults and young people in our community. 2) A service that recognises both the SME sector, where lost productivity from single employees can have a major impact, and the needs of larger employers. SMEs will be managed by a dedicated team of Employer Relations Advisors (ERAs) who will focus their delivery on addressing needs of these smaller employers with bespoke packages of training and recruitment for individual job orders. The service they will offer SMEs will be drawn from the following menu; a) In-depth vacancy assessment with a local recruiter; to discuss vacancies and identify skills requirements through a structured TNA interview. The recruiter will then develop a bespoke training programme specifically targeted for the

7.2 (continued) vacancy and will only present candidates for interview that have passed all course content. b) Try before you buy scheme for SMEs to sample the candidate for up to 4 weeks. At the end of the placement they can recruit the individual if all workrelated goals (jointly set between provider and employer) are met. c) Access to SFAfunded skills for new employees. esg recognises there are 3 key sectors in WM where over a 3rd of SME workforce has little or no qualifications; 1.Retail; 2.Hospitality; 3.Construction. These skills gaps have a real impact on productivity over half of SMEs we connect with report that skills shortages are affecting business efficiency. To help develop better skills in these sectors we will create a Pathway to Accredited Learning via WP. Once customers have reached sustained employment, with employers permission, esgs team of SFA-funded Learning Mentors will assess the in-work training requirements of each employee and design an accredited training programme linked to their role. Qualifications will raise the performance and productivity of the employee, help the customer sustain long term employment and will be funded independently through our 30m per year contract with SFA. d) Access to the esg VMS (Vacancy Matching System) to advertise work experience placements and new vacancies. In jobsearch suites, customers can access vacancies and apply online. e) Collaborative partnership with employers to support job sustainment through In-Work Support Plans inc. 24/7 telesupport, workplace surgeries, employee feedback etc. Larger Employers will be managed by a team of field-based Employer Relations Account Managers (ERAMs). This field team will work with companies that typically have 200+ employees to develop volume recruitment services underpinned by SLAs between provider and employer. In addition to the services on offer to SMEs this team will provide: f) Access to candidates from our rolling programme of Sector Route-Way training for the 3 sectors with the largest recruitment needs in the CPA Retail, Care and Construction. This 4-week sectorspecific programme will produce volumes of up to 25 trained candidates a week for each of those recruiting sectors. g) On-site delivery for larger recruitment volumes i.e. 30+ vacancies per month; esg will implant a tutor team to deliver employer-specific courses linked to vacancies generating candidates for work experience and fulfilment of vacancies. This provides employers with a close working relationship with the provider and customers can ease themselves into the working environment, engage other staff and meet line managers, driving better matching and employee sustainment activity. We have tested our employer offer with a number of local employers; e.g. Internacionale (fast fashion chain) with 41 stores in Midlands is expanding in the region. [REDACT] esgs Regional Development Manager, met with their Trading Manager, Iain Doctor, on 21st January to present our offer and secured an exclusive agreement to support their recruitment. We also spoke with Unicom (based in Stoke), the UKs fastest growing telecom company, who would like to take advantage of our sector-specific programme. They would like us to develop a bespoke telephone customer advisor course that all potential candidates would receive training on prior to interview. A managed approach: We will ensure consistency of employer engagement across the supply chain to avoid disparity in the quality of service delivered between employers. Therefore, esgs ERT structure will be contractually prescribed across our 2nd tier supplier base. The ERT per supplier will comprise of: Employment Relations Manager (wholly responsible for key accounts, ownership of vacancy targets and managing the local ERT); ERAs (responsible for developing/maintaining relationships with high volumes of SMEs and micro-businesses to source job vacancies); ERAMs (responsible for account management of large employers and offering a tailored service e.g. onsite recruitment). esg will target all 2nd tier contractors with employer engagement KPIs, inc. 3 live vacancies

7.2 (continued) per customer, max ratio of 3 interviews attended to 1 job filled, contractual job entry rates for each claimant category. All 2 nd tier delivery partners will upload employer details onto Cascade our enterprise-wide CRM, inc. name, sector, location etc. and will utilise Cascade as the contact management system for employer engagement. As Prime Contractor esg will interrogate the system and create employment data reports e.g. new employers, vacancies sourced, live vacancies per customer, vacancies with assigned training packages etc. We will also contractually mandate the usage of our VMS; a secure, web-based job board and information sharing database linked to Cascade. The VMS will; 1) allow employers to search for candidates and input their own vacancies; 2) allow customers to search for vacancies; 3) provide real-time and accurate information on vacancies and job-ready customers. All suppliers will utilise the following methods to engage employers: Marketing: Suppliers will have responsibility for conducting targeted marketing/PR campaigns within their own patch. Activities will include: sending weekly email shots to their network of employers detailing how our free recruitment service could meet their business needs; advertising their recruitment solution in local newspapers such as Coventry Telegraph and Shropshire Star; providing good news stories to the local media; online marketing on websites e.g. http://www.staffordshirebusiness.co.uk etc. Telemarketing: Each supplier will operate a contact centre within their office network to cold call employers, sell the service and generate appointments. Typically, ERAs will cold call 20 SMEs per day to generate a steady flow of vacancies and meet targets. As part of our Shared Services menu, we can also link suppliers to our SFA-funded Contact Centre to ramp up employer engagement. Field visits: Telemarketing activities will provide leads for ERAMs who will then contact employers, arrange an appropriate time to visit and promote the benefits of our recruitment offering. ERAMs/ERAs will also attend events organised by Ch. of Commerce, FSB etc. to promote our service and generate more appointments. Employer Stakeholder Groups: ERAMs/ERAs will be required to attend boards/meetings and liaise with employer stakeholder groups covering their patch e.g. WM Employer Coalition, MARCHE (Midlands Association for Restaurants, Caterers, Hotels and Entertainment), Mindful Employer, Telford Business Partnership etc. Section 106 Agreements Contract Managers will regularly liaise with economic regeneration/planning teams of LAs to identify future or current Section 106 Agreements. They will then cascade relevant information to ERAMs who will visit developers/employers to sell our service and support their requirements under the agreement. Jobs Fairs: Suppliers will be required to hold Jobs Fairs within their locality every 6 months and invite a wide range of local employers. They will also identify and attend events organised by local groups/partnerships e.g. Compass Jobs Fairs. Quarterly Employer Engagement Events: Each supplier will host quarterly events e.g. breakfast meetings, sponsorship of local sporting event, mini-conferences etc. Attendees will include Prime Providers for the CPA, JCP, VSOs, NHS and local employers. These events will be an opportunity to promote our recruitment offer and share best practice information for the benefit employers and customers. Self-Employment: esg aims not only to engage existing employers but also create employers of the future. We have budgeted to supply a small number of industrial units to act as Business Incubation Hubs in our delivery model. Candidates will be provided with equipped premises for up to 6 months rent free to kick start their new business ideas. esg and our suppliers will broker self-employment support from partners (e.g. Business Links) to supply business start up advice, basic accounting, business plans etc. At point of self-employment job entry the esg Rewards points card can be redeemed by customer for tools, workwear etc.

PART 8: CONTRACT PERFORMANCE

[8.1] Performance Job Outcomes Using worksheet C. Outcome Volumes provided in the Pricing Proposal document, please detail your expected performance in this CPA and provide comment on how this compares to the national benchmark levels detailed at paragraph A4.18 of the Work Programme Specification. Your response must address individual customer groups separately and differentiate between job starts/outcomes and sustained job outcomes. Please note your response to this question shall not be scored but will be used to inform the evaluation of your response to question 8.1a Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to two sides of A4.

8.1 esgs expected performance levels in this CPA all exceed DWPs Minimum Levels of Performance over the lifetime of the contract for all customer groups. Our implementation plan sets a date of the 30th June 2011 as the Contract start date, giving 9 months delivery in Year 1. This means that our Job Outcome performance for Year 1 shows higher performance for all customer groups above DWP performance in the pricing proposal, but due to a shortened period for Year 1 is lower than contractual minimum performance. JSA 18-24 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 % Job outcome rate DWP 3% 29% 44% 44% 95% 40% % Job outcome rate esg 3% 44% 57% 54% 103% 49% % uplift 6% 52% 30% 22% 9% 23% Sustainment DWP 115 2,438 5,002 4,980 10,599 23,133 Sustainment esg 109 5,509 7,191 6,425 12,233 31,467 % uplift -5% 126% 44% 29% 15% 36% esg will deliver a 23% uplift on 26 week Job Outcome Rates and a 36% uplift in sustainment compared to national benchmark levels over the lifetime of the contract. JSA 25+ 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 % Job outcome rate DWP 2% 25% 33% 33% 71% 30% % Job outcome rate esg 2% 39% 42% 41% 78% 38% % uplift 0% 54% 25% 27% 10% 25% Sustainment DWP 325 7,240 13,945 13,643 29,117 64,271 Sustainment esg 277 14,826 17,703 16,388 31,095 80,289 % uplift -15% 105% 27% 20% 7% 25% esg will deliver a 25% uplift on 26 week Job Outcome Rates and a 25% uplift in sustainment compared to national benchmark levels over the lifetime of the contract. JSA Early Access 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 % Job outcome rate DWP 3% 15% 19% 19% 37% 18% % Job outcome rate esg 4% 21% 25% 25% 44% 24% % uplift 22% 38% 33% 36% 18% 28% Sustainment DWP 48 492 1,000 1,084 2,574 5,198 Sustainment esg 73 1,064 1,443 1,416 2,643 6,640 % uplift 53% 116% 44% 31% 3% 28% esg will deliver a 28% uplift on 13 week Job Outcome Rates and a 28% uplift in sustainment compared to national benchmark levels over the lifetime of the contract. JSA Ex-IB 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 % Job rate DWP 2% 9% 12% 39% 13% % Job rate esg 2% 13% 15% 47% 16% % uplift -5% 47% 23% 21% 19% Sustainment DWP 13 253 652 785 668 2,371 Sustainment esg 13 443 889 927 498 2,770 % uplift -3% 75% 36% 18% -25% 17% esg will deliver a 19% uplift on 13 week Job Outcome Rates and a 17% uplift in sustainment compared to national benchmark levels over the lifetime of the contract.

8.1 (continued) ESA Flow

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 % Job rate DWP 4% 15% 17% 17% 36% 18% % Job rate esg 6% 19% 22% 23% 38% 22% % uplift 61% 28% 33% 39% 8% 24% Sustainment DWP 167 1,198 2,029 2,285 5,988 11,666 Sustainment esg 76 1,146 2,533 3,027 7,908 14,690 % uplift -55% -4% 25% 32% 32% 26% esg will deliver a 24% uplift on 13 week Job Outcome Rates and a 26% uplift in sustainment compared to national benchmark levels over the lifetime of the contract. 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 % Job rate DWP 7% 28% 45% 74% 99% 38% % Job rate esg 7% 39% 59% 94% 95% 46% % uplift 10% 38% 30% 27% -4% 23% Sustainment DWP 260 2,619 4,910 4,884 6,417 19,089 Sustainment esg 149 3,131 6,595 6,201 7,039 23,115 % uplift -43% 20% 34% 27% 10% 21% esg will deliver a 23% uplift on 13 week Job Outcome Rates and a 21% uplift in sustainment compared to national benchmark levels over the lifetime of the contract. 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 % Job rate DWP 1% 5% 7% 18% 119% 8% % Job rate esg 1% 7% 9% 21% 78% 9% % uplift 18% 40% 17% 16% -35% 14% Sustainment DWP 45 633 1,343 1,600 1,508 5,130 Sustainment esg 20 584 1,542 1,840 1,777 5,764 % uplift -55% -8% 15% 15% 18% 12% esg will deliver a 14% uplift on 13 week Job Outcome Rates and a 12% uplift in sustainment compared to national benchmark levels over the lifetime of the contract. 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 % Job rate DWP 9% 37% 72% 40% % Job rate esg 6% 44% 82% 45% % uplift -32% 20% 15% 13% Sustainment DWP 41 137 221 305 1,418 2,120 Sustainment esg 58 1,006 1,032 487 61 2,644 % uplift 42% 637% 368% 25% esg will deliver a 13% uplift on 13 week Job Outcome Rates and a 25% uplift in sustainment compared to national benchmark levels over the lifetime of the contract. IB/IS ESA Ex-IB ESA Voluntary

[8.1a] Performance - Rationale Please provide your rationale for your expected Job Outcome Performance levels, by individual customer groups as detailed in 8.1. Explain the activities and support that will be introduced to help secure the achievement of these performance levels together with any other best practice evidence to support your proposed performance. Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to four sides of A4.

8.1a The rationale for our expected Job Outcome Performance levels, by individual customer group is based on: 1) Looking at existing supplier performance to Build our baseline performance 2) The application of new ways of working to improve performance 3) The latest economic data and labour market analysis in the CPA. Together these three factors enable us to build an informed and evidence based job entry and job sustainability forecast for each customer group as follows:Building our baseline performance: As Work Programme is untested, we have looked at existing delivery in the CPA, programmes for similar customer groups and have used current performance to set a baseline expectation for each. The rationale for this is that it provides a best of now analysis to predict Work Programme performance from day one of the contract without an uplift from additional service provision. Legacy DWP programmes are in the main, highly prescriptive services e.g. New Deal and Pathways. More recently within FND, flexibilities were given to providers via a black box approach, which based on the results from our supplier selection questionnaires has already raised job entry levels comparatively. Both Work Programme and FND are black box designed programmes therefore there are some clear comparators for JSA 18-24, JSA 25+ customer groups. For JSA-early access customer groups we have used a blended analysis using FND and EZ early eligibility data as our baseline. There is no comparative black box programme that exists for ESA, IB and IS customer groups; so we have used in our opinion the best matches available in the current market place NDDP, EZ LP & Pathways to Work. For ESA flow, JSA Ex-IB, ESA Ex-IB we have used Pathways. For IB and ESA volunteers we have used NDDP performance data. Similarly, for IS customers we have used performance data from Sencias EZ Lone Parent voluntary programme. This has enabled us to set a baseline expectation for each customer group that is already above the minimum DWP performance levels: JSA 25+ Our baseline performance for this customer group is 37% Job Outcomes. This is based on our supply chains (JHP, Sarina Russo, Seetec, Juniper and County Training) current mean FND sustained job outcome rates over the lifetime of the contract. JSA 18-24 Our baseline performance for this customer group is 44% job outcomes. This is based on Sencias Young Persons Guarantee (Dec 2010) reporting 37% Job Entry Rate (JER) blended with current mean FND sustained job outcome rates over contract. JSA Early Access Our baseline performance for this customer group is 24% outcomes. This is based on Sencia performance for early access customers to EZ (Dec 2010) which includes individuals with complex barriers e.g. ex-offenders, individuals with drug and alcohol dependency is 27% JER (69% sustain rate) and FND short job outcomes. JSA Ex IB: Our baseline performance for this customer group is 18% job outcomes, based on our County Trainings supply lower quartile of Pathways performance over life of contract to reflect the harder to help status of ex-IB. ESA Flow: Our baseline performance for this customer group is 21% job outcomes, based on Pathways mean average performance. ESA Voluntary: Our baseline performance for this customer group is 42% job outcomes based on mean supply chain performance of NDDP (Sencia and Seetec). ESA Ex IB: Our baseline performance for this customer group is 9% job outcomes. We have calculated this as 50% of Pathways lower quartile performance as this new client group will have the most complex health needs. IS/IB: Our baseline performance for this customer group is 41% job outcomes; this is based on blended NDDP and EZ Lone Parent voluntary performance. New ways of working: Based on our financial models it is clear that the WP provides a satisfactory return for providers only if we are to drive higher performance for both job outcomes and job sustainability than the above rates. esg believes that this will require innovative approaches, additional interventions and new activities within our Work Programme black box. In order to identify these, we have looked at not just the best

8.1a (continued) performing supply chain; we have consulted relevant expertise from outside of the welfare work industry. This has included research institutions, occupational psychology, clinical psychology, health and skills businesses. For example esg commissioned University of York to research best practice examples from the last 10 years of evaluation of DWP provision. esg also commissioned [REDACT] Clinical Psychologist, to research psychological frameworks that could be applied to welfare to work. As a result of this wider base of experience esg has brought together new ideas and best practice from these four sectors to create additional activities and new ways of working for WP that will drive higher performance. These innovations are: 1) Utilising a psychological framework to deliver better engagement: In the welfare to work industry there is a huge disparity between performance on voluntary programmes and mandated delivery. Psychologists are clear as to the reasons for this difference (sometimes as high as twice the mandatory performance rate) voluntary customers are conscious participants who are truly engaged with the programme. Working in partnership with [REDACT] and [REDACT] esg developed an evidence based psychology approach (Prochesca and DiClementes Model of Transtheoretical Change 1982) to deliver customer engagement for Work Programme. By assessing a number of metrics that demonstrate a customers willingness to participate on the programme at a conscious and sub conscious level esg is able to understand levels of engagement. By streaming our customers to an appropriate case manager and by giving each specialist provider up to six months to create the environment that enables the customer to participate in WP i.e. manage their condition, so they can undertake skills provision; help a client get to grips with their drug/alcohol dependency so they can hold down some work experience; esg is able to raise levels of conscious participation which occupational psychology best practice demonstrates is key to moving complex cases closer to the labour market. 2) Utilising behavioural economics to increase performance: esg also commissioned research from CESI to investigate the impact of applying nudge theory into welfare to work CESI: Applying Behaviourial Economics to Welfare to Work 2010 / Mindspace Cabinet office 2010. One of the main recommendations of the paper was that rewards not incentives drives better results and encourages customer participation. esg has therefore incorporated a Rewards Card scheme into our provision where customers accrue points for achievement of targets. These points can then be redeemed against work related items whilst they are searching for a job, and for leisure items/services once they are in work. 3) Integrating employment and skills through Work Programme: esg is not a deliverer of FND, of the sub-contactors in our supply chain that do (JHP, Sarina Russo, Seetec, Juniper and County Training), they all concur that one of the most important features that drives job entry is Mandatory Work Related Activity. In FND this is usually a 4 week skills programme. Based on esgs experience as the largest private skills supplier to the SFA we have designed a modular programme of up to 16 weeks of work related skills development. Evidence from our current SFA programmes shows the benefits of skills delivery compared to welfare to work e.g. in Liverpool we deliver both an EZ and an SFA funded Sector Routeway contract both of which require job outcomes. Our skills contract achieved 47% job entry compared to EZ which achieved 37% job entry for the same period (January 2010). Case Managers will devise programmes for each customer from 37 modules and 275 different activities. This 16 week programme of intensive activity includes; core improvement programmes to address Basic Skills issues, lifestyle modules, personal development modules, understanding the workplace modules, equality and diversity sessions, practical IT, employability modules, practical work placements, volunteering and sector routeways linked to the main recruiting sectors in the CPA and

8.1a (continued) training linked to real employer vacancies with guaranteed job interviews for trained candidates. 4) Structured approach to in-work support: esg has developed a series of demand led in-work support (IWS) packages that will be tailored to the needs of each customer. As an experienced deliverer of IWS (esg delivers an IWS contract for North Tyneside council) and based on the funding requirements for WP esg understands that innovation to sustain jobseekers is vital. Therefore we have devised a three line service offer whereby each customer can opt for different modules within an appropriate service line to form a highly individualised In Work Support Plan. a) Light Touch in-work support service: a tailored package of services linked to need, which can include; weekly contact by telephone from their Case Manager, a monthly meeting with the Case Manager, access to our 24/7 telephone helpline, email and online support via the online Customer Portal of Cascade and the opportunity to undertake some short course work based learning such as an NVQ or sector qualification with permission of their employer. b) Intensive in-work support service a menu of services that include: weekly Case Manager reviews (phone or face to face), employer visits every month, access to email and our online customer portal, 24/7 telephone support, continuing brokerage of support services to address any barriers they face whilst in work, e.g. Case Managers will continue to refer to partners for debt advice, drug/alcohol abuse services, childcare issues etc. c) Occupational Health in-work support service for customers with moderate to complex health issues; both mental and physical. These customers will receive the support of our specialist Health Manager partner Rehab Works who will provide a full occupational health assessment and tailored support to prevent relapse and ensure sustainability. Once assessment customers will be access a menu of services that includes; cognitive behavioural therapy, employer liaison - workplace assessment and adaptation, access to Rehab Works on-line portal I Move Freely, workplace or community based physiotherapy, and free-phone help lines for customers with mental health issues or physiotherapy needs. 5) A Research and Development function to develop new delivery innovations: We have created a research and development function within our delivery model. Our rationale is to create a real mechanism to drive new practices into the supply chain and lift performance levels. esg will therefore commission and run a series of innovation pilots throughout the life of the programme to trial new concepts and best practice from across the supply chain. Pilots will be managed with cohorts of customers from within our Sencia delivery, and independently evaluated by the University of York. Successful pilots will be rolled out across our supply chain to increase performance and the results of our pilot schemes will be published by the University to support innovation across the whole of Work Programme not just in this CPA. E.g. During our discussions with Coventry City Council we established that 10 wards in the area have had consistently high levels of worklessness over the last ten years. Foleshill Ward in particular remains the area with the highest rate of worklessness, suffering from a lack of engagement and opportunities. We discussed with Coventry City Council the idea of running a multi-agency outreach pilot similar to the successful STAR pilot project in Stoke-on-Trent which focused on similar problems in the Bentilee and Townsend wards. The idea would involve bringing together a variety of partners from Coventrys Recruitment Network (e.g. Foleshill Womens Training) to engage with residents whilst our partner Groundwork WM would offer volunteering opportunities on regeneration projects in the community giving residents a taste for work and a real sense of ownership in their own development.

8.1a (continued) As a result of our new methods, activities and innovations customers will be much more engaged to participate fully in WP, have access to extensive work related activity (four times that of FND), enjoy relevant levels of in-work support, occupational health support, and have the benefits of our programme of continuous innovation from our R & D function. esg believes that this will enhance life of contract performance from our baseline rates for the different customer groups as follows: JSA 18-24 will be lifted by a further 16% due to enhanced work related activity (7% pts) JSA 25+ - will be lifted by a further 14% due to enhanced work related activity and better engagement practices (5% pts) JSA Early Access will be lifted by 21% due to much better engagement from a relevant case manager, better work related activity and specialised in work support (5% pts) JSA ex IB will be lifted by 17% due to better engagement, enhanced work related activity and intensive in work support (3% pts) ESA Flow will be lifted by 19% due to much better engagement from a relevant case manager, better work related activity and health related in work support (4% pts) ESA Voluntary will be lifted by 14% due to better work related activity and specialised in work support (6% pts) ESA ex IB will be lifted by 44% due to much better engagement, health related service provision, better work related activity and occupational health focused in work support (4% pts) IB/IS will be lifted by 15% due to much better engagement from a relevant case manager, better work related activity and specialised in work support (6% pts) Economic forecast: The prevailing economic conditions within the CPA have a direct impact on performance. As the UK recovers from the recession, the CBI Economic Forecast (February 2011) along with other economic experts have predicted that a double dip recession is now unlikely. The CBI Economic Forecast suggests that the claimant count will rise in 2011 to 4.7% reducing to 4.6% in Quarter 2 of 2012. The latest WM Observatory baseline forecast, released in February 2010, predicts that, there will be a fall in employment in the WM of more than 38,000 in the next 4 years, (The Supply and Demand for employment at a local level). This is approximately a 3% drop vs. the current number of employed people in the CPA. This allied to the impending contraction of the public sector e.g. Coventry City Council has announced 1,000 job cuts,; means that it may well get harder for our customers to find work over the next 4 years in this CPA. With this in mind we have applied a performance reduction for the impact of the local economy and combined this with our other measures (%baseline + %new methods - % economy) to form our offer: JSA 18-24 will be reduced by 4% (2% pts) as in our experience this group tend to find work more easily. This puts our job outcome offer at 49% for this customer group. JSA 25+ - will be reduced by 11% (4% pts) as older workers may struggle comparatively to source work. This puts our job outcome offer at 38% for this customer group. JSA Early Access will be reduced by 21% (5% pts) as more complex cases will be affected by this labour market. This puts our job outcome offer at 24% for this group. JSA ex IB will be reduced by 28% (5% pts) as more complex cases will be affected by tough labour markets. This puts our job outcome offer at 16% for this client group. ESA Flow will be reduced by 15% (3% pts). Volunteers will fare slightly better even with health conditions. This puts our job outcome offer at 22% for this client group. ESA Voluntary will be reduced by 5% (6% pts) as volunteers with health conditions will fare better than mandatory customers. This puts our job outcome offer at 46%. ESA ex IB will be reduced by 44% (4% pts) as more complex cases will be affected by this tough labour market. This puts our job outcome offer at 9% for this client group. IB/IS will be reduced by 5% (2% pts) as volunteers should fare slightly better in this labour market. This puts our job outcome offer at 45% for this client group.

PART 9:

IMPLEMENTATION

NOTE: MINIMUM SCORE APPLIES TO ALL QUESTIONS WITHIN THIS SECTION. BIDS SCORING 2 OR LESS ON ANY QUESTION WITHIN THIS SECTION WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE COMPETITION. PLEASE NOTE SCORES ATTAINED IN THIS SECTION MAY ALSO BE USED IN A TIE-BREAK SITUATION WHERE APPROPRIATE.

[9.1] Implementation Plan Please provide: an Implementation Plan for the Work Programme in this CPA clearly stating the date on which you are proposing to commence delivery of the service. The plan, which must be in the form of a Gantt chart (insert as Annex 6), must include the key activities required to put provision into place by the service commencement date. It must include key milestones, timescales for activities including start and end dates and who is responsible for each activity including the expected start date for delivery. It will also show the critical path and interdependencies.

A narrative to expand on the implementation plan which must identify and address all the key risks, including the impact of winning multiple Work Programme contracts and how these shall be mitigated.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to two sides of A4. Note: Format requirement and page limit does not apply to the Gantt chart which you must insert as Annex 6.

9.1 esg is bidding for two Contract Package Areas (CPA) in the West Midlands and is a key partner in the switch SPV bidding in the South West CPAs. We are also bidding for work as subcontractor to Primes in the North West, North East, Yorks & Humber and East London. Our expectation is that we will win a minimum of two CPAs as Prime and will win c. 10m of subcontracted work. This level of new business increases turnover by approx 20m per annum and is business growth of 33%. esg is therefore treating our Work Programme (WP) activity as true business change and will deliver this via a formal programme entitled Advance. Advance contains a number of separate but interlinked projects to deliver the complete implementation of all new business. The Advance programme and constituent projects will be run under esgs Business Change Method; fully compliant with both PRINCE2 and the Managing Successful Programmes methods approved by UK Government. The implementation plans contained in Annex 6 are structured to take account of this programme/project organisation. Annex 6 contains a Summary Gantt that covers the entire scope of the work needed for CPA 14, and includes a list of Key Milestones and the Delivery Start Date. The Annex 6 also contains detailed Gantt charts for an Enable Project and for the CPA 14-specific Project with activities, start and end dates, responsibilities, critical path activities and activity inter-dependencies for both. A critical path activity is one where if any delay will have a direct impact on the target delivery start date. esgs planned start date for delivery is 30th June 2011. The key risks to the implementation plan and how these risks will be mitigated are: 1) If esg wins multiple WP contracts it could lead to implementation delivery failure due to pressure on management. To mitigate this risk esg has invested in a new programme management structure to professionalise our approach and deliver a best in class implementation service for DWP. esg has invested over 100,000 since December 2010 in a Programme Management Office (PMO) environment that manages business change via structured programme and project methodologies i.e. MSP and PRINCE2. The PMO has already developed comprehensive implementation plans for each of the four CPAs we are bidding for, so esg is well prepared for additional business. esgs PMO will deliver the plans; [REDACT] the esg Programme Manager (PgM) will manage the Advance programme with [REDACT] dedicated as Project Manager (PjM) for the Enable Project and the Contract Manager for CPA 14 managing the local project. This team will be supported by [REDACT] esgs Programme Office Manager. esg has enough resource in our PMO for up to three CPAs and subcontract work of c. 10m, so if we were successful in a fourth CPA then [REDACT] will recruit an additional PjM to deliver this additional Project. esg has also drawn all non PM resource for the implementation of each CPA from corporate centre, not field operations. This is to ensure that all of esgs non-DWP activity operates as business as usual. All corporate posts required fulltime for implementation; e.g. Head of IT, HR Consultant, will be backfilled with interim staff during the life of the project(s). esg has already allocated the project team for Advance, with strand leaders in place by end of February; e.g. [REDACT] - HR/TUPE Consultant, [REDACT] - Commercial Finance Manager, [REDACT] - Premises Manager, [REDACT] - Head of IT, [REDACT] - Information Security. 2) If esg wins multiple WP contracts, it could lead to operational failure due to resource pressure and the burden of extra contract administration. To mitigate this, esg has designed a delivery model where the majority of contractual spend and client volume is managed by a select tier of local suppliers. This transfers the administrative overheads to our second tier contractors, who as incumbents have sufficient resources already in place. To obtain full assurance that esg has mitigated this risk, esgs PgM conducted due diligence on each contractor in all our bids, through a series of partner meetings in early Feb. Each supplier demonstrated staffing levels above

9.1 (continued) the minimum staffing standards required by esg and provided full assurance that they can deliver their element of the implementation for their respective CPA area. 3) Some of the proposed partners do not agree to contract with esg, leading to failure to deliver in all locations across the CPA. To mitigate this risk esg has a reserve list of named providers for each selected contractor e.g. JHP for Intraining who applied for the work via esgs Expression of Interest (EOI) exercise. These contractors have been fully assessed as competent but did not score quite as highly as our selected suppliers. We have undertaken initial due diligence and are assured that they would be interested in joining our supply chain if required. 4) The TUPE arrangements will require esg and our supply chain to take on larger resources than are needed to provide the WP service, leading to potential redundancy. This risk has been primarily transferred to our 2 nd tier agencies as per TUPE regulation, leaving esg with a residual risk that is covered by financial contingency of 1.5% of implementation cost. Our suppliers are fully aware of their obligations under TUPE and our PgM, as part of our due diligence, has held in depth discussions to measure the risk to each. As a result of these meetings every contractor has built in risk premiums to accommodate TUPE liability, including redundancies, into their financial models. 5) The preferred information system from Cognisoft does not get fully implemented in time for service delivery, leading to failure to deliver to DWP timeframes. This risk will be reduced by performing in-depth "proof of concept" work in February/March 2011, to confirm Cognisoft is able to deliver functionality needed. We also intend to mitigate risk by implementing the initial information systems solution into a bare bones framework of the customer workflow to minimise complexity and shorten implementation timescales. This will allow full case management activities for the cohort from day one of the contract with the capability to refine the framework later and bolt on additional functionality (e.g. E-Billing, Diary Management) during live running. If the proof of concept fails, esg has the contingent position of utilising the existing esg employability CRM from Pellcomp. This has a higher administrative overhead, but is proven to meet the baseline requirements of DWP delivery. 6) The required premises cannot be obtained or fully fitted out by the target start date for service delivery, leading to failure to fully deliver to all locations across the CPA. This risk has been reduced by the selection criteria of our EOI process which included a scored section for infrastructure located in the CPA. The vast majority of our selected supplier base therefore operates from existing sites in unemployment hotspots in the CPA. This means that the majority of the requirement is already in place before contract start date. To further mitigate any risk, esg has received provisional offers of desk-space from JCP in this CPA that provides another option for delivery. An additional contingency is that esg has a list of approved serviced office suppliers such as OfficeSpace.com and Flexi Offices who can provide short term, plug and play, secure, DDA-compliant premises within 24 hours of call off. 7) Elements of the information systems solution fail to meet DWP security requirements before commencement, leading to failure to fully deliver to all or any locations in the CPA. This risk has been significantly reduced by active and early assurance by the esg Information Security Manager [REDACT] of the design of systems and premises. esg is only engaging IT partners who comply with ISO 27001 and have evidence & case studies and /or references of meeting DWP requirements for other service providers.

9.2

Contingency Arrangements

Please describe: how your proposals for delivery of services within this CPA will be put in place without adversely affecting your organisations or your Sub-contractors ability to deliver existing and recently won contracts as well as other contracts you are bidding for.

in detail your contingency plan for maintaining the entire scope of your proposal within your bid should members of your supply chain withdraw prior to commencement of delivery of this contract.

Insert your response in the pre-set, shaded space of the following pages. Your response MUST be limited to two sides of A4.

9.2 esg has set up and mobilised multiple service contracts across differing geographies many times before - e.g. esg implemented five DWP contracts between Oct and Dec 2009 worth 18m without registering any negative impact to the performance of our existing contract base of 45m; in contrast, performance actually improved over this period i.e. jobs performance increased from 47% to 51%. esgs proposals to implement WP without adversely affecting existing contracts or other new business are as follows; 1) A dedicated implementation team: esg operates a distinct Programme Office to manage all implementation projects. This team of Programme Manager, 3 Project Managers and 1 Programme Office Manager have the capacity to manage the immediate implementation process for 3 CPAs and 10m of subcontract work. esgs implementation process for Work Programme (WP) will not utilise operational staff engaged on other contracts and will draw all other requirements e.g. IT, Finance, Premises, HR etc from corporate centre to ensure existing programmes operate as business as usual during implementation. With no other bids in the pipeline outside of DWP, it is unlikely our project team will need to be strengthened. However if additional project resources are required esg can recruit temporary posts at short notice. 2) A divisional contract delivery structure: esg operates a divisional delivery structure rather than a regional management model. This means that our two business areas of SFA funded skills and DWP employment provision are managed independently by distinctive line structures, linkage only occurring at Group Operations Director level. This vertical management structure mitigates any impact to our Skills contracts from WP implementation; as all frontline staff, middle management and senior management are dedicated to a single business unit with no functional cross-over at any level with our DWP employment contracts. 3) A shared services approach: esgs corporate centre operates a central "Shared Services" function for IT, HR, Implementation, Finance, Bid Development, Marketing; leaving two operating divisions clear to focus only on contract delivery. 4) Ring-fenced operations: Within esg, the operational functions of CPA 15 will be "ringfenced" from all other delivery through the recruitment of dedicated contract management and delivery teams. esg does not provide DWP services in the area covered by this CPA, so existing commitments cannot be affected by the winning of these services. All recruitment, TUPE management, training and any induction requirements will be serviced by the shared services function in corporate centre not from operational teams. 5) Utilising incumbent provision as subcontractors: esg has selected subcontractors based on criteria including; scale of existing infrastructure, human resources, delivery capability and implementation process. The majority of our end-to-end suppliers are incumbent agents to DWP in this CPA. With over 78% of delivery outsourced to these local providers, the majority of our implementation will require integration into esgs workflow model rather than total replacement or insertion of any new suppliers into the CPA. This is much less demanding for esg as the Prime, attaches much less risk to our supplier base and more importantly provides continuity of relationship to customers already engaged on a legacy programme with the incumbent provider. As part of our due diligence process with short-listed suppliers, we have assured feasibility of the implementation process during a series of 1:1 meetings with our end-to-end subcontractors. At the same meetings, esg has also reviewed the sub-contractor's other commercial commitments, both existing and potential, and can confirm that all our suppliers are able to fully commit to esgs delivery of WP with no adverse impact on any other area of their business.

9.2 esg are controlling their overall Advance business change programme and its constituent projects using our Business Change Method, which is compliant with the government's Managing Successful Programmes method and utilises the principles of the Merlin Standard and Management of Risk method to handle partner interactions and risks respectively. esgs contingency plan to maintain the entire scope of our proposal is three fold, esg will select the best option based on circumstance allied with local knowledge from the following list: 1) To utilise our reserve list of suppliers in the CPA: esg conducted a 2 stage tender process to select suppliers for this CPA. esg were inundated with 67 applications and each response was screened according to our supply chain structure into 2nd tier / end-toend or 3rd tier call off interventions. Every supplier was scored and capability was assessed to create 3 short lists of potential agencies; 2nd tier primary list, 2nd tier reserve list, 3rd tier call off interventions. The primary list was our highest scoring applicants who moved firstly to dialogue phase and then indicative award and a reserve list which were all competent suppliers but didnt score quite as highly as the primary listed providers in the competition. The reserve list is: 2nd tier Provider Reserve list Sarina Russo [REDACT] Sencia [REDACT] JHP [REDACT] County Training [REDACT] JET [REDACT] Juniper [REDACT] Seetec [REDACT] If we utilised one or more of the reserve list agencies; esg will apply our model implementation plan for 2nd tier suppliers. This plan incorporates all the activities that the 2nd tier provider should carry out to integrate into our delivery model e.g. HR and TUPE, premises provision and systems integration. esg will provide each reserve provider with dedicated project management resource to support the implementation and will manage the TUPE transition up to point of transfer. 2) Additional geographic coverage for primary suppliers: esg has built into our selection process a flex measure that identified those providers that had the capability to expand their business. All suppliers selected in the primary list of 2 nd tier supply have that ability to extend their delivery to varying degrees. If a primary supplier withdrew from the supply chain after bid submission, esg will contact neighbouring suppliers and negotiate with each to ascertain the best option that can provide the coverage and deliver the service levels of the contract. Any additional business that requires implementation will follow esgs model implementation protocols as described above. 3) esg to act as reserve supplier via our Sencia business: esg is an existing deliverer of DWP programmes e.g. EZ, New Deal, NDDP so we are experienced in set up and delivery of employment provision. esgs Sencia business is planned to deliver within the CPA already, so expansion of these plans is scalable. If we were to take more of the delivery contract in this CPA, esg will ramp up our implementation resource using temporary contractors, recruit additional permanent delivery staff and source premises through negotiation with incumbents and/or office suppliers. The remaining components of our model implementation remain the same e.g. systems.