Content

Salford City Council – Record of
Decision
 
I Paul Dennett, City
Mayor, accept the recommendation of the Procurement Board and in
exercise of the powers contained within the Council Constitution do
hereby:
 
·    
approve the extension of the
contract for the Integrated Information, Advice and Guidance for Adults and
Employer Brokerage Support Service (Salford Employment
Hub), as
detailed in the table below:
 

Detail required

Answers

Contract Reference

Title/Description of Contracted
Service/Supply/Project

Integrated Information, Advice
and Guidance for Adults and Employer Brokerage Support
Service
 

Name of Contractor

Economic Solutions Ltd t/a Manchester Growth
Company

Type of organisation

(to be supplied by Corporate
Procurement)

Other

Status of Organisation

(to be supplied by Corporate
Procurement)

Non-SME

Value of Contract Variation
(£)

£1,082,544

Existing Contract Term

O1/01/2024 – 31/03/2026

Extension Period

01/04/2026 – 31/03/2027

Contact Officer (Name &
number)

Alison Burnett: 0161 793 2535

Lead Service Group

Place

Funding Source

Combination of Above (please detail below)

 

Revenue Budget (Skills and Work), GMCA Reserves, DWP
WorkWell, DWP GM Economic Inactivity
Trailblazer 

Ethical Contractor (EC): Mayor’s
Employment Charter

EC: Committed to sign the
Charter

EC: Accredited Living Wage
Employer

 
The reasons are:
In January
2024, after an extensive consultation with Salford residents,
businesses and partners, Salford City Council launched a new
universal Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) service, branded
as Salford Employment Hub. Designed as a
single ‘front door’ to careers, employment, skills and
training, its aim is to reduce the complexity and confusion around
accessing the wider skills and work offer in Salford, creating a
single point of access for people to get support and advice and to
be supported to navigate to the right skills and work offer for
their needs -
Salford Employment Hub•Salford City
Council. All
residents accessing the support of the service need to be a Salford
resident. This is a universal service and residents can be
either unemployed or in work. The service also provides support to
employers with their employment and training needs.
 
This
commissioned service is delivered by The Growth Company, a
well-established provider of employment support services, following
a competitive tender exercise. The contract is for 27 months
(1st January 2024 until 31st March 2026),
funded through core Skills and Work funding. There is a further
option to extend on a one plus one year basis, potentially taking
this contract up to 31st March 2028, subject to
performance and available budgets.
 
The Salford Employment service has also been
designed to be adapted and expanded in line with
priorities and funding opportunities and the Growth Company, as the
incumbent service provider, has worked with us to achieve this,
often to challenging timescales. Since the launch of the Hub, the
following  additional services have been
approved to be embedded within this core infrastructure, funded via
grant monies. 

·    
Supported Employment (employer engagement
element),

·    
In Work Progression pilot programme,

·    
WorkWell
(employment support element), and

·    
the key worker aspect of the Economic Inactivity
Trailblazer
 

It is now proposed to exercise the option
to extend the service for a further 12 months from April 2026. It
is in the best interests of the City Council (and will deliver best
value) to maintain the current service and will also allow us to
continue to build upon the core offer as funding opportunities
arise. The core service will continue to be funded by Skills and
Work funding and further GMCA grant funding for In-Work
Progression, Workwell and Economic Inactivity Trailblazer services (the latter two
elements are still subject to formal confirmation via the GM
Integrated Funding Settlement but are expected to be at the same
level as the current allocation).  All
elements together bring the overall contract value for the
Salford Employment Hub to £1,082,584 in
2026/27.
 
Options considered and rejected were:
A
competitive open tender exercise - this
was not deemed possible because of the short lead times for
mobilising a new service and the subsequent challenges in being
able to continue the embedded grant funded elements.
 

Service
is de-commissioned – this would end a core service which
has been designed as a single
‘front door’ to careers, employment, skills and
training for  residents and employers in
the city, with the aim of reducing the complexity and confusion
around accessing the wider skills and work offer in
Salford.

 
In-house delivery of the service -  this was not deemed possible
because of the need for staff to have specialist
Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG)
qualifications.
 
Assessment of risk:
The
delivery provider (The Growth Company) is the incumbent and as such
has appropriately qualified and skilled staff in place to continue
to provide the service for the proposed 12-month extension from
1st April 2026.
 
Any
delay in the award will impact on service continuity and the
ability to provide continuing and new support to local residents
and undermine the other service offers that are aligned  and / or ‘bolted on’ to this
service.  This could also potentially
create a gap in service provision.
 
In
addition, the risk of delaying the proposed extension could impact
on staff retention and stability. If there is a sense of
uncertainty regarding the future of the service beyond
March  2026, then staff will
understandably start to look for alternative employment.
 
The source of funding is:

Skills and Work Revenue budget -
£649,000

GMCA grant funding -
£433,584

Overall contract value for the Salford
Employment Hub is 
£1,082,584 in 2026/27.
 
Legal advice obtained: Yes - supplied by The Shared Legal Service (Tony
Hatton)
 
Financial advice obtained: Yes – supplied by Luba Velychko Accountant,
Place Directorate 
 
Procurement advice obtained: Yes – supplied by Emma Heyes,
Procurement Team
 
HR advice obtained: N/A
 
Climate change implications obtained: Yes – supplied by
Mike Hemingway, Environment Policy Team
 
Documents used:
·    
Approval to go out to competition
for an Integrated
Information, Advice and Guidance for Adults and Employer Brokerage
Support Service –
Report to Procurement Board on 14th June
2023.
·    
Approval to Award the Contract for an
Integrated
Information, Advice and Guidance for Adults and Employer Brokerage
Support Service – Report to the Executive Director for Place
on 10th August 2023
·    
Approval to Award the Contract for an
Integrated Information, Advice and Guidance for Adults and
Employer Brokerage Support Service – Report to the Lead Member for Finance, Support Services and
Industrial Relations and the Lead Member for Skills & Work,
Business and Workforce on 29th August 2023
·    
Approval to Award the Contract for an
Integrated
Information, Advice and Guidance for Adults and Employer Brokerage
Support Service – Report to CMT on
30th August 2023
·    
Approval to Award the Contract for an
Integrated
Information, Advice and Guidance for Adults and Employer Brokerage
Support Service – Report to Procurement Board on
13th September 2023
·    
WorkWell Programme: Proposed Locality Model and Delivery Arrangements
– Report to CMT on 11th September
2024

·    
Approval for an Extension of Contract for the
Integrated
Information, Advice and Guidance for Adults and Employer Brokerage
Support Service in order to deliver the In Work Progression service
– Report to Procurement Board on 23rd September
2024

·    
Approval for an Extension of Contract for the
Integrated
Information, Advice and Guidance for Adults and Employer Brokerage
Support Service in order to deliver a key worker service as part of
the Economic Inactivity Trailblazer local delivery model –
Report to Procurement Board on 28th April
2025
·    
Salford Employment Hub
and aligned services: Proposed Extension – Report to the Lead
Member for  Skills & Work and Business Support on 26th
November  2025
 
Contact details:      
·    
Emma Nolan, Skills and Work Commissioning
Manager: emma.nolan@salford.gov.uk
·    
Alison Burnett, Head of Skills and Work:
alison.burnett@salford.gov.uk 
 
Please delete from the bullets
below any which are not relevant:
·    
This matter is subject to consideration by the Lead
Member for Skills & Work, Business
and Workforce
·    
The Lead Member has been consulted and is supportive
of the proposed contract.
·    
This matter is not subject to consideration by
another Lead Member.
·    
The appropriate Scrutiny Committee to call-in the
decision is Growth and Prosperity                  
 
 

Signed:
    Paul
Dennett     Dated:     8
December 2025.
         
     
City Mayor
 

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE
ONLY
 
*         This
decision was published on 9 December 2025
*         This
decision will come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 16 December
2025 unless it is called-in in
accordance with the Decision Making Process Rules.