Issue details

The WE WORK for Everyone Programme supports people with a learning difficulty in finding, securing and maintaining paid employment. A report was taken to Cabinet on 5 November 2019 in relation to the bid for the grant funding (provided by ESF/WECA), but this did not cover the procurement of contracts necessary for the delivery of the programme.
An open framework has been set up and it is anticipated that there will be a total spend of approximately £1.9m on delivery of the programme which constitutes a key decision at Cabinet. Delaying the programme whilst a decision was awaited at Cabinet would have prejudiced the success of the programme and potentially would have placed the council in breach of its commitments to the grant providers.
Therefore the decision was taken to authorise spend up to £250k to ensure that commitments to the grant providers and participants (150 already enrolled) can be met in terms of the programme being delivered, to cover the period until a key decision on the remaining contract spend is taken at Cabinet.