Guidance

Connect to Work Grant Guidance for England: Appendix A: Delivery Plan Guidance

Published 26 November 2024

Applies to England and Wales

General Information

1. The purpose of the Delivery Plan is for the Accountable Bodies to share with DWP how they will deliver Connect to Work within their Delivery Area. The Delivery Plan will contain key information, including the delivery method that is planned (in-house, contracted or mixed), the details of the commissioning approach of contracted services (if applicable), and the design of the service.

2. These instructions, together with the Grant Guidance and all other information and documents to which they refer (including any Technical Notes), are designed to support Accountable Bodies to complete the Delivery Plan template. Please read the information and instructions carefully.

3. This document contains the guidance that each Accountable Body needs to submit a completed Delivery Plan, to facilitate successful delivery of the Connect to Work service in their Delivery Area.

4. Delivery Areas in England are listed at Annex D in the Grant Guidance. Each Accountable Body working with their constituent upper tier authorities will develop and submit a Connect to Work Delivery Plan to DWP. DWP recognises that Accountable Bodies will require differing levels of support to develop a Delivery Plan. As a result, some plans may need to follow an iterative review and update process. DWP will provide feedback and work collaboratively with the Accountable Body to reach a final version. The goal is to achieve, in collaboration, plans which give DWP and Accountable Bodies confidence around the quality of Connect to Work delivery in all areas of England.

5. Capitalised terms and acronyms referred to in this Delivery Plan Guidance shall have the meanings given to them in the Grant Guidance or Grant Funding Agreement (GFA).

Administration of the Grant Process

6. The Delivery Plan process opens on 21 October 2024 and Accountable Bodies should email their Delivery Plan to [email protected]

7. Connect to Work will be delivered via non-competitive formula-based grants. The Grants will be made on a restricted funding basis. Each Delivery Area will have an Accountable Body who will be the Grant recipient and represent their Additional Delivery Area Members in that area. Grant payments to the Accountable Body will be made by DWP.

8. Delivery Plans will be considered in accordance with the appraisal process outlined in section 3.0. Once the Delivery Plan is approved by DWP, a Grant Funding Agreement will be entered into by DWP and the Accountable Body, to commence on the commencement date set out therein.

Costs and Expenses

9. Once the Delivery Plan of an Accountable Body is accepted by DWP, and a Grant Funding Agreement is in place, Delivery Plan preparation and submission costs can be reclaimed (subject to limitations) from the grant funding (see Grant Guidance, section 7.5, Allowable Costs for more information). Please note that the scope of the reimbursement is limited to the Delivery Plan preparation and submission costs incurred.

The Delivery Plan Process

10. A series of webinars will be held, following the publishing of the Connect to Work Grant Guidance, to assist Accountable Bodies in building their Delivery Plan. Specific support will be provided for Accountable Bodies to develop their Delivery Plans with adherence to the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF) fidelity requirements (see Technical Note: General, section 3.0. for more information on Implementation Support).

11. In addition, DWP will continue to liaise with the relevant Single Point of Contact (SPOC) within the Accountable Body, to support the development of the Delivery Plan.

12. Where Accountable Bodies would find it helpful, DWP will review draft versions of Delivery Plans and where relevant provide Accountable Bodies with the appropriate assurances that the principles of their plans are aligned to the Grant Guidance.

13. Accountable Bodies can submit questions at any time whilst developing their Delivery Plan, to their single point of contact for the programme at: [email protected]. DWP will maintain an anonymised question-and-answer log to manage and monitor all questions raised via any forum. A frequently asked questions log will also be developed from this and will be regularly circulated directly to each Accountable Body.

14. If a question raised is sensitive to your Delivery Area or strictly confidential, please clarify this when submitting the question to DWP. In cases such as this, DWP will not include the question or answer in the question-and-answer log, unless such question and/or answer would be beneficial to all other Accountable Bodies, in which case it may be circulated on a redacted or strictly confidential basis.

15. Connect to Work, including the Delivery Plan process and the issuance and use of the Connect to Work Grant(s), is subject to the UK Government’s obligations under the Freedom of information Act (FOIA), Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), and any other applicable legislation which may result in the information submitted being disclosed.

Data Protection

16. Connect to Work, including the Delivery Plan process and the issuance and use of the Grant funding, is subject to UK data protection legislation. When populating the Delivery Plan, please adhere to UK data protection legislation and use anonymised information if you are referring to a specific example.

17. In running Connect to Work, the Accountable Body, their Additional Delivery Area Members, and Delivery Partners will be required to adhere to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and all other applicable data protection legislation.

Delivery Plan Completion

Completing the Delivery Plan

18. When completing the Delivery Plan as an Accountable Body, you are doing so for and on behalf of your Delivery Area. All local authorities who make up the Delivery Area must have agreed the information set out within the Delivery Plan. The final version of the Delivery Plan (inclusive of any iterations and modifications made to address feedback from DWP) must be cleared by the Accountable Body and its Additional Delivery Area Members through governance routes as appropriate, before it is submitted for approval by DWP.

19. All sections must be answered in the prescribed format of the Delivery Plan template provided.

20. Section 1 relates to Contact Information. Please note that the responses to Section 1 will not be appraised. All parts of Section 1 of the Delivery Plan must be answered.

21. Section 2 to Section 8 of the Delivery Plan shall be appraised in accordance with the Delivery Plan Appraisal Process as set out below in Section 3 of this Delivery Plan Guidance document.

22. Section 9 shall not be appraised.

23. In your response to section 3.0, ‘Connect to Work design – Identification of Participants’, DWP would expect the Accountable Body to use Local Government Association guiding principles^{[footnote 1]} to support equality, diversity and economic inclusion in the delivery of Connect to Work.

24. For the avoidance of doubt for Section 8, question 8.0 we do not consider ‘in-house’ delivery (i.e., for themselves and not commercial in purpose) by Accountable Bodies or Additional Delivery Area Members to be ‘economic activities’ as these services are not being offered on a market (as per the definition above) and they are not acting for a commercial purpose.

25. To manage the amount of information exchanged between the Accountable Body and DWP, it is suggested that the word count for each question be a maximum of 1,000 words and DWP politely requests that you try to adhere to this word limit where possible.

26. Responses must be presented using Arial font size 12 (English language and black typeface). This includes instances where information may be tabulated or bulleted as part of the response. Any additional information provided, such as screen shots, graphs and charts will not count towards the suggested word limit. Bullets, tables, simple graphs, and charts in support of your responses are all permitted. All acronyms and abbreviations, if used, must be fully explained.

27. Delivery Plans must be completed using Microsoft Word. Delivery Plans should not be submitted in alternative formats such as Microsoft Project, Excel format or Portable Document Format (PDF).

28. No additional documentation should be submitted with the Delivery Plan. The only exception to this is documentation that acts as a letter of support to the Delivery Plan. Accountable Bodies can provide letters of support with their Delivery Plans. Any supporting letters should be submitted separately in their original format alongside the completed Delivery Plan, clearly stating which question they are supporting. Information that forms part of general company literature or promotional brochures should not be submitted.

Completing the Grant Cost Register

29. The Grant Cost Register is a financial model that DWP requires the Accountable Body to complete in full. This outlines the Accountable Body’s response to a request for the costings and assumptions made for the Grant. The Accountable Body must complete the Grant Cost Register following the instructions provided to detail the full set of costs underpinning their planned service.

30. The Grant Cost Register also allows the Accountable Body to provide any supporting information regarding assumptions made in calculating the costs included. A declaration will need to be signed and dated (within the Grant Cost Register), that declares that the information contained within the Grant Cost Register represents a true and fair view of the Accountable Body’s cost data. Note that DWP may request additional details on any assumptions, caveats or dependencies set out in the Delivery Plan, and/or Grant Cost Register. DWP is under no obligation to take such assumptions, caveats or dependencies into consideration and shall not be obliged to increase the value of the Maximum Sum (as defined in the Grant Funding Agreement). DWP reserves the right to reduce the Maximum Sum, as a consequence of such assumptions, caveats or dependencies and/or additional information provided.

31. DWP will undertake an appraisal of the Delivery Plan and Grant Cost Register, to ensure the consistency of financial and non-financial information. The appraisal approach and main areas covered are included in the ‘instructions’ tab of the Grant Cost Register. The appraisal will ensure that the costs submitted in the Grant Cost Register are reasonable and support the proposed service. DWP will undertake an appraisal of the Grant Cost Register as part of the submitted Delivery Plan in accordance with the detail included within the ‘Instructions’ tab.

32. These checks, along with any other appropriate and reasonable checks, will be completed as part of the Delivery Plan appraisal.

33. The completed Grant Cost Register will provide DWP with the breakdown of the following costs:

• implementation costs
• staff costs
• accommodation costs
• information systems IT costs
• participant costs
• Delivery Partner costs
• other operating costs
• consultancy and professional services costs
• corporate overhead costs
• total provider costs
• Additional Information

34. DWP anticipates areas will go live in a phased way and Connect to Work will reach peak annual volumes of around 81,000 Participants starting a year across England, funded through grants issued under this grant guidance, following completion of the phased roll out. Profiles of annual volumes will be agreed for each area as part of the Grant Cost Register. DWP reserves the right to explore with all the Accountable Bodies the possibility of adjusting these estimated volumes (either up or down). These discussions would be without obligation on any party and will not affect the Grant award.

35. Guidance and instructions for completion of the Grant Cost Register are set out in the Instructions Section. The Grant Cost Register is to be completed alongside the Delivery Plan.

Submitting the Completed Delivery Plan and Grant Cost Register

36. Following the issue of this guidance, conversations will take place with all Accountable Bodies. During these conversations, DWP will outline what support is available to Accountable Bodies and ask Accountable Bodies to share their initial thoughts around Delivery Plans and timelines for submission. A follow up conversation will be arranged for approximately 3 to 4 weeks later, during which DWP and the Accountable Body will undertake a meaningful discussion around the draft timescales for:

• the Delivery Plan being submitted; and
• the Go-live date for the service being available.

37. Delivery Plans and the Grant Cost Register must be completed and submitted to the email address at: [email protected]

38. Accountable Bodies are responsible for ensuring that the Delivery Plan and the Grant Cost Register have been fully completed and all information included prior to submission.

39. Please allow sufficient time to submit your Delivery Plan and Grant Cost Register. It is recommended that you allow time for a final check to be undertaken prior to submission. If any key issues are identified that may result in a delay to submission, please engage with your DWP SPOC as soon as possible, so that we can work with you to resolve them.

40. You may modify and resubmit your Delivery Plan and Grant Cost Register at any time prior to final submission. Any revised Delivery Plan and Grant Cost Register submission should be clearly marked as a revision to an existing Delivery Plan or Grant Cost Register submission that it supersedes.

41. An updated Grant Cost Register must be submitted following the conclusion of the planning and Implementation Period. If there are no changes to the original Grant Cost Register a “No Change” confirmation is acceptable.

42. Where the Supported Employment service is to be delivered through an appointed Delivery Partner, a further Grant Cost Register must be submitted following the appointment of the Delivery Partner. The details to be provided are set out in the Grant Cost Register instructions.

Delivery Plan Appraisal Process

Delivery Plan Review and Appraisal Methodology

43. DWP will undertake an appraisal of your Delivery Plan and the Grant Cost Register. The following sections of your Delivery Plan will be appraised:

• Section 2 – Connect to Work delivery
• Section 3 – Connect to Work design
• Section 4 – Governance
• Section 5 – Performance and Management Information (MI) reporting requirements
• Section 6 – Developing an integrated support offer with strategic fit to local priorities 
• Section 7 - Protecting Participant data
• Section 8 – Subsidy Control

Delivery Plan Appraisal Methodology

44. Each Delivery Plan will be reviewed using the appraisal mechanism below.

45. There are a total of 7 sections (as shown in paragraph 3.1.1.) that will be appraised, based on whether sufficient evidence has been provided or further evidence required, as set out in the chart below:

Appraisal outcome	Appraisal outcome description
1. Sufficient evidence provided	The response was detailed, providing strong evidence that credible plans are in place to deliver the Connect to Work, with no further iterations of the plan required at this time.
2. Further evidence required	The response had limited evidence. There are areas that were identified as needing further evidence and iteration.

46. If DWP is not satisfied that sufficient evidence has been provided from the Accountable Body, in response to any of the questions set out in the appraised sections of the Delivery Plan (or part of an appraised question), it reserves the right to not award the Accountable Body the Connect to Work Grant.

Post appraisal notification

47. DWP will notify the named Accountable Body’s SPOC, provided in the Delivery Plan, of the outcome of the appraisal review. Where a Delivery Plan requires further evidence, feedback and support will be provided to the Accountable Body.

Amendments to the Delivery Plan or documents by DWP

48. DWP reserves the right to:

a. change the basis of, or the procedures for, the Connect to Work Grant award process at any time;

b. amend, clarify, add to, or withdraw all or any part of the Delivery Plan Guidance, the Grant Guidance, the Grant Funding Agreement, and any documents attached or annexed there to, at any time prior to the award of the Grant funding (including the Technical Note: General);

c. cancel all or part of Connect to Work at any stage at any time; and/or

d. not conclude Connect to Work or not award a Connect to Work Grant for some or all the Grant funding for which the Accountable Bodies are invited.

1. See LGA guiding principles underpinning equality, diversity and economic inclusion in employment and skills ↩