SCLO Projects

Helping Other Businesses Boom

Building long-term partnerships

Our six-year partnership with the team at Ginger Nut Training is still going strong

I first met the Ginger Nut Training team during a session for the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (#RoATP) in June 2019.

It seems a lifetime ago.

They work in the apprenticeship arena and actually started their business life as an employer of apprentices before becoming a training company. They have now trained numerous members of their own staff through apprenticeship programmes, some of whom took on senior roles within the business.

Since our first meeting in 2019, SCLO has supported Ginger Nut with RoATP refreshes and tendering for contracts to deliver apprenticeships across a range of areas including: marketing, business, I.T. and data.

In addition to providing tendering expertise, we have supported them with awards applications and helped with ideas around marketing and their website.

So a big thanks to Harry Simpson, his colleagues and his wonderful team.

Find out more about their work here.

Varied support across a range of subjects for the same company

SCLO has supported Functional Skills UK with work from the Adult Skills Fund to Skills Bootcamps

We first met Functional Skills UK in May 2019 while we were involved in some activity with Sussex Council of Training Providers SCTP.

During the following six years, we have formed a partnership which has been enjoyable and mutually beneficial to both companies.

Functional Skills UK Ltd are an independent training provider based in Brighton, delivering funded and commercially accredited qualifications, nationwide.

SCLO has gone on to support Functional Skills UK with work on subjects as varied as: the Adult Skills Fund, Skills Bootcamps, UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Multiply and other types of Department for Work and Pensions activity.
It is the sort of business which SCLO loves to work with.

We met by chance and, since then, have formed a trustworthy relationship which has seen them engage with us on numerous occasions and with good success.

These types of long-term partnerships are the bedrock of SCLO’s success.

Working closely with an organisation's extended group

Support for Skills 4 extended to make SCLO an end-point assessor with wider group

SCLO’s original activity with Skills 4 was through the 2021 refresh of the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP).

Indicative of the changing face of business post COVID, I met the Skills 4 team online and am still yet to meet them in person, four years later! But that has not stopped us forming a very strong working relationship.

Skills 4 work in the training sector within life sciences (pharmacy, science manufacturing and laboratory skills), and support their clients to attract, retain, and progress their employees and make the most of the exceptional diverse talent within their specialism.

When working with SCLO, they have engaged us on projects including: Skills Bootcamps and apprenticeship tenders, and work with Health Education England.

In addition, we have worked with their wider group to become an end-point assessment organisation to further support the life science sector.

FIND OUT MORE: https://skills4pharmacy.co.uk

Upskilling staff in partnership with leading industry associations

Online and face-to-face training sessions in association with AELP

SCLO have been conducting sector-based tendering training for a leading trade body within the training and apprenticeship markets.

Dozens of webinar sessions have now been provided for delegates booking on through the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP).

The topics I have delivered on include: Win new contracts using Government Procurement Portals, Tendering for the first time, bidding for UK Shared Prosperity Funds (UKSPF), how to use Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS), Skills Bootcamps, Non-Devolved Adult Education Budget, Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP).

These have been beneficial to hundreds of AELP members who have taken the knowledge they have learned back to their organisations to make them better prepared for future bidding.

The feedback has always been good on both the subject matter and delivery and the partnership for SCLO and AELp has benefitted both parties.

Quotes from AELP webinars:

"A good presentation with lots of salient points from a knowledgeable presenter and practitioner."

"I always enjoy Steve O'Hare's webinars and I gain a lot from them too."

SCLO to grow capacity

NCFE enjoyed a 100% win rate with SCLO on board their T Levels team

The project I undertook with NCFE for their bid to obtain contracts to be the routeway lead for five of the six new T Levels in the second wave of procurement was one of the most satisfying of my career.

I loved working with such a passionate group of people at a national awarding organisation and, at the end of some hard graft, I shared their delight when it was announced they would be getting all five of the routes bid for.

To have a 100% success rate on a series of bids is virtually unheard of in the industry so was delighted for myself and for the whole team.

NCFE are now responsible for the delivery of T Levels in Digital Business Services, Digital Support Services, Health, Healthcare Science and Science.

Even then, there were still lessons to be learned to try and make sure that that level of success continues into the future.

I began working with NFCE mid-way through 2018 and our partnership has been a fruitful one right up until present day.

The NCFE team have bought into the bidding process and we have evolved as we have gone along. Different teams have combined with organisational support provided to drive success.

SCLO provide additional support for individual projects

Steve O'Hare became a crucial extra member of the Futures Group's strategic development team ahead of a hugely successful spell of income growth

Head of Engagements and Partnerships, the Futures Group - Chris Grocock said...

“Steve came to us highly recommended at a difficult, but crucial time for the business and he did not disappoint.

"In May 2020, just as the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions were being felt, our Head of Business Development and senior Bid Writer left the company. Working alongside an Interim Head of Business Development and Researcher, Steve delivered a full review of the Futures BD functions, supported recruitment of a new team and delivered multiple high quality training workshops as part of plan to hone and improve how Futures approached business development and bid writing.

"As well as this strategic development, Steve was involved in setting the key growth objectives for the company and led on several vital bids, helping Futures secure contracts from the European Social Fund (IP 1 – Access to Employment and IP2 – Skills for Growth), Apprenticeship-levy paying employers (Suffolk County Council, the NHS), and key welfare-to-work contracts with DWP (Kickstart and Restart).

As of April ’21, the net result of Steve’s support is that Futures has had its most successful year in terms of income growth, securing approximately £45m of new contracts, including the largest contract we have ever won on DWP Restart, working with Maximus in Nottinghamshire.

SCLO consulting has provided essential support to Futures at a critical time, putting us in a stronger growth position that we could have imagined 11 months ago. I would highly recommend Steve O’Hare to other clients across the employment, skills and careers sector."

Reviewing to support success

Engaging businesses for support on their applications

SCLO's work for various organisations on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) - now known as Apprenticeship Providers and Assessment Register (APAR) has been both successful and rewarding.

APAR is a record of organisations that are eligible to receive Government funding to train apprentices. All organisations currently registered on the APAR must adhere to the conditions of acceptance.

Since the launch of SCLO, we have helped over 55 organisations win their place on the register during various rounds of applications.

That work has involved explaining to businesses not only what the Department for Education (DfE) is looking for in an application but, crucially, how to answer the questions by giving the right answers to the right questions and remaining focused on avoiding unnecessary waffle.

It has been a pleasure playing a part in supporting companies to drive the next generation of apprenticeships to market.

One of those was Mark Capper from Mencap.

"Steve reviewed our application," he said.

"He was really helpful in identifying areas we needed to emphasise, as well as areas of strength and where we needed greater depth to our responses.

"We were really pleased with Steve’s input and our application was successful."