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Accountability Agreement

Leicester Adult Education's Accountability Agreement for 2024/25

Accountability Agreement 2026/27

Statement of Purpose


Leicester City Council Adult Education provides learning opportunities that engage and
support the most disadvantaged in our communities while remaining open to all and supporting
growth, wellbeing and prosperity in the city.

Service Vision


We anticipate and respond to the needs of individuals, communities, employers and
Leicester’s economy through the delivery of outstanding, inspirational and highly flexible
learning opportunities.

Strategic Aims

In 2025 the Assistant Mayor for Jobs and Skills, Councillor Mustafa Malik endorsed five overarching principles to underpin Leicester City Council’s Adult Learning and Skills Development programmes. These principles draw together the UNESCO Learning Cities framework, the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), the Tailored Learning Grant purposes and the Get Leicester Working Plan. They provide a clear foundation for programme design, delivery, and partnership working and reflect the city’s aspiration to be recognised as a UNESCO Learning City.


Principle 1: Empowerment and Inclusion
Ensure all adults have equitable access to learning that empowers individuals, tackles barriers, and promotes social cohesion across diverse communities.


Principle 2 : Relevance and Responsiveness
Design and commission high-quality adult learning and skills programmes that meet individual, business and community needs and embrace modern technologies.


Principle 3: Collaboration and Partnership
Strengthen cross-sector partnerships between education providers, employers, communities, and government to co-design skills solutions and maximise shared resources.


Principle 4: Lifelong and Life-Wide Learning
Foster a culture of learning at every stage of life — in families, communities, workplaces, and formal education — to build resilience, adaptability, and creativity.


Principle 5: Leadership and Sustainability
Demonstrate strong political will, good governance, and effective resource use to embed skills development as a driver of inclusive economic growth, health, and social value.


Context and Place

 

  • 151,492 Leicester residents were born outside of the UK. This represents 41% of Leicester’s population and an increase of 7% in the last decade. Excluding the UK, the most common countries of birth were: India (59,842); Other South and East Africa inc Uganda* (12,674); Poland (8,924); Kenya (6,417); Pakistan (4,989); Romania (4,698) India, Romania and Italy saw the largest increases. There are 15 times more Leicester residents who were born in Romania than 2011.
  • 2% (7499) of residents do not speak English at all, 7% (24.541) do not speak English well.
  • 61% of Leicester households have at least one dimension of deprivation compared to 52% for England overall. By this measure Leicester is the fourth most deprived upper-tier local authority in England, behind Blackpool (62%).
  • A significantly larger proportion of Leicester’s 16+ population have no qualifications
    (26.7%) compared to England (18.1%). Leicester has the second highest percentage of its 16+ population of all English UTLAs with no qualifications at 26.7%. (Sandwell, highest – 28.9%). A smaller proportion of Leicester residents have a Level 4 qualification or higher (26.8%) compared to England (33.9%). Leicester has one of the highest percentages of its population with ‘Other’ qualifications, including those obtained outside of the UK (4.3%) of all English UTLAs.
  • Areas to the East of the city centre generally had higher proportions of their population with no qualifications, as would be expected for an area with large numbers of international migrants. Spinney Hill Road MSOA has the highest percentage of its 16+ population of all English MSOAs with no qualifications at 45%. Other areas of the city such as Braunstone and New Parks also have relatively high percentages of the population with no qualifications (c.30%-35%).

In 2021, Leicester City Council undertook the Leicester Household Survey. This survey indicates that 2 in 5 households in the city speak more than one language, with Gujarati
(24%) and Hindi (12%) the most widely spoken after English. The survey asked a wide range of questions which are not covered by census data, including aspects of health and wellbeing, financial health and digital access and skills.

  • Nearly half of respondents felt isolated from others some of the time (37%) or often
    (12%)
  • 35% are slightly or much worse off compared to before COVID
  • 95% have access to the internet at home
  • 80% are confident or very confident at online learning
  • 17% of households have someone who would benefit from support or training in how to access services or carry out transactions online.

The Leicester and Leicestershire Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) is produced by East Midlands Chamber. The report focusses on the Knowledge, Skills and Behaviour areas that businesses identified as priorities to meet growth aspirations.

Knowledge - Across all sectors, technical and vocational knowledge areas are the most important to a business’s success. The next four top areas are: Basic literacy; Basic numeracy; Health & Safety; Basic IT.

Skills - Team working is the most important skill across all sectors, followed by; verbal communication, specific occupational skills, written communication and time management

Behaviour - Being a team player is the most important behaviour, followed by; being hard working, reliable, resilient, and honest

 

The Planning Cycle

The core planning cycle begins in the autumn and concludes in the late spring of the previous academic year. However, a dynamic and responsive approach allows the service to respond agilely to emerging needs and changing demands throughout the year. In future, the Accountability agreement will be updated in the autumn to inform planning for the following academic year.

Step 1: review of current enrolment patterns, performance, feedback from learners and partners and viability of programmes as part of self assessment.
Step 2: research and analysis of national and local needs and priorities, taking account of government policy and funding regimes, changes to qualifications and new and emerging opportunities and threats.
Step 3: consultation with internal and external partners and the Economic Development, Transport and the Climate Emergency scrutiny commission.
Step 4: accountability agreement approved by the Assistant City Mayor for Skills and Jobs.
Step 5: planning of the curriculum with clear outcome and impact measures aligned with the accountability agreement.

 

Stakeholders and Partners 

In 2024-25 the service has increased its contribution to the strategic development and delivery of skills provision across the sub-regional area in preparation for devolution and local government reform. The Head of Service undertook research and consultation with all the main local providers across Leicester and Leicestershire on behalf of the L&L Business and Skills Partnership as well as contributing to the development and implementation of the Local Skills Improvement Plan and the Get Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Working plan. The Senior Leadership team also contribute to the commissioning , quality assurance and programme management of the local Skills Bootcamp programme.
English Language learning is a key issue for the city and the most substantial curriculum area for the service. Therefore, the service has led the development of a local ESOL providers network as part of an East Midlands Local Authorities Strategic Migration Board project. The aim of the network is to improve the co-ordination, reduce duplication, enable easier access and referral routes to ESOL provision in Leicester & Leicestershire. The service is also now funded by the Virtual School to provide ESOL to young people seeking asylum who are not able to access mainstream education.
A wide range of stakeholders and partners contribute to the development of the plan. The nature of the involvement ranges from ongoing, informal networking and collaboration through to formal consultation, partnerships and co-production of learning opportunities.

  • Learners and potential learners
  • Elected members
  • Economic Development Team / Leicester Employment Hub
  • Public Health – including Work Well
  • Arts and Museums
  • Housing and support services
  • Libraries and Neighbourhood services
  • DWP/ Job centre Plus
  • Connexions
  • The Virtual School
  • Local employers through the LSIP board, the Business and Skills Partnership Board and the Work & Skills Forum
  • Schools & Early Years providers
  • Other education providers – Leicestershire Adult Learning Service, DMU, Leicester Uni, Leicester College, WEA, Training Providers

Building a Learning City: Our Plan for 2025–27

 

In 2025, the Assistant Mayor for Jobs and Skills tasked our service with embedding the UNESCO Learning Cities principles into our development plans. This led to the development of the principles outlined above which will shape the development, commissioning and delivery of all Leicester City Council Adult Education and Skills programmes. While the Department for Education grant funding has been cut and eroded by inflation in recent years the service has been successful in diversifying its funding.

 

Corporation Statement

On behalf of Leicester City Council, it is hereby confirmed that the plan as set out above reflects an agreed statement of purpose, aims and objectives as signed by the City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby on 30th May 2023.

Links to key supporting documents: