Success story - Department for Work and Pensions

Success story

Department for Work and Pensions

Starting with a trial pilot scheme in South West London, The Open University is working with JobCentre Plus to help jobseekers gain new skills through our Badged Open Courses offering in the OU’s free to use OpenLearn platform

The challenge

Core skills such as leadership, networking and career resilience that employers often cite as missing in many jobseekers. Basic skills courses in maths, English and digital are also a challenge for some individuals. After the successful use of The Open University's free platform, OpenLearn, within the Kingston Jobcentre Plus staff team, The Open University worked in partnership to investigate how OpenLearn could be curated for jobseekers to learn new skills to enhance employability and gain recognition.

The solution

Within the OpenLearn provision, the OU has developed a range of Badged Open Courses (BOCs). These focus specifically on core employability skills. The courses are designed for unconfident learners coming back into education. They align to national levels 4/5. Digital badges can easily be presented via electronic profiles such as a CV or LinkedIn. Within the pilot, the OU offered curated access to the BOCs.The OpenLearn team held workshops at the JCP to introduce the courses and train JCP staff to coach clients to undertaking these free courses to gain new skills to improve their employment prospects.

The programme has helped jobseekers gain recognition for new skills which will be of vital help in a competitive job market. DWP are now looking to roll out this pilot further nationally – cementing The Open University’s reputation as a vital strategic partner for reskilling and retraining locally on a national basis.

What has been really, really good is having our colleagues buy into the continuous learning journey and now encouraging customers to do the same. The range and breadth of courses available covers most of our customer groups, at whatever stage of their learning journey and whatever stage of their employability. I’m really excited about that.

Cameron King

Employer Adviser, Department for Work and Pensions, Kingston Jobcentre Plus

Read more about OpenLearn as an effective way to upskill your staff