Hackney Council's Procurement Board has agreed to utilise the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Adult Learning Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for the procurement of adult skills courses for the 2026/2027 academic year. This decision comes as a temporary measure due to unforeseen circumstances
that have delayed the establishment of the council's own four-year Adult Skills Open Framework.
The CCS DPS will be used for a period of one year, with an option for a further year's extension. This system is already in use by other adult learning providers and is immediately accessible, ensuring that courses can be procured in time for the upcoming academic year. The council's own framework remains a long-term objective, as the CCS DPS is set to expire in October 2028 and will not be permitted under the Procurement Act 2023, making it non-compliant for Hackney Council's long-term adult skills strategy.
This interim arrangement, which was approved at a Hackney Procurement Board meeting on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, aims to prevent a gap in service delivery for adult skills funding. The annual budget for commissioned Adult Skills delivery under this interim arrangement is approximately £500,000. This funding is part of the overall Greater London Authority (GLA) grant for Hackney's Adult Skills programme, which totals around £2,337,014 per year.
Alternative options considered and rejected included in-house delivery of all adult skills courses, which was deemed unfeasible due to a lack of capacity to deliver all of the training programmes in-house
and a lack of specialisms and training venues to deliver all training in-house.
Procuring a single supplier for all training was also rejected due to concerns about lack of control over training quality and standards due to possible subcontracting by the main supplier
and the potential for Learners would be disadvantaged if providers hold waiting lists to retain funding, rather than referring learners to alternative providers.
To ensure continued quality control and prevent learner disadvantage when using the CCS DPS with multiple providers, the council's quality and curriculum team within Employment, Skills and Adult Learning will be responsible for ensuring that providers maintain a high standard of delivery quality. Furthermore, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to achievement, attendance, retention, and recruitment are included in all contracts to ensure performance and quality.
The interim measure is expected to save time and prevent non-delivery
of courses. An engagement and communications plan has been developed to support local providers in registering on the CCS DPS. This plan aims to secur[e] a diverse local supply base for the 2026/27 commissioning round
by overcoming perceived complexity and capacity issues by implementing clear, provider-centric principles to drive application completion.
The ultimate goal is to ensure Hackney based and other local adult skills and training providers successfully completing and submitting their DPS applications to ensure local providers can be selected to deliver the adult skills courses, ensuring a competitive and diverse supply base for the 2026/27 commissioning of adult learning provision.
Further details on the meeting and decisions can be found in the Public reports pack, Agenda frontsheet, and Decisions documents from the Hackney Procurement Board meeting.