North Yorkshire Council Adult Learning and Skills Service Accountability Statement 2026/27

Purpose

The Adult Learning and Skills Service operates within the Children’s and Young People’s Service directorate of North Yorkshire Council. Our mission is to act as a gateway to opportunity for adults across the county, including young people and adults with additional needs who require support to participate, progress and thrive. We aim to help residents build confidence, improve their essential skills and move into further learning, employment and fuller participation in community life.

Adult learning continues to play an important role in supporting people to improve their physical and emotional wellbeing, recognise their own potential and take forward positive next steps. For some learners this means returning to education for the first time in many years; for others it means building on existing skills so that they can access a better job, increase their independence or contribute more fully to family and community life. Our purpose is to use public funding in a way that is inclusive, ambitious and strongly connected to the needs of North Yorkshire residents.

In 2026/27 we will continue to define clearly the role of adult learning for all stakeholders, develop a curriculum that is aligned to local skills and community need, reach a broad and diverse learner population, and remain the provider of choice for those furthest from learning. We will protect the wider purpose of tailored learning, grow provision in areas less well served by other providers, strengthen progression pathways from first engagement through to employment and further study, and demonstrate strong value for money and social impact through our delivery.

Context and Place

North Yorkshire is a large, geographically dispersed county with a strong and varied economy. It combines significant natural and cultural assets with market towns, coastal communities and rural areas, alongside major public services, small and micro-businesses and a number of larger employers. This creates clear opportunities for growth and investment, but it also presents challenges in ensuring that residents can access learning and work opportunities consistently across such a wide area.

The Council Plan 2026–2030 sets out ambitions to support thriving places and empowered communities, develop more sustainable and connected places, ensure people are safe, healthy and living well, and maximise the potential of residents and communities. Adult learning contributes directly to these ambitions by improving essential skills, reducing digital exclusion, supporting independence and wellbeing, and helping residents move towards employment and progression.

Our service delivers tailored and accredited learning through a broad network of community venues across the county, alongside online and blended approaches that have become increasingly important in reaching rural learners, those with caring responsibilities and people whose health or confidence makes attendance more difficult. Maintaining this flexibility is an essential part of our approach, but so too is sustaining face-to-face learning in communities where it plays a wider role in reducing isolation and supporting engagement.

 

The county continues to experience a combination of strong headline performance and underlying inequalities. Whilst overall qualification levels and employment remain comparatively strong, this masks persistent challenges linked to rurality, transport, health, disability, low-paid work and economic inactivity. The skills challenge is therefore not simply about supply. It is also about ensuring that those residents who would benefit most from learning are able to engage with it, progress through it and see a clear connection between education, confidence and work.

Adult learning is particularly well placed to respond to this context. The service is able to meet learners in local communities, support people at their first step back into learning and provide a flexible route into accredited learning, employment and wider progression. For that reason, our offer continues to prioritise those residents furthest from opportunity, while also aligning provision more clearly to the workforce and sector needs of the wider local economy.

Local and Regional Skills Priorities

This statement has been developed in the context of the refreshed York and North Yorkshire Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for 2026–2029, the Combined Authority’s Local Growth Plan, the Get York and North Yorkshire Working Plan and the Combined Authority’s priorities for the Adult Skills Fund. Taken together, these documents underline the importance of widening participation, embedding essential and transferable skills, unlocking progression pathways, developing flexible provision and enabling effective collaboration across the skills system.

The LSIP continues to identify priority skill areas that are important to the local economy, including digital, health and social care, construction, engineering and manufacturing, and land-based industries. At the same time, both local and regional strategy make clear that stronger outcomes will not be achieved by sector alignment alone. They also require improved engagement with adults who are furthest from learning, better progression planning, and more coherent pathways that connect first-step learning to accredited provision, employment and higher-level opportunities.

The Adult Learning and Skills Service is therefore positioning its offer not only as a provider of courses, but as part of a wider local progression system. We will continue to use tailored learning as a gateway into confidence, essential skills and next steps, while also building a stronger link between community-based provision and the priority sectors, employment pathways and workforce needs identified across the county and region.

Approach to developing the plan.

This statement has been shaped through review of the latest internal governance and occupancy information, alongside analysis of learner participation, progression, achievement and funding trends. It has also been informed by the updated policy and strategic context described above and by the service’s knowledge of local need, curriculum performance and community demand.

Our approach remains grounded in maximising the social and economic value of public investment. We want more residents to see themselves as learners, develop the confidence to progress and access provision that is relevant to both their personal goals and the needs of the local economy. We also recognise that adult learning delivers impact well beyond employment alone. It supports health and wellbeing, family learning, community resilience, confidence and independence, all of which remain important in the way we shape and evaluate our curriculum.

Progress against the 2025/26 plan

During 2025/26 the service has continued to strengthen participation, progression and the alignment of learning to local need. At R10, 3,185 learners had engaged in tailored learning and 3,535 enrolments had been recorded across tailored provision, demonstrating sustained growth in learner volume and demand. Over the same period, accredited learning had increased by 7.5% enrolments compared to the equivalent point in the previous year, showing that the service’s focus on progression from first-step learning into more formal study is beginning to translate into higher levels of participation in accredited provision.

Financial performance also improved over the year. The service reported almost full utilisation of its Adult Skills Fund provision at R10, an increase of 15.5% compared to the same point in the previous year. In addition, 229 learners had been supported through learning support arrangements by the end of June 2026, reflecting the continued importance of targeted support in sustaining participation and achievement.

Maths achievements have seen a significant increase at R10 - 79.3% achievement, which is 30% higher than the outcome for 25/26, with some outcomes still outstanding.

There remain areas where further improvement is required. English achievement was reported at 74.7% with some outcomes still outstanding.  Apprenticeship Quality Achievement Rates were below the level to which the service aspires, despite a strong apprenticeship assessment pass rate and evidence of better outcomes where learners reach final assessment. These areas inform the quality and curriculum actions set out in this statement for 2026/27.

Contribution to national, regional, local priorities

In 2026/27 the service will continue to develop its curriculum and delivery model in ways that respond directly to local need, regional strategy and national expectations for accountability. The strategic aims below are intended to describe not only what we want to achieve, but how we will use curriculum design, learner support, quality improvement and partnership working to deliver stronger outcomes. In line with Department for Education guidance, the table includes the main actions and measurable targets that will be used to monitor progress during the year ahead.

 

Curriculum changes for 2026/27

The curriculum changes for 2026/27 are intended to make the service more responsive to both learner need and local labour market priorities. Provision will be expanded, supporting local colleges to bridge provision in health and social care, digital, construction, employability and green skills, while progression routes from tailored learning into accredited provision will be made more explicit through clearer curriculum mapping, strengthened Gateway and Step Into arrangements, and improved advice and guidance.

We will also increase the flexibility of delivery through blended and digital approaches where these improve access, particularly for rural learners and adults whose circumstances make regular face-to-face attendance more difficult. Alongside this, place-based provision will be developed further in communities where participation and progression remain comparatively low. English, maths and ESOL delivery will be supported through stronger quality assurance, tighter learner tracking and earlier intervention where attendance or achievement is at risk.

 

Impact statement

Through these priorities and curriculum changes, the Adult Learning and Skills Service will continue to make a measurable contribution to North Yorkshire’s wider social and economic ambitions. More adults, particularly those furthest from education and employment, will be supported to re-engage with learning, improve their confidence and essential skills, and access credible pathways into work, volunteering and further study.

The service will also support more equitable access to opportunity across the county by maintaining strong community-based provision, improving access for rural and disadvantaged residents, and strengthening inclusion for learners with SEND, ESOL needs and other barriers to participation. By aligning provision more clearly to priority sectors and improving progression and quality outcomes, ALSS will contribute to reduced inactivity, stronger workforce participation, better life chances and a more responsive adult skills system for North Yorkshire.

Corporation statement

This statement is presented for approval through North Yorkshire Council’s governance arrangements for 2026/27.

Hyperlink

A copy of the accountability statement will be published on the North Yorkshire Council website alongside relevant service information and supporting documentation.

Supporting Documentation

·         North Yorkshire Council Plan 2026–2030

·         York and North Yorkshire Local Skills Improvement Plan 2026–2029

·         York and North Yorkshire Local Growth Plan

·         Get York and North Yorkshire Working Plan

·         Adult Skills Fund priorities and related commissioning guidance

OFFICIAL

OFFICIAL