Newcastle City Learning Accountability Agreement 2025-2026
Our Accountability Agreement sets out how we are working to ensure that our curriculum meets the local needs of our residents, employers and major stakeholders.
Mission/Purpose:
Providing opportunities in Newcastle for all to learn, improve and grow.
Vision
Enabling Newcastle city residents to grow and thrive by providing high-quality, relevant development opportunities, making a difference to the employment chances and lives of all our learners.
Key Objectives 2025-2026
- To provide a relevant curriculum offer to meet the needs of adults, young people and employers’ training needs to support residents from the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne and beyond to move closer to the jobs market and obtain good quality work and to improve individual well-being through better mental health.
- To offer high-quality educational experiences and support, to allow the residents, both young and old, to improve their knowledge, skills and confidence to realise better life chances by the successful delivery of our North-East Combined Authority Adult Skills Budget.
- To sustain our continued positive financial position in challenging circumstances to ensure the sustainability of the service within the city.
- To provide alternative post-16 education and training opportunities to the young people of the city of Newcastle to help them make the transition onto higher level studies or work with greater confidence and the skills to succeed.
- To play our part in the city’s Inclusive Economy strategy. Ensuring that we can offer relevant education and training programmes to move residents closer to the jobs market and ensure that all can access a pathway to sustainable work opportunities.
Our Core Values
Respect
Teamwork
Integrity
Nurturing
Compassion
The service seeks to embed these values and behaviours in all that we do.
Newcastle City Learning sits within the Deputy Chief Executive’s Directorate of Newcastle City Council. It provides courses at two main sites Westgate College and The Heaton Centre as well as provision based in various smaller venues throughout the city, including Gosforth Library.
Newcastle City Learning provides a curriculum offer within the three main strands of adult education, including vocational, foundation learning and tailored learning.
In addition, the service provides an alternative curriculum for young learners (aged 16-19 – up to 25 for those with an EHCP), young people and adults with learning difficulties and disabilities, including those with High Needs funding.
In addition, the service has a growing apprenticeship provision.
Newcastle City Council presented the Newcastle Inclusive Economic Strategy, Wealth that flows for all in 2023. At the centre of this strategy is the desire to grow a more inclusive and green local economy. The strategy seeks to ensure that all residents benefit from the growth within our local economy and to ensure opportunities for all people, regardless of who you are or what part of the city you live and work in.
The vision is to create a successful city which is economically strong and socially fair. A city which is healthy and caring and leads the just green transition. It seeks to deliver an inclusive and sustainable future for all residents.
Much of our work at Newcastle City Learning is focused around supporting our residents to get back into work, and to find the confidence to once again, play a significant role within their local communities and families. This may include developing core skills and knowledge to enable learners to move towards a chosen career or it may be more subtle. Many of our learners are returning to learning for the first time and many of our programmes seek to build confidence, develop communication skills and to develop the whole person, enabling them to feel empowered to take their next steps towards work through higher level training.
We support the Council’s target of increasing access to good work. We therefore seek to work very closely with the Council’s Work and Thrive initiative to identify skills shortages and to provide relevant training for the city’s residents to access those vacancies.
The city of Newcastle has a strong foundation economy and many of our learners come to Newcastle City Learning to develop their knowledge and skills and their confidence to enable them to take up posts within this sector.
The service delivers a large proportion of foundation learning programmes. The largest curriculum offer is that of English as a Second Language (ESOL), literacy and numeracy or basic digital skills. The vocational strand of programmes seeks to provide a bridge for those learners who may wish to progress to higher level studies in national priority areas, and thus seek sustainable employment opportunities.
The third stand of our delivery offers a wide range of courses which support wider integration, building of confidence and communication skills, and the development of social and emotional skills to allow residents to play a more significant role within their own communities.
Context and place – The City of Newcastle Upon Tyne
In 2023 at the launch of the Council’s Inclusive Economic Strategy it was reported that forty-four per cent (44%) of Newcastle residents have a degree level qualification and are doing very well economically. However, we still have a very large proportion of residents who need specific, additional support and training to ensure that all our residents have an equal opportunity and access to high quality, sustainable employment.
The picture is very mixed within the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. Whilst there is much to be proud of within the city, there are clearly some less favourable statistics here. Many of our residents do need lots of support to ensure that we do have an inclusive economy and that all are able to access good quality employment opportunities within the city.
The foundational economy, which creates and distributes goods and service that we rely on for everyday life, accounts for around 40% of Newcastle’s jobs with our hospitals alone providing 9% of our city’s employment. Other examples of the foundational economy are: care and health services and food. Our foundational economy spans public, private and community sectors to provide valuable goods and services that are essential for our daily lives.
The city also supports a very vibrant night-time economy with many opportunities within the hospitality and leisure industries.
Since that time, we have seen a major political shift with the election of a new Labour Mayor, Kim McGuiness and the publication of her manifesto and the Local Growth Plan for the northeast.
Newcastle City Learning has adapted our curriculum offer to ensure that we are still aligned with the priorities of the local growth plan. This has also resulted in the reduction of our overall offer and the removal of some more traditional courses in line with the guidance of the North East Combined Authority and reduced overall funding for adult learning in the academic year 2025-26.
Key Updates for 2025–26
Local Labour Market Data
- Employment rate: 74.3% (ages 16–64) — up from 67.7% the previous year
- Unemployment rate: 5.3% (ages 16+) — slightly increased
- Economic inactivity: 24.0% — down from 29.4%
- Claimant Count: 4.3% — decreased from 4.6%
Economic Forecasts
- Newcastle’s GVA growth: Projected at 1.5% annually (2025–2028)
- Employment growth: 0.8% annually — outpacing national average
- Growth sectors: Information & communication, professional services, green energy
Council Priorities (2024–27)
- Inclusive economy: Opportunity flows to all
- Anti-poverty: Fair and inclusive city
- Net Zero: Sustainable housing and low-carbon economy
North East Local Growth Plan Missions
- Home of real opportunity
- A North East we are proud to call home
- Home to a growing and vibrant economy for all
- Home of the green energy revolution
- A welcoming home to global trade
Whilst much of the change has moved focus to higher-level vocational courses in key areas such as digital, professional services and green energy, we must ensure that we continue to provide foundational learning opportunities to the residents of the city to ensure we meet the strategic objectives of the Inclusive Economic Strategy to ensure access to education and training for all to improve their economic position as an individual or business as quoted in the document published by the Council in 2023.
The Newcastle Inclusive Economic Strategy; Wealth that flows to all (published in March 2023) – Newcastle Upon Tyne states that: -
‘This economic strategy has been designed to ensure access for all to opportunities to improve their economic position as an individual or business, through education and development. The strategy includes provision for the most disadvantaged learners ensuring that all Newcastle residents have an opportunity to improve their life chances through securing good quality employment.
We are a hardworking and resilient city, with real economic success stories to tell, and with communities that unite to support each other in hard times. But figures of 42% child poverty rates and a 13-year difference in life expectancy for adults between our most and least deprived wards, tell us something is structurally wrong with the way that wealth and wellbeing flows in Newcastle.
We can all see the great potential in Newcastle. We need a shift in mindset so that we can all seize it and maximise it for the benefit of every person, no matter where they live in our city. It starts here, with setting out what we want to achieve then doing everything in our power to achieve it.
Our challenge is to make sure that people who live here are part of our success at every level. This is what will drive Newcastle’s economic transformation and reduce the inequalities that hold our city and our people back. We need to think long term and we need to think local. We know we are well-placed to make the right decisions about our lives at a local level because we understand our needs and strengths best, and our communities help us to shape our plans.
The potential creation of a Northeast Mayoral Combined Authority, with Newcastle at its heart, offers us more scope for taking decisions locally, and more funding to invest over longer-term timeframes, improving our transport links, education and skills pipelines, supply of housing, innovation funding, all of which we will maximise for the benefit of all residents.
We need to think inclusively about our diverse communities that all play a part in our welcome, our vibrancy, our city of sanctuary. About the businesses and industries that make up our great city, with a focus that balances innovation and high growth sectors with foundations that provide good health and wellbeing for the most people’.
Newcastle City Learning seeks to support many of our hard-to-reach residents from within the city, providing alternative education and training programmes in a very supportive environment.
Newcastle City Learning seeks to play a role in the levelling up agenda in supporting those most disadvantaged currently and to make a significant contribution to improve the economic positions of more of our residents.
Newcastle upon Tyne is also a designated City of Sanctuary and supports the integration of many migrants who come to both live and work within the city.
Our vocational curriculum
Our vocational training curriculum looks to provide relevant training to residents to enable them to be able to move into vacant posts within the city.
The North East Local Growth Plan highlights the need to create opportunities for all to address levels of poverty, inequality and digital exclusion (pg 6). Newcastle City Learning’s foundation learning offer provides a bridge for many residents to undertake their first step towards developing the skills they will need to move into better work. This includes a wide range of digital including programmes.
The overall aim of the North of the Local Growth Plan is to ensure that the right people with the right skills are available at the right time to fill current and future job vacancies over the next three years.
This document seeks to articulate how Newcastle City Learning can contribute to that vision.
Whilst Newcastle City Learning cannot provide training in all of those identified areas, it can provide entry level studies to enable residents to develop into more confident learners with the skills and effective behaviours to progress and be successful in many of the vocational programmes offered by our large General Further Education Colleges within the city.
Whilst the delivery of adult education is not a statutory requirement, it is an essential service to support the further training and development of knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable our residents to move closer to the jobs market. Newcastle City Learning seeks to develop further learners’ current qualifications and employability skills, and to support them to take an active part in our communities.
Adult education also makes a huge contribution to the health and well-being of our residents. In all our programmes we seek to develop human capital, social capital, cultural capital and symbolic capital, ensuring that we develop the whole person.
Our approach to developing the annual Accountability Statement
In developing our curriculum offer the senior leadership team have taken into consideration the following documents:
- Newcastle City Learning Mission, Vision and Strategic Priorities for 2025-2026.
- Newcastle Council Plan for 2025.
- Newcastle Inclusive Economic Strategy, Wealth that flows to all (published in March 2023) – Newcastle Upon Tyne.
- Creating Real Opportunity. The Interim North East Local Growth Plan (March 2025
- DFE Accountability Agreements for 2023 to 2024 Guidance (April 2023)
This document has been signed off by the Newcastle City Learning Advisory Board.
A full copy of this document can be located on our website at www. Welcome to Newcastle City Learning | newcastlecitylearning
| Local priorities |
We will improve digital inclusion in Newcastle by the provision of free digital skills training programmes for adults. Ninety-two per cent of businesses say that having a basic level of digital skills is important for their employees. These skills are also becoming essential for many day-to-day activities such as booking appointments with the doctor, keeping in touch with friends and family.
We will improve numeracy for adults by the provision of our foundation English and maths courses up to level 2. The previous MULTIPLY project made a significant impact in the region in raising levels of numeracy both for individuals and employees. We hope to continue this, by the delivery of similar type programmes funded by the Adult Skills Fund contract.
We will improve literacy for adults by the provision of a range of foundation English classes which seek to develop both reading, writing and communications skills. We also offer courses in creative writing and academic writing skills, to enable adults to progress and further develop their literacy skills beyond level 2.
There is a strong demand in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne for English as a Second Language (ESOL) courses. This is our largest area of provision within Newcastle City Learning. Whilst our growth in this area is currently capped by our funding partners, we continue to look at alternative ways to support the ever-growing number of residents who require language support. We offer progression from beginner to advanced course and a range of vocational taster courses in key areas where employment is available within the city.
In addition, we now actively support our ESOL leaners to progress into other vocational training courses to develop additional knowledge and skills to move them closer to existing job opportunities within the city.
We continue to support adult learners who have a learning difficulty or disability (LLDD) to develop their independent living skills and to become an independent traveller. Where appropriate, young people with learning difficulties and disabilities may also develop employability skills through our internship programmes, seeking to support learners to move into suitable and sustainable employment.
We will support those looking to get onto the first step of progression towards employment with a range of pre-employability courses. Our short Get into courses for ESOL learners provide residents with an introduction to what opportunities may be available and what further qualifications and training they might need in order to progress to higher level studies and training in those key skills shortage areas. We offer a bespoke approach in this respect with embedded language support for those learners whose first language is not English.
In response to growing demand, we are also offering training for Early Years Practitioners and Health and Social Care practitioners via the Level 3 Free Courses for Jobs initiative.
Our Tailored Learning programmes seek to build learner confidence so that our adult learners can play a greater part in their communities and build their social, cultural and symbolic capital to be able to enjoy more fulfilling lives within the city.
We offer a small number of vocational qualifications in Counselling and Beauty in small, supportive groups to allow those looking to move into employment to build their confidence and develop new knowledge and skills to move into higher level vocational training programmes, apprenticeship training or employment.
We offer apprenticeships in health and social care, early years practice, business administration and customer service, leadership and management.
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| Local priorities | Through our Tailored Learning offer, we provide a wide range of courses to support the well-being of our residents. We also offer a range of full-cost courses in art, craft and design, modern foreign languages and leisure activities such as creative writing, dressmaking and photography. These courses support the health and well-being of residents who are lifelong learners and who attend classes to extend their social networks and to have fun in their learning. |
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Local priorities – support for the had to reach 16 – 19-year-olds.
Including those with a Learning Difficulty and Disability |
We currently offer 150 plus places on our full-time Programme for Young People (PYP) which seeks to offer alternative post-16 education for those young people who need a smaller, more supportive environment on leaving school to make the successful transition into adulthood. Young people progressing into our Programmes for Young People (PYP) at age 16 have often not realised their full potential at school and require an interim programme of learning to help them to make the important transition into higher-level vocational programmes and/or employment.
We support the young learners to fill the gaps left by an erratic attendance and performance at school to secure their foundation qualifications and consolidate their learning before moving to more demanding vocational programmes of learning.
We also provide an alternative part-time option for those young people not quite ready for full-time attendance called BUILD.
Newcastle City Learning strives to provide a bridge for those young people to firm up their foundation learning and qualifications, develop their social and emotional skills, including access to work experience, to become successful in adulthood in securing sustainable employment.
We offer a successful Internship programme for those learners with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities who are able to move into their first work situation. This includes a successful partnership with Northumbria University as part of the DFN Project SEARCH programme. This is a one-year transition to work programme for young adults with a learning disability or autism spectrum conditions, or both. They partner with organisations across the public, private, and voluntary sectors to create supported employment internships for young people in their last year of education, helping them to take positive first steps into the world of work. Their unique programmes around the UK have been established with various prestigious employers including hospitals, local authorities, universities, and a number of private sector businesses. At the end of the programme, on average 60% of DFN Project SEARCH graduates move into full-time permanent roles and 70% of DFN Project SEARCH graduates gain jobs in total.
Our outreach programme provides a service to bridge the gap for those learners who are not ready to come into college at the age of 16 to continue their education. There is a growing number of young people, who for various reasons, are not in a position to return to more formal education at age 16. The outreach workers establish a relationship with both the young people and their parents and carers to provide basic support and education with a view to helping those young people transition back into some form of post-16 education and training to improve their job prospects as adults in the future.
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Local and Regional priorities |
All our courses are available to both Newcastle residents and those from within the wider north-east region.
Our employer responsive department is set up to directly meet the needs of both local and regional employers. This includes the delivery of apprenticeships in a small number of subject areas and a range of health and safety and first aid training packages. |
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National priorities
Education for Sustainable Development |
The delivery of foundation learning and vocational programmes serves to provide a bridge for those learners who may progress to an offer that enables learners to progress in national priority areas, and thus seek sustainable employment opportunities and improve their life chances.
We offer introductory courses in digital and technology, health and social care, English and mathematics.
Our young learners also have access to introductory courses in construction.
We seek to raise carbon literacy levels by raising awareness of carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities through the following themes:
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Updated October 2025