1. WHAT IS UNION LEARNING? The previous Labour government saw upskilling the workforce as a “natural partnership” between unions and employers. Both government and unions recognised that if unions were to become a key partner then they required a supportive framework. Over the past decade this has been built on three key components: ■ the Union Learning Fund, created in 1998 ■ union learning reps, granted statutory rights in 2003 ■ unionlearn, established in 2006. These components have continued to be supported by the new government. Union Learning Fund Now in its 14th round, government annual grant to the ULF has increased from £2m in Round One to £15.5m in Rounds 8–11, and the size and nature of the projects it has funded have developed as a result. Early projects tended to be small, typically based in specific workplaces or locally focused, with the maximum award in Round One just £79,000. More recent projects have tended to support wider capacity-building efforts, engaging a wide range of employers and other stakeholders and typically nationally focused, with the maximum award in Round 11 having a contracted value of over £1 million. The first 11 rounds of the ULF supported 522 projects, with a contracted ULF budget of more than £121.1 million, supporting projects by 57 individual trade unions as well as TUC-led projects, creating 603,775 learning opportunities and training 22,009 ULRs. Costs per learner have been dramatically reduced; taking a three-year running average, the cost per learner has been cut from £580 per annum over Rounds 1–3 to £142 per annum over Rounds 9–11, an impressive improvement in terms of return on investment.
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unionlearn adding value
Union learning reps ULRs have been crucial to the development of union learning, spreading the word about the opportunities available, encouraging their colleagues to take part in workplace courses and building strong partnerships with local providers. Their numbers and their contributions have grown considerably since they were granted statutory rights in 2003, and at the time of the evaluation TUC Education has trained more than 22,000 ULRs. Under the legislation, ULRs are granted reasonable paid time to train and to undertake their duties, while employees also have the right to talk to their ULR. However, ULRs do not have a statutory right either to consult or to negotiate with their employers. Unionlearn Unionlearn is the TUC’s learning and skills function hat develops strategic activity linked to national skills strategies, using the ULF to steer the direction of union learning activity to the changing requirements of the wider economy. Unionlearn provides a strong central union lead through its national and regional offices, and passes around 85 per cent of its total income (which stood at £28.4m in 2008/9) to affiliate unions to deliver learning projects, largely under the ULF.