Cumbria Connect to Work - Market Engagement Session

4 July 2025

Cumberland Council, in partnership with Westmorland and Furness Council and Enterprising Cumbria, is excited to announce an incredible opportunity to partner with us on the Connect to Work programme across Cumbria.

Today we are launching our market engagement phase for the Cumbria Connect to Work programme to improve employment outcomes across the region, with a particular focus on supporting people who face barriers to entering or remaining in work.

Connect to Work is a voluntary programme, delivering the evidence-based Support Employment model, 'place, train and maintain', via two distinct types of interventions based on the needs of the participant - Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and Local Supported Employment (LSE).

Our ambition is to deliver this programme in partnership with one high-quality provider (service coordinator) who is able to meet set targets for supporting economically inactive adults across Cumbria into work delivering both the IPS and SEQF elements of Connect to Work.

This opportunity seeks a lead organisation to function as a service coordinator, bringing together the rich tapestry of small local delivery organisations embedded in local communities, building capacity and capability within that network and supporting direct delivery where it is necessary and right to do so. The service coordinator will need to invest in their delivery partners to ensure quality services are delivered to all participants across Cumbria regardless of place. Success of the programme is reliant upon integrated referral pathways, employer engagement and participant-centric support.

We anticipate contracts will be awarded and commence October 2025 with service commencement (referrals and starts on programme) from 5 January 2026.

Event details

Date - Friday, 18th July 2025

Time - 10am to 12:30pm (Note that there will be an open session between interested service coordinators and delivery organisations afterwards, but this will not be managed by council staff and it will sit outside of the formal market engagement process).

Location - Carlisle (Note that the location will be confirmed upon registering).

This in-person session will provide an overview of the Connect to Work programme's aims, delivery model, and commissioning approach. It is an opportunity to:

  • understand the delivery model, programme scope and outcomes
  • contribute your insights and feedback
  • ask questions and engage with the programme team

We welcome attendance from local, regional, and national organisations working in employment, skills, health and wellbeing, and related sectors.

Register to attend

To confirm your place, please complete the registration form by Tuesday, 15 July 2025 and return to CumbriaCTW@cumbria.gov.uk.

 

Please note that only registered attendees will be allowed into the event, and we intend to publish a list of interested organisational detail to help collaboration and networking.

Only one representative per organisation will be able to attend the session.

What happens after the event

Following the market engagement event, the room will remain available until 2pm for organisations who want to network to do so with other like-minded organisations.

This follow-on networking session will not be hosted by Cumberland Council, although for security and health and safety reasons a member of staff will remain in the room but will not be available to answer questions about Cumbria Connect to Work, and therefore is not part of any potential Cumbria Connect to Work procurement process and pre-market engagement process.

A question-and-answer log will be published following the event alongside the slide used at the event.

Questions can be sent to use either before the market engagement event, raised at the event, or up to close of business on 20th July and we will seek to answer all questions either at the event or shortly afterwards.

We recognise the burden that maybe placed on smaller local organisations in responding to requests for information from potential service coordinators. To help alleviate this we will:

  • seek to build a directory of local services
  • encourage potential service coordinators to use that directory of services as part of any Expression of Interest process, they may have

If you wish your details to be included in a service directory, hosted on Enterprising Cumbria's Connect to Work website, please complete and return the service directory form.

If you have any questions about the session, please contact the Connect to Work team at CumbriaCTW@cumbria.gov.uk