Individual Training Accounts: evaluation

Marketing and Engagement

Introduction

This chapter looks at the marketing of the ITA programme, which sources participants heard about it from and how this varied between different customer groups. It also looks at the reasons people were motivated people to apply for an ITA and engage in training, and to what extent the availability of funding influenced their choice of training course.

Taxonomy of participants

A taxonomy was developed to explain the types of people that apply to the ITA programme as present in the focus groups. These groups, and their defining characteristics, are described below:

• Work-dependents: people in this group have applied for ITA funding with an immediate career-related goal in mind. They need proof of course attendance either as a pre-requisite for their current role, to re-enter the job market in their chosen field, or to secure a pay rise.
• Aspirants: people in this group have applied for ITA funding with a future career goal in mind. Aspirations may be short or long-term. Some in this group may have a desire to retrain for a different career, others may be starting their career and need a qualification for a university course, or they may be thinking about setting up their own business. They may be in or out of work at the time of application.
• Curious learners: people in this group have applied for ITA funding without a specific career goal in mind. They might be wanting to learn a new skill, or 'go back to school', often for reasons of personal interest and self-development. They may be in or out of work at the time of application.

Promotion and awareness

People found out about the ITA programme from a range of sources, rather than one main source. The top four sources identified in the survey from which people heard about ITAs were: Jobcentre Plus work coaches (23%); training providers (20%); SDS (19%) and friends, family or colleagues (19%).

Jobcentre Plus, unsurprisingly, engaged work dependent people, those who were unemployed, looking to re-enter the workplace. Half (49%) of unemployed survey respondents found out about ITAs through Jobcentre Plus. Focus group participants identified work coaches as recommending ITAs as a means of gaining work-related skills that would increase their employability. Most participants were content with the course recommended, however there was evidence that a minority did not think the course was appropriate. This issue is explored further in Chapter seven.

"[The] jobcentre informed me so they could apply in my name for [an] ITA to do a forklift ticket. I agreed to that, [so it was a] recommendation… from the jobcentre."

Male, Transport

Training providers varied in their marketing of the ITA programme. Promotional methods included advertising on websites, posting on social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), and disseminating information through google ads, emails and flyers, although often references to ITAs were alongside wider financial support offers and course information. More proactive marketing included specifically mentioning ITAs during 1-1 course enquiry calls and trainers promoting ITAs as part of their offer when delivering commercial training activities.

People who topped up the ITA funding to pay for their course (29% of all who topped up as reported in the survey) and those who were working part-time (24%) were most likely to hear about the programme from a training provider. Women using ITAs (23%) also identified training providers as one of their main information sources (alongside friends, family and colleagues). In the focus groups, some participants heard about the programme whilst on a course with the training provider, and applied for ITA funding retrospectively.

"[I heard about it through] the people that were running the course for the CSCS card. I can't remember what they were called. I think it was Forth Valley…"

Male, Transport

The SDS website was the main source of information on ITAs for younger people aged 16 – 24 (perhaps due to them being a key target group for wider careers, information, advice and guidance activities) and minority ethnic participants (26% of respondents from both groups). SDS marketing was most likely to reach curious learners in the focus groups who searched for training online, with an interest but perhaps not a specific career goal or course in mind.

Recommendations from friends, family and colleagues to engage in ITAs were a key source for younger people aged 25 – 34 (24%) and women (23%). Evidence from the focus groups suggests that colleagues, by proxy employers, are a key source of information for work dependent people seeking immediate access to training.

These findings indicate that the programme is using a variety of sources to reach the target groups with different sources engaging different customer groups which could help inform future ITA marketing and customer engagement.

Motivations for applying to ITA

The most common motivations for people applying for an ITA was to improve job prospects (Table 2). Help to get a job (36%), progress in the same job (17%) or gain a new job with another employer (15%) were the three top reasons given by survey respondents as their reasons for applying. People did not see ITAs as a way to upskill and gain a new role in with their current employer at that time.

Source: SQW analysis of survey (N=2253)
NB. Respondents could select more than one answer

People aged 45+ and minority ethnic applicants were more likely to say they were motivated to use an ITA to help get a job as they were not in work at the time. Over half (52%) of men also identified this motivation, rising to 66% for men intending to use ITAs to gain a job more generally (either with their current or new employer). Women were less motivated to use ITAs to gain a job more generally than men (42%). They were more likely than men to be motivated to use training to help progress in the job they were in at that time (23%) and to use training for their general interest (20%).

"Yeah. It was just purely… I was struggling to get work. I just thought, maybe, try one of the courses and see if I can get a job kind of relating to it."

Male, Out of work

Focus group participants also spoke about a desire to use their ITA to progress from minimum wage employment or from a temporary to permanent contract. These are positive motivations for using an ITA and align well with the policy rationale.

"I've always been working, but I've always been kind of like minimum wage. So, it's always been to try and upskill me and get away from that kind of minimum wage gap."

Male, Construction

Ability to contribute to costs

Given that most participants saw the ITA as a tool to improve their job prospects, it is not surprising that those who were able to top up to access their preferred course, chose to do so. As mentioned in Chapter five, most ITA users do not top up their course costs. The reasons for this may vary: the ITA value covers full course cost or the participant is unable to financially contribute.

The degree to which participants chose to top up by curriculum varied. Three quarters of participants studying language courses and three fifths of people doing Transport had topped up, whereas for Hospitality the number of participants topping up was much lower. In terms of how much participants were topping up, one-third of those topping up Transport courses did so by over £200, whereas language courses had an even spread of those topping up between £50 - £200. Social Care and Early Years and Childcare were the only courses where over half of those topping up did so by over £200. Having said this, the sample sizes are low, so results should be taken with some caution.