Department For Education
Overview
Skills Bootcamps are free courses for adults typically lasting up to 16 weeks, available across a range of sectors. They help people develop priority skills that are in demand at both local and national level.
They are developed by training providers in partnership with employers.
Significant investment has been committed by the government to scale up Skills Bootcamps from 2022 to 2025.
Who can apply
Skills Bootcamps can be delivered by suppliers who have qualified onto the dynamic purchasing system (DPS), including:
- independent training providers (ITPs)
- further education (FE) colleges
- employers
You can only deliver Skills Bootcamps if youre successful in winning a contract as part of a commerical procurement. Youll need to apply to qualify onto the DPS and then bid for a contract.
As part of this process, youll need to demonstrate your previous experience of working closely with employers.
Whats involved
Skills Bootcamps provide flexible training. This is typically at levels 3 to 5 or equivalent (medium to higher level technical skills) and level 2 in some sectors.
You can offer them online, face-to-face or through a blended approach.
Currently Skills Bootcamps are available in areas such as:
- digital, for example, digital marketing or coding
- construction
- logistics (HGV driving)
- engineering
- green skills, for example, solar energy or agriculture technology
We may award contracts for Skills Bootcamps in additional sector categories in the future.
Responsibilities include:
- working with employers to develop the training
- making sure each learner typically receives a minimum of 60 teaching hours
- securing learners a new job, responsibilities or work
- submitting monthly performance management information
- completing an Individual Learner Record (ILR) for each learner
- securing learners a job interview at the end of the course
Application process
We use a competitive procurement process to award contracts for Skills Bootcamps. To win a contract youll first need to apply to qualify onto the DPS. Once on the DPS, youll need to bid for a contract to deliver a specific Skills Bootcamp.
Well score your bid on its quality and on the price you will charge.
If youre successful, youll get payments at set milestones during your contract. Your contract will show the payment milestones and how much youll get.
How to apply
Applications to qualify onto the DPS to compete to provide Skills Bootcamps will launch in late November.
Youll need to apply to qualify onto the dynamic purchasing system (DPS). This system will allow suppliers to compete for Skills Bootcamps contracts.
The first competition will be for digital. Sign up for alerts to find out when you can apply or when competitions for other sectors open.
Before joining the Skills Bootcamps DPS
Register on the Department for Education (DfE) eTendering Portal website Jaggaer. To be able to access the DPS, youll need to be registered on Jaggaer. Make sure you register your organisation as a supplier.
Once youre registered as a supplier, youll be able to access the DfE Skills Bootcamps DPS market engagement material. This includes guidelines for joining the DPS and information on timelines. To access, log into Jaggaer and search for Project_6939.
Sign up for the Skills Bootcamps DPS market engagement event on 14 November 2022 to find out more about whats involved in supplying Skills Bootcamps.
Contact us
To find out more information about supplying Skills Bootcamps email Skills.Bootcamps@education.gov.uk.