What is the Transformation fund?

The Transformation Fund delivers on commitments made in The Learning Revolution White Paper, which announced a new approach to improving people’s lives and prosperity though learning for pleasure.

The Government’s £20m Transformation Fund to support informal adult learning – learning for pleasure, self-development and community development awarded money to a wide range of projects all with the objective of seeing creative learning flourish across the country.

The projects introduced a range of innovative adult learning initiatives for the benefit of a wide range of communities and individuals.

A series of ‘Early Bird’ bids were awarded with 18 projects sharing £1 million of the fund. Single parent families, carers, black and ethnic minorities and disadvantaged communities all benefited from this funding with the remaining £19 million to be distributed amongst a variety of other projects.

The Transformation Fund facilitated new partnerships between public, private and community organisations to create informal learning activities which:

  • encouraged more and different people into informal learning, particularly people from disadvantaged groups;
  • opened up access to learning in new places, in new ways and at more flexible times;
  • supported people to set up self-organised groups and learning clubs;
  • widened choice, by developing and sharing innovative content;
  • built partnerships and strengthen the capacity of informal adult learning organisations;
  • improved connections and progression between different kinds of learning; and
  • made better use of broadcasting and technology to stimulate and support learning.

Who managed the Transformation Fund?

The tender to manage the Transformation Fund was awarded to the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) which co-ordinated the distribution of the £19 million grant fund.

Alan Tuckett, Chief Executive of NIACE, said:

“NIACE is proud to have had the role of supporting the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in managing the Transformation Fund. We argued in our response to the Informal Learning Consultation that there is no better stimulus for local adult learning providers than the creation of a fund to trigger innovation and new partnerships.”