Wigan Council Case Study

About Wigan Council

With a population of around 300,000 across an area of 77 square miles, Wigan is one of the largest metropolitan districts in England. The borough is based around the two main towns of Wigan and Leigh, and several smaller towns and villages of the former Lancashire coalfield.

Wigan council is one of ten authorities in Greater Manchester who have come together to form the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA); a governance body set up to boost economic performance and help deliver a brighter future for Greater Manchester and the North West.

In April 2012, AGMA began a contract with Virtual College in order to make training accessible to over 70,000 council staff and the external private voluntary and independent sector.

By 31st May, over 950 staff were registered on the system and 128 different courses were being studied.

The Challenge

Virtual College worked with AGMA to make training accessible to over 70,000 council staff and the external private voluntary and independent sector.

Due to the nature of the sector, early years staff are scattered across different venues, with many working in private day care settings across the borough, as well as child minders working from home. In addition, limited resources and difficulty in getting cover make it difficult for staff to attend anything other than compulsory training.

Training was being delivered six days a week, simply to ensure that all early years staff could complete their mandatory training. The early years staff have always been keen to learn new skills but it was not possible to offer face to face training courses in anything other than compulsory topics. The challenge was to use our resources more effectively.

Limited resources, shrinking budgets and a dispersed workforce resulted in limited training opportunities.

The Solution

The contract between AGMA and Virtual College introduced Wigan Council’s early years sector to the concept of e-learning as a training method.

They had initial consultations at manager’s events and child minding conferences to identify whether e-learning would be an effective training method for them. Them also set up focus groups to help steer the project.

E-learning addressed many of the challenges they were facing. It was a more cost effective way to deliver mandatory training to the early years sector and would allow to offer staff further training opportunities.

Wigan Council identified that a number of staff had limited IT skills but this did not prove to be an issue due to the simple user interface of Virtual College’s Learning Management System and courses.

The Results

e-Learning has delivered clear benefits to Wigan Council’s early years sector, including improved staff engagement, increased productivity, and reduced training time and costs. Within four months, 950 user accounts were created in the Learning Management System. The most accessed courses included Child Accident Prevention, Food Hygiene, and Safeguarding Children.

Laura Murray, Manager at Little Foxes Nursery, noted that completing the Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene course took just 1 hour and 15 minutes—saving a full day away from work.

E-learning has allowed staff to access training they previously couldn’t, without needing to leave the workplace. It has been rolled out to roughly half of the sector so far, with plans to expand further. Feedback has been consistently positive, thanks to inclusive planning and focus group involvement.

Productivity has improved as staff no longer need to travel for training, reducing downtime and associated costs. The increased access to relevant courses is also expected to enhance job performance and satisfaction.

Laura also shared how e-learning helped prepare her team for a child with autism joining the nursery—training that previously would have required sending one staff member on an external course was instead delivered to the entire team online.