Notification of competition

To boost existing efforts to address low levels of adult numeracy, the UK Government has committed up to £559 million for a new, three year, adult numeracy programme called Multiply. Through the programme, all adults aged 19+ who want to improve their numeracy (up to, and including, Level 2 or equivalent), who do not currently have a GCSE Grade 4 / C or equivalent in maths, whether in employment or not, will be able to access free flexible courses that fit around their lives, whether that be at work or in the evening, part time or intensive.

An important part of Multiply is to strengthen the evidence base around what works in the successful delivery of adult numeracy programmes and to share this with practitioners, in order to inform local delivery and to increase positive outcomes.

This will include a programme of up to 30 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and other experimental activity, including quasi-experimental trials to robustly test promising approaches to improving adult numeracy. The trials will be split across two tranches:

• Tranche 1 (to which this Invitation to Tender applies) will be procured in Spring 2023, with fieldwork starting from August 2023 onwards and interim results from some trials delivered in late spring 2024. We expect around 15-20 trials to be undertaken in this tranche of activity, with fieldwork, analysis and reporting running until at least the end of March 2025.