Making it all add up: how London Multiply supported Londoners to build their everyday numeracy skills

Blog posts

21 May 2025

Billy Campbell, Research Fellow

Research from the Learning and Work Institute found that despite having some of the lowest essential skills needs across England’s combined authorities, 10 of the 20 wards with the highest essential skills needs are in London, and Pro Bono Economics estimates that 58% of Londoners have low numeracy skills. To address this wide skills disparity, the Greater London Authority (GLA) was awarded £41m to deliver the Department for Education’s ‘Multiply’ initiative.

What was London Multiply?

Multiply was a three-year adult learning programme, delivered between August 2022 and March 2025, that aimed to increase functional numeracy skills within the adult population. Though primarily available to everyone aged 19+ without a Level 2 qualification in maths, Multiply had a particular focus on supporting parents, care leavers and those with experience of the criminal justice system.

London coined their delegated programme ‘London Multiply’ and, as with their Adult Skills Fund (ASF) provision, expanded programme target groups to include underserved communities and others less likely to engage in adult education. These included: Londoners for whom English is not their first language, Londoners with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and low wage earners, amongst others. Across the programme’s three years, over 59,000 people enrolled onto London Multiply provision, accounting for 24% of all national enrolments.

In December 2023, the GLA commissioned IES to complete an evaluation of the London Multiply programme to explore the extent to which the programme achieved its aim of improving adult numeracy across the capital. The evaluation also set out to strengthen evidence on what works in delivering adult numeracy programmes, particularly for underserved communities.

How did providers overcome Londoners’ negative perceptions of numeracy?

In the evaluation, learners repeatedly said that their least favourite subject at school was maths, which led to ‘number anxiety’ in their adult lives. To help learners overcome these negative perceptions of numeracy, providers made three key adaptations to the design of their London Multiply provision:

• Embedding numeracy into other skills and recreational courses. Examples of this included teaching the language of maths in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses, or units of measurement through cooking and sewing classes.
• Delivering provision in the community, in venues familiar to Londoners such as libraries, schools and community centres. This was made possible through new and improved relationships with local organisations.
• Offering a wider range of non-substantive provision in the form of taster sessions and one-off workshops, gradually (re)introducing education and numeracy into learners’ lives.

Learners attributed these course characteristics to their positive experiences of London Multiply. Beyond London Multiply, providers should consider how these adaptations can be reflected in their ASF provision to continue making learning a positive experience.

What drove engagement from underserved communities?

While providers advertised their courses in various ways, reaching key target groups required a purposive outreach approach. Collaborating with community organisations was found to be the most effective way of engaging underserved communities, with both providers and organisations themselves highlighting the trust Londoners they support have for them.

The most common way learners heard about their course was through word-of-mouth, again emphasising the importance of community organisations and trusted relationships in spreading awareness of, and encouraging enrolment in provision. Learners from underserved communities in particular often found their course through targeted communications, for example through Jobcentre work coaches, Home Office case workers and school newsletters.

When describing what helped sustain their engagement, learners commended short courses and the relevance of their courses to their everyday lives. For many, short courses were a useful (re)introduction to education, and contextualised courses taught key numeracy skills in non-intimidating ways through activities relevant to learners’ everyday lives.

What outcomes did learners achieve?

London Multiply supported learners to achieve a range of personal, and social outcomes. Learners described feeling more confident not only with numbers but in navigating their everyday lives in London, and they felt better equipped to lower the cost of their weekly shop and identify ways to save money on other outgoings like their phone and utility bills.

The programme also offered opportunities for learners to socialise, and for ESOL learners in particular, working alongside their classmates allowed them to practice English more regularly. Providers noted improvements in their language comprehension across the duration of their engagement.

Beyond these personal outcomes, GLA analysis of ILR data shows that almost half (45%) of learners moved into other ASF funded provision following their course, including maths and Functional Skills courses and other recreational and vocational courses.

Next steps

Despite London Multiply’s success in reaching a diverse range of Londoners, many still live without everyday numeracy skills. It’s important for providers to consider the key learnings from London Multiply and explore how adaptations to their ongoing ASF provision can be made to continue teaching these fundamental skills.

A series of recommendations for adult education providers to consider can be found in the full evaluation report.

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Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute as a whole.