Connexions Card
{{Short description|Defunct rewards card programme}}
The Connexions Card was a smart card for 16- to 19-year-olds in England for rewarding students who turned up to lessons, work-based training and other activities with points that could be redeemed for discounts on consumer goods listed on the Connexions website,{{cite web|url=http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2002/01/08/the-corporate-takeover-of-childhood/|title=The Corporate Takeover of Childhood|work=The Guardian|date=8 January 2002|first=George|last=Monbiot}} bus journeys{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2003-10-28.134078.h|title=Transport - Bus Services|author=Tony McNulty|date=28 October 2003|publisher=Hansard}} or suitable goods in local retailers.{{cite web|url=http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/BB_News.asp?BB_Bulletin_ID=2122|title=Northumberland County Council Press Release Archives - Support For Connexions Card|date=20 January 2004|access-date=24 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927111515/http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/BB_News.asp?BB_Bulletin_ID=2122|archive-date=27 September 2011|url-status=dead}}
The seven-year contract to run the Connexions Card was won by Capita,{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2001-07-18.5491.h|title=Education and Skills - Connexions Card|date=18 July 2001|author=Ivan Lewis|publisher=Hansard}} signed in July 2001,{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-05-22d.71719.h|title=Education and Skills - Connexions|author=Beverley Hughes MP|date=22 May 2006|publisher=Hansard}} and operated as a Public-Private Partnership with a budget of £109million.{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2002-04-16.45601.h|title=Education and Skills - PFI/PPPs|author=Ivan Lewis MP|publisher=Hansard}}
The scheme flopped{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1520960/Students-reward-card-flop-earned-Capita-66m.html|title=Students' reward card flop earned Capita £66m|date=11 June 2006|publisher=The Telegraph | location=London | first1=Julie | last1=Henry | first2=Hannah | last2=Wignall | accessdate=30 April 2010}} and was sunsetted in the summer of 2006{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-12-19c.109339.h|author=Jim Knight MP|date=19 December 2006|title=Education and Skills - Public Finance Contracts|publisher=Hansard}} with a saving of £23million.{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-10-09i.90345.h|author=Parmjit Dhanda MP|title=Education and Skills - Connexions|publisher=Hansard}} Over the course of its operation, from its roll-out in early 2002 to its conclusion, one million cards had been issued{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-05-22d.71716.h|title=Education and Skills - Connexions|date=5 May 2006|author=Beverley Hughes MP|publisher=Hansard}} but only 145,947 had ever been used.{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-01-22b.116044.h|title=Education and Skills - Connexions Cards|date=22 January 2007|author=Parmjit Dhanda MP|publisher=Hansard}} (183 million out of 1.6 billion points{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-01-22b.116043.h|title=Education and Skills - Connexions Cards|date=22 January 2007|author=Parmjit Dhanda MP|publisher=Hansard}} had been redeemed.)
An official evaluation of the programme completed in September 2004{{cite web|url=https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/5254/1/RR614.pdf|title=National Evaluation of Connexions Card: Final Report|author1=John Rodger|author2=Georgina Cowen|publisher=York Consulting Ltd|date=27 January 2005}} concluded that the programme had fallen far short of its aims (e.g. 1.7 million young people using the card in a steady state) and there was no clear evidence of a direct impact on attitudes to attendance, learning or career choices. Indeed, the only young people to use the cards were those who didn't have a problem in the first place. The inflexible contract with Capita was also singled out as a barrier to targeting the product more effectively. And, as predicted,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/oct/08/furthereducation.uk|title=Points mean prizes|author=Francis Beckett|work=The Guardian|date=8 October 2002|location=London}} the system where students had to swipe their cards through a reader connected to Capita's central database at the beginning of every lesson (in addition to the school keeping its own attendance register) was a disaster.