The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) will be contacting lead providers who have failed to publish subcontracting information in a crackdown on non-compliance.

The SFA told FE Week on Wednesday (May 4) that it had found evidence of providers failing to publish full details of their subcontracting figures — including fees and charges — despite previous threats that this would causrag oute their funding to be suspended.

A spokesperson said: “As a result of our non-compliance subcontracting work, we will be writing to our lead providers who are non-compliant in: publishing their fees and charges for 2014 to 2015 and/or 2015 to 2016; and those that are non-compliant in producing a valid audit certificate on their subcontractors, to advise them of the next steps.”

The SFA declined to explain what these next steps would be.

The threat comes after the agency warned last September that it would suspend public money for lead providers who failed to publish what they charged each of their subcontractors in 2013/14 and 2014/15.

The SFA had previously introduced a rule requiring providers to reveal their management fees — before FE Week found (pictured) that it was being ignored by a number of providers.

 

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3 Comments

  1. p. Green

    Oh please…year after year this issue comes up and the SFA do diddly. It is not enough to just publish their “fees” there should be firm control over how much is top sliced.

  2. This is public monies, so its use should be transparently in the public domain. Surplus and profits should be capped and controlled. Also SFA should extend its contract management to enshrine its moral responsibility down to learner level. There are examples of Primes not making appropriate downward payments, then SFA clawing back from the Prime without a sideways glance at a sub-contractor who has delivered real outcomes.This outrageous abdication of responsibility retreats behind legalese and what is described a commercial contract relationships which supposedly exclude SFA.

  3. David Neal

    But will they?

    They said previously they’d stop payments, I haven’t heard that they’ve done this. The data is easy, there is no problem calculating it. It makes you think they have something to hide!

    The next stage is to check the accuracy of the data that has been published.

    Come on SFA, show you have teeth, otherwise Primes will continue to ignore your “threats”.