Independent training providers should close their doors from Friday afternoon until further notice like schools and colleges, the apprenticeships and skills minister has confirmed.
However, if a provider is going out to employers’ premises, if they are still allowed to, then this can continue alongside remote training and development.
Department for Education minister Gillian Keegan gave this guidance to Association of Employment and Learning Providers boss Mark Dawe yesterday as officials continue to make plans to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
A letter to his members, sent this morning, said: “Firstly, all our members were thanked by minister Keegan for what they were doing in such challenging times. In simple terms, if you have premises where people come for learning and training, they should be closed.
“However, if you are going out to employers’ premises, if you are still allowed to, then this can continue alongside remote training and development.
“Indeed, we were asked to encourage more online and remote learning. I have highlighted that, for many of our members who have excellent systems and resources, this could be expanded significantly but they don’t have access to the funding.
“While there were no promises at this stage, it was logged.”
Education secretary Gavin Williamson told the House of Commons yesterday that most schools and colleges would close and move to online learning indefinitely from Friday afternoon.
They will only stay open to children of key workers and those who are “most vulnerable”, including those with social workers and education, health and care plans.
This year’s summer exam series, including A-levels and SATs tests, will also not go ahead, he announced.
The AELP is pressing the DfE for answers on what this means for apprenticeships and end-point assessments.
Yes we will do if you give us some clarity on how we are supposed to pay the bills, rents, leases etc, yes there is supposed to be government “loans” and grants for “some businesses” out there but no guidance on how to apply or eligibility criteria, and grants are only for certain sectors, we have mass gatherings like clubs and pubs should the education sector not have rate holidays as well, also how long we need to close so we know how much to borrow, how do we pay staff if we do not get paid ourselves, do we layoff and then make redundancies which then in turn will burden the state benefit system and the redundancy payments system, increasing unemployment and then taking more money from the state, easiest way is to pay on profile payments as at the end of the day all monies ultimately come from the same pot, be it DfE/ESFA, DWP, NHS, MOD, MOJ all from the HM Treasury and this way will keep things running as smoothly as they can and not burden other stretched departments with claims for benefits, mental health issues caused by this – get it sorted and get it sorted before we have to close