Millions in unspent adult education funding held by the mayor of London will be diverted to a youth unemployment schemes. Over the next two years, London mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured) will use £9 million of the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) adult skills fund (ASF) reserves to pay for the capital city’s support for young Londoners-NEET programme. The move has prompted concerns that already-stretched adult education funding is being used to “fill gaps” left by government cuts for other programmes. London’s ASF reserves will cover the loss of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), cut by the national government in March, which previously funded the majority of the capital’s youth programme. According to a recent update, the GLA holds about £28 million in ASF reserves, which are accumulated underspends built up since the authority gained devolved control of about £340 million per year in adult skills funding in 2019. Over the next two financial years, the mayor will use his ASF reserves and £1.5 million Department for Work and Pensions youth trailblazer funding to sustain initiatives aimed at around 6,000 young people facing “the most significant barriers” to education, employment and training. This includes ‘Jumpstart to Success’ programme, aiming to support 16 to 24-year-olds in central London through mentorship and guidance that builds practical skills and fosters a sense of “purpose and empowerment”. A total of 13 programmes will be run across London by local authorities, businesses and charities. The GLA launched the youth NEET programme in 2024-25, with £9 million in from the UKSPF, but a “much reduced” allocation the following year prompted it to use £2 million in ASF reserves. Other planned uses of the estimated £28 million in ASF reserves include “mitigating” the reduction in ASF funding from the DfE in 2025-26, funding 2 per cent over delivery tolerances for providers, and contingency allowance for its talent pathways programme. Sue Pember, policy lead at adult education provider body HOLEX, told FE Week: “Diverting adult skills funding to support 16 to 18 NEET programmes risks undermining already stretched adult education budgets. “Adult learning has already absorbed a further 1.65 per cent reduction this year, alongside tighter regulatory constraints and no growth allocation in the previous funding round. “It is also penalising adult colleges that are overdelivering, with no reward for the additional engagement and skills provision they are achieving.” She said that youth NEET programmes should not come “at the expense” of adult learners who rely on publicly funded programmes to retrain or re-enter the workforce and urged the GLA to take a “more sustainable and transparent” approach. “Using ASF reserves in this way raises important questions about whether funding intended for adult education is being repurposed to fill gaps left by the withdrawal of other government programmes,” she added. “A more sustainable and transparent funding approach is needed to ensure both young people and adult learners are properly supported, rather than forcing a trade-off between the two.” Chair of the London Assembly’s economy, culture and skills committee, Hina Bokhari, said the mayor is right to try and maintain support for young NEETs now EU and UKSPF funding has “fallen away”. But, she added, this “also reflects the reality that he has little choice but to draw on adult education reserves to plug that gap”. “At a time when London faces major skills shortages, diverting money intended for adult skills and qualifications risks becoming a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Bokhari told FE Week. “The bigger question is whether these programmes can deliver lasting outcomes in a labour market where entry-level jobs are shrinking, particularly with the rise of AI, or whether they risk becoming a sticking plaster for deeper structural challenges.”