News

Great debate on AEB devolution: will it be a successful policy?

The motion: This House believes the devolution of the £1.5bn adult education budget will prove to be a successful…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Flagship UTC received huge DfE bailout after being stung by apprenticeship funding cuts

A flagship university technical college had to be bailed out by the government with a £650,000 loan, after being…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Approved T-level provider warns of pulling out after DfE excludes private providers from £38m capital bids

An independent training provider due to deliver the first T-levels from next year has warned it might have to…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Secrecy around funding band formulas protects against ‘misuse’, says IfATE chief executive

The government’s apprenticeships agency is not willing to share the formula it uses to calculate funding bands for apprenticeship…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

ESFA delays European Social Fund contracts due to alleged breach of tender rules

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has delayed issuing European Social Fund contracts after multiple providers who lost out…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Cash-strapped college reveals shock deficit on the same day insolvency regime goes live

A cash-strapped college’s 2017/18 accounts have revealed a £5 million deficit, on the same day that the insolvency regime…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden


News

Office for Students board finally has FE representation

FE finally has representation on the board of the new regulatory body for higher education, after Leicester College’s principal…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Allow employers to appeal for more time to spend their apprenticeship levy cash, CBI urges

Employers should be allowed to appeal for more time to spend their apprenticeship levy funds if the standards they…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

DfE launches £38m T-levels capital fund

The Department for Education has released a guide to the £38 million capital fund for providers to use in…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

College insolvency regime: 7 things we learned from DfE’s new guidance

Two days before the college insolvency regime comes into effect, meaning that colleges will be able to go bust…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

MPs warned of a ‘postcode lottery’ for post-16 SEND learners

Special educational needs experts have warned of a “postcode lottery” for post-16 learners with high needs, during an education…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

More than half of 3aaa’s former apprentices are still without a new provider

More than half of the apprentices that trained with former apprenticeship giant Aspire Achieve Advance have still not been…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden

Must read

Colleges, Long read

Alun Francis, chair of the Social Mobility Commission

Deprived areas need vision – not victimhood – to level up, and Social Mobility Commission chair Alun Francis is…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Long read, Prison education

The prison that’s offering hope for a new life upon release

‘We’re saving people’s lives as well as turning them around’

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Apprenticeships, Politics

Phillipson to exempt young people from level 7 apprenticeships funding axe

Education secretary makes ‘important concession’ amid backlash from other government departments

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Colleges, FE Commissioner

Weston chair felt powerless over £2.5m payments to former principal

Ex-Weston college chair gives tell-all interview following FE Commissioner probe

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Colleges

Weston College governance failure allowed ‘concealment’ of £2.5m payments to former principal

Paul Phillips was paid £1.8m in 2023, including a ‘significant’ six-figure retention payment which his COO son ‘resisted’ paying…

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
T Levels

NAO reveals enormity of T Level take-up failure

Forecasts missed by 75% and secret DfE estimates show staff and employer shortages could limit places to 48,000 students

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel