News

Minimum 2-month notice period for reduced apprenticeship funding rates

Apprenticeship funding bands currently under review by the Institute for Apprenticeships will be given a minimum two-month notice period…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Ofsted watch: Three ‘new’ apprenticeship providers make reasonable progress

Three ‘new’ apprenticeship providers have been found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas, while an adult and…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Employers leave Learndirect Apprenticeships following sale

The recent sale of Learndirect Apprenticeships Ltd is causing some of its large levy-paying customers to take their business…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

DfE orders independent investigation into ESFA over 3aaa contract management

An independent auditor has been called in to investigate the Education and Skills Funding Agency over their contract management…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Wayne’s world: meet the new Learndirect boss

A little-known entrepreneur, Wayne Janse van Rensburg, has overnight become one of the most powerful figures in FE after…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Huge concern over surge in higher level management apprenticeships

A surge in higher level management apprenticeship starts has raised grave concerns that employers are rebadging their training. Gordon…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord


News

‘Ridiculous’: PAC chair slams Ofqual’s 4-week T-level consultation

The chair of an influential committee of MPs has hit out at the rushed pace of T-level implementation –…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Keep co-investment fee, but transfer non-levy cash to providers with demand, UVAC tells Milton

A membership body representing universities has written to the skills minister to say it would be a “massive mistake”…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Did failed Greater Manchester UTC get ‘free pass’ despite warnings?

The viability of the failed Greater Manchester university technical college was questioned by government officials even before it opened,…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

NHS apprenticeship starts in the north west fell by nearly half last year, new figures reveal

The north west was the region where NHS apprenticeships saw their biggest fall last year, as they dramatically dropped…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Public sector apprenticeships on the rise, new figures suggest

New figures published today suggest that public sector apprenticeships are on the rise, after the government introduced a recruitment…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Union warns against another ‘shoddy’ pay deal on eve of college pay talks

The University and College Union has written to Anne Milton before key pay talks, to warn it will not…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden

Must read

Colleges, Long read

Colleges on the frontline of a divided nation

As social media algorithms fuel intolerance and binary thinking, college staff increasingly find themselves dealing with the fallout. Jessica…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
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