News

EXCLUSIVE: SFA wins provider allocation deal with BIS to stop budget cuts hitting 32 per cent

‘Cushioning’ agreement with BIS limits worst of adult skills cuts to 24 per cent The Skills Funding Agency (SFA)…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Budget confirms 2017 roll-out of apprenticeship vouchers as FE sector braces for more cuts

New “digital apprenticeship vouchers” will be introduced in 2017, the government confirmed today as sector bodies raised concerns about…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Jan Hodges announces Edge Foundation retirement

Edge Foundation chief executive Jan Hodges OBE today announced her retirement next month after a 35-year career in education….

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Sector welcomes ‘biggest ever’ apprentice minimum wage rise

An inflation-busting 20 per cent rise in the national minimum wage for apprentices announced today by Prime Minister David…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Number 10 reveals apprenticeship funding reform ahead of Budget

The two-year apprenticeship funding reform saga in which employers were expected to be handed government money to pay for…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

European states rely on QCF to recognise English apprenticeships, DWP official admits

The method used by other European states to recognise English apprenticeships relies on the doomed Qualifications and Credit Framework…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter


News

Education committee calls for careers advice to be ‘high up the agenda’ in next parliament

Careers advice should be “high up the agenda” in the next parliament, the House of Commons education select committee…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Providers escape ‘£2m’ bill as fee plan dropped

Apprenticeship providers have escaped a potential sector bill of more than £2m after the body which issues completion certificates…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Stamps and envelopes in Hub meltdown plan

The emergency plan that the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) would set in motion if its online data collection system…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

NCG in the running to take on a4e after sale put forward

Newcastle College Group (NCG) could be in line to take over troubled welfare-to-work provider A4e, FE Week can reveal….

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Funding pulled from construction apprenticeships

London-based construction training charity Building Lives claims 180 people currently on pre-employment training schemes face missing out on starting…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Traineeship financial incentive proposal rejected by government

The government has rejected an employer and provider suggested proposal that traineeship learners should be offered a financial incentive…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter

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