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26 April 2026

Author: FE Week Reporter

Survey shows employers can’t fill 22pc of vacancies

Nearly a quarter of vacancies in the UK have gone unfilled because of a shortage of much-needed skills, a survey of 91,000 UK employers has revealed. The Employer Skills Survey, by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), found that 22 per cent of the 655,000 vacancies in the UK remained untaken because employers […]

Skills shortage presents urgent opportunities for FE sector

The Employer Skills Survey has thrown up some interesting statistics about the state of the UK economy and its hunger for trained workers. Michael Davis looks at the survey in more depth and asks what the findings mean for UK plc. There’s no questioning the robustness of a survey that interviews more than 90,000 respondents. […]

Download edition 91 of FE Week

Download edition 91 here: http://lsect.co.uk/fe-week-e91.pdf You can also download our supplement on the Education and Training Foundation by clicking the image below.    

Fraction of FE loans paid out for apprenticeships

Just a fraction of the 25,200 FE loans taken out between August and October last year were for apprenticeships, government figures have revealed. The Statistical First Release (SFR) on Thursday, January 30, showed that less than 0.4 per cent (100) of the loans paid out to learners over 24 were given to apprentices. And, taking […]

Phil Frier, interim principal, K College

On the office wall of K College principal Phil Frier hangs a picture of Mount Everest. It’s a reminder of both his gruelling ascent to its base camp last year — 5,364m above sea level — and a comforting metaphor that even the most apparently impossible of challenges can be overcome. It’s also picture that […]

Ken’s writes children’s stories after finishing computer course aged 80

Grandfather-of-two Ken Hall would daydream about becoming a children’s author while working as an engineer in the rough and ready setting of a Sunderland docks. His hopes for a different life were thwarted by the lack of a typewriter and the fact he struggled with handwriting. But, having retired and returned to the classroom at […]

Commis Chef Catherine takes a break from putting on the Ritz

There was nothing half-baked about the good advice an award-winning former catering student gave to the next generation of learners at Gateshead College. Catherine Smith, who was Gateshead College Student of the Year in 2013, secured the role of pastry commis chef at London’s prestigious Ritz Hotel after passing a level two course in professional […]