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14 April 2026

Author: Alix Robertson

Warrington UTC enrages neighbouring schools by ‘poaching’ pupils

A university technical college in Cheshire has been accused of poaching students from local schools in the middle of the year, in the latest embarrassing blow to the struggling programme. The pupils were due to join UTC Warrington as normal in September, but it invited them to move over this month, winding up neighbouring heads […]

Multi-academy trusts fail to implement Baker clause

Just two of the 10 largest multi-academy trusts in England have fully complied with their new legal duty to allow training providers and colleges the chance to speak to pupils about technical qualifications and apprenticeships. The Baker Clause, an amendment to the Technical and Further Education Act, came into force on January 2, and requires […]

Ofsted watch: Kendal College falls from grade one

This week brought disappointment for Kendal College, which lost its ‘outstanding’ Ofsted grade and dropped down to ‘good’. The small college, which serves around 2,610 learners and is located in the Lake District, was inspected in early June, around five years since Ofsted’s last visit. It secured an ‘outstanding’ result for personal development, behaviour and […]

FE champion Halfon elected chair of education select committee

The former apprenticeships and skills minister and FE champion Robert Halfon has stepped back into the education limelight, by winning an election to become the new chair of the education select committee. He received the largest number of the votes in the final round of voting which took place tonight. Mr Halfon was sensationally sacked […]

ESFA reveals timescales for provider access to £50m work placement pot

Further details of a £50 million pot for ‘capacity building’ work placements was announced this afternoon by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Education secretary Justine Greening confirmed the investment would be made available from April 2018 to fund high-quality work placements, when speaking at the Business and Education Summit in London last week. Additional […]

All-party parliamentary group on apprenticeships calls for pay reform

Pay for apprentices should be far more flexible, increasing in line with their experience and level of qualification, the all-party parliamentary group on apprenticeships has recommended. The APPG is launching its annual report this afternoon, in a House of Commons event attended by the new apprenticeships and skills minister Anne Milton, and her shadow Gordon […]

Assessment organisations still lacking for over 1,300 apprentices

At least 1,300 apprentices are still studying without an apprentice assessment organisation in place, FE Week can reveal. The scale of the problem has improved little since last October, when one former civil servant called the situation “diabolical” and “disrespectful” to apprentices. Analysis of the latest statistical first release shows that 140 of the 1,300 […]

Most eligible employers not yet on levy system

Less than half of the employers eligible to register on the government’s apprenticeship system had done so by the end of May this year, new government statistics suggest. A total of 8,200 accounts were registered by May 31, according to figures published for the first time by the Department for Education on July 6. But […]