Author: Billy Camden

The first wave of T-level providers are expected to recruit half the amount of students the government predicts, research shared exclusively with FE Week has revealed. It comes as plans for one-off payments of up to £90,000 for the early providers are unveiled by the Department for Education, as well as confirmation that a “tolerance” […]

Government officials forced a major bank to halve a £40 million unsecured loan after threatening to put a college into insolvency. In a highly unusual move, Lloyds Banking Group agreed to slash Bradford College’s debt to £20 million in return for halving the write-off costs with the Department for Education. The details of the last-minute […]

Colleges underspent their original funding allocations awarded through the controversial 2017-18 adult education budget (AEB) procurement by a huge 26 per cent, new FE Week analysis has shown. In stark contrast, all other providers exceeded their initial contracts by 31 per cent. On top of this, four of the 19 colleges that won in the […]

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has officially begun inviting non-levy employers and providers to test its digital apprenticeship system. An expressions of interest went live yesterday and closes on 5 July, with the trial planned to get underway the following month. To apply to test the system’s functionality, small and medium sized employers must […]

Cash-strapped Cornwall College Group has secured a £30 million government bailout to drive forward its “fresh start” business plan, but questions continue to loom about whether campuses will be sold off. The group, which has eight sites across the South West, was told it was not financially “viable or resilient” and had “weak solvency” in […]

The government will spend up to £20 million supplying free sanitary products to schools and colleges across England, it has emerged. The chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his spring statement that all secondary pupils and college students would get access to free sanitary products from September this year in a bid to fight period poverty. Details […]

Conservative leadership favourite Boris Johnson has said he would “do more to fund our amazing FE colleges” if he won the race to be the country’s next prime minister. In a speech launching his bid to be PM on Wednesday, he reiterated his pledge to “end the injustice of the education funding gap in primary […]

The Office for Students can’t say how it will assess level 6 and 7 apprenticeships delivered at non-registered HE providers, even though it’s meant to start the work imminently. As revealed by FE Week on Friday, the government has opted to give the job to the higher education regulator despite the Augar Review recommending it […]

Victims of a long-running FE loans scandal are set to benefit from new legislation that gives the education secretary powers to clear their debt – representing a huge win for FE Week’s #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign. From July 1, 2019 the government will be able to cancel all or part of an advanced learner loan for learners […]