Author: Billy Camden

The Department for Education is “encouraging” colleges to be more transparent about senior staff pay when they file their accounts – along with whether they have adopted the Association of College’s new code. A “college accounts direction” for 2018/19 was published by the department today and included “substantial” updates that corporations should include when submitting […]

A criminal investigation into disgraced apprenticeship firm Aspire Achieve Advance could soon be launched after the Department for Education requested a meeting with the police. The company, better known as 3aaa, went into administration on October 11 after the government pulled its skills funding contracts following allegations of fraud. Derbyshire Constabulary then started making enquiries […]

The Department for Education is searching for an organisation to design and support the phased implementation of the T-level transition offer in 2020 and 2021. As recommended in Lord Sainsbury’s technical education report from July 2016, the government plans to develop a course which 16-year-olds can take if they are not ready to start a […]

A mega college that recently saw its principal quit before receiving a third consecutive ‘requires improvement’ rating from Ofsted is looking at demerging one of its divisions. Birmingham Metropolitan College, which has five main colleges plus other satellite sites and had an income of £58.5 million and 20,000 learners in 2017/18, is one of the […]

The general secretary of the University and College Union has resigned for health reasons, it was announced today. Sally Hunt has held the top position at the union since it formed in 2007 and has won three elections, most recently in June 2017. The union’s national executive committee will meet on Friday (March 1) to […]

The government “anticipates” it will be able fund all over-delivery on non-levy apprenticeships for providers who exceed their contract allocation in the January 2018 to March 2019 period. The news will be met with a cautious welcome by the many providers who surpassed their share of funding to train apprentices with small employers this year, […]

Tributes have been paid to former FE Commissioner Sir David Collins who died after losing his fight against cancer. Sir David (pictured), whose career in FE spanned over 40 years, which included becoming the first elected president of the Association of Colleges, passed away last Thursday. He held the role of FE Commissioner from 2013 […]

The Association of Colleges has revisited its funding rate plea for 16 to 18-year-olds and upped it from £4,760 to £5,000 at a cost of over £1.2 billion per year, which it says is needed to avoid a T-levels crisis. In its latest call for an increase to the £4,000 unweighted base rate, the AoC […]

The Association of Colleges has rejected six out of 14 proposals put forward by the government in its consultation on T-level funding from 2020. The consultation, which closes tonight after running for 12 weeks, sought opinions on four new funding bands and subsidy for the industry placement element of the new technical qualifications, among other […]