Author: Billy Camden

A fresh 10-day standstill period has been issued by the Education and Skills Funding Agency for European Social Fund contracts in some areas after it admitted to making an “error” in its tender. FE Week revealed last week that multiple providers alleged that the government broke tender rules in the procurement that is worth £282 […]

Training providers’ non-levy funding is running dry and some are even having to turn apprentices away – but the government can’t offer more cash as it doesn’t have any left in the system. The unprecedented issue, which one sector leader has described as “market failure”, comes just weeks after the Department for Education launched a […]

Sector leaders have hit out at the “ridiculous variability” in approved external quality assurance charges, ranging from a free service to a whopping £179 per apprentice. There are currently 18 approved external quality assurance (EQA) bodies that monitor end-point assessment organisations, to ensure the process is “fair, consistent and robust”. The EQA bodies are allowed […]

The national finalists of the AAC Apprenticeship Awards 2019 have been unveiled. More than 350 entries were submitted from colleges, training providers and employers for the awards, which are in their second year and run by FE Week and the Association of Education and Learning Providers. Following the success of last year’s inaugural awards organisers […]

A college was placed in administered status at the end of January after the FE Commissioner found it was facing a “financial crisis” that “threatens” its future, following historical “corporate failure”. FE Week revealed last week that North Hertfordshire College recorded a £5 million deficit in 2017/18 and received a recent £2.5 million bailout from […]

Three struggling colleges have had FE Commissioner intervention reports published today. Among them was one for North Hertfordshire College, which recorded a £5 million deficit last year and received a £2.5 million government bailout, as revealed by FE Week last week. Easton and Otley College also had its commissioner report published this afternoon after being […]

A land-based college that was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted for the second time in a row last year has reiterated its “determination” to secure its long-term future, ahead of an incoming FE Commissioner report. Easton and Otley College, which has nearly 550 staff and around 5,000 students, was handed a financial health notice and breach […]

The government is encouraging under-performing colleges to reduce their 2018/19 adult education budget now, to avoid cash flow problems as a result of the ESFA clawing-back funding. A funding claims and reconciliation update was published by the Education and Skills Funding Agency today. It states that if a provider considers it “may not fully spend […]

A cash-strapped college’s 2017/18 accounts have revealed a £5 million deficit, on the same day that the insolvency regime came into force. The massive shortfall at North Hertfordshire College is 20 times higher than was budgeted at the beginning of the year, and twice what was predicted just two months before the end of the […]