Author: Fraser Whieldon

A new apprenticeship provider blames the impact of Covid for a second poor Ofsted report and is hoping to be given a rare lifeline by the government. Doncaster Conferences, Catering and Events Limited (DCCE) could be kicked off the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) after the inspectorate found it had made ‘insufficient progress’ in […]

New funding to help colleges with a poor cash position to cover the costs of staff absences incurred between November and the Christmas holidays has been announced. The Department for Education said the ‘Covid workforce fund’, announced this afternoon, will be backdated to 1 November, and colleges’ eligibility will be based on their cash position […]

Top civil servants have inadvertently exposed a rift at the top of the Department for Education over the future of college independence, ahead of a delayed FE white paper. In a Public Accounts Committee meeting on Thursday the Education and Skills Funding Agency director, Matthew Atkinson, told MPs he would “definitely like more power” to […]

The much-anticipated FE white paper might not appear until next year, the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s chief executive has revealed.  Eileen Milner, taking questions from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee this morning, was quizzed by chair Meg Hillier on when the white paper would be published.  “You have talked about how important the FE […]

The Department for Education has revealed £6 million was spent on administrators’ fees alone for the two college insolvencies, an amount its most senior civil servant has called “gut-wrenching”.  At a hearing of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee today, the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s director of provider market oversight Matthew Atkinson told […]

Sixty-four colleges are at risk of running out of cash, a top ESFA director has said, admitting the number of colleges needing emergency funding was “more than we thought”.  Speaking at a House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee hearing this morning, the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s director of provider market oversight Matthew Atkinson said they had […]

The national minimum wage for apprentices will increase next April from £4.15 to £4.30 per hour, the Treasury has announced today.  The 15p increase equates to a 3.6 per cent rise, and is in line with a recommendation from the Low Pay Commission.  It comes shortly after prime minister Boris Johnson announced in January that the apprentice minimum wage […]