Author: Fraser Whieldon

The eye-watering £26.6 million cost of the first two education insolvencies, and how five colleges were bailed out by the government to avoid the same fate, has been revealed by a new report.  The National Audit Office today published a report into ‘Financial sustainability of colleges in England’, which revealed colleges in or close to […]

Nearly three-quarters of a billion pounds in public funds has been spent on bailing out and restructuring colleges, while the government is intervening in nearly half of them, a new report has revealed.  The National Audit Office has today released its ‘Financial sustainability of colleges in England’ report, which details how the Department for Education […]

For the first time Ofsted is exploring a move to directly inspect all FE subcontractors, something until now it has ruled out. Subcontracting in FE is big business, with 2,221 subcontracting arrangements at 856 subcontractors accounting for “around 14 per cent of the spending on apprenticeships and adult education” in 2018/19, according to Ofsted. The […]

A college has dropped plans to alternate students between on-site provision and studying from home after an outcry from parents.  After local media outlet The News reported, followed up by FE Week, parents’ anger over plans for students to partially study from home, with a review planned for the end of this month, Havant and South Downs […]

The general secretary of a leading college union who lambasted colleges for how much their principals earn was handed a £400,000 pay-off according to published accounts.  The “post employment” payment to University and College Union boss Sally Hunt, as referred to in the UCU’s accounts, was in addition to salary, pension contributions and a car benefit. […]

A college has implemented an ‘alternate week’ timetable for 16 to 18-year-olds after concluding it did not have the capacity to safely teach all 1,300 students onsite. As reported by The News, Havant and South Downs College has told parents that students will be studying from home every other week – in what is believed […]

The first new university technical college to open its doors for two years has been deluged with students, while its licensing body says that admissions across the network have shot up after years of underrecruitment. Doncaster UTC has vastly exceeded its recruitment target of 160 students, with nearly double that number starting lessons this week. […]

New employer hubs to “turbocharge greater college collaboration” with the NHS have been proposed to fill “significant workforce vacancies” in health and social care. They would be funded by £5 million of government money. The recommendation was made in a report published today by the NHS Confederation membership body and the Independent Commission on the […]