Jude Burke | FE Week

Stephenson College challenged over £100,000 tactical subcontracting

A college that charged up to 57 per cent in management fees has been found to be attempting to use up £100,000 of skills funding with tactical subcontracting. But the Education and Skills Funding Agency has refused to say whether it will take enforcement action over what appears to be a clear breach of funding […]

London mega-merger to create England’s third biggest college group

Moves are afoot to create one of the largest college groups in the country by joining four institutions from across east London and Essex. New City College and Epping Forest College in Essex will launch a consultation tomorrow on their plans to merge from August. The group has also confirmed that it’s in discussions with […]

More than 1,000 16 to 18-year-olds who failed courses last year to be told they passed

More than 1,000 learners that failed their courses last year are now being told they’ve passed. Under the previous widely accepted interpretation of rules for reformed level three applied general and tech level qualifications, introduced for teaching from 2016, learners had to pass all their externally-assessed exams to achieve their qualifications. But that changed after Ofqual […]

Charity set to announce purchase of People 1st

UPDATE: The Workforce Development Trust has confirmed the acquisition of People 1st. However, the Institute for Apprenticeships has said a formal agreement for the trust to take on responsibility for apprenticeship external quality assurance is yet to be made. “We will make a decision on the provision of EQA once discussions between People 1st and the […]

Apprenticeship qualifications: no uptake under new rules

No employer groups have taken advantage of the Institute for Apprenticeships’ new rules for including qualifications in apprenticeships, FE Week can reveal. The IfA announced in February, as part of its reform programme to make the approval of standards “faster and better”, that off-the-job technical qualifications could now be included in apprenticeships – news that […]

IfA in talks with charity to take on EQA role after People 1st goes bust

The Institute for Apprenticeships is understood to be close to reaching a deal with an organisation to take over the now-defunct People 1st’s external quality assurance role. The Workforce Development Trust, which includes Skills for Health and Skills for Justice, is reported to be close to taking on the role following the collapse of the […]

College that needed huge bailouts set to merge

A college that has received millions of pounds in government bailouts has announced plans to merge. Accrington and Rossendale College will join forces with grade one Nelson and Colne College later this year, under plans announced by the two institutions today. “We are delighted to announce the vision for a new merged college for Pennine […]

Special investigation: Why are colleges turning their backs on traineeships?

Colleges delivered less than a quarter of traineeships last year and nearly half across the country had no starts whatsoever, according to FE Week analysis of government figures. In fact, the Education and Skills Funding Agency is aware that only 24 per cent of traineeships were delivered by general further education colleges. That works out […]

Minister supports FE representation at Office for Students

The universities minister has backed FE representation on the board of the new regulatory body for higher education. Sam Gyimah’s remarks to the Commons education select committee this morning followed a heated debate in parliament last night, in which senior MPs from both sides of the political divide made renewed demands for the sector to […]