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11 April 2026

Author: Jude Burke

Principal departs cash-strapped Barnfield College

The principal of a cash-strapped college recently forced to seek government bailouts has stepped down just a month after it was placed in administered status. Tim Eyton-Jones is understood to have left his position at grade three Barnfield College after three years in charge. An official statement from the college confirming the news is expected […]

Apprenticeship end-point assessment crisis exposed

The Institute for Apprenticeships has rejected concerns about apprentices being unable to graduate – accusing people who raise them as simply “inflammatory”. FE Week was first to raise the issue of a lack of end-point assessments back in 2016, but are the apprentices really affected? We spoke to scores of providers and employers, and our […]

Apprenticeship starts still in free-fall

Apprenticeship starts were down 31 per cent in January on the same period in 2017, the latest provisional government statistics have revealed. The news comes just days after the chancellor Philip Hammond admitted to Parliament that he had expected the apprenticeship levy would usher in a fall in starts – but not quite to this […]

Sixth-form colleges given access to government bailout fund

Sixth form colleges can now apply for government bailout cash, according to updated guidance published by the Department for Education this morning. The college financial intervention and exceptional financial support guidance, first published in 2015, has today been updated to “include sixth-form colleges, which are now eligible for exceptional financial support”. James Kewin, deputy chief […]

‘Last resort’ IfA quality assures almost half of all apprenticeship standards

The Institute for Apprenticeships is now the external quality-assurance provider for a massive 45 per cent of all fully-approved apprenticeship standards, even though it sees itself as the option of last resort. This makes it by far the most popular option among employer groups developing the new apprenticeships, through a service provided on its behalf […]

Ofsted watch: RNN Group criticised for poor oversight of subcontractors

A college group has been criticised for its poor oversight of subcontractors, in the latest of a new wave of special Ofsted monitoring reports.  The RNN Group’s senior leaders’ “management of all subcontractors and subsidiary companies was not good enough” during a period when they oversaw two college mergers. They failed to “evaluate accurately” the […]

£73m adult education budget left unspent by 441 providers

Hundreds of colleges and training providers have between them failed to deliver £73 million of allocated funding, exclusive FE Week analysis has revealed. Education and Skills Funding Agency figures show that 441 providers delivered less provision over 2016/17 than the money they were allocated from the adult education budget would have allowed. This will be […]

Principal’s £300k salary at £30m college causes furious reaction

The leader of a college with an annual turnover of just £30 million was paid almost £300,000 in 2016/17 – a £68,000 increase and nearly double the sector average. Matt Hamnett’s huge pay packet last year has probably made him the highest-paid principal in the country at the time, provoking a furious reaction from the […]