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13 April 2026

Author: Nick Linford

BREAKING: SFA to allow funding ‘top-up’ for new Esol quals

Concerns about delivery costs for new English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) qualifications have been addressed by a Skills Funding Agency move to allow “top-up” funding. Single funding rates for the Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) Esol qualifications had led to fears that providers might be out of pocket for full time courses  — […]

Cable in ‘kill off FE’ claim at Lib Dem conference

Business Secretary Vince Cable has claimed that government officials suggested “killing off FE” by cutting sector funding, it has been reported. Dr Cable told a fringe event at the Liberal Democrats’ conference in Glasgow that civil servants in his department said in 2010 that “nobody will really notice”. The BBC website reports that he claimed to […]

EuroSkills 2014 competitions come to an end — awards await

Day three at Lille brought with it the promise of the final break to the rigorous and testing competitions. From pretty early on Saturday, the happy din of cheering as the young competitors ended their tasks drifted around the Grand Palais venue every half hour or so. Timing it well, it was possible to stand […]

Challenging first day for Team UK at Lille EuroSkills

The massive hall of the Grand Palais in Lille where the skills competitions take place feels like a cross between an workshop, a zoo and a stage set, with temporary restaurants, florists, shop windows and half decorating walls, all open to the pubic gaze. It’s noisy, it’s busy and its crowded, and at the centre […]

Home of new HS2 college revealed

The home of the new National College for High Speed Rail has been revealed by the government. It will be located Doncaster and Birmingham, with its HQ at the West Midlands site, providing specialist vocational training at level four and above for engineers working on the £50bn High Speed 2 (HS2) line that will link […]

Commission identifies lack of joined-up working on skills at central government

Central government departments are failing to work together on skills policy with “alarming” consequences for the UK workforce, according to the Skills Commission. Provisional findings of the commission’s Skills and the Changing Structures of Work inquiry were published today — with party conference season getting under way — and included four “alerts,” or skills policy trends […]

REVEALED – the new FE Insider columnist for FE Week

Like the next Dr Who or latest James Bond, the world has been waiting with bated breath to learn the identity of the new FE Week columnist to pen the monthly FE Insider articles. And we can today officially unveil a former 157 Group policy officer and ex-Warwickshire College executive assistant to the principal as […]

DfE U-turn on FE free meals policy puts top-ups back on menu

The Department for Education (DfE) today revealed a U-turn on its FE free meals policy, allowing providers to boost the £2.41 handout with funding from the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund. It had previously told FE colleges and independent learning providers — who from this academic year must offer FE free meals to qualifying disadvantaged […]