Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

Four providers have been stripped of more than £100,000 due to the controversial English and maths condition-of-funding rule, although one is questioning the ruling. The ESFA deducts funding from providers for students who do not achieve at least a grade C (now 4) in GCSE English and maths and then do not enrol in the […]

The autumn budget will be delivered by the chancellor on November 22, and leading sector bodies have made requests to benefit colleges, and independent and adult learning providers. FE Week looks at key recommendations. Sorting out major problems dogging non-levy apprenticeship funding is a high priority. In its pre-budget submission, the Association for Employment and […]

The chief of the Association of Colleges has publicly criticised the Department for Education for trying to reform the FE sector using civil servants who have “never been into a college”. Speaking at the first day of the Federation of Awarding Bodies conference today, David Hughes said he was “really worried” about whether the DfE […]

Management has soared in popularity to become the second most common apprenticeship framework, FE Week analysis can reveal. According to statistics released by the DfE, the management framework had 46,640 new starters in 2016/17, a figure which grows to 64,480 when counting standards (see full figures at end of article). The data shows management has […]

Just two years ago, Lewisham Southwark College suffered the dubious honour of being the first FE and skills provider in the UK to receive two grade fours in a row from Ofsted. But since hitting rock bottom, the college has welcomed a new leadership team, is undergoing a controversial merger with the Newcastle-based NCG group […]

Yet another area review recommended college merger could be in trouble – due to an argument about a name. Craven College and Shipley College emerged from their respective reviews intending to create a single Aire Valley College, along with the Keighley campus of Leeds City College. The plan, recommended by both the West Yorkshire and […]

A senior Ofsted figure has admitted the inspectorate needs to focus more on apprenticeship providers and will ask employers for feedback on how to improve in the coming months. It published a new five-year strategy at the end of September, in which it committed itself to being “a force for improvement through intelligent, responsible and […]

The government is already planning to review its register of apprenticeship training providers, but not until the new window for applications has closed. The ESFA offered training providers a third chance to get onto the register at the end of September, but admitted in its weekly update bulletin that this would be the last time […]