Ministers have been urged to ignore mayors’ demands for devolution of 16 to 19 budgets as relinquishing Whitehall control would lead to “less funding getting to the front line”.
Skills minister Jacqui Smith this week said there was “potential for further devolution” as she admitted to “tensions” with mayors over skills funding powers.
But the Sixth Form Colleges Association warned splitting money between devolved areas risked an increase in bureaucracy.
Around 60 per cent of the government’s adult education budget has been devolved to mayoral combined authorities since 2019. Mayors have repeatedly called for control of more skills pots, including apprenticeships and 16 to 19 funding.
Greater Manchester and the West Midlands have been engaged in “trailblazer” deals since 2023 that were meant to involve “deeper” devolved powers. But within the skills space such powers have been limited to minor flexibilities around careers education, skills bootcamps and the ‘free courses for jobs’ offer.
Quizzed on whether mayors were still asking for the Department for Education to go further with skills devolution during a business and trade committee hearing on the industrial strategy, Smith said: “Yes, they are”.
She added: “Let me be completely clear. There is tension over the funding for 16 to 19. We have a compulsory education system between 16 and 19 that is a national system, and I think there is a limit. I could not envisage that we would devolve all of that 16 to 19 funding to mayors.
“I meet frequently with the mayors on this. We’re currently doing quite specific work with Greater Manchester about how we could go further on devolution. And I think there might be some elements of that that we could look to devolve.”
Her comments came two weeks after Greater Manchester Combined Authority leaders told the same business and trade committee about their desire to control more skills funding, particularly in the 16 to 19 space, including mayor Andy Burnham who described the DfE has his “biggest frustration”.
It is not clear, however, whether mayors want to control the full £8.5 billion 16 to 19 budget, more than a third of which is dished out to school sixth forms, or just the chunk that goes to FE colleges and providers.
But James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, warned releasing further budget lines to mayors would lead to more “bureaucracy” and “inequalities”.
He told FE Week: “DfE officials have significant experience and expertise in overseeing the current 16 to 19 national system that funds all types of providers using the same formula.
“Devolution would potentially lead to more bureaucracy but less funding getting to the front line. It could also exacerbate existing inequalities if funding is devolved for some providers, such as colleges, but not others, such as school sixth forms.”
Mayors top-slice millions from their adult skills fund budgets each year to pay for administration costs associated with handling and procuring the funding line. This would likely increase if 16 to 19 funding or other skills pots were devolved.
Simon Ashworth, deputy chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said it was “no surprise metro mayors are eyeing up 16 to 19 funding” considering it has a budget bigger than adult skills and apprenticeships combined.
He told FE Week that while this “could be a positive development” there is a “real risk that commissioners see 16 to 19 as college-only territory”.
“Independent training providers already deliver £200 million in this space, offering responsiveness, the ability to scale quickly, and vital support for some of the most disengaged learners,” Ashworth added.
“There’s real opportunity here to tackle NEETs and increase opportunity, but only if devolved bodies recognise the full skills landscape – not just one part of it.”
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