Training providers delivering skills bootcamps received higher upfront fees in wave three of the rollout after complaining to the Department for Education (DfE) they felt they were teaching “for free”, a delayed report has revealed.
The DfE published an evaluation of its flagship employment skills programme today, 18 months after the 2022-23 ‘wave three’ period ended.
It reveals that contractual payments for delivering the crash courses, which last up to sixteen weeks and are meant to include a guaranteed job interview, were changed following cash flow concerns by providers.
Providers told researchers they needed more cash upfront because “resources can be a bit tight”.
The DfE agreed to increase the upfront fee for learners enrolling and starting a bootcamp, known as ‘milestone one’ from 30 to 45 per cent.
In a bid to incentivise providers into getting learners into a new job or a better role, the department also decreased the second milestone payment for learners completing the course from 60 to 35 per cent, and increased the final milestone payment from 10 to 20 per cent.
However, increasing the weighting of the final payment, which requires the learner to share proof of a positive job outcome with the provider, reduced the “financial attractiveness” of delivering bootcamps.
The DfE’s target of 75 per cent of learners achieving a positive outcome, and 100 per cent being offered an interview was criticised as “unrealistic”.
One anonymised provider told researchers: “If you’re very niche or working with employed co-funded learners you’re pretty much guaranteed an outcome, otherwise it’s very challenging when you’re working with unemployed learners.
“Our average job outcome across all our programmes is around 40 per cent, which is in line with the national picture for getting people into employment.”
Some providers shifted their focus towards co-funded or self-employed learners because it was “easier” to receive the full payment.
According to figures released last week, almost two-thirds of skills bootcamp learners in the previous wave, covering 2021-22, failed to achieve a positive job outcome in the second year of the flagship programme’s rollout, new government data has revealed.
And almost two in five bootcamp starters from this cohort dropped out before the end of their course.
The DfE has blamed the delay in releasing this data on the Covid pandemic and the general election.
However, FE Week understands there have been issues between providers and the Education and Skills Funding Agency over evidence required to receive the final payment for positive outcomes.
The report failed to provide any statistics showing how many learners completed their course or moved on to a new or better job.
However, it said “few participants” had achieved successful outcomes, although many felt “more confident” about their skills.
Attendance of bootcamps was low, with just under half of learners attending all or three quarters of their training, researchers found.
Overall, learners were “largely positive” about their course, although some complained they were “too complex and the timescales too short to learn the required knowledge and skills”.
According to the Greater London Authority, the estimated cost per bootcamp learner is about £3,500.
The DfE declined to comment.
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