Ministers are considering a shake-up of how they fund support for careers advice in schools and colleges, raising questions about the future of the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC).
Founded by education secretary Nicky Morgan in 2014, the CEC has been responsible for supporting careers advice services for more than a decade and oversees a national network of careers hubs. It receives around £30 million a year in grant funding.
But the Department for Education (DfE) recently published a market engagement notice regarding “future support for schools and colleges to deliver careers education, information, advice and guidance”.
The notice contains little detail, but states that a supplier engagement event will take place on Tuesday.
At the event, the DfE said it will “share our broad plans for how we want to continue to support schools and colleges to improve careers guidance from the 2027-28 academic year and support partnerships working with strategic and local authorities through careers hubs”.
The department also wants to “test bidder appetite and delivery viability for the support to improve careers guidance for young people with potential suppliers”.
Preliminary market engagement takes place before a tender for a contract is published.
However, the DfE said its notice was “not a binding statement of intent or a call for competition.
“This notice does not signify the commencement of any competitive process and does not constitute any commitment by the DfE.
“If the DfE decides to commence any competitive process(es) as contemplated by this notice, a separate notice(s) will be published at the relevant time.”
DfE won’t comment on plans
The notice goes on to say that the “current funding estimates are between £90 million and £180 million for a three to five-year agreement, plus a mobilisation period of up to six months if required”.
Asked whether the services described in the notice would be those currently delivered by the CEC, the DfE said it was unable to comment ahead of the market engagement session, and that more information would be provided at that point.
The department also declined to comment when asked why it was considering the change.
The CEC was established by the Conservative government in 2014 as an independent body designed to provide careers guidance.
Dr Michael Englard, CEO of the Skills Builder Partnership, said the CEC “fills a vital space in our system, as an organisation joining the dots between schools, colleges, and local labour markets.
“This role underpins the many government commitments that sit at the intersection of education and employment, from bringing down NEET [not in education, employment and training] numbers, to delivering modern work experience, to cutting the amount of lost learning in schools.
“Turning these ambitions into reality relies on organisations like CEC providing national infrastructure and regional and local delivery to help young people build the essential skills they need to thrive.”
In its 2024 election manifesto, the Labour party pledged to improve careers advice in schools and colleges and bring in two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person.
The CEC said it was unable to comment.
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