£184m to beat population bulge in devolved areas

Post-16 capacity capital funding allocations of up to £22 million for 19 devolved areas have been revealed as a “demographic bulge” works through the education system.

An announcement confirmed that in February, eight combined authorities received a total of £87 million for projects to “provide additional capacity” for learning.

It added that this “spring”, a further £97 million will be paid to another 11 combined authorities and local authorities with devolution deals.

The funding seeks to address capacity constraints due to an expected 67,000 extra 16 and 17-year-olds in education by 2028.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “A demographic bulge is currently working its way through the education system. In previous years it has impacted mostly schools, but it is now moving through post-16 education.”

Allocation levels have been decided using a formula based on local authority population projections that are weighted using local building cost data.

The largest allocations, of £22 million and £20 million, will go to East Midlands Combined County Authority and West Midlands Combined Authority respectively.

According to an accompanying memorandum of understanding template, devolved areas have been asked to agree that funding will be for additional capacity at providers lacking existing suitable space.

It should also be spent in the “most efficient and sustainable way possible”.

Any unspent funds must be immediately repaid to the government if requested.

Capital capacity cash

The national funding allocations mark a shift in control of post-16 capital funding from central government to mayors and local leaders, following the one-off award of £20 million to Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Leeds City Council last year.

The £184 million in post-16 capacity funding for devolved areas is part of a total of £570 million for further education providers in England in the 2025-30 period.

A further £99 million in capital will be handed to 13 devolved areas for construction skills capacity.

Although it is unclear how construction skills capacity funding will be allocated to all 13 areas, combined authorities such as South Yorkshire recently confirmed it will receive about £12 million.

Last month, the Greater London Authority also confirmed it has up to £20 million available, with half set aside to help meet the objectives of the construction technical excellence college programme and half for “project-based capital” to meet employers’ specific training needs.

For providers in non-devolved areas, £287 million will be awarded by the DfE through a national bidding round that closed last month.

This will be split into £191 million for post-16 capacity and £96 million for construction skills capacity.

According to DfE guidance, providers in non-devolved areas receiving construction skills capacity funding must be either a construction technical excellence college or committed to working with one as a “spoke”.

The previous government’s capital capacity funding was released between 2021 and 2023.

Around £230 million was shared between 89 colleges and sixth forms with the aim of creating additional capacity by September 2024.

Congrats