ESOL waiting lists and duplication tackled by GLA

A pilot to tackle weak coordination and long waiting lists for English language lessons has been launched by the Greater London Authority.

Funded with £185,000 from the GLA’s £7.5 million Adult Skills Fund management budget, the 18-month programme will fund two English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) coordination services, one working across seven west London councils and the other at a borough-level in Camden and Islington.

The GLA plans to “test and learn” from the ESOL coordination services so it can develop best practice and later “scale an informed approach” across the capital.

The move comes amid funding cuts to adult education nationally, accusations of vague government promises to improve access to ESOL, and a lack of national strategy on how it should be delivered.

London’s pilot will include a £70,000 grant for a “single point of contact” service for employment and skills, including ESOL, run by the West London Alliance, a partnership of seven councils.

The GLA will also grant £65,000 to Camden Council for its borough-level ESOL Advice Service. The remaining £50,000 will fund an evaluation of the outcomes of the pilot which should be complete by May 2028.

According to a GLA decision report approving the funding, London’s ESOL offer is complicated by a mix of providers including local authorities, specialist institutions, civic organisations and FE colleges, not all of which are Adult Skills Fund financed.

It said: “Weak coordination in the ESOL ecosystem makes it extremely difficult for learners to navigate.

“For some potential ESOL learners, this is an added barrier to entering the labour market and socially integrating – as they may already be experiencing social isolation; may not have a fixed abode; and may not know how to access London’s ESOL offer.

“Weak and inconsistent coordination can result in providers’ processes and provision being duplicated – adding to pressure in the ESOL workforce.”

Services that the pilot will fund for learners include outreach and advice, assessment, registration, and “signposting” to FE and skills provision.

The pilot will also run provider networks and focus on “improving ESOL access and reducing administrative duplication”.

London’s needs

The GLA said ESOL demand is likely to “keep growing” due to high migration levels to the capital, labour market demand for English skills, and changes to visa and settlement rules requiring a higher level of English.

GLA officials selected the West London Alliance, one of four multi-council regional partnerships in the city, because it is the only one to already include ESOL in its GLA-funded ‘no wrong door’ initiative for advice on employment, skills, health and support services.

Camden and Islington’s ESOL advice service was chosen as it had been operating for eight years but faced a “financial sustainability challenge” that threatened its operations.

About 50,000 learners participated in GLA-funded ESOL courses in 2024-25, the majority (42,170) enrolled at entry level. These learners account for about a quarter of learners on London’s Adult Skills Fund courses.

FE Week asked the GLA how large London’s ESOL waiting lists are but did not receive a response.

Felix Norman, ESOL curriculum manager at WM College, said the college consistently faced a waiting list of more than 300 people for initial assessment.

He added: “In my opinion, the greatest challenge is about how we might create a standardised initial assessment and [information, advice and guidance] process that all providers could agree on.

“If there were a way that learners could be interviewed and assessed by a service such as Camden Advice Service, and then this information could be shared with providers in a way that is easily interpreted by providers, this could help to reduce workload and cut down on duplication of processes.”

Last year, the government’s immigration white paper promised to cut net migration by about 100,000 by demanding higher English language levels for people applying to extend visas or settling permanently.

But its promise to make it “easier” to access English language lessons was branded “vague” by ESOL leader Paul Sceeny, amid ongoing cuts to adult education funding and the lack of a national strategy.

Although there is no official data on ESOL spending nationally, an investigation by news outlet Hyphen found £183 million was spent on the courses in 2024-25, a 40 per cent real-terms cut since 2009-10.

The outlet also found that waiting times for ESOL courses in West Yorkshire can last up to two years.

Sceeny, co-chair of the National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults which has been calling for similar single point of contact services in Lambeth and Hackney, also welcomed the GLA’s support for ESOL coordination.

He said single points of contact prevent learners from being “shunted from pillar to post”, such as through multiple initial assessments or being enrolled on provision that doesn’t meet their needs.