Greater Lincolnshire’s mayor will press ahead with plans to scrap publicly funded English language courses from 2027, despite a majority of consultation responses opposing the move.
Papers published ahead of a Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) meeting next week have confirmed Reform UK mayor Andrea Jenkyns wants to withdraw funding for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision through the adult skills fund (ASF) from August 2027.
Jenkyns said the courses don’t benefit the “native” Lincolnshire people who elected her and plans to redirect funding to “more inclusive” English literacy and numeracy courses.
But results from a consultation run over Christmas show that almost three-quarters of the 375 people and organisations that responded disagreed or strongly disagreed with the proposals.
Anonymised comments raised concerns that ESOL is a “lifeline” that prevents non-English speakers from being “effectively excluded” from society and warned that cutting funding could “reduce the pool of skilled workers” available to the regions strategic industries such as port logistics.
Supportive comments focused on the benefits of redirecting funding towards literacy, which “affects life chances”.
An analysis included from Lincoln College, the largest ESOL provider in the region, argued that 90 per cent of learners who achieve the course move into positive destinations such as employment or further study, contributing £1,700 per year more to the local economy than they would if they had not.
Lincoln College’s ESOL learner statistics for 2023-24 and 2024-25 suggest that about a third of its students came from Ukraine, with other common nationalities including Turkey, Bulgaria and Afghanistan.
The decision, which is due to be debated and formally approved at a combined authority meeting next week (February 25), will “end funding” for ESOL courses in 2027 and re-introduce a three-year residency rule for learners to receive free or subsidised courses in August this year, and commits to designing a “new literacy qualification” to help adults into employment.
An impact assessment admits that while mayor Jenkyns’ move to “free up” the £1 million spend on ESOL each year in favour of literacy will offer non-English speakers “integrated learning experiences”, the plans may also negatively impact people from refugees and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
As a mitigation, the authority said “delaying” the defunding a year later than planned to 2027 will allow time for the training sector to “adjust their provision to reduce the impact” and to develop a new curriculum or syllabus that is “open to all”.
Responding to the consultation, GLCCA noted that around half of consultation responses were from people “directly involved” in the sector, or experts and specialists, who are “more motivated” to raise concerns.
The residency rule, which could affect the estimated 5,800 people who move to Greater Lincolnshire each year, will be mitigated through an exemption for armed forces personal, refugees, victims of domestic abuse, and people who have moved to England under the Ukraine, Afghan, and Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa schemes.
Other updates to Greater Lincolnshire’s draft adult skills fund rules, which will apply when adult skills is devolved in August, include funding of up to £58 per learner for Construction Skills and Certification Scheme labourers’ cards for unemployed learners and “enhanced support” for young care leavers worth up to £1,500 per learner.
Paul Sceeny, co-chair of the National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults, said: “A delay is obviously welcome, if only because it averts an immediate crisis for providers with the risk of significant job losses.
“Nonetheless, worrying it is that the Authority still doesn’t seem to appreciate the vital importance of dedicated ESOL provision to community integrity and economic prosperity.
“A further year might provide more space for all of us who understand and value the importance of language education to press our case, as well as enabling providers to develop more extensive contingency plans.”
Diana Sutton, director of the Bell Foundation, an ESOL-focused charity, said Greater Lincolnshire’s decision was disappointing.
She added: “Suggesting that learners acquire English language through online, private, or voluntary provision will not fill the gap.
“Furthermore, the proposed one ‘literacy qualification for all’ cannot address the specific language learning needs of ESOL learners.
“Literacy and language learning are fundamentally different with literacy provision designed to meet the needs of first-language English speakers to improve their reading and writing skills.”
David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said: “I’m concerned that the decision to stop funding ESOL comes before the work to co-create a new curriculum to replace it. If the intention is to support the residents of Greater Lincolnshire to achieve greater proficiency in English, so that they can be active citizens and secure good jobs, then I’d like to see that curriculum work conclude before any decision to simply stop funding ESOL.”
GLCCA was approached for comment.
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