Mayors dump adult education cuts on independent training providers

Mayors have been accused of “copping out” by lumping the weight of incoming cuts to their adult education budgets on to independent training providers. 

The Department for Education recently told England’s 13 authorities with devolved skills funding powers to expect reduced allocations of about 3 per cent for the 2025-26 academic year. 

FE Week has found multiple cases where mayors have decided to slash procured contracting pots – by up two thirds in one area – to offset the cut while protecting grant funding for colleges and local authorities. 

It comes as the DfE announces plans to introduce a blanket 6 per cent cut for all training providers and colleges it funds through national adult skills funding (ASF) contracts, amid a series of “difficult financial decisions”. 

Sue Pember, the policy director at adult education body HOLEX, said it was understandable for mayors to cut back on contracts with procured training providers because local governments were focused on building “civic infrastructure”. 

But Simon Ashworth, the deputy chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), said they were “soft decisions”. 

“While cuts to ASF at a national level are difficult to swallow, at least the same methodology is being applied consistently across different provider types – whereas we’re starting to see multiple devolved regions where this is not the case. 

“This inconsistency is leading to a cop-out where soft decisions are being made that disproportionately impact ITPs, instead of looking at who delivers best outcomes for learners and value for money from a reducing adult funding pot.” 

30 per cent cut in South Yorkshire 

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), which procured £10 million out of its £42 million annual budget this year, plans to contract out only £7 million to ITPs next year – a 30 per cent cut. 

This is despite the authority holding on to millions in underspends from previous years – a cash pot that is ring-fenced for adult education. 

Board papers suggest SYMCA’s reductions in procured allocations have been made based on “historic underperformance relative to grant-funded delivery”. 

The papers said: “It is proposed that the procured provision accommodates the national reduction in ASF funding, based on performance relative to outputs and outcomes. Historically, procured provision has underperformed relative to expectations and budgets.” 

Two new combined authorities, East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire, are also reducing their planned procured portion of skills budgets that they will take control of for the first time in 2025-26. 

East Midlands has lowered the total value of its procured adult education by 24 per cent to £7.6 million, after initially advertising a £10 million budget. 

FE Week understands York and North Yorkshire reduced its procured pot available to ITPs from more than £2 million to £1.3 million. 

Both refused to explain why they were lumping the DfE’s cuts on to ITPs instead of across the board. 

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) plans to cut its procured budget by two thirds – from £2 million to £702,000 next year. 

A CPCA spokesperson confirmed the “significant” reduction, but denied prioritising grant-funded providers. 

They argued that CPCA’s current procured contracts, which are coming to an end in July, were “enhanced through our reserve funding which has now been spent”. It is for this reason, combined with the DfE’s 3 per cent cut, that the procured pot has shrunk. 

In contrast, the North East Combined Authority, which has a budget of about £67.4 million next year, plans to pass the DfE cuts evenly on to local authorities, colleges and independent training providers – applying a 2.8 per cent contract reduction across the board, according to a report before its cabinet this week. 

A senior manager at one provider with procured adult education contracts in multiple devolved areas said: “It’s frustrating to see reduced allocations, especially when our training supports unemployed learners into work through strong employer links. 

“Ultimately, it’s learners who lose out.” 

Luke Muscat, the managing director of Back2Work Group, said that while some MCAs were applying the cuts “consistently”, others were “putting the weight” on ITPs. 

“Typically a lot more of what we do is work with unemployed people and employers – supporting them to hire that talent. 

“The obvious impact is that it reduces the number of employers and unemployed residents that we’re able to support on an annual basis. We’ll have to reject requests for support.” 

‘This isn’t pitting one set of providers against another’ 

Other large authorities with devolved skills budgets, such as the Greater London Authority and West Yorkshire Combined Authority, are yet to confirm details of their approaches for next year. 

According to a recent report to its mayor Steve Rotheram, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will make a £1.8 million cut to its £52.2 million annual ASF budget. 

But it has chosen to maintain or even increase its grant-funded allocations “taking into account current year delivery” while funding for procured providers will be confirmed this spring based on “current year performance”. 

Pember said the plan for adult education devolution has always been to have less procured provision and “more stable funding”. 

She told FE Week: “This isn’t pitting one set of providers against another, it’s about putting money back into the locality, it’s about jobs and knowing where to go. 

“The typical work ITPs have is one-off projects in local areas. Yes, there’s a role for partnership activity, but for niche areas. People flitting in, taking the low-hanging fruit and flitting out again – I think the world’s moved on.” 

Speaking anonymously to FE Week, multiple ITP bosses also accepted that cutting grant funding to colleges would be a more difficult political choice for mayors, given their interest in protecting the financial stability of local institutions. 

Commenting on the DfE’s adult education decisions last week, Jacqui Smith, the skills minister, said “small cuts” in funding were “enormously difficult”. 

“I totally understand the argument that people make that that is also an important contributor to giving people the skills they need to stay and, in some cases, to get back into the workplace.

“That’s why we need to make the case that we are making to the chancellor as part of the spending review.”