Latest news from FE Week

Labour pledge to stop adult learner fees would mean scrapping FE loans

A pledge to stop fees on courses for adult learners, which FE Week has learned would involve scrapping advanced learner loans, has been made by Labour before the official launch tomorrow of its education election plans.

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner (pictured) and party leader Jeremy Corbyn will outline the proposals, during speeches set to be delivered at Leeds City College from 10am.

The key announcement for FE is the plan to “scrap fees on courses for adult learners looking to retrain or upskill”.

A spokesperson stated they would “increase the adult skills budget to £1.5 billion by the end of the parliament, in order to abolish upfront fees and increase course funding by an average of 10 per cent year on year”.

When asked for more information about how this would work by FE Week, including with relation to FE loans, a spokesperson said tonight: “Labour will scrap advanced learner loans and make education and training in FE colleges free at the point of use.”

Mr Corbyn complained ahead of tomorrow’s speech the country was being held back by FE funding cuts.

“The Conservatives have cut support for students and forced colleges to increase fees,” he said. “It’s created a downward spiral that is bad for the people being held back and bad for the economy.”

Former top skills civil servant Sue Pember, who is now director of policy at adult learning provider membership body Holex, told FE Week: “We welcome Labour’s commitment to lifelong learning.

“It will interesting to see the policy in full and how it will fit within a devolved skills landscape.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges and former provider services director at the Skills Funding Agency, said: “In its education pledges, the Labour Party has recognised the vital role of colleges in delivering education and training to people of all ages, reaching out to those who have not been in learning for many years and helping people progress to higher skills levels.

“To achieve all of that, the next government will need to invest more, so it is good to see Labour pledge to put more funding in for young people and adults.”

FE Week also asked Labour why apprenticeships were not mentioned in the education commitments, and to clarify what it meant with pledging to “increase the adult skills budget to £1.5 billion by the end of the parliament”, when it already stands at around that level.

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden told FE Week: “This doesn’t mean we won’t be saying anything about apprenticeships in the manifesto. It will feature.”

He also looked ahead to more explanation being provided ahead of the election on the AEB spending plans.

The other key FE-related pledge is to restore the education maintenance allowance for college students, as previously reported by FE Week.

A spokesperson explained: “Assuming the same proportion of 16-18 year olds qualify for EMA as previously the cost would be £582 million a year.”

The FE announcements are part of wider Labour plans that will be expanded upon in the morning, to invest in a National Education Service “to ensure no one is held back and create a more skilled workforce and productive economy”.

It is to be funded from the £20 billion that Labour says would be raised by “reversing the Conservative Party’s cuts to corporation tax”.

Labour spells out plans to drive apprenticeships quality to FE Week

Labour has exclusively spelled out its plans to drive up the quality of apprenticeships to FE Week.

It comes after the party pledged last night to stop fees on courses for adult learners, which FE Week also learned exclusively would involve scrapping advanced learner loans.

We asked yesterday why apprenticeships had not got a mention in the initial raft of pre-general election education announcements this was part of – which shadow education secretary Angela Rayner and leader Jeremy Corbyn are outlining in speeches this morning at Leeds City College.

They have now explained that Labour would maintain the new apprenticeship levy, launched last month, but “introduce new measures to drive up quality”.

A spokesperson explained they would require the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to report “on an annual basis to the Secretary of State on quality outcomes of completed apprenticeships to ensure they deliver skilled workers for employers and real jobs for apprentices at the end of their training”.

It would also “shift emphasis from quantity to quality”, by measuring completion rather than apprenticeship starts, and through “focusing on higher NVQ level apprenticeships, committing to double the number of completed apprenticeships at level three by the end of the parliament (94,000 in 2015/16 to 200,000 by the end of the Parliament)”.

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden (pictured) also told FE Week: “We will also protect the £440 million funding for non-levy payers on small and medium sized businesses, and see what more can be done in that area.

“We will also concentrate on recognising the needs of independent training providers, as well as general FE colleges.”

Ms Rayner echoed this in her speech this morning, saying Labour will ringfence £440 million from the apprenticeship levy for small and medium sized businesses, as well as increasing capital investment to help colleges deliver planned new T-levels.

Mr Marsden also told FE Week: “We will also put an equal amount of emphasis on growing service sector apprenticeships as manufacturing. It’s about parity of esteem.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ boss Mark Dawe said: “As was set out in AELP’s own manifesto [which called for 4 million starts in the next parliament], we don’t think an increase in apprenticeships has to be at the expense of quality. Numbers and quality can grow together. Therefore Labour’s focus on quality is welcome.

“We have to be a little careful however about using completions as a target measure, because this might lead to employers and providers only taking the applicants most likely to succeed and we must never lose sight that one of the best attributes of apprenticeships is them acting as a driver of social inclusion for young people.”

FE Week also asked Labour to clarify what it meant through last night’s announcement by the plan to “increase the adult skills budget to £1.5 billion by the end of the parliament”, when it already stands at around that level.

A spokesperson confirmed this morning that this was misleading, and the plan is actually far more ambitious.

He said the ASB, the same thing as the adult education budget, would actually be “increased by £1.5 billion”.

Mr Marsden also told FE Week this morning: “We will increase the ASB by £1.5 billion (not “to” £1.5 billion), so it will go up to £3 billion per year by 2021/22, the end of the next parliament.

“It will include extra funding for ESOL (English speakers of other languages) courses.

“The whole thing will be in order to fund the specific FE expansion ledges as part of our lifelong learning drive”.

Speaking to journalists after her speech, Ms Rayner said more about FE:

“I’ve been deliberately trying not to talk about higher education today. I came here today to a further education establishment, an amazing establishment here in Leeds, and I’ve talked about my personal story because many politicians have talked about parity of esteem, but they’ve not touched FE.

“They’ve never felt the transformative effect that FE has. When I was a mum at 16, I was made to feel that ‘that’s it, there’s nothing left of me’. I had failed at secondary school and there was no option for me to go back and to be good at anything, whereas FE gave me the opportunity to get a vocational qualification in care, so I was able to go back into the workforce on a part time basis and then full time.

“For the first time, I fell in love with learning. Before that, I never felt good enough. That’s what FE does. That’s the transformative effect. So forgive me that I’m not talking about higher education today, but it’s because I genuinely believe in parity of esteem and if I talk about higher education everybody talks about that and leaves FE behind, and that frustrates me.

“If Labour are in power on June 9, I will be the education secretary, I will say that parity of esteem for FE and apprenticeships means something to me. It genuinely means something to me, because I am that working-class kid from a council house that was written off at 16, that was told you’ll never be good at anything, and I want all of those children up and down the country to know they are amazing, they are what makes Britain great, and with me as their secretary of state for education.

“I will ensure that they reach their full potential and if that’s through an FE, higher education, or through an apprenticeship route. I will make sure that option is open to them.

“And for the mums and dads that are my age that feel like that’s it for them, that they’re in a job, they’re not going to be able to afford to go back to adult learning, under Labour you will. If you at nine were saying ‘I want to be a nurse, I want to be a teacher’ and you have had those dreams snatched away from you, under Labour, those dreams can become a reality. It doesn’t stop at age 16 or 20.”

Breaking: AoC manifesto calls for employer levy funding restrictions

The Association of Colleges’ manifesto has called for new levy funding restrictions on employers.

The document was unveiled this afternoon by the AoC, led by chief executive David Hughes (pictured).

Of key interest is the commitment to “reduce the proportion of the levy available to employers to 75 per cent”.

It added the “available resources” freed-up by this, should tackle challenges, such as improving quality, incentivising progression and addressing regional disparities.

The document also highlighted the need to “move away from a numerical target for apprenticeship starts”.

This comes after the drive to create 3 million apprenticeships starts, following the Conservative Party’s 2015 manifesto commitment, sparked criticism that quality was being sacrificed in the push to get as many learners on board as possible.

The AoC has called for the new focus to be on job and career outcomes for apprentices, and improvements in productivity and retention for employers.

This is in contrast to the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ manifesto, unveiled earlier this month, which called on the next government to commit to 4 million quality apprenticeships over the life of the next parliament.

The AoC also wants the new government to encourage employers and incentivise colleges to “support more apprenticeships at level three as a minimum end point and ensure they commit to 20 per cent off-the-job training for apprentices”.

The manifesto added the government should “ring-fence 16 to 18 education funding at £7 billion in 2017, rising to £7.5 billion in 2022”, and “engage employers, public authorities and colleges locally in skills devolution”.

There is also a call to establish a new system of personal learning accounts, which “give individuals a single budget at age 18 with flexibility over courses, levels, modes (including part-time and distance learning) and length of learning, with more choice about the qualifications they can achieve”.

AoC would like the government to work with the Student Loans Company scheme to develop a new account into which people can make payments, separate from loan repayments, and which employers can invest into as well.

Immigration also features, with the opening section stating: “For all of us in education, Brexit poses challenges but also offers great opportunities.

“Many companies and organisations have relied for too long on recruiting people from the EU (and beyond) rather than training and developing the current workforce.

“That reliance has to end. As a country, we need to be outward looking and welcoming to people from all backgrounds, but we must do this from a position of strength where we are self-sufficient in skills.

“A post-Brexit UK needs a new culture of lifelong learning to become the norm in all communities, for all people.”

The manifesto further calls on the government to establish a “sensible approach to immigration” to ensure that the thousands of EU teachers in colleges are able to continue to work here.

Reflecting on the manifesto, Mr Hughes said: “Colleges are vital for delivering the education and training needed for people of all ages.

“They boost productivity, strengthen the economy and they are eager to deliver more in Brexit Britain.

“After years of under-investment the next government needs to support colleges to develop a culture of lifelong learning in which every young person and adult has opportunities to learn throughout their lives.”

Paying training bills by Direct Debit could be key to apprenticeship levy success

Taking on apprentices has long been off-putting for businesses because many believe that trainees’ courses are expensive and the entire process is time-consuming.

But the new government levy, introduced in April 2017, addresses the first of these issues, offering many employers considerable financial help with training costs. Having an efficient and automated way of paying for courses, such as Direct Debit, should also serve to reassure companies they can afford to support apprenticeships, since payments can be spread out over time, making them more manageable.

For course providers, using Direct Debit via the GoCardless payment system is fast and easy to set up. Training providers can see when money is in their account, which is vital to ensure the continued smooth running of the system. GoCardless provides automatic notifications and updates when payments are received, making it simple to manage submissions to the Individualised Learner Record, the compulsory data collection that the government requires of those providing training in the further education field. This approach to handling payments also avoids credit card issues of cancellation, expiry and high fees, and gives customers the comfort of the Direct Debit Guarantee.

Fast, automated solutions

The problem of time – or the lack of it – is a persistent one for SMEs, in particular. One in four smaller employers told the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) that not having time to devote to apprenticeships was the reason they decided against taking on a new beginner.

Again, the way training is paid for can be a persuasive counter argument to this assumption. GoCardless’s own research has found that users of Direct Debit say the simplicity of setting up the payment system – providing the necessary details at the outset with no need for subsequent updates – is a major bonus. The entire procedure can be completed online in minutes, helping educational bodies get the required admin up and running in good time.

Educators as advisors

So, education providers should act now – if they haven’t already done so – to make paying for courses as flexible and painless as possible for employers, both those already hiring apprentices, and those with plans to do so. Almost half of the companies the FSB surveyed about apprenticeships sought information and guidance from the education provider itself prior to taking on an apprentice, so training bodies should recognise their role as a trusted advisor, as well as purveyors of knowledge and skills.

The best courses offered at the right price, then paid for in a manner that makes employers’ lives easy. That is the core message apprenticeship trainers should be getting across to businesses in light of the newly introduced levy. It’s a formula that – if executed properly – should prove a great success for employers, apprentices, education providers, and the UK economy overall.

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Lib Dems commit to defending 16 to 19 funding

A “real-terms” commitment to protect 16 to 19 FE funding per pupil has been announced by the Liberal Democrats.

The party announced today that over the course of the parliament, it will protect FE per pupil funding “in real terms” at £660 million, and “invest in continuous professional development for teachers” through a £165 million cash commitment.

The party’s shadow education spokesperson Sarah Olney (pitcured) told FE Week: “Students are being left behind as our educational system is cut to the bone.

“This extra £660 million to protect FE will ensure that students are not taken for granted.”

FE Week checked that this was just referring to 16 to 19-year-old learners, and what in that case did that mean for older FE learners.

A spokesperson said: “The figure is for pupils up to the age 19. But we will be setting out other commitments to support adult learners in our manifesto, which will be out in due course.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, told FE Week the pledge was “a great first step”, but “if we are to be more self-sufficient in skills, a post-Brexit UK will need increased investment to engage more adults”.

It comes after the Liberal Democrats pledged before the 2015 general election to “protect sixth form and college budgets”.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association said: “We are pleased that the Liberal Democrats have restated their commitment to protect 16-19 education funding. As sixth form funding is already 21 per cent lower than funding for 11 to 16 year olds, any further cuts would be disastrous for students and the economy. We hope that the Liberal Democrats will also back SFCA’s Support Our Sixth-formers campaign and pledge to boost sixth form funding by £200 per student ahead of a more comprehensive review of funding.

“We are pleased that the Liberal Democrats have restated their commitment to protect 16-19 education funding. As sixth form funding is already 21% lower than funding for 11 to 16 year olds, any further cuts would be disastrous for students and the economy. We hope that the Liberal Democrats will also back SFCA’s Support Our Sixth-formers campaign and pledge to boost sixth form funding by £200 per student ahead of a more comprehensive review of funding.

Today’s statement did not refer to apprenticeships, but FE Week asked them if they supported the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ call, made on May 3, for the next government to commit to 4 million quality apprenticeships over the life of the next parliament.

This would be up from the conservatives’ pledge before the 2015 general election to create 3 million by 2020.

A Liberal Democrats spokesperson said in response: “We welcome this ambitious target to grow the number of high quality apprenticeships in the next parliament, and will be setting out our own plans to for an increase in apprentice numbers when we publish our manifesto.

“In the coalition government, Liberal Democrats championed apprenticeships and were proud that more than2 million apprenticeships started over that time. We believe that high quality apprenticeships are an essential part of building the UK skills base.”

Former business secretary Sir Vince Cable told Liberal Democrats’ conference delegates three years ago that he was responsible for blocking moves in 2010 to enforce drastic funding cuts for “post-school” training.

We reported last November that Dr Cable, who lost his seat in 2015 but is standing again for parliament this time around, was taking charge of the new project with current NUS vice-president for FE Shakira Martin, who is now president-elect, looking into how major reforms coming for the sector should be tailored for learners.

Labour also announced late last night that it would “scrap fees on courses for adult learners looking to retrain or upskill”.

Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow education secretary Angela Rayner will outline the proposals, during speeches set to be delivered at Leeds City College from 10am.

Exclusive: Election delay for results of first adult education budget procurement

The announcement of results of the first ever procurement process for the adult education budget has been delayed until after the general election, FE Week can reveal.

An email seen by FE Week was sent to providers earlier today via FASST, the online services hub for organisations working with the Education and Skills Funding Agency, confirming that the Department for Education had “paused” the announcement until after the general election on June 8.

This comes after we revealed in late April that it was likely to be delayed until after the public vote.

It was signed-off by the “DfE sourcing team” and said: “In the run up to a general election, the ESFA, along with all government departments, has to comply with a series of restrictions imposed on communication activities.

“The timetable for announcing procurement results for the AEB has been paused in accordance with these restrictions. We will provide an update after the general election.”

Providers that didn’t have to tender for AEB funding will have already received their allocations, but those relying on the process for their financial support will be frustrated by the news.

It follows controversy caused by the government’s decision to also pause the massively over-subscribed non-levy apprenticeship procurement process.

Mark Dawe, chief of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, called for a long-term pause relating to the AEB procurement on April 25.

He said at the time: “The ESFA have just set a precedent for placing a pause on the non-levy apprenticeship procurement, so why not set aside the AEB invitation to tender for a year and give ITPs an allocation for the year 2017/18 essentially based on what they had before?”

It is thought around 500 training providers will have applied for a share of the AEB, which totals around £1.5 billion.

But only around £250 million of the budget was actually up for grabs through the tendering process, because colleges, local authorities and universities – which contract with the ESFA through a grant funding agreement – were not affected by recent changes and therefore did not have to tender.

The former Skills Funding Agency first wrote to independent training providers last autumn and told them that their current AEB contracts would come to an end in July, rather than having them automatically renewed as before.

FE Week then reported in January that the resulting procurement process for such contracts for ITPs had finally been launched by the SFA.

The ESFA announced on April 12 that the decision over non-levy apprenticeship funding allocations had been be paused to allow more time for the situation to be reviewed.

FE Week subsequently revealed that the total value of bids lodged through the now-paused procurement for apprenticeship provision allocations for non-levy-paying employers was around £1.6 billion, almost four times more than the sum available.

Providers had been bidding for a share of a funding pot worth up to £440 million. But FE Week learned that interest in this funding stream appeared to be much higher than the government had anticipated, with actual bids amounting to around £1.6 billion.

Principal leaving UTC as year 10 recruitment stopped

An ‘inadequate’ university technical college will not take on any new year 10 students from September and is on the hunt for a new leader, following the resignation of its principal.

UTC Plymouth revealed that the college would not be admitting any 14 year olds – through a year 10 intake for 2017/18 – although it hopes to start doing this again from the following academic year.

It was added in a statement that principal Polly Lovell would be leaving her role at the end of this academic year.

The news comes after FE Week revealed last month that UTC Plymouth experienced a sharp decline in student numbers this year, falling from 180 to 153.

The college is also the least full established institution of its kind, operating at 24 per cent of its 650 capacity.

The UTC, which opened in 2013, was given a grade four in a damning report by Ofsted in June last year after inspectors found achievement at the college was “inadequate and shows little sign of improvement”.

The statement – first revealed by The Plymouth Herald – from the chair of governors Nick Buckland, said the college was consulting with staff on a “proposed restructure” in order to “secure the UTC’s future sustainability”.

“As part of the plan for securing its future the college will not be admitting a year 10 intake for 2017,” he said.

“This impacts on a relatively small number of pupils and the college is working with the council to ensure all pupils are placed in other suitable schools and the college is in full communication with those individuals’ pupils’ parents.”

Mr Buckland said the college will however continue to admit year 12 students for 2017/18 and it is “intended” that recruitment into year 10 will resume in September 2018.

He added: “The college will continue to encourage young people and their parents to consider the UTC as an exciting option that focuses on STEM subjects and prepares young people for an engaging and rewarding career.”

FE Week asked UTC Plymouth to clarify why it had decided to pause its recruitment at year 10, but the college would not comment directly on this.

A spokesperson however said: “The UTC is taking longer to fill than we had hoped. Recruitment is particularly challenging in this area reflecting low numbers in the general student population.

“UTC’s admit students at the age of 14, two years before GCSEs; this is an additional challenge particularly in a city that supports a grammar school system.”

The changes at the college will be taken on by a new leader, after Mr Buckland also revealed Ms Lovell would be “taking up a new role outside the college” from this September.

Her new destination is unknown but the statement said Ms Lovell will continue to work with the college, “providing guidance and support to the leadership team.”

Mr Buckland added: “The college is working closely with city partners, including other schools, as well as nationally with the Department for Education to ensure its future success.

“The aim is for the UTC’s long term contribution to the city is to be as part of a strong partnership with other local schools and significant progress towards this goal is being made.”

The problems at UTC Plymouth are only the latest in a string of troubles for the 14 to 19 institutions since they launched in 2010.

Seven have closed, or announced plans for closure, amid dwindling pupil numbers.

Sixty per cent of UTCs visited by Ofsted have meanwhile been given ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ ratings.

And FE Week revealed last month that learner numbers have dropped at around two thirds of established UTCs this academic year.

Support Our Sixth-formers campaign launched

An extra £200 funding per sixth form student should be given to improve the support providers can offer these learners, the Sixth Form Colleges Association has urged.

It made the call as part of its Support our Sixth-formers campaign and as the key demand in its 2017 general election manifesto, both launched today.

The additional investment would pay for improved mental health support, study and employability skills and careers advice – all vital services that sixth form providers have had to scale back on thanks to “chronic underinvestment”, the SFCA said.

It’s one of four recommendations in the association’s manifesto aimed at boosting investment in sixth form education.

Bill Watkin, SFCA chief executive, called on all political parties to back the campaign and its manifesto recommendations.

“Increased investment is now urgently required to ensure that students pursuing A-level and other academic qualifications receive the sort of high quality education and support they need to become healthy, happy, resilient and productive citizens,” he said.

The association is also calling for a wider review of sixth form funding, as it said there was a “disconnect” between the cost of delivering an academic curriculum and the cash providers were given to do this.

It is also urging the government to scrap VAT for all sixth form providers.

A long-running SFCA campaign calling for SFCs to be brought in line with school sixth form providers, which don’t pay VAT, resulted in the announcement in 2015 that SFCs could convert to academy status to avoid paying the tax.

But the SFCA is now pressing the government to extend this to all SFCs.

The association’s final demand is for a competitive process for establishing new sixth form provision.

“The absence of a competitive, demand-led process has led to the creation of sixth form providers in areas where there is already an oversupply of good or outstanding provision,” it said in the manifesto.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said: “All political parties must commit to addressing, as a matter of urgency, the severe underfunding of sixth form education.

“Schools are being hit by rising costs but the situation in post-16 education is even more serious because these pressures come on top of funding cutbacks in the last parliament.”

The SFCA’s manifesto demands come after the Association of Employment and Learning Providers last week called for a commitment to four million apprenticeship starts, alongside at least £1 billion guaranteed funding for non-levy apprenticeships.

Ambassador vows to ‘beat drum’ over small business fears

The government’s small business apprenticeship ambassador will “continue to beat the drum” over fears that limited access to funding will drive SMEs away.

Jason Holt spoke exclusively to FE Week after the devastating impact of last week’s “derisory” funding allocations for providers delivering apprenticeships to small employers between May and December became clear.

The announcement, made on April 25, followed a decision to pause the £440 million procurement process for employers not subject to the levy, in part because it was massively oversubscribed.

It provoked widespread fears for the future of apprenticeship engagement; 98 per cent of employers will not pay the levy, which only applies to businesses with a payroll of more than £3 million.

Mr Holt, who has been government apprenticeship ambassador for small business since 2013, told FE Week: “I am grateful to FE Week for raising the issue, and I can promise I will continue to beat the drum of SMEs once the new government is formed.”

Five years ago, he led a review on behalf of the government into how more SMEs could be encouraged to take on apprentices.

It would clearly be an issue if non-levy payers did not have necessary access to high-quality apprenticeship delivery

“It would clearly be an issue if non-levy payers did not have necessary access to high-quality apprenticeship delivery,” he said. “I know senior officials would want to work hard to resolve them in consultation with the sector.

“As chair of the Apprenticeship Stakeholder Board for past two years, I personally have been impressed with just how responsive officials have been to stakeholder feedback and concerns. I have every confidence they will address any issue swiftly.”

The Federation of Small Businesses’ national chairman Mike Cherry meanwhile warned that small businesses should have a key role in helping hit the government’s target of three million starts between 2015 and 2020, and claimed it was now being dangerously undermined.

“We want to see high-quality provision rolled out across England in the foreseeable future, and we are concerned at how this could be impacted by recent reports on funding allocations,” he said.

“We are keen to engage constructively with the government, to clarify the position as soon as possible, to provide reassurance to small employers with apprentices, and those that are thinking about taking on their very first one.”

He added that the FSB was “seeking to clarify” the situation with ministers and civil servants “as soon as possible”.

The Confederation of British Industry also warned employers had been “clear from the outset that for the apprenticeship levy to be effective, it needs to create a stable market for skills, encouraging investment from employers and providers alike”.

Its spokeswoman added that the outcry, led by Association of Employment and Learning Providers boss Mark Dawe, who described the allocations situation as a “horror show”, underlines “issues we previously raised about implementing a major reform on tight timescale”.

“We have called on whoever the next government is to treat the next two years as a transition and deal with matters like these quickly,” she added.