The government is allowing known minimum wage offender firms to advertise for workers on its apprentice vacancy matching service, FE Week has found.

Seven of the 75 employers ‘named and shamed’ by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) last week for failing to pay the minimum wage were advertising for apprentices on the website.

The situation has prompted a warning from the University and College Union (UCU) that apprentices could be at risk of “exceptionally low pay” from known minimum wage offenders.

And the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has called for government monitoring of firms behind the adverts to ensure they pay at least the legal minimum for apprentices, currently £2.73 an-hour.

London-based estate agency Rolfe East, Liverpool’s Ultimate Dental Laboratory, Nottingham’s Medina Chemists, Acorn Care Services in the Isle of Wight, Wakefield’s Compliance 365 and Worldflair, which runs Krazy Kingdom amusement park in Blackpool, were all advertising for roles of between 30 and 40 hours a-week. They were for either advanced or intermediate apprenticeships.

But while the adverts (see below) were in line with the apprentice minimum wage, BIS declined to say whether any of the firms behind them were among the 30 it named and shamed as having offended in relation to apprentice pay — although Rolfe East, Acorn Care Services and Surecare all said their offending had been on non-apprentice pay.

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However, Sally Hunt (pictured below right), UCU general secretary, said seeing known minimum wage offender companies advertising on a government website was “very worrying” and warned it “could leave their young apprentices vulnerable to exceptionally low pay”.

She said: “Companies should be made to prove they are adhering to the minimum wage before they are given the opportunity to use this website.”

Mary Bousted (pictured below left), ATL general secretary, agreed.

“It is likely that if the employer is not paying national minimum wage, they may also not be paying the apprenticeship minimum wage,” she said.

“On that basis, unless the government is monitoring the apprenticeship provision and is satisfied that the employer is fulfilling its obligations to the apprentice, then it would not be appropriate for the employer to be advertising on the government’s website.”

A BIS spokesperson defended allowing known minimum wage offenders to advertise posts on the Skills Funding Agency (SFA)-run Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching Service website.

“Providers can only advertise on the Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching Service once it is confirmed that the apprentice will be paid at least the apprenticeship minimum wage,” he said.

“All employers that have been named and shamed for failing to pay the minimum wage have already paid the staff who were in arrears and an additional financial penalty.”

Rolfe East, which neglected to pay 20 workers a total of £7,107.43, was listed as part of the BIS minimum wage name and shame campaign last week for its payments to, according to the firm, “trainee” workers and not official apprentices. The workers therefore should have been on the age-relevant — rather than apprentice — minimum wage.

The Rolfe East “trainees” were paid “30 per cent” above the apprentice minimum wage of £2.73, according to a statement by managing director Ashley Rolfe. This would have meant they were earning around £3.55 an-hour.

Sales director Jon Hadfield indicated that Rolfe East had offended in relation to the under 18 minimum wage (currently £3.79 an-hour).

Mr Hadfield said: “Because we hadn’t been through the government’s form-filling apprenticeship scheme, it was deemed these people weren’t being paid the NMW.

“The irony is that we’re now taking on new trainees via the government scheme who are earning less than those we took on privately.”

Mr Hadfield acknowledged it was “ultimately our choice” not to continue paying apprentices the higher rate they had paid to previous trainees but said the company taken advice from its provider on what to pay.

He said the company would pay the apprentice it was currently advertising for above the £2.73 an-hour minimum wage.

Acorn Care Services owed £784.38 to eight workers. Managing director Brian Ginders said the issue had arisen because the company was unaware it was required to count workers’ 30-minute breaks in their working time.

He said: “At no time did Acorn Care Service Ltd deliberately or knowingly underpay any members of its staff. We believed that we were paying above the national minimum wage in line with legislation.”

He added: “We have since reviewed all pay and have discussed with HMRC to ensure that our calculations work with their general rule of thumb.”

A spokesperson told FE Week that the issue had not concerned apprentices, and that the company would ensure that the apprentice hired would be properly paid.

Phil Pickford, director of Surecare which owed £236.60 to one worker said the issue had been an “admin oversight” and that the employee had not been an apprentice.

He said: “We have had apprentices in the past and they have always been paid in line with their contracts, which is above the NMW.

“We’ve done an audit of our systems so this problem won’t happen again.”

No-one from Medina Chemists, Worldflair or Ultimate Dental Laboratory was available to comment.

Compliance 365 declined to comment.

Local council plans to split Lewisham Southwark College and bring half of it under local authority control have been rejected by the FE Commissioner, it has been claimed.

The college announced today that commissioner Dr David Collins had thrown out a proposal from Southwark Borough Council last month to de-merge the college.

The council suggestion included taking on the Southwark provision and contracting it out.

It comes amid an area-based assessment of South East London’s FE and skills provision, consisting of two structure and prospects appraisals at Greenwich Community College and Lewisham Southwark after they were both served with inadequate Ofted ratings — the second in a row for Lewisham Southwark, which is currently in administered status.

nd in addition to the Ofsted blows, the merged college’s £290k ‘Lesoco’ rebrand proved a failure, as exclusively revealed by FE Week.

A statement from the college, which is currently in administered status, said the commissioner and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) “have now confirmed that the proposal is not an option that would be considered or progressed”.

It added: “Instead the college has been given time to work on its planned recovery which has recently been praised by both the FE Commissioner and received positive comments towards changes made by Ofsted.”

Principal Carole Kitching took up the role in June. She said: “Lewisham Southwark should be and will be stronger together.”

Dr Collins, BIS and the council are yet to comment.

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) has appointed outgoing president of the National Union of Students (NUS) Toni Pearce as its new head of employment and skills.

A Niace spokesperson said she would play a key role in efforts to “champion employment, skills and learning for all”.

She is tasked with “particular focus on expanding the number of high quality apprenticeships supporting the government’s target of 3m by 2020, and supporting those in low-paid work through the development of a Career Advancement Service”.

Ms Pearce said: “I’m really excited to be joining Niace, an organisation which does such important work in supporting people of all ages into and through education, and continues to campaign for the right for all people to have access to great quality and fulfilling education and employment.

“The FE sector has a more important role than ever, and I can’t wait to work with learners, providers and employers to help make education, employment and apprenticeships work better for everyone.”

Ms Pearce was elected president of Cornwall College Students’ Union in 2009, NUS vice president for FE in 2011 and then overall president two years ago, becoming the first president in in the 92-year history of the NUS not to have studied at university.

During her time at the NUS, she oversaw the establishment of the National Society of Apprentices and was active in the development of 24+ loans policy.

Her campaigning activity focused on women’s rights in education and politics, the engagement of young people in democracy and better employment prospects for students and graduates.

Stephen Evans (pictured right), Niace deputy chief executive, said: “I am delighted to welcome Toni to Niace.

“She will lead crucial work to expand access to high quality apprenticeships and boost social mobility by providing new forms of support for people in low paid work to progress.

“These are top government objectives for the next five years and the learning, employment and skills sectors are crucial to their delivery.

“I know Toni will make a real difference in making this a reality.”

Awarding organisation NCFE has bought the Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (Cache) for an undisclosed sum, it was announced today.

A statement on Hertfordshire-based Cache’s website said the deal would “ensure our centres will continue to be able to offer Cache qualifications of excellence, and will provide stability for the future of centres and learners alike”.

It adds: “We would like to assure you that you will continue to receive the high level of service and support that you have come to expect.

“This development has come at a time when Cache has been operating in an environment of significant change, including the reduction in government funding and the introduction of minimum standards for the entry to the Early Years Educator workforce.

“The Cache board of trustees has been considering how best to safeguard the future for our centres and learners in this environment and believe that NCFE’s new ownership will ensure that qualifications of the highest standard and rigour will continue to be developed, to support learners improve the skills level and professional standards of the care, health and education sector.”

The takeover by NCFE is, according to the statement, “the next stage in Cache’s 70 years” having started as the National Nursery Examination Board (NNEB), before merger with the Council for Early Years Awards (CEYA). It also incorporated the National Association for Maternal and Child Welfare (NAMCW).

Cache chair Marilyn Hawkins (pictured left) said: “This is an exciting new chapter in Cache’s long and prestigious history with significant benefits and opportunities for the future and represents the next stage in Cache’s 70-year evolution.

“When we entered into discussions with NCFE, it quickly became apparent that there was a great deal of synergy between the two brands around education and training, our portfolios and how we design our products.

“We’re very pleased that the Cache brand will become part of NCFE – sharing our expertise with a stable, ambitious and forward thinking organisation will undoubtedly add value and help each other to grow and diversify, putting us in a much stronger position going forward.”

The deal with NCFE includes the awarding organisation and the Cache brand, but the company’s charity arm will continue separately under a different name.

NCFE chief executive David Grailey (pictured right) said: “We are delighted to be incorporating the Cache brand into NCFE.

“We were keen to acquire the brand because not only is it highly respected in the care sector, but crucially it also shares our values and ambitions, placing strong emphasis on learner success and exceptional customer service.

“This acquisition aligns with our growth strategy to continue development of our portfolio in health, public services and care (which includes health and social care and childcare). The decision was also taken in response to the changes and funding cuts taking place in the FE sector.

“We’ve already been working collaboratively with other organisations and partners to share expertise and offer flexible and innovative solutions in the changing education environment, and we believe combining portfolios and some back office systems will make us more efficient and better-placed to face the challenges ahead.

“We are confident that by coming together, the NCFE and Cache brands will be able to grow their influence in the sector. What’s more, customers of both organisations will benefit from the development of streamlined and aligned systems supported by the exceptional customer service that our centres have come to expect.

“Learners remain at the heart of all we do and will continue to have access to qualifications which raise professional standards across the world.”

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) is to send out tailored data return error reports in response to recommendations from the Data and Management Information Advisory Group.

The group, chaired by Burton and South Derbyshire principal Dawn Ward (pictured), wanted the reports so providers could identify potential errors in their individualised learner record (ILR) data — used to calculate provider funding — submitted to the SFA.

It comes after ILR data errors just before Christmas meant providers were hit with a shock clawback warning just before Christmas, as revealed by FE Week (see right). It resulted in 97 providers paying back £554k after a surprise in-year audit.

However, SFA will now be sending individual ILR data reports to each provider in relation data from the 10^th data return for 2014/15, R10, in a move that was announced in the SFA’s monthly data and funding newsletter, Inform.

The newsletter said: “All records listed in the relevant Provider-Data Self-Assessment Toolkit (PDSAT) reports already show which errors you should review as these are identified as errors or potential errors.

“However, to help you further we will shortly be issuing individual summary reports to every provider to give an overview of monitoring issues at a glance.”

An SFA spokesperson said the reports would give the same information as was included in the PDSAT, but summarised into a single document — and the newsletter warned providers should still use PDSAT reports to give a detailed list of records affected by any errors.

The SFA spokesperson said: “Following discussions with our stakeholder advisory groups, it was highlighted that providers would find it useful if we presented the information in this way and so we agreed to issue summary reports to every provider.”

She added the advisory group had requested R10 be used instead of the more recent R11 data as “this was the last full data return (including both training organisations and colleges)”.

The newsletter warned providers to review data that was listed as a “potential error” due to higher numbers of such entries than expected.

The newsletter added: “Please use these reports to check and correct your data as soon as possible to avoid us taking action at the end of the funding year.”

Sixth form colleges have been told they will have to find a new way of checking whether potential staff are trying to hide a criminal past.

The Sixth Form Colleges’ Association (SFCA) has revealed its contract to run Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on behalf of members will come to end.

It is understood the number of members using the SFCA for DBS checks has dwindled and last year it carried out around 900 DBS checks for 13 sixth form colleges. The decline has led to an SFCA decision to stop offering the service.

Graham Baird (pictured right), SFCA director of HR services, said: “It’s an area of work that we currently undertake and it’s dropping off really and the level of service that we can provide is just nowhere near as good as what’s out there and available for sixth form colleges.

“By an large it make sense for colleges to do their own thing on this.”

Sixth form colleges, like all educational institutions, are required by law to ensure all their potential and actual staff have up-to-date background checks done through the DBS.

However, organisations that submit fewer than 100 checks a-year have to get the checks done through an umbrella organisation.

Some colleges, including West Nottinghamshire College and Blackpool Sixth Form College, have official umbrella organisation status and appear on the government list along with a number of non-FE and skills organisations.

However, the SFCA has decided to give up its status as an official umbrella organisation.

But Mr Baird said members would not be left in the lurch over the summer, when much recruitment takes place.

“We’re giving [members] them until the end of November, so we’re covering what is a busy period in the run up to the new term,” he said.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t put any colleges in difficult positions.”

Mr Baird said the decision had been partly driven by rules preventing umbrella organisations using a web service if they ran fewer than 1,500 checks a-year.

“The number of checks we do might seem big, but it’s pretty small fry when it comes to what is required to be an online provider,” he said.

“And that’s where the difficulty’s been, because if we could, we would, but it’s just not possible with the number we’re dealing with.”

The announcement was made in a letter which Mr Baird sent to affected member colleges last week. It said they would “need to make alternative arrangements” and apologised for “any inconvenience this may cause”.

It also offered guidance on making alternative arrangements, pointing to a government website containing a list of umbrella bodies to which colleges could submit their checks for processing.

Mr Baird said the SFCA would not be recommending one particular umbrella organisation for colleges to go to, despite his letter mentioning data company GB Group as an example.

“We’re not making any recommendations,” he said.

“The nature of sixth form colleges is it’s up to them to do what suits their circumstances best.

“If they need any kind of help from us we’ll help, but as corporations it’s up to them to make those decisions themselves.”

Click here for a list of DBS umbrella bodies.

The government today revealed it had undertaken the latest in a series of early years educator (EYE) U-turns by dropping the GCSE entry requirement for level three classroom provision.

The Department for Education (DfE) is going to allow learners who do not have grade C or above in English and maths to start and achieve standalone, non-apprenticeship, level three EYE qualifications.

It had already U-turned on a GCSE entry requirement for the current level three EYE apprenticeships in August last year — just a month before it was set to introduce the rule.

And last month, the second U-turn came with rejection of the entry requirement for the new Trailblazer apprenticeship standard, which had been expected to launch tomorrow.

However, while both these U-turns saw an exit requirement for the GCSEs instead being put in place, the latest U-turn will only see providers required to “support learners who need to achieve English and maths GCSEs at grade C or above” for standalone level three EYE qualifications.

But Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) employers will still be required to maintain a certain percentage of level three EYE-qualified staff that have English and maths GCSEs.

A DfE spokesperson said: “All the evidence shows that the higher the quality of childcare, the higher the quality of a child’s learning and development. We are totally committed to raising the bar and improving the care children receive.

“That is why we have brought all early years qualifications at level three into line with the children and young people’s workforce apprenticeship, broadening the routes into childcare, but still ensuring the same high standard of providers is met.”

Julie Hyde (pictured right), executive director of the Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (Cache), described the DfE move as “significant step forward”.

However, she said she wanted to see Functional Skills (FS) qualifications accepted for the EYFS staffing ratios.

“The requirement for level three practitioners to hold GCSEs to count in the ratios means that a barrier to the workforce remains,” said Ms Hyde.

“We are pleased that Skills Minister Nick Boles is considering alternative qualifications as being equivalent to GCSE, and urge the DfE to consider making FS an accepted equivalent for learners of all ages undertaking an EYE qualification or apprenticeship.”

The move, which comes into effect from tomorrow, featured in today’s edition of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Inform newsletter, where it said: “The requirement of GCSE English and maths for entry to standalone EYE courses at level three is being removed by the SFA, meaning candidates who want to take a level three qualification in childcare can progress onto their chosen course more quickly.

“GCSE English and maths will still be required to count in the Early EYFS ratios at level three, maintaining the quality of the workforce.”

UPDATE AT 8.24AM Friday, July 31: Apprenticeship vacancy matching service up and running (see foot of story)

Frustration is growing as providers remain unable to access the apprenticeship vacancy matching service or post new adverts — three days after it should have reopened following maintenance.

Provider access to the website which allows them to advertise apprentice job opportunities to potential learners was shut off as part of a planned closure on Thursday (July 23) to switch suppliers which was planned to end first thing on Tuesday morning.

However, three days later, although members of the public can view and apply for jobs posted on the site, providers are unable access applicants’ details or post new vacancies — and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) said it has no idea when the problem will be fixed.

Provider staff have taken to Twitter in desperation, asking @sfadata for news. Among them was Kathryn Osborn (see below) who wrote: “It’s a joke employers are waiting and there will be loads of applications waiting to be screened.”

An Association of Employment and Learning Providers spokesperson told FE Week: “Given that school leavers are now trying to enter the employment market it’s important that vacancies site is back up as soon as possible.”

And dissatisfied providers also took to the SFA-run FE Connect help forum to complain.

One user, Blackledgeds, said: “Do you have any idea when the apprenticeship vacancies website will be up and running?

“I have 3 sets of interviews tomorrow and I need to be able to contact applicants today to arrange interviews for them.”

Another, user name chrislant1, said their company had 17 vacancies it needed to place on the site and “numerous” interviews to arrange using applicant details.

The user said: “We have now not been able to contact any applicants for a week.

“This is not acceptable, we are unable to provide any guidance for applicants or information.

“At the moment there must be thousands of applications which have not been read or responded to just sitting there.”

The SFA’s representative on the forum said at 9.29 this morning that there was no “eta” — estimated time of arrival — for the service, but added the apprenticeship vacancies site was “the current priority”.

So far he has yet to respond to a request for an update at 11.10am.

An SFA spokesperson said: “Our priority is working on the apprenticeship vacancy website, the issue is that the find an apprenticeship website is up and running for the general public but providers are currently unable to publish new vacancies.

“We have sent a communication to all apprenticeship vacancy users today and have set up a specific e-mail address should any particular apprenticeship vacancy users wish to get in touch.”

The planned closure also include the SFA’s Hub service, the online data uploading system, which allows providers to submit their Individualised Learner Record data to the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) in order to process payment — that remained closed for an extra day after it was supposed to reopen, causing concern over whether providers would be able to meet the August 6 deadline for the twelfth monthly data return (RO12) for 2014/15.

The data collections facility on the Hub has now been reopened, allowing provider to upload data, although the finance and contracts hub remains down.

Update: Friday, July 31 8.24am

The apprenticeship vacancy service is now up and running — four days after it was due to reopen following maintenance work.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) tweeted from the @sfadata account at 10.40 last night: “Our apprenticeship vacancy site is now back up and running – providers can post vacancies.”

An SFA representative posted also update on the FE Connect help forum at 8.24 this morning.

The post said: “The AV system is now back online and providers can now post and manage vacancies.”

It added: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the delay in restoring our systems.”

The email account the SFA set up yesterday for concerned providers has received “a number of queries” the post said.

It added: “We are now replying to each of these.”