A number of University Technical Colleges (UTCs) were running at around 10 per cent capacity last academic year — while the overall enrolment figure plummeted to just 30 per cent, FE Week can reveal.

Figures, supplied to FE Week under the Freedom of Information Act, indicate there was a total capacity of around 9,500 places in UTCs, but fewer than 3,000 were filled [see below].

All of the 17 UTCs operating in 2013/14 were undersubscribed, with the highest running at 81 per cent capacity before the next highest was half empty.

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said that with most UTCs having only opened last year, they were “not expected to reach their capacity for a number of years”. But despite this, and despite the low enrolment numbers, he insisted the “recruitment picture is improving dramatically”.

Nevertheless, the poor figures will also come as a huge blow to the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, which oversees UTCs, having seen overall enrolment in 2012/13 at 55 per cent. And Hackney UTC has already revealed it will not be reopening next September having attracted just 29 of its target of 75 pupils for 2014/15.

A spokesperson for the Baker Dearing Trust said she was “confident that as the UTCs themselves become more established… recruitment will increase.”

The UTC project was launched in 2011 — two years before colleges were able to recruit full-time learners from the age of 14 — and has enjoyed cross-party support. Chancellor George Osborne described them as “a key part of the government’s long-term economic plan,” while Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt called for “considerable growth” in the number of UTCs.

However, their Ofsted grades have not justified such positive backing. Of the five inspections to date, one resulted in an inadequate rating, two were deemed to require improvement, while the fourth and fifth were graded as good.

And with a further 13 UTCs having opened this month, and a planned total of 57 by 2016, the Association of Colleges (AoC) called for a rethink on UTCs. Gill Clipson, AoC deputy chief executive, said: “The government should assess how well the current UTCs are working before announcing the creation of even more.” She added: “Some local councils have been less than enthusiastic about advertising UTCs to their local community.”

Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “These figures would suggest most UTCs are significantly under-recruiting against targets, which considering the publicity and resources put into them is most surprising. I would be interested to know the reasons, particularly as Hackney closed due to such low numbers.”

University and College Union head of FE Andrew Harden said: “Many UTCs may offer similar courses and curriculum to existing FE colleges. At a time when our colleges are facing huge budget cuts it is essential that vital funding is not diverted at the expense of institutions already providing key vocational training. Considering the considerable expense and fanfare that has surrounded UTCs it must be disappointing for all involved that take-up has not been better.”

The DfE spokesperson said: “UTCs, their university partners and businesses should work together to ensure they are offering an attractive and distinct alternative to other schools.”

The Baker Dearing Educational Trust spokesperson said: “The technical education pathway offered by UTCs is wholly new to the English school system and we expected it would take time for them to reach their maximum capacity.

“We are confident that as the UTCs themselves become more established, as the JCB Academy has done since it opened in 2010 [as an academy, before becoming a UTC in January last year], recruitment will increase. The majority of UTCs opened in 2013 and it is a challenge to recruit students to a new school at the non-standard age of 14, even though this is the right age.”

Editorial

Capacity for review

With 2012/13’s UTC enrolment figures showing they were running, in total, at 55 per cent capacity, you would have expected a hint of caution in the corridors of power.

And armed with last year’s even lower figure of 30 per cent, you might even expect serious questions to be raised by government ministers and officials.

But not so, it would seem — to the extent that a DfE spokesperson said UTC recruitment was “improving dramatically”.

It’s hard to see this as a comment made in light of the facts, but regardless, UTCs continue to count on the support of Labour and the  Conservatives.

But then there’s also the quality argument. And on this UTCs don’t stand up particularly well either — certainly not when, as previously stated in this column, compared to the offer from general FE colleges, where inspections of 14 to 16 provision have yielded complimentary reports at Hull College and Middlesbrough College, among others.

And although it seemed former Education Secretary Michael Gove appreciated this when he called on Bedford College to step in and rescue the grade four-rated Central Bedfordshire UTC, we appear no closer to a critical analysis of the UTC  project.

But the AoC has called for such an assessment. So does FE Week.

Chris Henwood, editor

 

The future of more than a dozen Institute for Learning (IfL) jobs was today looking uncertain as it prepares to transfer assets to the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) before closing.

A spokesperson for the IfL told FE Week that there was no guarantee that any of its 15 workers would keep their jobs following the move, voted through by its non-executive board two months ago.

The transfer is expected to be complete by the end of next month, and an HR consultation is underway to determine the fate of IfL employees.

However, an Ifl spokesperson told FE Week: “The ETF is not taking over the IfL organisation and staff — the plan is for IfL to transfer its legacy, assets and membership to the ETF through a deed of gift before closing its operations.”

She was unable to guarantee that any IfL jobs would be saved, adding: “In view of the current HR consultation process, IfL does not consider it appropriate to make comments about staff and potential redundancies at this time.”

The transfer was triggered by fears the 33,500-member IfL did not have enough cash to keep going. It has seen huge numbers of members desert in the face of increasing membership fees in response to government funding being withdrawn.
However, the vote in favour of transfer was later hit with claims IfL had failed to consult rank-and-file members.

A number of IfL members complained that they were not involved in the decision, before IfL elected chair Sue Crowley (pictured) defended the process.

She said members, who generally paid £63 annual fees, were democratically represented by the advisory board members who took the vote.

It comes just a week after it was revealed the IFL’s Qualified Teacher Learning Status (QTLS) programme would continue under the ETF. The news came in a live webcast by Dr Jean Kelly, IfL chief executive, and ETF chief executive David Russell.

Dr Kelly said: “It will still be called QTLS, it will stay as it is for the foreseeable future. It’s there for people to apply and it will remain the status it has been since it has been in existence.”

Mr Russell announced the next window for members to apply to begin the QTLS process would open from December.

He added it was likely teachers who transferred from IfL would need to remain as fully-paid up members of the ETF to keep their QTLS.

The ETF declined to comment on the potential job losses among IfL staff.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has felt the full force of college student service leaders’ frustration over her department’s handling of FE free meals top-up rules.

Polly Harrow, chair of the National Association for Managers of Student Services (NAMSS), has written a powerful email (copy of email below) to Ms Morgan outlining how a Department for Education (DfE) U-turn on the policy had proved “extremely costly and time-consuming” for colleges.

The DfE issued new guidelines on Monday (September 15) stating that the FE free meal figure of £2.41 per learner could be boosted from the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund and other sources — just a fortnight after telling colleges they couldn’t.

“I can tell you there is widespread frustration with the Department for Education’s U-turn over FE free meals funding,” wrote Ms Harrow, whose correspondence was seen by FE Week.

She added: “All this planning and re-planning has been extremely costly and time-consuming to colleges from an administrative perspective. It is also extremely frustrating.”

A DfE spokesperson, who confirmed “there has been a change in the policy,” said it would now be possible, for example, for a learner in receipt of the FE free meal £2.41 to be given a further 59p from other sources, including the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund, to have a meal to the value of £3.

The change in policy, he said, had been “decided to give them [providers] more freedom to their budgets for what they want to use them for”.

It means colleges that had originally been planning to top up the FE free meals handout before the Education Funding Agency told them they couldn’t, are reconsidering.

Among those told FE free meal top-ups were not allowed, before being told they were allowed, was Kingston College. Its principal, Peter Mayhew-Smith, told FE Week: “The recent change to the guidance on free meals has caused us some challenges as we now have to change the communication we’ve shared with our students again. We will do this and make sure we give our students the very best support and financial assistance we can offer.”

New College Durham confirmed it would top-up free meal funding to £2.50 and a Middlesbrough College spokesperson said: “Staff are now exploring funding sources for topping up”.

However, Ms Harrow told Ms Morgan that further clarification was needed on this point to determine how much topping up was acceptable.

She wrote: “We have been told we will have to ‘consider the value for money and reasonableness of such an enhancement to the £2.41 rate and must be able to justify this’.

“But are we supposed to know what a reasonable cost is before we think about justifying it?”

A DfE spokesperson declined to comment on criticism of its handling of FE free meals top-up rules, but said: “All colleges are free to use up to 5 per cent of their bursary to cover the admin costs of verifying students’ eligibility for free meals.”

 

A council in Bedfordshire will use the ill-gotten gains of a junk mail fraudster to bring back its apprenticeship programme.

Bedford Borough Council has announced it will partner with Bedford College to use £450,000 of the money confiscated from Hendrick Meniru (pictured) to employ 15 apprentices.

The 49-year-old was found guilty by Luton Crown Court jurors in April last year of two charges of unfair trading, two charges of fraud and one of failing to comply with money laundering regulations after an investigation by the local authority. He was sentenced to three years behind bars.

The probe was launched after the council uncovered details of his involvement in a junk mail scam, which involved conning members of the public, usually the elderly or vulnerable, out of money through a number of bogus claims and promises.

And at a proceeds of crime hearing this month, Meniru was ordered to pay back £3m along with £200,000 in costs — £762,500 of which was received by the council.

The council has announced that £450,000 will fund the apprenticeships, with the remaining £312,500 going back into the council’s budget for fighting fraud.

Dave Hodgson, Bedford council’s directly-elected mayor, said: “We want to ensure that something positive can come out of this appalling, callous crime.

“This funding will be put to good use and shared between two vital purposes — providing training and employment opportunities, and the prevention of, and enforcement against, such crimes in the future.”

A council spokesperson said it had not employed apprentices for “several years,” adding: “The council has put forward plans to allocate £450,000 to fund 15 apprenticeship places annually over the next three years.

“The places will be working within the council which will partner with Bedford College as its training provider.

“These apprenticeship places are available to all but will be especially promoted to groups which might particularly benefit from the scheme such as ex-servicemen and looked after children.”

Ian Pryce, principal of Bedford College, said: “We are happy to be the council’s first choice for the training of its apprentices.

“We support young people into employment in a wide range of ways, including via apprenticeships for a wide range of organisations.”

The Association of Colleges (AoC) is to proceed with its pay deal despite plans by the University and College Union (UCU) to strike over the offer.

According to the AoC, the other five of the six unions involved in the national joint forum (NJF) on colleges’ pay – AMiE, the ATL, GMB, UNISON and Unite the Union – have agreed to the offer.

But the deal, which includes the removal of the lowest pay grade, a 2 per cent rise to £7.65-an-hour for staff on the lowest remaining grade and a 1 per cent rise for all other grades, has failed to satisfy the UCU. It was holding out for a 3 per cent rise and is expected to proceed with industrial action on October 14.

An AoC spokesperson said: “Decisions of the NJF are made on the basis of agreement between the AoC and the majority of the signatory unions, therefore I am pleased to confirm the final recommendation of the NJF for 2014/15 has been agreed.”

See edition 111 of FE Week, dated Monday, September 22, for more.