Scandalous apprenticeship provider owner hit with 6-year director’s ban

The owner of a defunct training provider at the centre of an apprenticeship scandal has been slapped with a six-year director’s ban by the government’s Insolvency Service.

Andrew Merritt is now barred from running a company until August 15, 2029, following a three-year investigation into his conduct at SCL Security Ltd.

His wife, Kym Rowe, was also a director of the firm and has herself been handed a four-year disqualification.

SCL Security Ltd was a training provider that subcontracted from various colleges to deliver apprenticeship training. The company went insolvent in October 2020 after an Education and Skills Funding Agency audit – prompted by several FE Week investigations – found illegal claims for public funding.

The agency found, for example, that apprenticeship money was being used to pay the wages for 16-to-18-year-olds, which is strictly against funding rules.

Multiple colleges, namely Brooklands College which was left on the brink of collapse owing to the scandal, are attempting to reclaim over £20 million of funding from the insolvent business to repay the government otherwise face having to fork out the costs themselves.

Merritt declared bankruptcy in 2021. Liquidators have been working on ways to repay creditors, including by selling his assets such as his £2.2 million matrimonial property, according to a recently published statement of affairs.

Merritt had taken out an £8 million directors’ loan when the business closed, and still owes £6.5 million of the loan.

Insolvency Service documents about Merritt’s ban, seen by FE Week, states that SCL Security submitted inaccurate corporation tax returns from 2010 to 2018 and still owes around £2 million to HMRC.

The documents added that Merritt failed to properly account for his outstanding director’s loan, which has resulted in a charge of over £1 million on top of the loan itself.

The joint liquidators, Phil Deyes and Anthony Milnes from Leonard Curtis Business Rescue and Recovery, said in their report that claims to SCL Security during the liquidation to date total £2.5 million from HMRC, £25.6 million from colleges and the ESFA, £77,000 from trade creditors, and £4,500 from an employee.

The liquidators’ latest statement of affairs explained that following receipt of the funds from the bankruptcy estate of Merritt, they intend to “make a distribution to unsecured creditors”.

“The quantum and timing of the dividend is dependent on further realisations from the bankruptcy estate and the costs of the liquidation being agreed,” the report added.

And while the claims received from ESFA and the colleges have been reviewed they have “not been formally agreed at this stage”.

Due to their “complex nature” the joint liquidators will refer to the work carried out by Andrew Jackson solicitors, and “may well seek further guidance on the claims”.

Merritt and Rowe were approached for comment.

College’s future secured as £45m redevelopment gets green light

A college fighting for survival has been given the go-ahead by its local council for a major redevelopment needed to repay a £23 million government clawback.

Brooklands College’s plan to refurbish its facilities and redevelop some of its land into homes was handed conditional approval by Elmbridge Borough Council in December, according to its newly published 2023 accounts.

The college told FE Week the approval puts it in a “strong position for the future” after it was embroiled in an apprenticeship subcontracting scandal in 2019 that left it with a £25 million debt owed to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

The development will deliver a new three-storey college building and sports hall and will convert two buildings into over 300 homes – some of which will be earmarked for affordable housing, as well as providing new green space.

Redevelopment of the Weybridge campus cannot start until the college can guarantee 13 conditions imposed by the council, including the retention of all trees and hedgerows on the 27-hectare site, and a detailed application for a car park for a suitable alternative natural green (SANG) space.

A Brooklands College spokesperson said: “This decision marks a significantly positive moment in the history of Brooklands College and puts us in a strong position for the future.

“Once the final details are agreed the substantial refurbishment of the college will provide a first-class learning environment and experience for our students as well as enabling us to deliver outstanding facilities in our areas of specialism. 

“The refurbished and rebuilt college will also provide a great working environment for staff and those within our connected communities.”

The college has been entangled in negotiations with the ESFA over a clawback dispute when officials in 2018 discovered its subcontractor SCL Security Ltd was using apprenticeship funding illegally.

In March last year, the college signed a repayment agreement with the ESFA as a long-term creditor, discounted to £23.1 million.

The new accounts said £5 million has been scheduled for repayment over 25 years with an interest charged at 2.4 per cent per year, while the remainder “will not be called in for two years unless the development of the estate enables this to be repaid sooner”.

‘Almost like blackmail’ to approve

The struggling college’s principal Christine Ricketts admitted to the council at a planning meeting on December 5 that the college would close if the debt was not repaid, as the £45 million development would generate funds to pay back the ESFA.

“If the debt isn’t paid, the college will be financially insolvent,” she told councillors. “Personally, I have no doubt that this will result in Elmbridge losing the college.”

The college has just over 2,000 learners and brought in just £13 million in income for the year ended July 31, 2023, a nudge up from the £11.8 million revenue in 2022.

“A new leadership team has been working with the DfE to develop proposals to repay the debt and deliver a long-term vision that will secure our future. It is vital that a decision be made tonight,” Ricketts said at the meeting.

But councillors argued that they should not be “blackmailed” into greenlighting the project, just because it owes money and the college could close.

“It’s almost like blackmail for this planning committee, isn’t it? If we don’t approve it, it’s going to close, and nobody wants to see the college close,” said councillor Ashley Tilling.

The council did not vote unanimously to conditionally approve the application. Eleven voted in favour and four councillors opposed.

An Elmbridge Borough Council spokesperson told FE Week: “The recommendation to grant is subject to the receipt of a legal agreement to secure planning obligations as set out in the report. Therefore, the planning permission will be issued once the legal agreement is agreed.

“The applicant will need to provide more documents and details to satisfy the planning conditions. Development would need to commence within three years of the date of the permission.”

The development’s residential developer Cala Homes was approached for comment.

Apprenticeships: No one’s ‘stealing our lunch’ but it’s no easy ride 

In 2015, prior to levy funding, then-skills minister Nick Boles came to the Association of Colleges conference to urge the sector to recruit more apprentices and stop ITPs from ‘stealing our lunch’.

Nine years on, his call to action has had little impact. College delivery is stubbornly stuck at under 20 per cent of national delivery. For many colleges, in fact, the appetite to expand the apprenticeship market has declined since the introduction of the levy. Funding rates, rising levels of bureaucracy, EPA and increased risks surrounding inspections and audit all contribute, making the delivery of apprenticeships undesirable for both colleges and the many SMEs that colleges work with.

However, with that back-drop there is one place that seems out of step: Wigan. I arrived at Wigan and Leigh College in 2021 with a rich experience of apprenticeship delivery. I asked about the sales team but was puzzled when the response was one of bemusement. I was told that I wasn’t to worry, sales wasn’t a problem. It was clear there’d be no pounding of pavements or intense marketing; Instead, I had employer engagement officers who were curriculum experts. I was doubtful. I wondered whether, like Dorothy, I was a long way from home.  

Three years later, I can safely say that I now get it. While nationally there has been a 3.5 per cent drop in all starts over the past three years, we have had an increase. 87 per cent of our cohort is level 2 and 3, compared with 66 per cent nationally. 55 per cent are 16 to 18, compared to 23 per cent nationally. In fact, our 16-to-18 cohort has grown significantly: a 56 per cent in-learning increase since 2020/21.

Where we do fall into step with the national picture is with our 19 per cent growth in starts on higher and degree apprenticeships between 21/22 and 22/23. National data from 22/23 shows that our borough punched well above its weight delivering the second highest number of starts in the North West of England. Our apprenticeship income has gone from £4.8 million in 2020/21 to a predicted £7.4 million in 2023/24.

It is far from easy – and it is getting harder

Our commitment to the delivery of apprenticeships is driven solely by meeting the needs of our borough. Wigan needs the social mobility opportunities that levels 2 and 3 apprenticeships offer. And if our employers are going to contribute to economic prosperity, they need the essential higher-level skills that higher and degree apprenticeships offer.

However, we believe our curriculum offer should focus on sector priorities and not try to be all things to all people. High volumes of leadership and management candidates from large corporates are not our thing; we choose to do it the hard way! 72 per cent of our offer is in engineering and construction, rising to 74 per cent of our higher and degree apprenticeship activity. We have specialisms in electrical and power as well as manufacturing, and despite the work with larger employers such as Sellafield, Electricity North West, Scottish Power and several large food manufacturers, the vast majority of our employers are small- and micro-sized, each requiring the same level of care and service.

We received a ‘good’ for apprenticeships when Ofsted came last year and a coveted ‘strong’ for skills. Our apprenticeship achievement is well above national average rates. But it is far from easy and is getting harder. We don’t persevere because a minister has asked us to, and we get frustrated when rises in higher and degree apprenticeships are celebrated without addressing the fall in 16-to-18 and level 2 and 3 participation rates. We think activity should be in response to local need, and levy funds are too precious to not be wisely spent.

No one is going to steal our lunch, because in the current climate we’re not sure anyone actually wants to. But at the heart of our offer is a skills programme that is in high demand by the employers, young people and adults in our borough. In the end, it is support for that in every community that will fully deliver the opportunities apprenticeships can offer.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 447

Angela Joyce

Chief Executive Officer, Capital City College Group

Start date: January 2024

Previous Job: Chief Executive Officer, WCG

Interesting fact: Angela has represented the country as an athlete and raced in the London Marathon from the elite start. She now competes regularly in one-day eventing with her horses

Scott Forbes

Deputy Chief Executive, Skills and Education Group

Start date: January 2024

Previous Job: Chief Operating Officer, Skills and Education Group

Interesting fact: As a youth delegate at the London G20 summit in 2009, Scott found himself sandwiched between Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown at a dinner at No 10 Downing Street

Shane Mann

Chief Executive, EducationScape (publisher of FE Week)

Start date: January 2024

Previous Job: Managing Director, LSECT

Interesting fact: Shane’s first job was president of City College Norwich Students’ Union where he was mentored by now AoC president, Corrienne Peasgood and former principal Dick Palmer

What ATS taught me about quality professional development

The ‘big moment’ in my own education was starting my apprenticeship and attending college. My tutors were personable, I’d chosen a subject I was interested in, and I realised that learning could be fun. That was a big change after school, which hadn’t motivated me.

Learning painting and decorating was a turning point. I’d been trained to do something and was good at it. It led to a job with the local authority. With their sponsorship, I progressed to a BTEC and then HNC in building studies. I won an award for tendering and estimating, which impressed the director of works sufficiently that he offered me a job.

Later, I got the opportunity to teach a half day each week at the college where I’d trained. I’d always wanted to do that, to share my experience. A year later, I applied successfully for a full-time vacancy. I was one of the youngest lecturers and they knew – as did I – that they were taking a gamble.

That might have set me on a lifelong career in FE, but after a few years I stepped away, becoming a youth worker. I’d done part-time youth work since my teenage years and that opportunity got something out of my system and readied me to return to FE. My family’s willingness to move around the country allowed me to work in different places and I moved from teaching craft into teaching BTEC and then HNCs.

I’d been away from construction environments and realised I needed to work on developing my industry knowledge and skills. Doing so gave me the confidence to return to the classroom and deliver up-to-date content. But it wasn’t until a professional learning opportunity of a different kind that I learned the true value of nurturing both sides of my dual professionalism – for me, my students and my colleagues.

Offered the opportunity to undertake Advanced Teacher Status (ATS), I leapt at the chance. Action research – based on practical working rather than purely theory – appealed to me. I focused on student-centered and project-based learning.

Our personalised CPD builds on the principles of action research

I started with a pilot with level 2 maintenance operative learners with a brief to design an educational game to make something easier to learn. I learned lots about the motivational effect of responsibility and saw passive learners become active, leading ones.

The second project was sustainability focused, with student businesses producing and selling kindling from waste timber from the carpentry department. Seeing learners connect work to results and effort to tangible income was exciting and motivating, and adjusting my delivery to ‘allow’ learners to learn by doing was challenging for my own development.

The much larger scale third project saw students acting as the contractor for the refurbishment of a dementia support day centre. Student feedback was excellent, highlighting the opportunity to put the skills they had learned into practice, the satisfaction of repairing an old building, and the opportunity to develop real-world skills.

At the beginning, direct instructional delivery worked well for many learners, but didn’t suit them all. That was an interesting thing to realise, and doing so through action research was transformative. I’d developed more in a single year of ATS than in the previous four.

I’d achieved a kind of unconscious competence, but almost wasn’t challenging myself to improve. At the start of my career in the sector I was happy to survive the first year – and with hindsight it’s easy to see how important that first whole-year cycle is to understanding the journey staff and learners are on – but that changes with experience.

Realising the benefits of ATS not just for me but also for my colleagues has changed the way I seek to support them. We’ve developed our own personalised CPD which, instead of being compliance based, builds on the principles of action research and gives colleagues the opportunity to undertake small-scale, personalised projects themselves.

That’s a revelation with the potential to ensure that we are offering the highest quality delivery to all the learners we have the privilege of serving, including those who – like me many years ago – found their calling thanks to our sector.

Traditional providers don’t hold all the solutions to our failing social mobility

The latest report from the Sutton Trust, Social mobility – the next generation makes for depressing reading. It claims there has been a 12 per cent decline in social mobility for young people resulting from lost learning during the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

Other research echoes these findings. In its last annual report, the Education Policy Institute states that educational inequalities existed before the pandemic and that the last few years has seen the narrowing of the gap stall or even go into reverse.

The sad conclusion is that birth is still the best predictor of future success. This was not always the case. If you were a ‘baby boomer’ born in the 20 years after the end of the Second World War you had a fair chance of owning your own home by the age of 40 and could look forward to free university tuition. Now the picture is bleaker. If you have a bad start in life, then it’s tough luck.

Reversing the decline in social mobility is a big ask and the solutions are not just about better education. The cost-of-living crisis and escalating property prices are part of the problem. But the situation may not be as gloomy as some might imagine.

The 2022 State of the Nation report from the government’s Social Mobility Commission claims that the educational attainment gaps between pupils from higher and lower socio-economic backgrounds have narrowed, although this does not take into account the full effects of the pandemic.

Social mobility and its causes are much more nuanced and not a simple equation that can be measured by the number of people achieving entry to universities, says the report. The authors are pressing for a wider perspective, saying that education should cover routes such as further education and apprenticeships, as well as early years, schools and universities. They want to start a wider conversation to find solutions.

Distance learning providers need to be part of the debate

The further education sector must be part of that conversation. But we need to take an even broader view. As a provider of distance learning with a mission to break down the barriers that prevent social mobility, distance learning providers like the National Extension College need to be part of that debate.

Our core mission is to enable people to learn flexibly – at their own pace, in their own time and where they want to. When we were set up in 1963 by the social reformer and entrepreneur Michael Young, our main purpose was to provide second chances for people who had missed out on education during the Second World War.

Today, the majority of our students are aged 18 to 24, with an increasing number of under 18s. Many of our younger students need to gain additional qualifications in order pursue a particular career or enter higher education. Others want to learn a particular subject that their school or college doesn’t offer. Then there are those who have had interruptions to their formal education through illness and have to catch up by learning in their own time and place.

Society and the economy have changed vastly since we were set up. Then, opportunities to break through class barriers were greater, not least because of a thriving adult education sector. If Michael Young was alive today, he would undoubtedly be dismayed at the state od  social mobility in 2024.

But he would see opportunity too. Technological advances and more flexible working practices mean distance learning is more accessible than ever, and second chances to make a success of education could and should be plentiful. Rapid change and the need to upskill and reskill also mean that many more of us are likely to be ‘second-chance learners’ – further breaking down the stigmas around poor school results.

So our message to the next government (whichever party wins) is clear: To address the inequalities in our society, they must fully embrace second-chance learners and finally look beyond traditional education providers to extend the ladder of opportunity.

Social mobility rests on realising the vision of all-age careers provision

This year the government will publish its Action Plan for Careers for young people and adults – an all-age careers system. It is a plan that will need to reflect these complex times of fast and frequent technological and workplace change, and respond to wider skills challenges.

It will also need to ensure people have the support they need, not just to be ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow, but in developing the career management skills to navigate the world of work over their lifetime.

Sir John Holman’s nine strategic principles provide a roadmap for the future and highlight the opportunities to further integrate services into a unified system.

The next steps are about evolution, not revolution. As last year’s education select committee report on careers confirmed, there is consensus that the right framework is in place (led nationally and tailored locally), that positive progress in provision is improving outcomes, and on the importance of building on the strong and established evidence base of what works.  

As chair of the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) and an ambassador for the Skills and Education Group Foundation, I am committed to social justice and increased social mobility and I recognise the huge role modern careers support across all ages can play in that. The need for careers guidance doesn’t end at the age of 18.  

A single unified careers system, rich with skills, training and workplace experiences can catalyse social justice and ensure employers and individuals – young people and adults – can fulfil and raise their ambitions.

This will not be a one-size-fits-all but a multi-layered system, not least because the evidence shows the greatest impact on outcomes is when multiple ingredients are combined with each other over a sustained period and with continued focus on raising quality.

The next steps are about evolution, not revolution

It also needs to be a system that prioritises the need to connect the right people with the right opportunities for them. One that considers what that person would actually like to do and where their talent can flourish.

We need to recognise that a job provides more than financial income. It also provides self-respect, purpose and a place in the local community and wider society.

Public investment in recent years, in pre-18 careers education, offers a useful template for what integration could look like for an all-age system. In practice features include:

  • A coherent infrastructure – founded on national oversight toenableaccountability, consistency and quality, and supported by a strong regional network of Careers Hubs to ensure that vital partnerships between the education sector, employers, providers, local and mayoral authorities
  • Leadership, standards and data – informed by digital tools like employer standards which help business focus their work with schools and colleges and create the impact they are looking for
  • Employers at the centre – collaborating through careers hubs to shape local skills strategies to sector priorities and market need, helping to streamline transitions into and between jobs. Companies engaging with real purpose in the careers system report positive business benefits, boosting applications for apprenticeships and jobs and closing skills gaps.
  • Mobilising resources and targeted support – quality assurance of resources, support and providers will increase confidence and efficiencies across the careers system and among employers and help target and tailor individual support for each and every learner journey, drawing on the strength of frontline institutions such as colleges who are already providing a lot of careers support to young people and adults.     

With the Lifelong Learning Entitlement launching in 2025, we also need to ensure people know how to engage and maximise its benefits.

It is vital we support both young people and adults to make the most of their talents as they start on and progress through their employment journey. We must do everything we can to empower and enable them to make informed choices and take their best next step.

Nicky Morgan is a guest on episode 6 of the latest series of Let’s Go Further, the podcast from the Skills and Education Group.

Well-known college principal suddenly steps down

A college principal known for leading sector efforts to improve mental health and community action has suddenly left his role.

Stuart Rimmer, who had led East Coast College for nearly a decade, quit as chief executive on December 31. Neither Rimmer nor the college would publicly confirm the reason why.

Stuart Rimmer
Stuart Rimmer

FE Week understands college staff were informed the week before he left, but no public statement was made until Rimmer’s last day.

In a statement sent to college stakeholders on New Year’s Eve, chair of governors David Blake simply said: “I would like to share that Stuart Rimmer MBE, chief executive officer, is leaving East Coast College.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank Stuart for his commitment and contribution during his nine years with the College and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”

Rimmer told FE Week he was unable to comment but posted on LinkedIn on the day he left the college and said: “After nine years today is my last day at East Coast College. I wish every future success to all staff and students in the new year. Looking forward to the new challenges and chapters starting in 2024.”

The college’s deputy chief executive, Urmila Rasan, has been appointed as acting chief executive until the board appoints a permanent successor.

Rimmer joined what was then Great Yarmouth College as principal in 2014. The former Newcastle College business lecturer oversaw two mergers in the nearly ten years at the helm of what then became East Coast College.

Outside of the sector, Rimmer led the Association of Colleges’ mental health reference group and was a co-founder of the Good for Me Good for FE campaign. This month he launched a new business offering performance coaching and leadership training.

He was made an MBE for services to education and the community in Great Yarmouth in 2021.

On his watch, the college achieved a ‘good’ Ofsted rating in 2020 following four consecutive ‘requires improvement’ judgements since 2013.

The college’s latest published accounts show it incurred a deficit of £1.9 million in 2021-22, up from £1.1 million the year before, but held a ‘good’ financial health rating from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Councils to charge families for post-16 SEND transport to plug black holes

Cash-strapped councils are attempting to fill their financial black holes by charging families of disabled college learners for transport, an FE Week investigation has found.

At least six councils across England have begun consulting on the proposals over the past year, with some asking families to pay as much as £933 per year.

Campaigners and sector leaders hit out at the “unfair” plans and accused the councils of treating young people with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) as “scapegoats” for their budget-cutting measures.

They say the policy will create more barriers to education and will make “marginal” savings to councils’ growing budget deficits.

The Local Government Association has warned that almost one in five English local authorities could be forced to issue a section 114 notice this year, meaning they are unable to balance their budgets.

Middlesbrough, Somerset and Dudley councils warned this week they are heading for section 114 notices and would join the likes of Birmingham, Nottingham and Croydon councils who have recently declared they are unable to balance their budgets.

Post-16 SEND transport typically involves taxis or minibuses for learners who cannot travel by public transport on their own or with a guardian.

Councils can opt to fund post-16 SEND transport as they do not have a statutory obligation to provide free or subsidised travel to learners over school leaving age. They do however have a duty to arrange a transport policy for young people up to age 19 but are entitled to charge for the arrangements. They should also prioritise young people with SEND up to the age of 25.

Clare Howard, chief executive of the National Association of Specialist Colleges (NATSPEC), told FE Week that post-16 transport is the “easiest thing” for councils to cut because of the lack of statutory obligations.

Eleanor Wright, legal officer at SOS! Special Educational Needs, said it was “certainly true that LAs generally looking for savings are trying to limit school and college transport costs, especially in areas where it is discretionary”.

The latest guidance from the Department for Education from 2019, says local authorities can ask families to contribute to transport costs but ensure it is affordable and allow support for those on low incomes, such as the 16 to 19 bursary fund, administered by education providers.

Specifically, the DfE guidance said that transport policies should not adversely impact particular groups. 

“For example, as young people with special educational needs and disabilities are more likely to remain in education or training longer than their peers, any contribution sought from these families would need to allow for the fact they may have to contribute for longer,” it states.

The Kent conundrum

Kent County Council this week became the latest council to propose post-16 SEND transport cuts to help address a £54.2 million shortfall. According to KCC’s latest transport expenditure documents, it spent £2.3 million on post-16 SEND transport in 2020/21, a drop from the nearly £2.9 million spent in 2019/20.

But the council said the cost of providing SEND transport for over 16s has risen in recent years, and the number of learners requiring an education, health, and care plan (EHCP) in its area has soared by 80 per cent since 2018.

“The provision of transport for this group is inevitably more complex,” a Kent County Council (KCC) spokesperson said. 

“KCC remains one of the last councils to offer such a broad discretionary post-16 travel policy, over and above what is required by law. While we have worked hard to continue this position for many years, it cannot be maintained at the expense of fulfilling our statutory duties to all learners.”

In November, the council approved the introduction of a £500 fee per SEND learner per annum from 2024/25, discounted to £299 for low-income families. 

The £500 so-called financial contribution is the same as what families spend on a Kent 16+ Travel Saver transport pass. The council reaped almost £1.5 million from mainstream post-16 transport charges in 2020/21.

Hayley Harding, a SEND campaigner from Let us Learn Too, said: “It just seems like another way of almost scapegoating disabled kids’ families, rather than actually dealing with the problem. I think it’s going to be a blanket [charge] as well, so it’s not necessarily based on needs.”

Combined with a measure to reduce the offer of transport for post-19 students, the policy will save £781,000, according to Kent County Council’s revised draft budget outlined last week.

The policy will continue to make savings for the council from its transport budget into subsequent years: £541,000 in 2025/26 and £300,000 in 2026/27.

Marginal savings

The Oaks Specialist College in Kent criticised the measure as being at the expense of the education of young people with SEND.

Chief executive Gordon Tillman said: “We fully understand the financial pressures that all local authorities now face and are sympathetic to the situation that they have been placed in by central government. 

“However, making marginal savings to a multi-million-pound budget at an expense to young people with SEND and their families will not solve any of these financial issues and will only create more barriers to the much-needed continuing education and the ‘lifelong learning’ that this country and the economy needs.”

Elsewhere in the county, Rebecca O’Neill, chief executive of Brogdale CIC Group in Sittingbourne, said it is seeking to source its own minibus – a £20,000 to 25,000 cost – as a response to the policy change but hasn’t found one yet.

She added that asking parents to pay for transport could result in a drop in attendance.

“Asking families to pay for the transport with little to no lead in time and no ability for services to change, set up new provisions and with no funds available to do so is not fair or right,” she told FE Week. 

“Also, it may force the larger colleges to diversify their offer and push out of the market the smaller providers.”

The change has meant more stress and bureaucracy on parents with SEND children. Nicola, a Kent-based parent with a 19-year-old daughter at Ripplevale specialist college, said disability benefits do not cover everything families must spend.

“Everything feels like a constant battle, in all honesty,” she told FE Week. “Children with special needs already cost families more money than children without these needs.”

Slew of councils rolling back SEND help

Meanwhile, Havering Council in London is proposing to introduce a charge for post-16 transport assistance to address a £3 million deficit in its transport budget.

In 2023/24, it spent £467,960 on post-16 SEND transport.

The council’s preferred option, like some other councils, is to expand the use of the personal transport budget, which could pay towards the cost of booking a taxi, or a travel pass, or ride sharing. The budget currently amounts to £9 per day, with a maximum of four journeys per day.

Havering Council told FE Week that it will be taking results from a resident’s survey to a cabinet meeting this March.

Elsewhere, Shropshire Council is due to decide on its proposed removal of all discretionary home-to-school travel assistance.

In 2022/23, the council spent £543,281 to send 106 post-16 SEND students to specialist FE colleges. It asks for £933 in contributing for the transport a full year, and £299 for families on benefits, to the £5,223 average cost per year of providing the service.

Documents show that of this year’s 104 students, 65 are paying the higher rate of contribution and 39 students paying the lower rate.

At the time, Kirstie Hurst-Knight, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for children and education, said: “Nobody wants or likes to change or withdraw services or funding, but – as is well known – across the council we are having to make savings in the face of severe budget pressures.”

A Shropshire Council spokesperson said: “No decision has yet been made to the future of SEND school transport. We are currently undertaking engagement activities with our local SEND communities to work with us to develop ideas and possible solutions so that SEND transport supports those with the greatest needs and delivers better outcomes for children and young people with SEND and their families.”

Other councils include Brighton and Hove City Council who voted in November to charge £547 a year towards the cost of taxis and minibuses for SEND transport.

Around the same time, a Dorset councillor warned of a “perfect storm” from rising SEND transport spending. The council charged in 2022/23 a £825 contribution, plus a 50 per cent discount for those on benefits. 

Wokingham Borough Council followed suit, changing its policy to introduce the same charge as Dorset for the 2023/24 academic year.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The level of support provided for students using public transport is for local authorities to decide and the arrangements do not necessarily have to include free or subsidised travel. Many local authorities do offer some form of subsidised transport, and this combined with the 16-19 bursary is intended to provide financial support to those students from low-income households.”