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AoC advises colleges to match 6.5% school teacher pay rise

The Association of Colleges has advised colleges to “aim” to increase staff pay by 6.5 per cent to help close the “unacceptable” gap between FE and the school sector.

A pay award of 6.5 per cent, to apply to FE staff for the 2023/24 academic year, would match the pay rise accepted by school lteachers earlier this year following unprecedented strike action.

The college recommendation came after the latest round of negotiations between the AoC and the five unions making up the National Joint Forum (NJF), which is calling for a 15.4 per cent pay rise for college staff.

The AoC has until now refused to make a non-binding pay recommendation to its members until extra funding had been provided by ministers.

The representative body said today that colleges should use all of their cut of the £200 million government 16 to 19 funding boost announced in July to fund the staff pay boost and “address staff recruitment and retention challenges”.

Announcing the new funding, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, told MPs in the House of Commons that she “expects” this extra funding “to go to the front line”.

AoC chief executive David Hughes said: “We have long said that the gap between the school and FE sectors on teacher pay is unacceptable, and it is an enormous step forward that the government has finally accepted their responsibility as funders to put that right.”

The association did acknowledge the “difficult position” colleges with smaller 16 to 19 cohorts face and will likely not be able to afford such a pay recommendation.

That’s because the extra funding, £185 million in 2023/24 and £285 million in 2024/25, is being allocated to colleges through increased programme cost weightings and the per-student funding rate for 16- to 19-year-olds.

Colleges with larger adult or apprenticeship cohorts will therefore struggle to meet the AoC’s recommended 6.5 per cent pay award.

“It [6.5 per cent] will be exceptionally hard for those colleges with small or no 16 to 18s,” said Mark Malcolmson, principal of City Lit, a large adult education college.

“It would have been much fairer if the whole college sector was treated equally.”

College leaders that spoke to FE Week, but wished to be unnamed, said that while there was widespread agreement that the 16 to 18 allocation process was unfair, several would be able to fund a pay award of around 6.5 per cent.

Others were worried about losing staff to nearby colleges that received an big increase to their 16 to 19 allocation and were concerned about the medium to long-term impact on their budgets.

Gerry McDonald, chief executive of New City College and chair of the AoC’s employment policy group, said he would like to see as many colleges as possible making the 6.5 per cent pay award.

“College leaders do not want pay in colleges to slip even further behind schools and industry roles,” he said.

“However, it is absolutely clear that a number of colleges will not be able to achieve 6.5 per cent because the new funding is simply and transparently insufficient.

Collective effort can bring college pay back where it needs to be

“By using the 16 to 18 budget to distribute funds and linking it to high-cost subjects, the additional funding available for college pay as a proportion of overall college turnover varies enormously between colleges. This would make a simple single pay award recommendation difficult to achieve for a large number of colleges.”

Hughes called on the unions to halt striking.

“My hope is that this funding will be only the first step towards closing the gap over the coming years, but I know that we will need to campaign hard to achieve that,” he said. “That’s why we are asking the unions to campaign with us nationally, rather than taking action locally. We have shown this works.”

Earlier in May, the Association of Colleges doubled down on its refusal to make a pay proposal for next year, as doing so will “let the government off the hook” for funding colleges properly to pay its staff.

Unions are understood to be pressing the AoC to agree to a national pay bargaining framework for the sector and call an end to the annual process of non-binding pay recommendations, which colleges can choose to accept or ignore.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Our analysis shows the money is there for college bosses to raise pay and treat staff fairly.

“The money has now arrived to pay our members fairly and a conditional recommendation of 6.5 per cent has been made.”

Last year, the AoC made a 2.25 per cent pay award recommendation, below the 10 per cent demand from unions. It was subsequently rejected.

UCU is currently balloting union members in 89 colleges to vote for industrial action, which will close on Tuesday 10 October 2023.

Mark’s out the AELP Dawe: Former CEO quits board

Former Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Mark Dawe has resigned as a board member of the membership body.

Dawe, who leads The Skills Network, was re-elected to the AELP board in February but has decided to leave after serving just seven months of his new four-year term.

Over the past two decades, he’s served as a director of the organisation for 12 years. He held the top job at the association from 2016 to 2020.

Dawe said he’s leaving the board as it is a “new phase for AELP with the recruitment of a new chief executive and other changes”.

It comes three months after Jane Hickie stood down as AELP chief executive amid a suspension pending an investigation into her tenure. Hickie was chief operating officer of AELP while Dawe was chief executive and replaced him in the role after he left to lead The Skills Network.

Dawe said: “After eight years as chief executive of AELP and board member, and involvement with the organisation for the past 20 years, I have decided it is time to step down from the AELP board.

“It is a new phase for AELP with the recruitment of a new CEO and other changes, along with a general election looming and new policy to consider. It is therefore an appropriate time to step aside.”

He added that The Skills Network will continue to be an active member of AELP.

An AELP spokesperson said: “AELP and the board want to extend their gratitude for Mark Dawe’s service and dedication over the past eight years, which have played a major role in shaping AELP’s success and growth.

“As an ongoing member of AELP, we look forward to Mark’s future contributions in supporting the sector and AELP.”

The election process for Dawe’s replacement will start in the later part of 2023, with the annual general meeting taking place in the new year, the spokesperson added.

AELP’s board has 13 members, including chair Nichola Hay and vice chair Rob Foultson.

Before joining the AELP, Dawe was the chief executive of exam board OCR for five years.

He had a stint as a college principal before this at Oaklands College and is a former deputy director for FE and adult basic skills strategy at the Department of Education after joining the civil service in 2003.

Careers: Colleges will be ‘expected’ to report Gatsby progress

Schools and colleges will be expected to report their progress against national careers advice benchmarks at least once a year, under plans to beef up statutory guidance.

The Department for Education has also announced plans for a new “strategic action plan for careers”, a single “digital front door” for young people to access guidance online and to eventually create an “all-age careers system, unified under a single strategic framework”.

But ministers have rejected calls for direct funding of careers advisers and extra “numerical targets” for the number of schools and colleges meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks of good careers guidance.

The Parliamentary education committee has published the government’s response to its report into careers advice and guidance in England. Chair Robin Walker welcomed ministers’ “broadly positive response”.

Secondary schools and colleges are currently encouraged to self-report their progress against careers education benchmarks through an online tool called “Compass”.

The committee’s report, published in June, recommended that the DfE “update its statutory guidance to make reporting through the Compass tool compulsory for all secondary schools and colleges”.

At present, 90 per cent of schools and colleges use the Compass evaluation, and 3,172 use “Compass+”, which enables tracking of Gatsby Benchmark achievement “at an individual pupil level”.

The DfE said in its response it wanted to “avoid mandating the use of Compass as a reporting tool”.

But it said it would update statutory careers guidance to “set a clear expectation that all secondary schools and colleges should self-report progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks at least once during every academic year”.

DfE wants ‘unified’ all-age careers system

The committee’s report criticised a “confusing, fragmented and unclear” careers system. Schools and colleges are responsible for providing advice and guidance, overseen by the Careers and Enterprise Company.

Some responsibility also sits with the National Careers Service, and with the Department for Work and pensions and its agencies.

The DfE said it agreed there needed to be “greater coherence between publicly funded careers services, across all ages”.

Its ambition is to “develop an all-age careers system, unified under a single strategic framework, that helps to address the fragmentation in careers services identified by the committee”.

But they “do not have firm views yet on what this will look like but we want to start exploring the issue further”. Stakeholder and “early market engagement” will begin this autumn.

The first step will be a “single starting point for careers and skills”, launching this autumn.

This “digital front door” will help young people and others find the “trusted impartial careers and skills information that they need”.

User testing of the prototype “has revealed that young people found it useful and would return to it in future”.

National Careers Service website gets a refresh

The government has also launched a “new and inspiring look and feel to the National Careers Service website” to make it more accessible to young people. The new “front door” will be built on this.

“Our goal is to build digital and inperson services which form a unified careers system which best enables citizens to explore and develop their careers, skills and training options at any point in their lives.”

The committee also called for a refreshed careers strategy, which was last updated in 2017. Instead, the DfE said it would publish a “strategic action plan for careers” in 2024. It will set out “strong objectives to continue to increase the number of schools achieving the Gatsby Benchmarks in full”.

But setting additional numerical targets for benchmark achievement “risks encouraging a tick-box approach”, ministers said.

The DfE also rejected a recommendation that it update statutory guidance to “suggest an appropriate proportion of time” that careers leaders should be given to fulfil their role, and a call for schools to report how much time they give to their leaders.

They said there was a “risk that by quantifying an appropriate proportion of time we are creating additional pressure on resources and taking the focus away from other school or college priorities”.

Ministers reject direct funding of advisers

The department also “does not agree” with the committee’s suggestion that it directly-fund school and college careers advisers. It said schools and colleges were “best-placed to determine their own arrangements”.

The committee’s report criticised an administrative “burden” preventing access to work experience.

The DfE said it would “look at what more we can do to address barriers to organising work experience”.

Ministers also agreed with the committee that there was “potential for an online platform that promotes a range of work experience placements both locally and across the country. But again, this is a “longer-term aspiration”.

Beefed-up legislation requiring schools to give alternative education providers access to their pupils came into force earlier this year. The committee said the DfE should “directly track compliance” and ensure “appropriate action” against those failing to comply.

The DfE said schools could already record compliance through the Compass tool, and that the CEC had a “single place for providers to register a concern if they have reason to believe that a school is not complying”.

However, although there have been “lots of requests for clarification and support, there have not been any concerns registered by providers to date through the CEC’s website”.

Retail apprenticeships provider ‘disappointed’ after Ofsted grade 4

An apprenticeship provider that delivers training to high-street retailers such as Peacocks and Dunelm has been hit with an ‘inadequate’ rating following its first full Ofsted inspection.

Northern Training Academy (NTA), based in Bolton, was given a grade four after inspectors found “poor” quality of training being delivered to most apprentices and learners.

The company was inspected in mid-May and had 375 apprentices and 14 adult trainees. It delivers 25 different apprenticeship standards from levels 2 to 6, mostly in retail but also in travel and warehousing.

While leaders and managers were praised for having a “clear rationale” to provide training that meets the post-pandemic skills shortages of local and national employers, inspectors found big concerns with oversight of the training.

Today’s report said too many apprentices are either “behind in their learning or have not achieved their apprenticeships on time”, adding that around a third are “significantly behind in their progress towards achieving their functional skills English and mathematics”.

Leaders were also unaware that apprentices on the level 6 assistant buyer and merchandiser apprenticeship were still in-learning during the inspection.

Ofsted also slammed the quality of NTA’s retail traineeship curriculum. Inspectors found that leaders have halved the time taken to teach trainees since its early monitoring visit in 2021.

The government scrapped traineeships as a stand-alone skills training programme earlier this year amid years of low starts, despite pumping hundreds of millions of pounds into the scheme during the pandemic. Traineeships can still be offered, but they’ve been integrated into adult education budget delivery.

Ofsted said NTA’s traineeship curriculum is “unambitious and does not meet the needs of the trainees”, adding that the retail traineeship does not include any retail-specific topics to help trainees to improve their knowledge of the sector.

Inspectors did however praise NTA’s provision for apprentices on the level 3 travel consultant apprenticeship, who receive an “ambitious curriculum that prepares them well for working in the travel industry”.

Jo Roche, managing director of NTA, said: “While we are disappointed with our grading, we are pleased that the Ofsted report recognises the positive impact of our travel apprenticeship provision.”

She added: “We take pride in our learners and their progress, especially amidst the ongoing challenges in the retail sector following the Covid-19 pandemic. We are committed to addressing these areas and have already taken steps to improve the training and support provided to our learning and development coaches.”

Independent training providers typically have their funding contracts terminated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency following ‘inadequate’ Ofsted judgments.

A spokesperson for NTA told FE Week the ESFA has not been in touch about contract termination “at this point in time”.

RAAC: DfE lists 3 more affected colleges

Crumbly RAAC concrete has forced three more colleges to close parts of their sites, according to the Department of Education.

An updated list of affected schools and colleges was published by the DfE this morning. It shows the number of education settings with RAAC has increased to 174, up by 27 since the list was first published two weeks ago. The new snapshot figures list settings that have confirmed RAAC as of September 14.

Farnborough College of Technology, Grantham College and Marple Sixth Form College – part of The Trafford College Group – have joined Petroc as the only further education colleges that have identified reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) so far.

One specialist post-16 college, Royal College Manchester (Seashell Trust) is also listed.

But all the colleges have their students in face-to-face education, according to the DfE’s list.

Only one affected school has switched to fully using remote learning.

DfE caused ‘significant hinderance’

Farnborough College criticised the DfE’s indecision for causing a “significant hindrance” after identifying RAAC months before DfE began ordering closures.

At first, the college surveyed its buildings which revealed RAAC, but, following the DfE’s standards, found the concrete planks were “generally in good condition” and did not have any cracking, back in July. The surveyors recommended it worked to improve the planks though some parts of the RAAC were “sub-standard”.

In early August the DfE said a technical advisor would visit the college within six weeks to verify the advice. However, on 31 August, just days before the start of term, it received an “urgent request for a meeting” when it was told all colleges with RAAC should close immediately.

Farnborough College told FE Week that it was forced to close 177,000 square feet of its space after the DfE sounded the alarm in August. “A small number” of its adult learners could not come in in the first week due to the RAAC problems, though they have now returned to college. The college has around 3,600 students on its books.

The college also had to re-sequence some courses so that they could continue to offer studies without specialist equipment currently stuck in the building where RAAC has been identified.

It is currently focusing on the theoretical side of the courses, before moving to the technical side once the buildings have been remediated.

The college expects to open seven of the fourteen blocks affected by the end of September, FE Week understands.

Farnborough College expects to spend £800,000 remediating the site, but that should be funded by the DfE. But it expects the full RAAC replacement project to cost “millions of pounds”. The DfE has also indicated that it will fund mitigating costs too.

‘Difficult decision’

Grantham College, which has around 1,200 learners in total, has also been forced to close parts of its campus after a DfE-commissioned survey found RAAC on four buildings in total. That forced a “difficult decision” to close those buildings, the college said on its website.

It has closed the entire Link Block, part of its engineering block, part of the construction workshop and part of its library block.

But the college said it had “adjusted timetables so that face-to-face teaching can continue”. Paul Deane, the college’s principal, said he appreciated the timing of the decision is “far from ideal”.

Trafford College Group, which serves more than 12,000 students across four colleges, has closed part of its Marple Sixth Form College campus including six classrooms. A spokesperson for the college said it had “restrict[ed] access to the affected area while we complete further surveys and if necessary, remedial works”.

“The classrooms affected will not be in use until we are reassured that they are fit for purpose and have passed all necessary health and safety checks,” they added.

The area is isolated on one side of the campus and there have been “no delays” to anyone starting term on time, as there is extra capacity. But it is “too early” to say when the RAAC will be removed from the site.

RAAC surveys are continuing across the country but surveyor shortages have delayed the vital checks in some education settings, including England’s biggest college group, NCG.

The DfE’s full RAAC list

Setting Name	LA Area	Setting Mitigation (14/09/2023)
Abbey Lane Primary School	Sheffield	All pupils in face-to-face education
All Saints C of E Primary School	Manchester	All pupils in face-to-face education
Altrincham College	Trafford	All pupils in face-to-face education
Anglo European School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Ark Boulton Academy	Birmingham	All pupils in face-to-face education
Ark John Keats Academy	Enfield	All pupils in face-to-face education
Arthur Bugler Primary School	Thurrock	All pupils in face-to-face education
Aston Manor Academy	Birmingham	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Avenue Centre for Education	Luton	All pupils in face-to-face education
Baildon Church of England Primary School	Bradford	All pupils in face-to-face education
Barnes Farm Junior School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Baskerville School	Birmingham	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Batley Girls High School	Kirklees	All pupils in face-to-face education
Baynards Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Beehive Lane Community Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Bentfield Primary School and Nursery	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Birchington Church of England Primary School	Kent	All pupils in face-to-face education
Bishop Douglass School Finchley	Barnet	All pupils in face-to-face education
Bispham Endowed Church of England Primary School	Blackpool	All pupils in face-to-face education
Brandhall Primary School	Sandwell	RAAC not present
Broomfield Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Buckhurst Hill Community Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Buttsbury Junior School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Canon Slade School	Bolton	All pupils in face-to-face education
Carmel College	Darlington	All pupils in face-to-face education
Cherry Tree Academy	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Chipping Ongar Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Clacton County High School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Claydon High School	Suffolk	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Cleeve Park School	Bexley	All pupils in face-to-face education
Cockermouth School	Cumberland	All pupils in face-to-face education
Colyton Grammar School	Devon	All pupils in face-to-face education
Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School	Lambeth	All pupils in face-to-face education
Cranbourne	Hampshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Danetree Primary School	Surrey	All pupils in face-to-face education
Denbigh School	Milton Keynes	All pupils in face-to-face education
Donnington Wood Infant School and Nursery Centre	Telford and Wrekin	All pupils in face-to-face education
East Bergholt High School	Suffolk	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
East Tilbury Primary School	Thurrock	All pupils in face-to-face education
Eldwick Primary School	Bradford	All pupils in face-to-face education
Elmstead Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Eversley Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Farlingaye High School	Suffolk	All pupils in face-to-face education
Farnborough College of Technology	Hampshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Ferryhill School	County Durham	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Godinton Primary School	Kent	All pupils in face-to-face education
Grantham College	Lincolnshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Great Leighs Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Great Tey Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Hadleigh High School	Suffolk	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Harlowbury Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Harwich and Dovercourt High School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Hatfield Heath Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Hatfield Peverel St Andrew’s Junior School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Henham and Ugley Primary and Nursery School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Hillhouse CofE Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Hockley Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Holcombe Grammar School	Medway	All pupils in face-to-face education
Holy Trinity Catholic Voluntary Academy	Nottinghamshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, Eight Ash Green and Aldham	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Hornsey School for Girls	Haringey	All pupils in face-to-face education
Hounsdown School	Hampshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Jerounds Primary Academy	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Katherine Semar Infant School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Katherine Semar Junior School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Katherines Primary Academy and Nursery	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
King Ethelbert School	Kent	All pupils in face-to-face education
Kingsbury High School	Brent	All pupils in face-to-face education
Kingsdown School	Southend-on-Sea	All pupils in face-to-face education
Lambourne Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Langney Primary Academy	East Sussex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Lubbins Park Primary Academy	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Markyate Village School and Nursery	Hertfordshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Marling School	Gloucestershire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Maryvale Catholic Primary School	Birmingham	All pupils in face-to-face education
Mayflower Primary School	Leicester	All pupils in face-to-face education
Merrylands Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Mersea Island School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Mistley Norman Church of England Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Mulberry Stepney Green Mathematics and Computing College	Tower Hamlets	All pupils in face-to-face education
Myatt Garden Primary School	Lewisham	All pupils in face-to-face education
Myton School	Warwickshire	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Northampton International Academy	West Northamptonshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Ortu Corringham Primary School and Nursery	Thurrock	All pupils in face-to-face education
Our Lady’s Catholic High School	Lancashire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Outwoods Primary School	Warwickshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Palmarsh Primary School	Kent	All pupils in face-to-face education
Park View School	Haringey	All pupils in face-to-face education
Parks Primary School	Leicester	All pupils in face-to-face education
Petroc	Devon	All pupils in face-to-face education
Pippins School	Slough	All pupils in face-to-face education
Prince Albert Junior and Infant School	Birmingham	All pupils in face-to-face education
Ravens Academy	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Redhill School	Dudley	All pupils in face-to-face education
Roding Valley High School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Royal College Manchester (Seashell Trust)	Stockport	All pupils in face-to-face education
Sale Grammar School	Trafford	All pupils in face-to-face education
Sandbach School	Cheshire East	All pupils in face-to-face education
Scalby School	North Yorkshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Selworthy Special School	Somerset	All pupils in face-to-face education
Seven Mills Primary School	Tower Hamlets	All pupils in face-to-face education
Shawfield Primary School	Surrey	All pupils in face-to-face education
Sir Thomas Boughey Academy	Staffordshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Springfield Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Andrew’s CofE Primary School, Over Hulton	Bolton	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, Harlow Green	Gateshead	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Bartholomew’s Catholic Primary School, Swanley	Kent	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Bede’s Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College	County Durham	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
St Benet’s Catholic Primary School, Ouston	County Durham	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
St Clere’s School	Thurrock	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
St Columba’s Catholic Primary School, Wallsend	North Tyneside	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Elizabeth’s Catholic Voluntary Academy	Derbyshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Francis’ Catholic Primary School	Newham	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Francis Catholic Primary School, South Ascot	Windsor and Maidenhead	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Gregory’s Catholic Science College	Brent	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Helena School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Ignatius College	Enfield	All pupils in face-to-face education
St James’ Catholic Primary School, Hebburn	South Tyneside	All pupils in face-to-face education
St James’ Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School	Kent	All pupils in face-to-face education
St John Bosco Catholic Primary School, Town End Farm, Sunderland	Sunderland	All pupils in face-to-face education
St John Catholic Primary School	Hertfordshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
St John Vianney Catholic Primary School, West Denton	Newcastle upon Tyne	All pupils in face-to-face education
St John Vianney RC Primary School	Haringey	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School	Buckinghamshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Joseph’s Catholic Voluntary Academy	Leicestershire	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Lawrence Church of England Primary School, Rowhedge	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Leonard’s Catholic School, Durham	County Durham	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
St Mary and St John Junior and Infant School	Birmingham	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Michael’s Catholic School	Buckinghamshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Thames Ditton	Surrey	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School	Darlington	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive School	Greenwich	All pupils in face-to-face education
St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon	Gateshead	All pupils in face-to-face education
St William of York Catholic Primary School	Bolton	All pupils in face-to-face education
Stanway Fiveways Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Steeple Bumpstead Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School	Tower Hamlets	Fully remote learning
Sunny Bank Primary School	Kent	All pupils in face-to-face education
Surrey Street Primary School	Luton	All pupils in face-to-face education
Tendring Technology College	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
The Appleton School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
The Billericay School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
The Bromfords School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
The Coopers’ Company and Coborn School	Havering	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
The Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls	Ealing	All pupils in face-to-face education
The FitzWimarc School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
The Gilberd School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy	Bradford	All pupils in face-to-face education
The Honywood Community Science School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
The Link School	Sutton	All pupils in face-to-face education
The London Oratory School	Hammersmith and Fulham	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
The Macclesfield Academy	Cheshire East	New case – triage in progress
The Palmer Catholic Academy	Redbridge	All pupils in face-to-face education
The Ramsey Academy, Halstead	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
The Thomas Lord Audley School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Thomas Bullock Church of England Primary and Nursery Academy	Norfolk	All pupils in face-to-face education
Thurstable School Sports College and Sixth Form Centre	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Thurston Community College	Suffolk	All pupils in face-to-face education
Marple Sixth Form College (part of Trafford College Group)	Trafford	All pupils in face-to-face education
Waddesdon Church of England School	Buckinghamshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Wallingford School	Oxfordshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Water Lane Primary Academy	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Welbourne Primary School	Haringey	All pupils in face-to-face education
Wells Park School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Westlands School	Kent	All pupils in face-to-face education
White Court School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
White Hall Academy and Nursery	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Widford School	Hertfordshire	All pupils in face-to-face education
Winter Gardens Academy	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Wood Green Academy	Sandwell	All pupils in face-to-face education
Woodkirk Academy	Leeds	All pupils in face-to-face education
Woodville Primary School	Essex	All pupils in face-to-face education
Wyburns Primary School	Essex	Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements

Lifelong loan entitlement changes name and gains royal assent

The government has renamed the lifelong loan entitlement after legislation that paves the way for the flagship scheme gained royal assent.

Now officially rebranded as the lifelong learning entitlement, the LLE was put on the statute book last night after clearing both houses of parliament.

Set to be rolled out from 2025, the entitlement will provide individuals with the equivalent of four years of tuition loans – worth up to £37,000 in today’s fees – to use flexibly over their lifetime.

Funding through an online account will be available to study at levels 4 to 6, for both modular and full-time study at colleges, universities, and other providers registered with the Office for Students.

Philip Augar, chair of the Post-18 Education and Funding Review which recommended the creation of the LLE in 2019, said: “This legislation gives us a framework that fits our modern, fast-changing jobs market. The potential now exists for adults to transform life opportunities through lifelong learning and I hope universities, colleges and employers respond constructively in ensuring that this potential is fulfilled.”

The Lifelong Learning Act will allow HE providers to use a new method of calculating the maximum level of tuition fees they can charge for different courses. This will make the pricing of modules and short courses “proportionate, so people can access education and training at a fair price”, the government said.

‘Legislation gives us a framework that fits our fast-changing jobs market’

The LLE will be available to new and returning learners. For people who have already taken out a loan for a degree, the amount they can borrow will be reduced depending on the funding they have previously received to support study.

Adult learners studying part-time courses will also have access to maintenance loans for living costs for the first time under the scheme.

Ministers also announced earlier this year that the controversial equivalent and lower-level funding rule (ELQ), which prohibits funding for higher-level courses at or below a level a learner is already qualified, will be scrapped under the LLE.

LLE tuition loans will however only be available for people up to the age of 60.

Government officials were urged to change the language and branding of the LLE last year after researchers found the term “lifelong loan” to be unappealing to potential learners, namely because adults do not want to take on more debt.

A Department for Education spokesperson said the government has now agreed to change the name to the lifelong learning entitlement so it “better reflects its core purpose of offering learning opportunities throughout people’s working lives, making education and training more accessible to people from all backgrounds”.

The DfE also recently announced the launch of a £5 million competition to encourage universities and colleges to develop and offer individual modules of higher technical qualifications (HTQs).

The scheme will “exceptionally allow” around 20 providers to grant fund tuition fees for students to study HTQ modules in academic years 2023/24 and 2024/25.

This will include up to £20,000 provided to each successful bid for “demand-raising activity, including information and guidance to learners”.

The competition closes on November 3.

Skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister Robert Halfon said: “Giving people the chance to access education and training over the course of their working lives, in a way that suits them, is crucial to enabling those from all backgrounds to climb the ladder of opportunity.

“From HTQ modules in cyber security to short courses in accountancy and university degrees in engineering, this new lifelong learning entitlement will plug skills gaps and give employers access to a pipeline of talent to help them grow.”

LSIPS: a chance to change, or a chance missed?

Gillian Keegan is determined that local skills improvement plans will ease the nation’s skills crisis. Jessica Hill lifts the lid on the negotiations between the worlds of business and skills.

The LSIPs designed to address the nation’s skills shortages “have to work” and “will work”, Gillian Keegan told FE leaders in her inaugural speech to the sector last November.

They’re so important to the government that it’s given itself powers to “direct structural changes” in colleges if they’re found not to be meeting local skills needs.

Ten months on, and the education secretary has signed off all 38 of these “employer-led” plans that she’s pinning her hopes on to get the nation out of its current skills crisis.

The plans have been published at a time of political flux, with devolution deals still being worked up that shift the responsibilities of the key political players, and with other parties offering no long-term commitment to the plans.

Will Keegan ever be able to lay claim to the policy proving a success?

Gillian Keegan at AoC conference, where she discussed lsips

Therapy for businesses

Last year, the DfE tasked 38 “employer representative bodies” (ERBs) with spelling out the changes needed to make education and training provision more responsive to employer needs.

The ERBs, 32 of whom are chambers of commerce, are being paid £550,000 each over three years to lead the plans.

The LSIP discussions were a much-needed outlet for some businesses to vent their frustrations – some of whom were coming to the table to talk about skills shortages for the first time. But there is now a sense that change is afoot.

Chris Fletcher, Greater Manchester chamber of commerce’s policy director, says “the number of therapy sessions was amazing”.

“Businesses said ‘we know you’re not going to change things overnight. But at least there are people on the case now that understand these issues and are plugged into the right people locally to start to make things happen.”

Similarly, Jane Gratton, the British Chambers of Commerce’s head of people policy, believes that LSIPs mark the moment that we “turn the big tanker around” in addressing skills shortages. “But in doing so, we’ve raised expectations.”

Jane Gratton, British Chambers of Commerce Photo: Philip J.A Benton

At the beginning…

LSIPs arose from a 2020 report by the British Chambers of Commerce warning how skills shortages were “coming to a head”, Gratton says.

The pandemic made the problem even more pressing, while local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) – business-led partnerships that (similar to ERBs), bring together businesses, local government and academic and voluntary institutions – were scaled down.

Fletcher believes the issues were “much bigger than the LEPs could deal with”, while funding to tackle skills issues was “piecemeal”.

“You needed some bigger intervention to actually move the dial on it.”

The report called for a new forum to bring stakeholders together. The Chambers of Commerce ran a pilot alongside discussions over the Skills for Jobs white paper, which set out an employer-led approach to making FE provision more responsive to local needs.

Eight trailblazers were rolled out last year, with a two-year £165 million local skills improvement fund building on last year’s £96 million strategic development fund.

Chris Fletcher, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Collaborative aims

Collaboration was seen as “key to the success”. But councils felt snubbed by the government putting business representatives in the driving seat.

When the LSIPs guidance was published in September last year, the Local Government Association highlighted how in non-devolved areas of England, councils had been “almost entirely omitted”.

“It is disappointing the DfE has not reflected the reality of what local partners know is needed on the ground,” it said.

Despite concerns from others in the public sector that the plans would be too business-focused, some ERBs have reached out to other local employers – including NHS trusts – and national bodies such as Skills for Care. Greater Manchester’s LSIP, for example, described mental health nursing as an “urgent priority for provision” with “critically high demand”.

Meanwhile, colleges need to make sure LSIPs are a success, partly because they are now tested on their responsiveness to local skills needs through recent extensions to the Ofsted inspection framework and new accountability agreements with the DfE. The 2022 Skills Act even gave the education secretary powers to intervene if a college’s curriculum “fails to adequately reflect priorities set out in the local skills improvement plan”.

Chris Starkie, Norfolk Council’s director of growth and investment

What negotiations really looked like

Different players had to learn each other’s language, with businesses “having to interpret and translate FE and skills speak” says Gratton, while those in the training sector grappled with corporate lingo.

FE Week understands there were early tensions in some LSIP areas. Norfolk and Suffolk collaborated, but with both areas lining up separate devolution deals, LSIP discussions have taken place against the backdrop of political wranglings, particularly in Norfolk.

Chris Starkie, Norfolk Council’s director of growth and investment, says it tried to use devolution in LSIP discussions as “additional rather than something that gets confusing and in the way”.

Norfolk and Suffolk share certain “synergies” when it comes to their offshore, agri-food and digital creative industries, and have a “history of working together” on skills born through the LEP over the past 10 years through a shared skills hub. Previously, European structural funds came through to some joint county projects – which made LSIP joint working “relatively straightforward”.

But there have been “nuances and differences” too. Both counties have their own adult education budget contracts with the Education and Skills Funding Agency, for example, so each county will “do our own thing where it’s more appropriate”.

It’ll be different this time

Some of the same issues were raised repeatedly in LSIP discussions, such as the lack of employability skills in young people, and apprenticeship levy-paying businesses “begging for more flexibility to get more people trained”, Gratton says.

“Businesses everywhere are crying out for technical skills – they just keep going through recruitment, and it’s not working.”

North of Tyne’s LSIP says employers want “more differentiation between training providers”, with colleges focusing on “specialist, quality courses, provided by teachers with industrial experience”.

In Greater Manchester, Fletcher says the priorities that emerged from the LSIP research were “not a surprise”. Theirs highlighted retrofitting skills as an “urgent priority” – with mayor Andy Burnham’s grand plan for the region to become net zero by 2038 dependent on it. But employers say they have problems finding people with those skills.

While the region has done comprehensive work around skills requirements in the past – its 2019 local economic strategy, for example – Fletcher says the LSIP enabled it to “dig into” skills issues in a “much more methodical way”. At a granular local level it looked at labour shortages and the supply coming through from colleges and ITPs, then broadening that out to the regional level.

“What is different with LSIPs is we have the quantity and quality of data,” he says. While some businesses did pass the comment “oh, another skills survey”, many said it “feels a bit different this time, as though the intention is to change things”.

Frustrating course changes

The discussions also gave employers the chance to be made aware of which courses are set to be defunded, sparking “frustration” from some.

Gratton points out that when the DfE issues a consultation it is “only the businesses most engaged with that system” that respond, not necessarily the ones most affected by the proposals. This has left some businesses in the dark over level 2 and below, and level 3 reforms.

The LSIPs, though, have created a “network to reach out to” on these issues.

Fletcher sees the ability to have those conversations as “absolutely great”, but also “extremely worrying because you’re finding out now ‘that course is gone, that’s going – how are we going to get around that?”

But even the right courses to suit local economic needs doesn’t mean students will enrol. Gratton believes good careers advice is “crucial to it all”, with employers raising the issue “time and time again”.

Businesses also recognise “this isn’t just a one-way street” of them “demanding things from colleges”. “There was also a kickback into businesses as well to say ‘hang on a minute, we’ve seen investment [in training] dropping – this isn’t all free’.”

Gratton believes that by “understanding they have to be part of the solution”, through the forum of LSIPs, businesses will “then start to invest more” in training.

Fletcher says college principals used the networking to urge businesses to provide much-needed T Level work placements, amid “huge uncertainty from employers over what T Levels are”.

Battle for talent

The biggest surprise emerging from the LSIPs discussions has been the lack of “basic IT skills”, he says.

While people tend to think of “software developers”, many businesses “just want people with basic skills … they can then teach them the more technical bits”.

And the “battle for talent” for teaching staff was heard loudly. How could employees with those skill sets be taken “out of business and into a training environment?”.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Political uncertainty

If Labour wins the next election, the party may not be so favourable towards the very Conservative concept of business-led skills planning.

Its proposals involve setting up a new expert body, Skills England, but it might have different priorities to those set out in LSIPs.

There is also uncertainty over whether a future Labour government might scrap plans for eight new investment zones to boost growth, which some LSIPs had to consider in their planning. Only two zones have so far been announced, in South Yorkshire and Liverpool.

Gratton says the British chambers is seeking at least a ten-year commitment from all political parties to LSIPs.

She is profoundly concerned about the consequences if they are scrapped before then. “We can’t get businesses excited, then say ‘sorry, we’re not doing that anymore’. Businesses are fed up of that. They don’t have the people they need – the economy’s in a mess. If people are training for the wrong things, they’ve wasted their time and we’ve failed them.”

More than just numbers

By October, the DfE will notify lead providers of the outcome of their stage two LSIF funding application, although Fletcher says organisations are still stepping forward to become part of the LSIP conversation.

He has also been asked “quite bluntly” by some what the KPIs (key performance indicators) are for the LSIPs. There aren’t any, as yet.

“We’ve got to ensure the provision starts to match that demand. When we get to that stage where we’re comfortable it’s happening, then we can dig into what targets and outcomes we need.”

Fletcher knows that the DfE is “keen to have a measurable impact it can show the Treasury”, but he wants that to be “beyond the number of apprentice starts. It’s got to mean something more than just a number.”

Bankrupt council won’t lose adult education service

Adult education services at Birmingham City Council are unlikely to be affected by the authority’s strict new controls on spending, imposed after the council effectively declared bankruptcy.

City Councillors at the beleaguered local authority have been told they must agree to immediately stop all non-essential spending, reduce running costs and not commit to new expenditure.

The council faces an £87 million black hole in its budget as it struggles to settle a historic equal pay liability worth up to £760 million. As a result, officials issued a section 114 notice last week, which has widely been described as the local authority effectively declaring bankruptcy.

However, the notice does not affect pre-existing contracts.

A spokesperson for the council said they were unable to comment specifically on the section 114 notice, but confirmed the council has already signed an adult education contract with the West Midlands Combined Authority.

The city council is the second largest recipient of adult education budget grant funding from the combined authority, after South and City College Birmingham, worth £10.2 million.

Its adult education offer includes free and subsidised courses in English, math, ESOL, computer skills, languages, social care and employability skills. It achieved a ‘good’ rating from Ofsted in 2019 and trains around 13,000 students.

The service has continued to promote its courses and advertise for staff vacancies since the section 114 notice was filed.

A WMCA spokesperson said: “We are aware the council has made a section 114 notice. We are closely monitoring and assessing the situation as it develops and are in regular contact with our partners.”

Birmingham City Council is not the first local authority to have filed a section 114 notice and others, such as Nottingham and Surrey Heath, have warned that spiralling deficits could lead them to follow suit.

Other councils such as Croydon, Thurrock, Woking, Northamptonshire and Hackney have previously issued section 114 notices.

Tributes paid following sudden death of ‘energetic’ deputy principal

Tributes have been paid to a young deputy principal whose “best was yet to come” following his sudden death at work on Friday morning.

Tom Hamilton-Dick, 46, dedicated his career to further education and most recently worked as deputy principal at North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) and trustee at Skills and Education Group.

Friends and colleagues said Hamilton-Dick was widely respected and will be remembered for his energy, charisma and commitment to students.

A rising star in the college sector, his FE career began as a film and television lecturer at Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education in 2002.

In just a few years he became head of the media department at South Essex College and, in 2012, began a near eight-year stint in Nottingham where he was part of the senior team that merged two of the city’s colleges to create one of the largest colleges in the country, Nottingham College.

He left Nottingham as executive director for curriculum in March 2020 to become deputy principal at NWSLC and was widely tipped as a future principal in the sector.

NWSLC principal and chief executive Marion Plant, said: “We are devastated at the loss. Tom was a wonderful colleague who was highly respected by staff, students and the wider education community.

“We have received hundreds of messages of condolence reflecting Tom’s impact across the sector,” she added.

Plant said the mood at the college is “sombre” and “everyone is pulling together to support each other.”

“Our main concern is for Tom’s family, and we are doing as much as we can to support them,” she added.

The college has opened books of condolence at each of its seven campuses and online.

Alongside his role at NWSLC, Hamilton-Dick was a trustee of Skills and Education Group.

Paul Eeles, chief executive of Skills and Education Group, said: “Tom was caring, full of charisma, energetic and kind-hearted and deeply passionate about the FE sector. He was a talented leader, and his commitment to students saw him rise through the ranks in a career that has now been cruelly cut short. The best was yet to come.

“Our deepest condolences are with Tom’s family and friends, and the college communities in North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire, and Nottingham.”

Janet Smith, principal and chief executive of Nottingham College, said the FE sector has “lost a true star.”

“The news of Tom’s death has shocked and saddened us all at Nottingham College. His charisma, influence and experience shone through in everything he did for us, and his passion for FE knew no bounds.

“Our heartfelt condolences are offered to his family and loved ones who are forced to comprehend the incomprehensible. Tom made many friends in the sector throughout his career, and we will all feel his loss for some time.”

Besides his passion for further education, Hamilton-Dick was an enthusiastic collector of luxury watches. His authority on the subject saw him interviewed by the Financial Times and writing for a collectors’ website.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

NWSLC is inviting messages of condolence that they will share with Tom’s family. Please send messages, stories and photos to condolences@nwslc.ac.uk