V Levels ambition will outrun reality unless we slow down

There is a sense of déjà vu over having yet another new set of proposed reforms and different post-16 qualifications at Level 3 and below to understand.

The government is looking through sector feedback around the planned design and implementation of new pathways announced in the skills white paper.

We know that previous proposals have often been fleeting, and at the mercy of changes in administration or party leadership (does anyone remember the Advanced British Standard?) But I’m more optimistic this time that the changes will be progressive and will actually happen.

The proposed landscape is an improvement on what was originally in the Review of Qualifications at Level 3 and below. There’s hope it will provide better pathways than those outlined previously. At Level 2 in particular there’s a more coherent qualifications offer for all learners. This is a vital change, especially given the challenges with the T Level foundation year.

V Levels: A seismic shift

The introduction of V Levels would be another seismic shift in the qualification landscape and is reflective of how the speed of change is increasing. A Levels were first introduced back in 1951, and we’re now due to see both T Levels and V Levels launched within a decade of each other.


However, the intended launch date for V Levels of September 2027 is overly ambitious. I’ve yet to meet anyone who thinks otherwise. There’s a risk to the successful implementation of this new qualification. It would make life incredibly difficult for both the learners planning to take them and the educators delivering them. Providers need time to understand the new qualifications, and to pivot to a different delivery model, where learners will take multiple V Levels simultaneously or alongside A Levels.

Introducing a year later in 2028 would allow more time to develop the new qualifications. It would allow more time to explain them to students, parents and employers, and for providers to get ready to deliver them. Allowing for greater preparation time with any qualification reform should lead to better outcomes for learners.

There have been some encouraging words from Skills Minister Jacqui Smith this week, which hint at delayed implementation in response to concerns she has heard.

What we don’t yet know on V Levels

There is still confusion over the purpose of V Levels, though. We know that they’re for students who haven’t made up their mind on which occupation they would like to pursue. There are additional calls for the qualification to help students progress either into employment, or further learning.

A Levels and T Levels have clear outcomes. While we know who V Levels are intended for, what will they enable learners to do? We hope to see more clarity about their purpose and expected progression routes, so that we, and other awarding organisations, can design them to be fit for purpose.

The expectation that V Levels will be delivered in 360 hours also signals a significant change in patterns of teaching and learning. More than 540 guided learning hours was the norm for more than half of Level 3 learners aged 16 to 19 last year, according to Individualised Learner Record data.

Sixth forms typically offer A Levels, which are 360 GLH qualifications, at scale. As such, they are well set up to deliver V Levels, as they will slot in neatly alongside A Levels. However, for many colleges, the proposed new landscape is significantly different from what’s currently in place.

Extra pressures on estates, staff and timetabling

Many colleges will not be used to combining multiple small qualifications as part of a study programme. They will need to prepare for a different delivery model, which will put pressure on estates, the demand for suitably experienced teachers, and timetabling. Teachers will also need time to understand and prepare to deliver the new qualifications. 

There’s clearly a demand at Level 3 for medium and large qualifications, so we must make sure we aren’t over-simplifying the landscape to the detriment of learners. Whilst simplicity is desirable, it shouldn’t come at the expense of ensuring qualifications work. There may be a good case to offer double-sized V Levels in some subjects, such as hair and beauty, to ensure students reach a level of occupational competence to secure a job.

We can reshape things for the better

We certainly support any changes that make life better for learners and educators. But as we enter this next phase of qualification reforms, there are still many improvements the government can make to its proposals.

With the right approach, these latest reforms do have the potential to reshape things for the better.

Britain’s clean energy plans are racing ahead, its skills system is miles behind

The UK has entered a decisive decade for clean energy. Billions of pounds of investment are already flowing into offshore wind, hydrogen, nuclear, carbon capture systems and electrified transport. The Great British Energy Bill signals a renewed national commitment to energy security and decarbonisation. But where will the skilled workforce come from to deliver it?

The National Energy Skills Consortium, which represents colleges, universities, industry bodies and major inward investors, sees an urgent need for a different kind of conversation.

The UK does not simply need more training. It needs a coordinated national skills ecosystem, built on long-term planning, employer collaboration and a strategic role for the FE and skills sector. Without it, the UK’s transition risks delay, escalating costs, unmet net zero commitments and missing its most compelling opportunity to re-industrialise.

Whilst NESC members welcome the October 2025 publication of the clean energy jobs plan, retaining and retraining the existing energy workforce is one imperative, but the acute skills shortage makes attracting new talent a matter of urgency if we are to get out of the blocks.

The scale of the challenge is already clear. PwC analysis shows a green energy skills gap of around 400,000 workers, with only 200,000 transferable workers available from oil and gas as retirement accelerates. And ONS data shows rapid growth in green jobs, with numbers in 2022 8.4 per cent higher than estimates from the previous year, and 19.9 per cent higher than 2020 estimates.

Investments of £50 billion between 2021 and 2022 demonstrate what happens when policy ambition is matched by capital, but investment alone cannot build turbines, commission hydrogen plants, or run nuclear facilities. Only people can do that, and the UK does not yet have them at scale.

This is where the FE and skills sector becomes national infrastructure. NESC’s members, stretching from the South West to North East Scotland, see the same pattern: employers are ready to grow, the investment environment is improving and communities stand to benefit enormously. But specialist technical training capacity, capital equipment and the pipeline of trainers are not keeping pace with the needs of clean energy employers.

The UK needs a model that goes beyond individual providers or isolated partnerships. We need to build a national clean energy skills ecosystem, a coordinated network that connects colleges, universities, industry, specialist trainers and government through shared strategy and investment.

We know the regions with the potential to usher in the transformation, so it’s time to stop talking ‘hot spots’ and make this a reality.

This ecosystem demands:

1. A long-term, government-led skills for renewable energy strategy.
 Whilst a jobs plan is to be applauded, true workforce planning requires more; NESC strongly supports the creation of a national strategy, aligned with the Great British Energy Bill and developed jointly with Skills England, to plan the workforce needed for hydrogen, offshore wind, CCS, nuclear, electrified transport, clean heat and more. The current landscape is fragmented. A single, coherent plan with milestones, forecasting and accountability is essential to prevent bottlenecks and ensure inward investors have confidence in the UK’s talent pipeline.

2. Regional plans within a national framework.
 From Humberside and Teesside to East Anglia, Scotland and the South West, each area has distinctive strengths across wind, nuclear, hydrogen and CCS. NESC advocates for regionally tailored renewable energy zones supported by national investment in training, apprenticeships and upskilling, mirroring successful approaches in local skills improvement plans but with dedicated green-energy funding streams.

3. Colleges and universities can only scale provision if they have the right facilities and critically the right trainers. NESC is clear: without a funded plan to recruit and retain industry professionals into teaching, the UK will not secure the workforce needed for a net zero future. The gap between school, industry and FE pay rates makes recruitment difficult. Specialist technical areas such as nuclear, offshore wind and hydrogen already face acute shortages. If we are to scale to meet the demands the transformation requires, we need a national programme to attract, train and reward the vocational educators who will train the next generation.

These shifts matter for the UK’s wider ambitions: inward investment, productivity, regeneration of our former coastal industrial powerhouses and the creation of high-value careers accessible to people in every community. A strong skills ecosystem is itself a magnet for global investors. It signals readiness, reduces risk and accelerates deployment.

NESC’s college members already deliver world-class training in clean and renewable energy technologies, nuclear operations, offshore safety, hydrogen systems and more. But the message we send collectively is this: the UK can only meet its ambitions if national policy, regional planning and FE investment move forward together.

‘Jobs guarantee’ delivery partners paid up to £2,650 per placement

The government’s jobs guarantee programme will include grants of up to £2,650 per participant for organisations supporting unemployed young people into paid work placements.

Guidance for the ‘jobs guarantee’ offer, published last week, revealed that delivery organisations that apply successfully will be offered up to £2,250 for wraparound support and training costs as well as up to £400 for administration costs.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said applications, which are open until February 28, are welcome from any organisation with experience of employment, skills, youth or wraparound support services.

Phase one of the programme is due to start “from April 2026”, with six-month paid work placements available for up to 1,200 young people aged 18-21 years old, who have been on universal credit for 18 months, in six areas of the UK.

The government is promising to cover all of each young person’s employment costs for up to 25 hours a week, alongside wraparound support to help them succeed and “transition into sustained employment”. Up to £250 in “onboarding costs” will also be available to employers.

In a foreword to the grant guidance, skills minister Jacqui Smith said the scheme, which will provide 55,000 jobs nationally over the next three years, aims to address the “life-long scarring effect” that long-term unemployment has on a rising number of young people.

She added: “The jobs guarantee is a down payment on young people’s futures and the future of the country, creating real pathways into good jobs and providing work experience, skills training and guaranteed employment.”

The DWP confirmed to FE Week that job guarantee delivery partners can include, but are not limited to, specialist employment support organisations, charities and non-profits, local authorities and mayoral strategic authorities.

This could also include general further education colleges or independent training providers,  like was the case with Kickstart – a similar scheme rollout out during the pandemic by the previous government.

Phase one of the new jobs guarantee is expected to start in April, with job starts between May and October 2026, and the final six-month jobs finishing by April 30, 2027. National rollout is expected to start “later in 2026”.

The six areas, described as having the “highest need” are: Birmingham and Solihull, the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire and Essex, Central and East Scotland and South West and South East Wales.

Young people living in those areas will be referred to successful delivery organisations by the DWP.

The guidance suggests some flexibility on eligible participants, such as accepting young people who have “minimal work history” over 18 months and 22- to 24-year olds if there is “spare capacity”.

Last week, work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said over 60 employers have already expressed an interest, including EON, JD Sports, Tesco, and TUI.

The roles are expected to involve “meaningful work that provides them with a purpose and allows them to make a meaningful contribution”.

It must not involve “significant classroom or online training beyond that provided to regular employees” but should provide opportunities to learn, develop, gain new skills and experience that will help them into sustained employment.

The jobs guarantee is part a wider package of initiatives aimed at reducing the estimated one million young NEETs (not in education, employment, or training).

This includes 900,000 young people on Universal Credit being referred to “intensive support”, 300,000 training or workplace opportunities, and more than 360 “youth hubs”.

A government-commissioned investigation into young NEETs, led by former Labour minister and social mobility commissioner Alan Milburn, is due to issue an interim report this spring followed by a final report in the summer.

Regional mayors have also been running eight pilot “youth guarantee” programmes for young people since spring last year, which have also been testing out subsidised work placement programmes.

Aspects of the jobs guarantee scheme appear similar to Kickstart, a £1.1 billion government scheme that offered about 163,000 subsidised work placements for young people on universal credit from 2020 to 2022.

The predecessor

A similar scheme, Kickstart, was rolled out in 2020 but was initially criticised for being “chaotic” and of questionable value for money. Experts now, however, claim that such subsidised work experience schemes “add value” to government employment strategies.

Through Kickstart, employers who could offer at least 30 placements could apply directly, with smaller employers asked to apply through a “gateway” provider.

The government paid gateway providers £360 per placement to support administrative costs and £1,500 to employers to help with set-up costs.

Jewellery academy returns to old owner in cut-price deal with administrators

An overseas businessman whose adult education provider went bust last year has bought a subsidiary training company back from administrators for millions less than promised after his brother and financial backer was declared bankrupt.

British Academy of Jewellery (BAJ) was put up for sale after its parent company, London-based Free To Learn, went bust – leaving more than £7 million in unpaid debts.

In April, joint administrators appointed to manage the insolvent company’s affairs agreed to sell the specialist jewellery skills training provider back to its original owner, Argentina-based civil servant Damian Gherscovic, for £5 million, including a £1 million downpayment.

But according to an update report on Free To Learn’s insolvency published last week, joint administrators Mark Reynolds and Daniel Leigh settled for a heavily discounted price of £1.5 million in October.

BAJ is one of England’s few training providers specialising in jewellery skills and delivers level 3 qualifications to around 120 students in London and Birmingham. It is listed on the government’s official register of apprenticeship providers.

Its parent company’s financial difficulties briefly led to a suspension of new starts last summer.

The administrators, who secured a 20 per cent cut of BAJ’s reduced price worth £300,000 as part of their fee agreement, did not receive any of the 36 expected £111,111 monthly payments from the company and its owner.

Reynolds and Leigh appear to have agreed the lower price after realising bankruptcy proceedings against Damian’s brother Gabriel Gherscovic, CEO of the companies and guarantor to the BAJ purchase, had a “severely detrimental impact” on their chances of being paid the full price.

The administrators’ report wrote: “Whilst an agreement was entered into, the terms of repayment were not adhered to.

“Following negotiations, and on advice, taking into account the financial position of BAJ, that settlement agreement provided for a revised consideration of £1,500,000.

“£500,000 was subsequently received during the period. No further funds are to be received in this regard.”

A spokesperson for the administrators told FE Week: “Due to a change of circumstances, the initial consideration proved unachievable. The joint administrators investigated potential avenues of recovery and have negotiated a settlement that reflects the strongest commercial position available.”

FE Week understands that while Damian Gherscovic is listed as the only person with significant control of BAJ, and Free To Learn until its insolvency, he does not have operational control over them.

When approached for comment, he confirmed that he is a civil servant in the Argentinian government’s National Institute of Industrial Technology, where he dedicates his “full professional attention” to his role as an expert in wood preservation.

His brother Gabriel Gherscovic (pictured) and sister-in-law Gabriele Gherscovic, who was also a former BAJ director, were both declared bankrupt on September 9 over a £12.9 million debt to lender GB Bank.

Gabriel has long been the CEO and public face of both BAJ and Free To Learn, while his wife Gabriele was listed as ultimate owner until their transfer to Damian in 2020.

Before Free To Learn’s bankruptcy in late 2024, Gabriel Gherscovic had built up a property portfolio that included the London headquarters of BAJ, which he rented back to the company for a £360,000 annual rent, an eight-bedroom mansion in Highgate’s ‘Billionaire’s Row’ valued at £12 million, and a former Jewish Museum in Camden valued at up to £13 million.

Records show that the properties, which were owned via holding companies, are now controlled by insolvency practitioners.

Training provider’s collapse

Free To Learn Ltd had held several national and local adult education contracts worth more than £10 million per year.

It was graded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in August 2024 and entered administration four months later, following a winding-up petition from lender Yad Solutions Limited which was owed £20,880.

Insolvency statements show Free To Learn owed more than £7 million to HMRC, former employees and other companies.

CEO Gabriel Gherscovic told administrators shortly after Free To Learn’s insolvency that the company first faced financial difficulties following an HMRC investigation over debts dating back to 2016. The Covid pandemic and energy crisis weakened it further.

The administrators’ most recent update said: “We would advise that investigations remain ongoing in relation to the potential breaches of The Insolvency Act 1986.

“It would not be appropriate to provide further details at this time, as doing so may prejudice any potential further litigation.”

BAJ ‘sanctioned’ by DfE

BAJ’s awarding body, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), suspended new starts at the provider until November last year over concerns about its financial stability, FE Week understands.

SQA and BAJ principal Matthew Williamson said this was due to a Department for Education sanction, although the department disputed this account when approached by FE Week for comment.

Williamson added: “The DfE wouldn’t allow students access to the funds book until we were able to assure them that we were under new management. Obviously they have to protect public funds.

“The hold has been removed and we have new students in place. We are currently recruiting for diplomas for future cohorts. As far as the SQA qualifications are concerned, we’re now business as usual.”

An SQA spokesperson said: “Following discussions with the centre, and confirmation that the Department for Education has lifted any sanctions against the British Academy of Jewellery, SQA removed the suspension on entries on November 18, 2025.”

We’re back in the black after £5m overclaim, says WCG

Warwickshire College Group claims to have “restored financial stability” after a “difficult” couple of years that involved repaying more than £5 million in overclaimed funding.

The group almost entered insolvency last year amid a cashflow crisis but was saved by a last-minute government bailout. It has been subject to FE Commissioner intervention since 2024.

Financial troubles escalated when a Department for Education audit initially identified clawbacks of around £1.4 million across 16-to-19 provision and apprenticeships funding streams for the 2022-23 academic year.

But when investigators looked back to 2019 they unearthed a significantly larger number of funding overclaims.

WCG’s newly published 2024-25 accounts reveal the total clawback hit £5.4 million.

The group said the overspend concerned “historic funding claims” caused by “legacy control weaknesses” across “multiple funding streams”. This included the “retention of ineligible funding” related to apprenticeships.

A formal investigation report outcome is expected to be published by the DfE, which typically details what specific funding breaches were found.

A WCG spokesperson said the group “would not want to pre-empt their [DfE] conclusions by commenting further on detailed audit findings beyond what is already in the published accounts”.

The spokesperson added that signed accounts “bring to an end all historic funding assurance work relating to delivery between 2019 and 2023” and confirmed that the clawback had been repaid in full.

To remain afloat, WCG received two emergency loans from the DfE totalling £3.9 million, which were secured against the college’s Trident campus in Warwick, and Evesham campus which is now up for sale.

The group’s financial statements show a markedly improved position. Total income increased from £49.8 million in 2023-24 to £60.2 million for 2024-25, while education-specific EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) improved from a £270,000 loss to a £4 million profit over the same period.

Cash days in hand strengthened from eight in July 2024 to 35 days 12 months later.

WCG said its financial health score would be classed as ‘good’ under the FE Commissioner’s methodology, but this is prior to the “potential” automatic downward adjustment applied as a consequence of receiving emergency funding.

CEO Sara-Jane Watkins, who was appointed to the role in May 2024, said: “These accounts close a difficult but necessary period of work to resolve historic funding issues and restore financial stability.

“Over the past year we have taken decisive action to stabilise the organisation, rebalance our cost base and improve cash resilience.

“With all historic audits closed and no outstanding funding issues, the focus is now on maintaining financial health and delivering high-quality education and skills provision for learners and employers across the region.”

Improvement work

Help brought in to improve the college’s financial controls included “expert consultants” and a new specialist apprenticeship compliance manager, the accounts show.

They also reveal that the funding audit experience led management to “fundamentally develop and enhance” the college’s internal reporting processes and take a “sophisticated approach” to data governance.

Gill Clipson, chair of WCG since 2022, said: “The board has worked closely with the DfE and the FE Commissioner throughout this period. Financial oversight, governance and assurance have been significantly strengthened.

“While the issues addressed relate to historic activity, the actions taken over the past year have placed the group on a far more resilient and sustainable footing.”

The college group is responsible for around 13,000 students, including more than 2,000 apprentices, and has 1,300 staff across six colleges in Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

It’s made up of Evesham New College, Warwick Trident College, Rugby College, Royal Leamington Spa College, Moreton Morrell College and Pershore College.

The group sold several sites in controversial circumstances to repay its commercial debts, which peaked at about £23 million in 2014.

They include its Malvern Hills campus, its old Rugby College site for £7.6 million, its Henley-in-Arden site to Wasps Rugby for £6.5 million, and the sale and leaseback of accommodation blocks in Leamington for £5.2 million.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 521

Bill Jones

Group CEO, Luminate Education Group

Start date: January 2026

Previous Job: Deputy CEO, Luminate Education Group

Interesting fact: Although no athlete, Bill enjoys running and a couple of years ago ran at least 5km a day consecutively, with no break, for more than 500 days

Ed Rose

Executive Director for Business Development, Apprenticeships and Adults, City College Norwich

Start date: January 2026

Previous Job: Assistant Principal – Stakeholder Engagement and Lifelong Learning, City College Norwich

Interesting fact: When Ed was leading his ITP he approached City College Norwich to become a subcontractor and was turned down. If you can’t beat them…

AI Skills Hub risks ‘copy and paste of past failure’

Ministers have been urged not to repeat past mistakes with the government’s rollout of free AI training that aims to reach 10 million workers by 2030.

The government this week unveiled plans to make “free AI training available to everybody”, expanding its AI Skills Boost programme through an online AI Skills Hub that directs users to beginner and advanced courses developed by technology firms.

But experts have warned the initiative risks repeating the failures of the ‘skills toolkits’ platform rolled out during the pandemic, which closed after two years marred by unreliable course completion data that misled Parliament about its success.

Technology secretary Liz Kendall said the new AI hub would help deliver the government’s ambition to upskill millions of adults, with free introductory courses.

It directs visitors to enrol on free beginner courses such as Amazon’s Introduction to Generative AI, Gemini for Google Workspace, and Mathematics of Machine Learning by the Alan Turing Institute.

The hub is an expansion of the AI Skills Boost programme launched by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer in June as part of a drive to improve UK work-readiness and boost productivity.

Tech firm Multiverse is the only apprenticeship provider involved in the programme.

AI skills hub homepage

Lessons learned?

A notice published by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) this week claimed more than one million AI training courses delivered by 11 industry partners had been completed since Starmer’s announcement.

The figure covers all courses taken by external learners and employees from partners including Amazon, BT, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce.

DSIT said, however, it could not share partner or course-level breakdowns of completion data due to “commercial sensitivity”.

Experts said that while support for AI upskilling was “welcome”, the announcement felt “familiar”.

The Department for Education spent more than £1 million on the original skills toolkit platform in 2020, which signposted users to free digital and numeracy courses.

The platform later came under fire after FE Week revealed that published take-up figures included web hits as “registrations”, and counted some course “completions” when users spent just three minutes viewing a resource.

The controversy prompted concerns from the Office for Statistics Regulation and led to the Department for Education pausing publication of the data.

Sue Pember, policy lead at adult education network HOLEX, said: “While the ambition is positive, the lesson from the skills toolkit should be that take-up and outcomes matter more than headline registration numbers.”

Paid courses

Visitors to the AI Skills Hub are required to create an account before accessing a catalogue of more than 590 courses.

Officials said the hub offered learning ranging from 20-minute modules to full university master’s programmes.

FE Week analysis of the course list found many offerings were simply being marketed through the hub and redirected users to providers’ own platforms.

Most courses from the main host organisations – Microsoft, Google and Amazon – are free, with just four of their 137 courses requiring payment.

But many others incur a fee, with around 60 per cent of all listed courses requiring users to pay.

Selection of AI skills hub courses available

“Although the announcement says the training is free, within a few clicks users are asked to pay for some modules, which risks excluding those who most need support,” Pember said.

“Without clearer standards alignment, better design and targeted support, this risks being more of a rebrand than a step change. Or even worse, a marketing tool for selling high-cost courses.”

Pember also questioned whether the hub would support learners with low skills or limited digital confidence.

“The platform is hard to navigate and doesn’t clearly link to digital standards,” she said.

The government said a selection of industry-developed AI courses had been assessed against Skills England’s AI foundation skills for work benchmark, with learners receiving a virtual AI foundations badge upon completion.

But Pember pointed out it was “unclear how they align to national digital skills standards, which raises questions about their consistency, progression and value”.

Skills England chair Phil Smith said the agency had worked “rapidly” with technology firms to ensure courses selected for the AI Skills Boost programme provide the “quality and capability” employers need.

He added: “It’s also a huge step forward that everyone who completes these short courses will get digital badges that properly recognise what they’ve learned. It’s a simple idea that will make a huge difference.”

Smith also co-chairs the Digital Skills Council, an external advisory body to DSIT that includes representatives from industry, academia and the public sector. 

Council members include senior figures from Lloyds Banking Group, Multiverse and techUK.

Prison education time slashed by one quarter, MoJ admits

The volume of core education delivered in prisons across England will reduce by up to 25 per cent, ministers have admitted.

Regulators and MPs have sounded the alarm over reported cuts to prison education budgets since new Prison Education Service (PES) contracts came out last October.

The Ministry of Justice consistently maintained there was no cut to the total budget in cash terms, but acknowledged it had not kept up with “significant” rises to the cost of delivering education in prisons.

In a response to a justice select committee report, prisons minister Lord Timpson today admitted “some” prisons faced a reduction in education delivery hours due to “difficult” decisions made to maximise value for money.

Nationally, the government expects a reduction of between 20 to 25 per cent to the volume of core education, which offers prisoners literacy and numeracy courses up to level 2, as well as ICT and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses.

MPs said the cuts to prison education delivery hours risked jeopardising prison rehabilitation, and called the ministerial response to their concerns “both weak and disappointing”.

Jon Collins, chief executive of Prisoners’ Education Trust, said the cuts were now “beginning to bite”.

“We are seeing courses axed, staff made redundant, and support for people with additional needs put at risk,” he said.

Paul Bridge, head of further education at University and College Union, this month estimated around 300 teaching staff had been made redundant and warned more would follow.

‘Revised’ funding formula to be rolled out

Prisons were informed of their budgets under the new PES for October 2025 to March 2027 last April. Nearly £148 million was earmarked for core prison education across 94 jails.

Provision is delivered by three procured providers: Milton Keynes College, PeoplePlus, and Novus, part of Manchester-based LTE group.

Earlier this month, arms-length body the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) accused the Prison Service of downplaying cuts after finding evidence through a survey of prisons of “seismic” reductions to core education and “dramatic” cuts to Dynamic Purchasing System budgets.

Timpson was urged to explain the IMB’s findings of budget cuts that extended “far beyond” inflation which “appears to contradict” statements given by the Prison Service.

Today’s response by the government rejected the accusations of large budget reductions.

“The national prison education budget has not been cut. However, the cost of delivering high-quality education has increased significantly in recent years,” said a government spokesperson.

“Although the budget has slightly increased in cash terms, it has not kept pace with these rising costs. This has meant some prisons are facing a reduction in education delivery hours.”

The government confirmed it had calculated a “revised” funding formula to ensure “fair” allocation to prisons based on population numbers and regional cost differences.

It said this means some prisons will see bigger reductions and some could receive an increase.

The government stressed that the changes only apply to core education contracts and do not affect libraries, careers advice or vocational training.

The justice select committee’s inquiry into reoffending and rehabilitation demanded that the government set out plans to ensure “all prisons retain the funding necessary to deliver core education provision”.

The government’s response was that future funding “is depending on cross-government spending decisions”.

Justice committee chair Andy Slaughter said: “It’s deeply concerning to hear core education provision is being reduced despite the government’s own recognition of the positive impact that education has on reducing reoffending and the committee’s recommendation to improve both participation and quality in prison education.

“Access to learning is crucial and any reduction risks jeopardising rehabilitation efforts.”

Marples handed bill for DfE’s legal costs

Ex-apprenticeships boss Peter Marples has been ordered to stump up most – but not all – of the Department for Education’s legal bill following the collapse of his £37 million High Court claim.

A sealed court order shows the High Court ruled Marples and his family of co-claimants must pay £1.05 million “on account of the defendant’s costs”, after the DfE achieved a “complete victory” by successfully defending the case in full.

FE Week understands that the claimants’ own legal costs topped £1 million.

The payment to the DfE does not cover the department’s total legal bill. The judge, Mr Justice Rajah, made clear the sum represented around 60 per cent of the department’s anticipated costs at an earlier stage of proceedings.

The DfE had argued its overall legal costs were significantly higher, with written submissions stating they hit “approximately £2.8 million”. But the judge declined to order a higher payment, noting there was “no costs schedule or evidence of that figure” and “no explanation as to why it is so greatly in excess of the costs anticipated”.

The combined costs highlight how legal action against the DfE is effectively out of reach for most training providers, given the financial risks involved.

‘A complete victory’

The ruling follows last year’s High Court judgment dismissing Marples’ claim in its entirety.

He had claimed negligence and misfeasance in public office, alleging the DfE’s then Skills Funding Agency acted with malice when refusing to sign off on a change of control that scuppered a planned sale of apprenticeship giant 3aaa to Trilantic Capital Partners in 2016.

As previously reported by FE Week, the court rejected allegations that the DfE had acted unlawfully or with bias, with the judge concluding there was “no grudge” against Marples and that the department had achieved a “complete victory”.

Judge finds no grudge as DfE defeats Marples’ £37m 3aaa claim

The trial took place over multiple weeks in June and July, with judgment handed down in October.

Marples had the option of applying for permission to appeal the decision but this was not taken up.

In the recent costs order, Mr Justice Rajah said the claim had failed on all substantive grounds and this justified applying the general rule that the losing party should pay the successful party’s costs.

He added that a “fundamental failure” of Marples’ legal team was their “failure to recognise that the defendant had a good defence to this claim”.

Marples and the DfE declined to comment.