Latest news from FE Week

DWP launches hunt for 25 jobs guarantee national delivery partners

Applications have opened for organisations to deliver the government’s national jobs guarantee, with ministers expecting the scheme to support more than 90,000 long-term unemployed young people across Great Britain.

The subsidised work programme for 18 to 24-year-olds who have claimed universal credit for more than 18 months will expand from six pilot areas to 25 regions from November. The rollout is expected to run for two years, with the option of a one-year extension.

A five-week grant application window opened today and will run until July 13, with organisations specialising in employment, skills, youth services and wraparound support invited to bid.

Ministers now expect the scheme to support up to 90,000 young people, up from previous estimates of around 55,000.

Announcing the application window opening, work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said: “This national rollout marks a significant step in delivering our commitment to every young person that they have the opportunity to succeed.”

He added that he was “grateful” to the six organisations delivering the first phase of the jobs guarantee in six areas of the country, who worked “at pace” to achieve the first job starts in May.

Delivery partners will receive between £2,150 and £2,650 per participant, while the government will separately cover employers’ costs for 25 hours a week at the national minimum wage for six months, as well as up to £250 in onboarding costs.

According to guidance documents, areas including Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire are expected to see demand of up to 4,200 young people recruited onto the programme.

Areas with the highest projected demand could receive grants worth up to £11 million over the initial two-year rollout.

Referrals, which can only come through Jobcentres, are expected to begin in November, with the final funded employment placements due to start by May 2028.

It comes amid growing concern over Britain’s rising number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), with estimates suggesting the total has exceeded one million for the first time in 13 years.

Delivery partners could include specialist support organisations, charities, local authorities and mayoral strategic authorities.

Organisations may also partner or subcontract in a region, provided a single lead organisation is identified for each of the 25 areas.

The Growth Company and Reed in Partnership, both existing phase one delivery partners, have already published advertisements seeking organisations to join them in bids for the national rollout.

‘Meaningful paid work’

Department for Work and Pensions guidance states that delivery partners will be responsible for sourcing “meaningful paid work” opportunities, matching suitable young people to employers and providing wraparound support and training throughout placements.

Jobs must include a clear description of duties and responsibilities, appropriate supervision and opportunities to develop skills. They must not displace existing employees.

The guidance also limits the number of jobs guarantee participants an employer can host. Organisations with 10 to 49 permanent employees, for example, may recruit one participant for every four full-time employees, up to a maximum of six participants at any one time.

If a participant leaves before completing six months, delivery partners will be expected to try to re-engage them. Where that is not possible and they have completed less than four months in work, partners must attempt to find them another job through the scheme.

The guidance also confirms that apprenticeships may be offered through the guarantee “where appropriate”, provided delivery partners are satisfied that the option is suitable for the individual.

CITB launches fast-track apprenticeship ‘hub’ grants

A construction skills quango has launched an “accelerated apprenticeships” grant programme that will fund its network of 20 training “hubs” first promised in late 2024.

Over the next three years, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is offering grants of up to £33,625 to 20 colleges and ITPs that agree to deliver “significantly shorter” apprenticeship completions for roles such as bricklaying, decorating, and carpentry.

Each provider will be expected to commit to starting 42 “accelerated apprentices” per year for at least two years, delivering a total of 1,680 starts across four years.

The grant programme for 20 existing training providers appears to backtrack on a government claim that CITB and partners, including the National House Building Council (NHBC), would open 32 “purpose built” centres.

In November 2024, the government announced that fast-track apprenticeship training and a network of up to 32 new “home building skills hubs” funded by the CITB and NHBC would make 5,000 more construction apprenticeship places available per year by 2028.

At the time, the NHBC promised to spend £100 million opening 12 new hubs while the CITB said it would invest up to £40 million to bring the network of hubs up to 32, running them in partnership with training providers and employers.

But it has now emerged that 20 of the “hubs” will be existing colleges and training providers who have joined the accelerated apprenticeships programme.

Reward acceleration

Under the £672,500 accelerated apprenticeship programme, the CITB said training “must be delivered” in a way that apprentices complete within 14 to 18 months rather than the standard two to three years.

This should be through “flexible” delivery methods such as “front-loading” initial training in an intensive block and structured periods of one to two weeks “concentrated learning” interspersed with on-site learning.

In the first tranche of grants, expected to launch in September this year, five providers will be selected from Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, Kent, and Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Three future tranches of 15 regions will be confirmed, five per year, over the next three years.

The CITB has promised that its new entrant support team will help providers with apprentice recruitment, accessing CITB grants, signposting employers and “mentor training” for in-house staff.

It will judge providers based on seven key performance indicators including number of apprentices, retention rate, completion rate, and employment outcomes.

CITB CEO Tim Balcon said accelerated apprenticeships are part of a “step change” in changing how people train for construction careers.

He added: “But it’s not just about getting people through training faster.

“As an industry, we need to place greater focus on outcomes – ensuring that apprenticeships lead to sustained, high-quality employment.

“That’s how we build a workforce that is not only larger, but more resilient for the future.”

The CITB said the accelerated apprenticeships programme will feed into its new national construction mayoral network that is due to launch later this year.

To apply for the grants, providers must be registered on the apprenticeship provider and assessment register without restrictions, have a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating for overall effectiveness and be clear of any audit red flags. They must also have a “formal endorsement” from a major local homebuilding firm.

NHBC hubs

Since 2024, there have been around 370 starts at the NHBC’s network of physical training hubs, which include one new multi-skilled housebuilding hub and four established apprenticeship training hubs that focus on bricklaying and groundworks training.

The building insurance warranty provider, which has a construction skills training arm, has opened one multi-skilled housebuilding hub since 2024, and plans to open two more this year.

It told FE Week its “effective and high quality” training model has a completion time of around 16 months.

New post-16 SEND inclusion cash revealed

Colleges and training providers will receive a share of £73 million next month from the first year of the government’s inclusive mainstream fund.

Allocations for 303 colleges, training providers and universities for the promised funding were published today alongside best practice guidance on better meeting the needs of SEND students in mainstream settings.

It comes as part of the government’s multi-billion pound SEND reform plans. The Department for Education committed £500 million per financial year for an inclusive mainstream fund covering early years, schools and 16-19 across the next three years.

DfE today published the full breakdown of 16 to 19 grant allocations for the 2026-27 financial year, calculated from disadvantaged learner numbers in the 2025-26 academic year.

Adding in schools, the fund will pump £83 million into 16-19 education this year. Grants range from £3,000 to £1.38 million.

Of that, 78 per cent – £64.6 million – will go to further education colleges. Land-based colleges and sixth form colleges will receive £1.9 million and £1.7 million respectively. Just over £4 million will go to independent training providers.

Large FE college groups NCG, Activate Learning and New City College will receive just over £1.3 million each.

The inclusive mainstream fund (IMF) is intended to improve adaptive teaching, create accessible learning environments and provide targeted interventions for learners with extra needs.

Individual provider allocations were calculated using DfE’s methodology for 16 to 19 disadvantage block 2 (DB2) funding rates, which top-up cash for students with low prior attainment.

IMF funding is weighted according to the intensity of the study programme, with T Level students attracting the highest rate of £160 per student. Students on large programmes will be paid £118 per learner, and those on smaller courses have a per-learner rate of £72.

Area cost adjustments will also be applied to each institution’s allocation.

Recipient institutions will be required to set out how they use the funding in their annual accountability statement. They also must explain how they respond to SEND and local skills needs. Using college performance data and financial health rating, DfE can subsequently consider intervention if outcomes are “weak”.

Inclusion expectations

DfE also announced today a new national panel of experts to develop ‘national inclusion standards’, intended to give colleges “clearer expectations” on what good support is expected of them.

The panel, co-chaired by academy trust boss Tom Rees and NHS England’s head of clinical innovation research Anne Gordon, features nine experts, including Ben Bastin, chair of Natspec and head of Treloar College.

Bastin said: “I am excited to join the panel at such a pivotal time for SEND reform. I look forward to bringing both my personal and professional experience of specialist provision and the transition to adulthood to ensure these changes support children and young people in a more inclusive 0 to 25 system.”

The inclusion allocations were published alongside the first breakdown of local authority funding for the government’s flagship external support ‘experts at hand’ service.

The white paper committed £1.8 billion over three years to experts at hand and £200 million in transformation funding.

Councils will split £429 million this financial year, and new guidance today said DfE expects to ramp up funding in 2027-28 to £750 million and £850 million in 2028-29.

See the full inclusive mainstream fund allocations table below:

‘We need to expect the unexpected’: Colleges brace for energy emergencies

Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran may seem far removed from England’s colleges, but it could put a severe dent in their balance sheets. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 unleashed an energy crisis that sent college utility bills soaring by 59 per cent in a single year and left some institutions facing severe financial pressures.

The sector enjoyed a welcome reprieve in 2024-25, when energy costs fell by 16 per cent. Yet that recovery remains fragile.

While total college income has increased by 30 per cent in the past four years, energy costs have risen by 44 per cent, according to DfE’s latest data.

Colleges typically lock in energy prices years in advance, and renewed pressure in wholesale gas markets and electricity network charges could leave many facing sharply higher costs when contracts are renegotiated.

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, believes the “biggest immediate risk” is for colleges with fixed-price contracts expiring in autumn 2026.

“What happens in the coming months is impossible to predict, but I just think we need to expect the unexpected,” he says.

The sector’s response to the last energy crisis was a mixture of emergency measures, long-term investments in decarbonisation of their estates and a more collective approach to procurement.

While ministers expect expanding renewables and nuclear power to reduce the UK’s reliance on volatile gas markets over time, colleges remain exposed to short‑term energy price shocks because electricity costs are still strongly tied to gas‑fired generation.

Colleges are also facing rising costs beyond the wholesale energy market.

Industry analysts expect network and system charges to account for an increasingly large share of electricity bills, with some forecasts suggesting they could approach 60 per cent of total costs even if wholesale prices stabilise.

Unlike some industrial companies that can schedule their energy use to secure time-of-day-savings, education providers cannot shift timetables away from Monday-to-Friday, 9-to-6, term-time hours. One college leader who was facing high network charges several years ago recalled needing high “available capacity” to run a large number of industrial workshops at certain times of the year (November, and January to March) , but still having to fix the capacity for the full year at “exorbitant rates”.

Ukraine fallout

The outbreak of war in Ukraine left colleges suddenly facing eyewatering energy contract price rises.

Gravatt recalls receiving one call at the time from a principal whose college was facing a sevenfold increase in its energy bills.

The government introduced an £18 billion energy relief scheme in October 2022, which helped cap the problem, but it was replaced six months later by a less generous scheme. These initiatives provided “nowhere near enough” support, says Craven College deputy CEO Gareth Dixon.

From when Ukraine was invaded in 2022 to when Craven College’s £200,000-a-year energy deal was set to end in December 2023, Dixon was sent weekly emails by his energy broker with price projections that filled him with horror as the figures kept rising.

Their bills soared to almost half a million pounds in 2022-23, which meant the college was unable to offer as generous a pay award as Dixon would have liked.

“We were forced to enter some short-term contracts to try and get us over the hump, thinking that price volatility will calm down. It didn’t,” he says.

Energy has been part of a broader cost shock for FE, alongside pay inflation, construction price hikes and national insurance increases.

Colleges responded to the energy price hikes they faced by rationalising their estates, bidding for decarbonisation grants and collaborating in energy procurement with other organisations to lock in the lowest pricing.

West London College saw its energy costs double between 2021-22 and 2023-24, from £671,000 to £1,219,000, while the college was also lumbered with paying off a £13.7 million loan to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Chief executive Karen Redhead recalls how the three boilers serving its sprawling Hammersmith campus were “well beyond their shelf life”, while its heating system lacked even a thermostat to regulate temperatures.

The college struggled to access DfE capital funding and sustainability grants, which Redhead described as “drastically oversubscribed”. But more recently, it has obtained some DfE capital funding to replace its boilers.

Some colleges have taken radical steps since the Ukraine war broke out to reduce their energy costs.

South Essex Colleges Group saw its energy bills almost triple from about £1.2 million in 2021-22 to £3.16 million in 2022-23, leaving its cash reserves “in single digits”.

The group introduced a four-day week across its three campuses, partly as a response to these hikes. Its energy bills dropped to £1.87 million in 2024-25, although the group has flagged the replacement of its air handling units as a “key risk” costing more than £1 million.

Carbon capital

The government’s public sector decarbonisation scheme, run by Salix, launched in 2020, saw more than £120 million allocated to colleges to replace inefficient heating systems and reduce energy bills.

The fund, which quietly ended last year, helped some colleges reduce their long-term energy costs. As colleges have decarbonised, a marginally bigger share of their energy costs has gone on electricity rather than gas. In 2022-23, FE colleges spent 74 per cent on electricity, 25 per cent on gas and 1.4 per cent on other energy sources, but by 2024-25, this had shifted to 78 per cent spent on electricity, 21 per cent on gas and 1.4 per cent on other sources.

Colchester Institute, which received a £3.7 million decarbonisation grant, was paying £1.01 million for energy bills in 2024-25; its lowest level since 2021-22.

But not every project delivered as planned. Hopwood Hall College mothballed a £1.8 million project due to soaring costs and diverted the money instead into extending a building.

Middlesbrough College secured £4.9 million in 2024 to support low-carbon heating and renewable energy generation, with the college contributing a further £1.2 million.

Middlesbrough’s vice principal for campus and digital services Sara Marshall, says reducing energy usage and using “more intelligent HVAC controls” (devices that control the operations of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment) are a “key priority, helping the college strengthen both our commitment to sustainability and our financial resilience”.

Combined with additional solar investment through the government’s GB energy solar partnership programme, these projects helped Middlesbrough reduce energy consumption by up to 8 per cent year on year despite growing student numbers.

DfE told FE Week that colleges are “proportionally overrepresented” in the programme, which aims to install solar panels on about 250 schools and colleges, mainly in deprived northern areas, by this summer.

Middlesbrough College Group’s solar panels

Solar-powered FE

No official national figure exists for the proportion of FE colleges with rooftop solar panels. However, sector evidence suggests solar is now common across larger college groups and land-based colleges and likely more widespread than in schools, where the government has said about one in five sites have solar panels.

In 2025-26, Inspire Education Group (IEG) installed additional solar panels and replaced all LED across its campuses, yielding a 40,000 KwH drop in electricity consumption.

The rooftops on Eastern Education Group’s buildings are now “chock-a-block” with solar panels, says its CEO, Nikos Savvas, while many of its boilers have been replaced with woodchip biomass boilers. “I have a team tasked with going through and trying to find grants for this kind of work,” he says. The energy costs for its West Suffolk College campus were lower in 2024-25 than in 2021-22 (£662,000 compared to £689,000).

Although Savvas believes there is widespread concern about the Iran War and its potential impact on energy bills, he is more concerned about the longer-term impact of climate change.

“We have a big team looking at becoming completely net zero, and how we can pretty much become self-sufficient,” he says.

But Martin Jenkins, director of training at the Textile Centre of Excellence, argues that many training providers lack the roofing infrastructure to accommodate the number of solar panels needed to make a sizeable difference to their energy bills.

Taxing tensions

Another threat facing colleges is a potential spike in VAT rates on their energy bills. Energy bought by colleges qualifies for a partial VAT exemption, where a college can show that the energy is being used for a non-business use.

However, colleges could lose this favourable 5 per cent VAT tax rate following a Court of Appeal ruling in favour of Colchester Institute in March. The decision enables colleges to reclaim VAT on pre-2010 building projects, but by doing so it also opens the door to new HMRC tax rules that could remove reliefs on energy bills, among other things.

“Reliefs might be removed, but there’s no information on when, how or what else might happen,” says Gravatt.

Economies of scale

Most colleges now get their energy via brokers such as SE First (Sustainable Energy First), TEC (The Energy Consortium), and Dukefield Energy.

The more organisations that join a procurement consortium, the more that costs potentially go down.

DfE advises colleges to aggregate their utility services where possible, and now strongly links energy procurement with net-zero and condition funding.

IEG uses SE First to procure its gas and electricity. Its chief operating officer, Ed Thomas, says that when either of the maximum or minimum price thresholds IEG have agreed to are met, the group then purchases energy for the year.

Using this model, the group secured gas at 69p per therm for the next five years when market prices were about 125p per therm.

“We purchase from future markets as opposed to the day ahead energy market,” Thomas says.

This model also allows IEG to sell energy if the price drops and repurchase at a lower rate from the future market. All IEG’s electricity is now procured from “wholly renewable sources” that cost less than it paid in 2024-25.

Those hit hardest

Land-based colleges have been among the most exposed to energy price shocks because of their large estates, animal centres and specialist facilities. Reaseheath, Askham Bryan and Myerscough colleges all saw energy costs more than double between 2021-22 and their post-Ukraine peaks before costs began to ease in 2024-25.

Myerscough College’s costs almost tripled between 2021-22 and 2023-24. Last year, it closed its Witton Park campus partly to lower costs.

Reaseheath College and University Centre installed air source heat pumps in several areas in 2024, reducing its gas consumption.

“As a specialist land-based college, we also see cost variations across our wider operational activity, including the running of a working farm,” its spokesperson said.

Given their access to woodland and forestry products, ample space for fuel storage silos and agricultural engineering expertise on campus, land-based colleges have adopted biomass heating systems more readily than other colleges, with Reaseheath, Askham Bryan, Myerscough and Easton (now part of Norwich City College) having all used them.

Gareth Dixon, deputy CEO, Craven College

Eyeing the horizon

If wholesale prices stay high, the government may provide further support to bring down energy bills, but the chancellor has indicated that this would only be for “those who need it most”.

When asked if more support was forthcoming for the sector, a DfE spokesperson said it recognised “the rising cost of energy is causing concern” and pointed to how its estates guidance “helps colleges reduce energy demand and carbon emissions when planning capital investment”.

Like many FE leaders, Dixon has learned the hard way to be well prepared and look out for any potential energy price shocks on the horizon.

Just before Trump’s attacks in the Middle East, seeing that tensions were rising, he locked in a £300,000-a-year deal in December over three years before prices began to escalate.

“We’re getting that longer-term price security, because global crises have an impact at our front doors now,” he says. “Who would have thought what’s happening in Iran would affect us? I think FE leaders are more aware of these issues now.”

‘West Bacc’ qualification announced by Labour mayor

The mayor of the West of England plans to create a new “baccalaureate” qualification that will train local young people to be work-ready.

According to Labour mayor Helen Godwin’s new skills strategy, the West Bacc will be a new regional “work-readiness award” for 16- to 18-year-olds that will help build the confidence, skills and experience employers are looking for.

The mayor’s team plans to develop the qualification over the next 18 months, designed in partnership with local young people, schools, colleges and training providers.

Employers are expected to support the West Bacc’s delivery through mentoring, work experience and wider engagement.

The strategy, published this week, said the purpose of the West Bacc is to build employability skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving and organisation, which employers report are the “biggest gaps” for new young employees.

A particular focus of the qualification will be supporting young people with fewer opportunities and “preventing disengagement”.

Godwin said introducing the qualification would help turn the tide on youth unemployment and inactivity, which she called “really dangerous and frankly sad”.

Speaking at a West of England Combined Authority scrutiny committee on Monday, the mayor said developing the West Bacc was “pre-emptive” of combined authorities receiving “more powers” over post-16 education and skills funding.

Integrated future settlement

She added that mayors are “pushing quite hard” for extra post-16 powers and “potentially expect” additional responsibilities when the second, solutions phase of Alan Milburn’s review is published in autumn this year.

The qualification would be funded through an integrated funding settlement, although the government has not yet confirmed that WECA will receive one.

Godwin is understood to have chosen to name the qualification a “bacc” after working on Andy Burnham’s Greater Manchester baccalaureate, or MBacc, initiative while she was a local government consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The term “baccalaureate” originates in late 1800s France, where it refers to an exam in several subjects taken in the last year of school.

The French term is in turn borrowed from the medieval Latin “baccalaureatus”, which means advanced student.

However, unlike the French and Greater Manchester uses of the term baccalaureate, which refer to a collection of subjects, the West Bacc is planned to be a single award.

Rob Nitsch, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, said: “Whilst there is clearly far more detail to come, the focus on employability skills is to be welcomed; they sit firmly in the shadow cast by the recent Milburn Review.

“However, it is not clear how the WBACC will be assessed and assured.

“The credibility and opportunity will be undermined if the qualification is not assessed independently and regulated.

“DfE and other regions are looking at employability too, including for adults. It would also be a missed opportunity if all these initiatives were not coherent by design.”

There are a number of existing employability qualifications, most at level 1.

These include City & Guilds’ certificate in employability skills, which had 4,800 enrolments in 2025, and Highfield’s certificate in personal development for employability, which had 4,500 starts.

A spokesperson for Colleges West, which represents five colleges and sixth forms in the region, said: “We welcome the opportunity to work with the West of England Combined Authority, employers, and partners to shape the proposed West Baccalaureate and its role in helping young people develop the skills, behaviours and attributes needed to succeed in work and life.

“While discussions are at an early stage, we look forward to working with partners to help shape a model that delivers real benefits for learners, employers, and communities across the region.”

Matt Tudge, head of skills at Business West, welcomed the move to establish the West Bacc given local employers’ need for courses that match their recruitment needs.

He added: “In our experience of leading local skills improvement plans in our area, when systems are designed with employers’ needs in mind, everyone wins.”

Units provider list widens despite quality concerns

More than 300 training providers have been approved to deliver the government’s apprenticeship units, with FE Week analysis showing low achievement rates and mixed inspection outcomes remain prevalent among eligible providers.

The apprenticeship provider and assessment register has been updated to include a “can deliver” units column, revealing a total of 306 eligible providers approved to offer the short-course alternatives to full apprenticeships in the initial rollout of the flagship scheme.

Providers must still update their training offer through the online apprenticeship service before appearing on the real-time Find Apprenticeship Training system that employers will use to select a training provider.

As of FE Week’s latest stocktake on 1 June, fewer than half of the approved providers – 147 – had signed up to deliver individual units.

In April, FE Week conducted an initial audit of the first 80 providers listed for units and found six with apprenticeship achievement rates below 60 per cent, including one with a rate of 52.9 per cent. The national average apprenticeship achievement rate sits at 65.4 per cent.

Eight providers also had fewer than 20 apprenticeship leavers in total in 2024-25, while three had fewer than 10. One provider’s learner numbers were so low that no achievement rate was published.

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The findings sit uneasily with Skills England guidance, which stated that initial delivery would be “limited to a targeted group of existing apprenticeship providers who already demonstrate strong performance in the occupational standards from which the units are drawn”.

While the guidance only specified that providers must not have any indicators rated as ‘at risk’ on the apprenticeship accountability framework and be free from contractual funding restrictions, analysis of the newly released full list suggests eligibility has continued to be extended beyond providers with the strongest apprenticeship performance indicators.

One provider on the updated approved list, Furness College, was rated “inadequate” by Ofsted under the previous inspection framework in 2024. It recorded an apprenticeship achievement rate of 57.2 per cent last year.

Under Ofsted’s new report-card framework, the college received 13 “needs attention” judgments and two ‘expected standard’ judgments during an inspection this year.

The college is due to merge with Blackpool and The Fylde College in August. Blackpool and The Fylde College recorded a 60 per cent apprenticeship achievement rate and holds a ‘good’ Ofsted rating under the previous inspection framework.

Two other new approved providers on the units list have never received a full Ofsted inspection.

‘Not fit for purpose’

Twenty-three providers recorded 20 or fewer apprenticeship leavers in 2024-25. Meanwhile, 43 providers approved to deliver units recorded apprenticeship achievement rates of between 50 and 60 per cent.

Among the lowest-performing providers by apprenticeship achievement rate were City of Portsmouth College (50.2 per cent), MITskills (50.7 per cent) and Greenlight Training (52.0 per cent).

The rollout has also attracted criticism from within the provider market. Corndel, one of the major apprenticeship providers initially signed up to deliver units, has since withdrawn from the programme, arguing that the government’s model is “not fit for purpose”.

A previous FE Week investigation found concerns over the design, funding rates and payment model for apprenticeship units, with some providers warning that the arrangements made delivery unattractive.

A government spokesperson previously told FE Week it would not comment on individual providers because of commercial sensitivities, but said employers could be assured that the government has ‘standard processes for managing contracts to protect learner outcomes’.

It was recently revealed that Ofsted will not inspect apprenticeship unit provision until April 2027 at the earliest.

Apprenticeship unit starts have been permitted since April 28, allowing employers to spend levy funds on non-apprenticeship training for the first time.

Ten units are available in the initial phase of the rollout:

AI leadership – AI strategy and opportunity
AI leadership – AI adoption, procurement and governance
AI leadership – AI delivery and organisational transformation
Electric vehicle charging point installation and maintenance
Electrical fitting and assembly
Mechanical fitting and assembly
Permanent modular building assembly
Solar PV installation and maintenance
Welding – mechanised
Battery manufacturing

Delivery hours range from 30 to 140 hours, while funding rates vary between £750 and £3,200.

Principal sums: 97 college chiefs now on £200k-plus packages

The number of colleges paying £200,000 or more for their chief executives grew by more than a third last year, with the total nearing 100, FE Week analysis shows.

Three leaders now sit in the £300,000 club – one more than the previous year.

FE Week’s annual investigation of college boss pay packages shows a relatively equal gender split among the highest-paid leaders, rising numbers of performance-related bonuses, and one six-figure severance payout for the principal of a college that almost went insolvent.

The analysis is based on the Department for Education’s annual college accounts database for 2024-25, published last week, and cross-referenced with individual published financial statements.

It focused on total remuneration, rather than just take-home pay, because some colleges report payments in lieu of pension separately, while others include them within basic salary. This can distort salary comparisons.

Data for just over 200 colleges was available, including general FE colleges, sixth-form colleges and land-based colleges. We excluded colleges that had multiple principals in 2024-25, leaving about 180 institutions in the analysis.

£300k club expands

Last year’s college principal pay investigation found 71 colleges spent £200,000 or more remunerating their accounting officer in total.

That figure rose to 97 in 2024-25.

Gerry McDonald, who runs New City College in London, retained his position as the highest-paid principal in the country. He received a total remuneration package of £347,000, made up of a £273,000 basic salary, a £17,000 bonus and a £57,000 payment in lieu of pension.

This was 9 per cent higher than the year before. The increase was driven mostly by the addition of a performance-related bonus, awarded in the year McDonald’s college group was judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. His basic salary increased by £10,000, or 4 per cent.

New City College is one of the largest college groups in the country, teaching almost 20,000 students in 2024-25 and generating income of almost £140 million.

The second highest-paid college CEO was Gary Headland, who leads Oxfordshire-based Activate Learning and received £310,000 last year. This comprised a £220,000 basic salary, a £26,000 bonus, £12,000 in benefits in kind and £52,000 in pension contributions.

Headland’s total remuneration was £6,000 lower than in 2023-24, largely because his bonus fell by £5,000. His basic salary was unchanged.

Activate Learning teaches about 17,000 students and generated total income of £113 million last year.

Entering the £300,000 bracket for the first time was John Thornhill, the CEO of Manchester’s LTE Group. He earned a £232,000 basic salary, a £18,000 bonus, £8,000 in benefits in kind and received £42,000 in pension contributions.

This compared with a £290,000 remuneration package the year before. The increase was driven mainly by a 3 per cent rise in his basic salary, which stood at £225,000 in 2023-24.

LTE Group runs The Manchester College as well as seven other education and training organisations across England and Wales, collectively supporting about 50,000 learners each year. The group generated total income of £196 million in 2024-25 – more than any other college group in the country.

The analysis showed that, on average, CEOs’ basic salaries were five times the median salary of employees at their colleges.

The pay multiples for the three highest-paid leaders were higher: McDonald’s was 7.22, Headland’s was 6, and Thornhill’s was 6.6.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said college governing bodies “take seriously their role to ensure that decisions about pay for senior leaders represent good value for money”, adding that remuneration packages are “defensible relative to the wider public sector market”.

“They commonly use benchmarks from within and outside of the sector and this is closely monitored by DfE officials who use the managing public money guidelines to ensure pay is set fairly and proportionately,” he added.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Colleges are large, complex organisations which clearly require leaders with substantial experience and expertise. It is therefore to be expected that salaries will reflect the significant demands of these roles.”

Gender balance

FE Week’s analysis found 54 (56 per cent) of college leaders with remuneration packages totalling £200,000 or more were men and 43 (44 per cent) were women.

A separate analysis of academy trust CEO pay by FE Week’s sister publication Schools Week found that just a quarter of the highest earners were women.

Hughes said he was “pleased to see that there is a relatively equal gender split in pay at senior levels across colleges, reflecting the values of a sector that supports equality and fairness”.

The highest-paid female CEO in colleges in 2024-25 was Angela Joyce, who leads Capital City College in London. She received £287,000 in total remuneration, including a £223,000 basic salary and £64,000 in pension contributions. This made her the fourth highest-paid college leader in the country.

Capital City College taught about 28,500 students last year and generated an income of £137 million. Joyce’s basic pay multiple was 4.74.

Liz Bromley, who leads NCG, was the second highest-paid woman and the fifth highest-paid college CEO in England in 2024-25.

Her total remuneration reached £286,000, made up of a £227,000 basic salary, £21,000 in benefits in kind and £38,000 in pension contributions.

NCG operates across the north, midlands and London. It educated 35,000 learners last year and generated income of £187 million – the second highest total among college groups in England.

Bromley’s basic pay multiple was 6.8.

Bonuses on the rise

The DfE’s college accounts database showed 23 performance-related payments and bonuses were awarded to CEOs in 2024-25, totalling £296,000.

This compares with 17 bonuses in the previous year, worth a combined £209,000.

Gary Headland of Activate Learning received the largest bonus of £26,000 in 2024-25, followed by Alan Pease of Suffolk New College, who received £24,000, and Lawrence Wood of Telford College, who received £23,000.

Colleges have been required to seek government approval for bonuses above a certain threshold since public-sector reclassification took effect in 2022. The threshold was originally set at £17,500 but increased to £25,000 in July 2025.

Activate Learning’s accounts said Headland’s bonus was assessed “against the objectives set by the corporation board and in line with his contractual entitlement”, which is exercised at the board’s “full discretion”.

Suffolk New College’s accounts said Pease’s performance was “measured by the review of the targets set, undertaken by the chair of corporation, with evidence to support achievement and subsequent report of the outcome to the remuneration committee”.

Telford College’s accounts said Wood’s remuneration was justified because he “continued to perform well in 2024-25 with a number of strategic initiatives being progressed which will continue the growth of the college, whilst maintaining the college’s objectives of delivering quality teaching and learning provision to all students”.

“This is in addition to work undertaken in respect of continuing to develop local partnerships, securing further opportunities for the local community and maintaining the college’s outstanding financial health,” Telford’s accounts added.

£136k payout for boss of college that almost went insolvent

There was one standout severance payment for loss of office in 2024-25. Dawn Whitemore received £136,000 from the now-merged SMB Group when she retired.

The SMB Group was flagged as an insolvency risk in 2024 and was being supported by emergency funding following a “turbulent” period. It merged with Loughborough College in August 2025 to create a solvent college group under Loughborough College’s leadership.

Whitemore, who had led SMB Group since 2018, stepped down when the merger took effect.

SMB Group’s accounts are not publicly available, but the DfE’s accounts database suggested Whitemore received the £136,000 severance payment on top of her usual £150,000 salary in 2024-25.

Loughborough College Group told FE Week it was unable to comment on individual severance packages, but added that any payments made would have been in line with contractual agreements and DfE guidance on senior pay.

Colleges must seek DfE approval for severance payments above £50,000.

If belonging is real, your data won’t look pretty

Belonging in FE has had a curious re‑emergence over the past two to three years. It is not new; anyone who has worked in FE long enough knows that the sector has always carried an unsung moral commitment to widening participation and second chances.

But recently, belonging and mattering have moved from the margins of practice into the centre. Attachment‑aware and trauma‑informed approaches have given us new language, better evidence and crucially, permission to say out loud that learning does not happen in isolation from relationships.

Students do not just attend college; they arrive carrying stories, ruptures, hopes and histories. When we attend to those things, psychological safety is established and belonging emerges allowing students to build and develop an optimal brain state for learning.

The danger, however, is that belonging becomes the next fad.

Those of us of a certain age will remember pogs, and those of us that don’t will be able to insert the relevant childhood fad from their epoch (see Pokémon, Cabbage Patch, Furby’s et al.). They appeared overnight, were obsessively traded in playgrounds, rioted over in Woolworths and vanished just as quickly. More recently, I was reminded of this while sitting with a cuppa the other night, watching my daughter open a gift from her Nana: a squishy dumpling – the latest playground, TikTok and YouTube craze.

The anticipation was electric. Which dumpling would it be? Then came the reveal, a few energetic squishes… and almost immediately, the magic was gone. The dumpling was put aside, replaced by the next thing calling for attention.

Belonging and mattering in FE cannot be allowed to follow that trajectory. They cannot be our latest shiny pedagogical playthings we squeeze for impact before discarding when novelty fades or when data becomes negatively affected.

The renewed emphasis on inclusion across the system makes this moment different. The SEND White Paper and reform agenda mark a genuine call to arms for inclusive education, setting expectations that learners with additional and complex needs belong in mainstream post‑16 spaces.

Alongside this, the evolving Ofsted inspection framework has elevated inclusion and belonging to a top tier priority, arguably for the first time in such explicit terms in the sector’s history. This is not aesthetic inclusion or rhetorical belonging; it is structural, inspected and consequential.

And yet, there are implicit and uncomfortable consequences to doing this work properly.

If belonging becomes real rather than performative, attendance may dip, progress may be less linear and less rapid. Safeguarding and welfare concerns may rise. On paper, this looks like decline, in lived reality, it often means something else entirely. Learners who would previously have been excluded, withdrawn, ‘managed out’ or quietly redirected elsewhere are now here. They are visible. They are staying. They matter enough for us to notice their distress rather than remove it from the dataset.

In our endeavour for quality in FE we continuously strive for “nice” and “clean” data. Attendance figures that reassure, progress measures that glide upwards, indicators of cohorts that do not ask much of overwhelmed systems. Inclusion disrupts that comfort. Trauma‑informed practice does not smooth the picture; it reveals it. Attachment‑aware approaches do not reduce complexity; they legitimise it.

This is not to say that FE should settle for poor outcomes or abandon ambition. We can retain learners and achieve outstanding data. We might. We should. However, we must be honest about the reality of the challenge.

Creating a genuine culture of belonging and mattering stretches staffing models, it is absent from costed funding formulas and challenges professional resilience in unprecedented ways. It asks us to tolerate the discomfort of data that makes us squirm and sometimes feel squished without abandoning our values.

Belonging and mattering are not squishy dumplings.
They are not designed for momentary pleasure.

They are moral commitments: slow, purposeful, relational and necessary. If we are serious about inclusion, we must be prepared to hold onto those commitments far longer than a six‑year‑old engages with a playground trend.

In FE, belonging and mattering are not a phase. They are the mission.