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4 June 2026

Latest news from FE Week

Tackling the sexism and misogyny infiltrating our classrooms

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has declared violence against women a national emergency in England and Wales, describing it as an “epidemic” and a “national threat to public safety”.  This comes as online and offline misogyny increasingly infiltrate our classrooms. So what can we do about it?

The matter is clearly urgent. The first-ever Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) national policing statement reveals the staggering reality that an estimated 2 million women have fallen victim to offences such as stalking, harassment, sexual assault and domestic abuse.

Meanwhile, an estimated 10 per cent of all violence against women and girls occurs online. (It is likely much more, due to current recording practices).

Sexism behind the screen

FE Week readers will no doubt be familiar with Andrew Tate, who affirms that he is “absolutely a misogynist”, calls women “intrinsically lazy” and claims there is “no such thing as an independent female”.

UK authorities have singled him out for his role in spreading misogyny among boys and young men, but ‘influencers’ like him are just one of the causes of this online radicalisation of men.

The rise of the incel subculture has become an echo chamber where individuals blame their problems on women, promote hateful ideology and even encourage violence and terrorism. A small but growing number of violent attacks are attributed to this group.

Infiltrating classrooms

As smartphone usage rises, young people are exposed to damaging beliefs and behaviours earlier than ever. These formative experiences can have a lasting effect on their later adolescence and – if unchallenged – their adulthood.

Educators are already observing a shift. According to research from Feminista, 64 per cent of teachers hear misogynistic language weekly, and the issue extends beyond verbal harassment. Almost one in three teachers witness sexual harassment on at least a weekly basis.

While the research focuses on secondary schools, this alarming trend continues to further and higher education. Government inquiries reveal that sexist and misogynistic behaviours tend to intensify and manifest in more severe forms later, resulting in an increase in incidents of sexual harassment, assault and gender-based discrimination at colleges (and universities).

For all these reasons, we must address these issues early. School age would be best, but further education institutions can and must prevent the normalisation of such behaviours.

Newcastle College has received national attention for its efforts to combat sexism and misogyny among young people, appearing on BBC radio to explain the specialist training our staff receive on these issues and how we work collaboratively to tackle them. Here’s what every college should be doing.

Safe learning environments

Schools and colleges should be safe spaces where all students can learn and thrive without fear of harassment or discrimination.

We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour, creating an environment where those who are targeted feel safe to come forward and report perpetrators. Then, we intervene.

Teacher training and support

Providing teachers with the necessary training and support to recognise and challenge sexism and misogyny can have a significant impact.

We have enlisted the support of external organisations including Beyond Equality to tutor students and staff alike about the dangers of sexism and misogyny, and many of our staff members have completed ‘active bystander’ training.

Comprehensive sex education

Conversations about consent, respect and healthy relationships happen in primary and secondary schools, so these are not new topics to our learners. But we cannot afford to cede ground in FE, at an age when they are gaining more access to external influences and are more likely to act.

We do this largely through tutorials exploring these issues as hot topics that allow our trained tutors to encourage debate and critical thinking.

Parental and community involvement

Addressing misogyny in education settings requires a collaborative effort involving parents, educators, and the wider community. Encouraging open conversations about gender equality at home and within the community can reinforce the values we aim to impart.

Misogyny may be on the rise online, but our most influential relationships remain those we have offline. By equipping educators and parents with the tools they need, we can mitigate the spread of this harmful ideology and ensure gender equality remains the aspiration of future generations.

Skills England must embrace sports for a policy conversion

In challenging times, we must have the courage to think differently. The UK’s skills gap has been giving British businesses a headache for some time now; we will need to call on different approaches to solve it. Apprenticeships have a crucial role to play, as does the sports sector. 

If we zoom out and look at things globally, the view is pretty gloomy. Over the next decade, across the G20 countries, £11.5 trillion of potential economic output could go unrealised if we fail to address the skills deficit.

On top of this, rapid technological advancements and ever-changing net zero requirements mean that skills can become redundant fast. For some skills, it only takes 24 months for the world to have moved on without them.

Here in the UK, things aren’t much brighter, with three out of four companies struggling to find the talent they need. UK training budgets have shrunk by 26 per cent since 2007, reducing the UK’s per-head investment to the lowest in Europe. 

All in all, the issue is pretty acute. We’re at a crossroads: we can shake up our approach or carry on with the same strategy that has not taken us very far. 

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The government, with their unveiling of the Skills England Bill, are assembling a taskforce to close the gap. The initiative also includes reforms to the apprenticeship levy and will free up funding so that it can be used more flexibly.

I wholeheartedly support any plans to boost apprenticeships; they will be crucial in fixing the skills gap. And they don’t just benefit businesses but communities up and down the country, too. They empower young people, regardless of background, and are a lever for reducing inequalities across society.

I want to see Skills England succeed. But it will need a properly considered mandate and the right leadership to deliver a cohesive national skills strategy and pave the way for a 21st-century workforce. 

The time for policy revisions is behind us. It’s crunch time

Beyond this, Skills England will need to prioritise action. The time for revision after revision of policies is behind us. It’s crunch time. We need well-delivered, tangible solutions to fix the skills gap.

The sports industry undoubtedly has a role to play in this. Sports businesses are societal stakeholders; they know how to bring communities along with them on the road to success.

Having worked in the sports sector for decades, I may be biased. But don’t just take my word for it. The example from South Devon College in these pages earlier this year shows how deep the community impact of marrying sports and skills can go, and it is far beyond the pitch.

I’ve seen it through my own company, too. I have been fortunate to work with some of the most exciting sports brands, helping them to maximise the apprenticeship levy and deliver social impact. When sports businesses open up job opportunities and bring on young talent, they have an astounding effect on the local community.

At their core, sports organisations know how to combine business objectives with community impact; this could be a powerful tool for Skills England. 

Sport has long been a cultural cornerstone in Britain, deeply woven into the fabric of our communities. You can’t witness the energy outside your local sports ground on matchday and tell me that sport doesn’t have a unique power to unite. Even more importantly, sports organisations are close to the people they serve; they know their challenges and aspirations.

Skills England must reframe the debate around skills so that they are seen as a pillar of economic growth. Every single stakeholder needs energising; we must inject passion into the topic.

And passion is one thing that’s never in short supply at sports organisations. With its unifying power and extensive local reach, sport can play a vital role in this effort. 

We need innovative thinking to fix our skills gap. Skills England could have long-term, locally relevant impact. But if it wants to turn up the dial and multiply its power to affect change, it should bring sports organisations on board.

How PARS is putting apprenticeships on course for genuine recognition

The first 100 applicants have now been awarded professional recognition throughthe brand-new Post-Apprenticeship Recognition Scheme (PARS). So what have we learned, and how will we turn early success into systemic improvement for apprentices?

PARS is a unique collaboration between the Chartered Institution for Further Education and the Association of Apprentices. It marks the first time apprentices from all sectors and industries can receive an award and the right to use post-nominal designations (CSA, CAA, CHA or CGA, depending on level).

These post-nominals are designed to demonstrate apprentices’ commitment to continuous development and their attainment of professional standards. And it’s working.

More and more apprentices are applying for PARS once their apprenticeship certificates are in hand. This signals a broad acknowledgment of how helpful the awards are in helping them take the next steps in their post-completion journeys.

So far, we’ve seen 100 apprentices from levels 2 to 7 and from industries such as IT, engineering, hospitality and finance among the first to receive their award. It’s hugely exciting to see them share their certificates and proudly use their post-nominal letters, fully supported by their employers in reaching this standard.

Of course, there are well-established recognition ladders in some professions which have been mapped to apprenticeship standards. But these are limited. Instead, PARS focuses on the cross-cutting skills and experiences that individuals are deriving from this form of learning with employment.

It is an important step in elevating the professional status of apprenticeships as a trusted and powerful skills pathway, and that matters greatly. Apprenticeships are critical to the country’s productivity and growth ambitions and essential for any industrial strategy to be effective.

This an important step in elevating the professional status of apprenticeships

They are also vital in supporting social mobility and spreading opportunity, which makes them central to not one, but two of the new government’s core missions.

In this context, improving apprenticeship retention and achievement is imperative, as is reversing the decline in apprenticeship starts at lower levels.

A rise in the availability of apprenticeship standards across a wider range of occupations is welcome, but boosting their currency and visibility is an important means of building momentum and incentivising full completion.

So far, the support from the apprenticeship sector has been amazing. From the time we announced the development of PARS, employers, training providers, awarding organisations and others have been right behind us, recognising this as a game-changer for achievement rates.   

As we start the new academic year, many providers are embracing PARS, including it in their recruitment campaigns and embedding it into their induction programmes. Others are supporting recently completed apprentices and those who have completed since 2019 to apply.

And so are employers. Coca Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) is the first employer in the country to sponsor their apprentices to obtain a PARS award.  At a graduation ceremony in July, Sharon Blyfield OBE, head of early careers and apprenticeships at CCEP announced that their completed apprentices will be the first to have this opportunity, and it will be embedded for future apprentices as part of their offer.

Meanwhile, awarding body NCFE is the first organisation to offer a bursary to eligible apprentices. With a committed initial £5,000 bursary pot, NCFE will support level 2 and 3 apprentices from underserved backgrounds across a range of sectors with their applications. 

One of the many by-products of PARS is its ability to provide useful insight into the apprentice experience and its return on investment (ROI). This data can be challenging for the sector to monitor consistently, but we have already learned a lot.

For example, the top skills and behaviours apprentices say they’ve gained on their programmes are communication (87 per cent), confidence (80 per cent), and problem-solving (also 80 per cent).

Furthermore, PARS collates information on the apprentices’ immediate destinations post-completion. From this, we have learned that 85 per cent have stayed with their employer and, of these, one-third have already been promoted.

For these reasons and more, PARS has significant potential to integrate into the apprenticeship journey. Reaching our first 100 graduates so quickly represents an early milestone, but the road ahead will require support from the whole sector.

To get involved or find out more, visit www.associationofapprentices.org.uk or www.fecharter.org.uk , or register for our live webinar on 1 October

Building consensus will be crucial to the growth and skills levy’s success

Eight years ago, as a special advisor in Number 10, I took representations – positive and negative – from businesses on the incoming apprenticeship levy we were about to introduce. This week, at Multiverse, we asked 1,405 employers for their perspectives on the levy and how it should change.

We are no closer to consensus. Words like ‘bureaucratic’, ‘limiting’ and ‘outdated’ came up as frequently as ‘clear’, ‘opportunity’ and ‘beneficial’. Perhaps the response that best sums it up? ‘Untapped potential’.

The challenge for the apprenticeship levy was that in addition to the complexities of the policy, its purpose was always multifaceted and up for debate.

The additional wages generated by apprenticeships may have risen by 44 per cent while the graduate premium has fallen, but the initial reduction in starts is easy ammunition for sceptics.

The many indicators of quality improvements should be applauded, but we should look seriously at what it takes to restore apprenticeships at SMEs and in the trades.

In short, this is not a debate that lends itself to easy conclusions.

The definitional challenge is one that the new government should look to solve. Indeed, they already have. Introducing a growth and skills levy is more than just a re-brand. It is a clear and conscious signal that the chief priority for the new policy should be the cause of economic growth.

As a new NFER report revealed this week, the nature of work and business is undergoing a radical transformation. Skills are the means of safeguarding individuals and their employers amid this transformation.

Apprenticeships, driven by the current skills needs of employers and solved through combining work and learning, ought to be the natural solution – if they can be made to work.

Recent polling commissioned by Multiverse and conducted by Public First shows a strong public appetite for making training more flexible. Eighty per cent said they would be more likely to take a course if it could be completed in stages, and 74 per cent preferred courses that could be completed in less than 12 months.

Flexibility alone is not going to solve the growth conundrum

Employers, too, often desire more flexibility. Being able to spend a portion of the growth and skills levy on non-apprenticeship training would support these calls. As would the ability to undertake training in smaller, more manageable chunks. This would make it easier for individuals to upskill or reskill while balancing their other responsibilities.

However, flexibility alone is not going to solve the growth conundrum. It requires clear guardrails and growth-orientated purpose.

The growth and skills levy should make high-quality training accessible to everyone, regardless of location. Like the apprenticeship levy, there should be a national approach to avoid a postcode lottery where some areas receive better support than others.

Many large UK employers already struggle to offer apprenticeship programmes to colleagues in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Adding in further complexity in the English regions would be a step backwards.

To be successful, the system should remain employer-led. Employers are best placed to identify the skills gaps within their organisations and select the training to deliver the greatest return on investment. This approach would mean the skills people develop are closely aligned with the economy’s demands.

The new levy should also guarantee high-quality provision. This means maintaining rigorous standards for training providers so that investment in skills training delivers value for money.

Precise levels of regulation should be appropriate to the courses being provided too. Shorter courses, for example, may not require the same level of inspection and end-point assessment as multi-year apprenticeships, but the presumption should be that quality matters.

Implementing these reforms will not be without challenges. Their success will depend on careful design and execution, with input from employers, workers, and policymakers. And the whole sector will have a role to play in demonstrating where and how learners can benefit from new forms of training.

This moment represents a significant opportunity to reshape skills in the UK and meet the pressures and opportunities fast-moving technologies represent, and an opportunity for the training sector and providers too.

With proactive engagement and optimism about policy change, we can help ensure the skills ecosystem is finally, rightfully seen as the engine room of sustainable, longer-term economic growth.

WorldSkills day 4: Competitions come to an emotional conclusion

UK competitors battling for gold and glory at WorldSkills 2024 have done all they can to secure their place in the history books. 

Competitions in the 27 skills disciplines have each now come to rapturous conclusions. 

Friends, families and Team UK officials spent much of the day running around the vast Eurexpo Exhibition Centre in Lyon to support each competitor as their four-day slog came down to a final 10-second countdown. 

Marion Plant, the chief executive of North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College and chair of WorldSkills UK, Mandy Crawford-Lee, chief executive of UVAC and Nicki Hay, chair of AELP, were spotted among sector big names gallantly battling through the crowds to cheer on Team UK members as each individual competition came to a close. 

Now the 31 members of Team UK, and their fellow 1,400 competitors from around the world, must wait until tomorrow evening’s closing ceremony to find out if they’ve done enough to secure bronze, silver or gold medals. 

Crossing the finish line

Rosie Boddy, aircraft maintenance at WorldSkills Lyon 2024, finishing her competition

22-year-old Rosie Boddy, the UK’s aircraft maintenance competitor, was the first to finish her tournament last night.

She was lucky to have most of Team UK, family, and team leaders gathered round the workshop to celebrate her final moments of WorldSkills as day four entailed many overlaps between skills.

The former apprentice from Coleg Cambria told FE Week after she composed herself that finishing felt “absolutely amazing”.

“It’s been really challenging, it’s been a lot of hard work and it’s been a long process so for it to be finally over feels a little bit insane but I’ve enjoyed every minute,” she said.

When asked what her biggest challenge, she said she wouldn’t pinpoint it on one thing.

“I think obviously competing in front of a big crowd, distraction control, things like that, it’s something we don’t have on this scale at national level,” she said.

But she added competing has built her confidence “like no other.”

“If I’d told myself two years ago that I’d be standing where I am right now, I would not believe me.”

And her favourite moment?

“I’d say that moment just then. It’s bittersweet obviously.”

Among the first to complete today was Lincoln College’s Dior Regan in painting and decorating. 

Regan toiled right up to the last second before an eruption of applause, cheers and tears signalled the end of her competition in Lyon.

In each of these competitive conclusions, the culmination of months, sometimes years, of training and perfecting their craft was emotional to witness for the assembled crowds.

Traversing across the venue to catch the precisely timed conclusions of each competition wasn’t easy. Crowds from each nation gather around their national competitor’s workstation for those final moments, proudly waving flags, sporting mascots and cheering loudly.

One UK official tells me the dramatic final day of WorldSkills isn’t just a highlight of the competition, but a career highlight too.

From aircraft maintenance to hairdressing, cooking to 3D game art, your author can confidently say every member of this Team UK has done themselves and their country proud.

Show us the medals

All that remains is for competition scores to be tallied up and verified before tomorow’s closing ceremony. Our competitors have been closely observed over the last four days, their techniques put to the test and their work scrutinised by independent experts.

Over night, they will be benchmarked against agreed international standards, with the highest scoring competitors called up to the mainstage to be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals at the ceremony tomorrow evening.

Here’s everything you need to know about tomorrow’s all-important closing ceremony.

Former competitors fly out to support

Every training manager, ambassador, expert that I’ve spoken to since covering WorldSkills has been involved in the organisation since competing their skill way back when.

It’s not hard to deduce that WorldSkills fosters a type of camaraderie that cannot be described, unless you’re part of it.

“This stressful environment does bring you together,” said Alex Whitemore, this year’s competitor in CNC milling. Trauma bonding perhaps?

“Yeah, exactly,” he chuckled.

Former competitors stay in touch with each other after their respective competitions. Some, once established in their careers, return as experts or training managers. Once you enter WorldSkills, you’re in it for life.

On day two, I met two former champions on the tram to Eurexpo Lyon who had come to cheer on this year’s participants.

These were former Moulton College student James Boyes, who won gold in cabinet making at the WorldSkills Special Edition in 2022, and Carlisle College alumnus Ross Fiori, who won a medallion of excellence for Team UK in joinery in 2022.

Boyes and Fiori became close after venturing on a road trip together to compete in the special edition in Basel, Switzerland.

Both were on their way to the exhibition centre to have a gander at how Team UK’s cabinetmaker Isaac Bingham and joiner Harry Scolding were getting on.

I also spotted Craig Kennedy, a bronze medallist from 2022 in car painting, hanging around the workshop to see how this year’s competitor Miguel Harvey was doing.

Yesterday, hairdressing contender Charlotte Lloyd said her colleagues at Reds Hair Company were supportive and understanding of her training schedule and reduced work hours.

“They’re all really supportive because they understand what I’m doing,” she said.

Phoebe McLavy, a bronze medallist from WorldSkills Kazan 2019, who has also come out to Lyon to watch had previously told Lloyd to just enjoy herself.

“She said, ‘enjoy yourself. As long as you do your best and you’re happy then there’s nothing else that really matters. Anything else is a bonus.’ I’m going with that mentality, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Stay on top of the latest by following @feweek on Twitter for live updates. You can tweet your support by using the hashtag #TeamUK.

FE Week is the media partner of WorldSkills UK and Team UK.

Adult training axed to avoid court fights, authority admits

Skills training contracts targeted at some of West Yorkshire’s most needy people were ditched last month to “minimise the risk” of legal challenges after a botched procurement process, FE Week has learned.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) took the rare step of abandoning its £7 million adult skills fund (ASF) tender in late August.

The authority, which controls a £67 million devolved adult education budget, has now revealed it will re-run the procurement, with the aim of starting contracts in January, as any potential legal challenges could cause even longer delays.

“This will allow all issues with the previous procurement to be addressed and any loopholes closed,” the authority wrote in a briefing to local politicians seen by FE Week.

“It will also help us to reset the relationship with bidders and minimise the risk of legal challenge.”

Issues with the way the procurement process was run surfaced in June when WYCA decided to re-evaluate bids, claiming that providers had raised concerns about “perceived or potential errors” with its scoring methodology.

However, the results of the second round of evaluation meant two providers who won in the first round were replaced with two who had originally lost out.

WYCA, led by Labour metro mayor Tracy Brabin, said this “inadvertently undermined confidence in the procurement” and meant continuing with the awards, with the “high” risk of delays from legal challenges, would not be “expedient or in the public interest”.

Some providers are also understood to have questioned whether the authority’s rules over bids from separate companies with the same owner were correctly applied.

Providers who spoke to FE Week said they had never experienced procurement evaluations being re-wound or re-run.

Impacting the poorest?

The loss of training is likely to impact some of the region’s most needy people, including the unemployed and low paid.

The adult education budget, now rebranded as the ASF, is currently devolved to 10 mayoral authorities and aims to help adults – particularly those on low salaries – increase their skills and achieve the equivalent of GCSE and A-level qualifications.

Through the fund, unemployed learners would be referred to basic skills courses via return-to-work schemes such as the sector-based work academy programme.

Other training should have helped those in lower-paid jobs gain digital, social care, construction or warehousing skills.

Around £60 million of WYCA’s ASF cash is distributed to colleges and local authorities as grant-funded contractors, while the remainder is dished out to private training providers through tenders.

The region’s largest city, Leeds, is already facing a “capacity crisis” in further education, with a lack of spaces for 16 to 18-year-old students due to a “perfect storm” of a lack of strategic planning, limited capacity and growing numbers of young people.

A WYCA spokesperson said that while the delay to commissioning was “highly regrettable”, the contracts accounted for only 10 per cent of its total provision.

They added: “Agreements held with colleges, local authorities, wider grant holders and our responsiveness contracts – those designed to address the most acute shortages in the regional labour market – remain unaffected.”

The authority said it was “rapidly assessing” options to fill the gap by “flex[ing]” existing contracts, but exact plans are yet to be confirmed.

‘an absolute shower’

The impact of contracts being cancelled at the last minute is likely to impact the business of some providers who had hired staff and started enrolling students.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one provider called the contracting mishap “an absolute shower” while another said many would begin “planning for redundancies”.

WYCA said it had always been explicit that award letters to contractors “did not constitute a contract” and that any work carried out before the contract was awarded was taken “at providers’ own risk”.

Colleges ordered to fill out schools wellbeing survey

The children’s commissioner has used her statutory powers to order every college in England to complete a survey about the wellbeing needs of young people and the services on offer.

Dame Rachel de Souza (pictured) said her survey, which will run until December 20, aims to “better understand the role schools play in children’s development”. It will help to shape her recommendations to the government and has been extended to colleges.

The survey, named “the children’s commissioner’s school survey” will ask whether they provide breakfast clubs, food banks or sexual health clinics, and who pays for such provision.  

It will also ask college leaders to state, to the best of their knowledge, how many of their “pupils” vape or use e-cigarettes.

Leaders will also be asked if they have been unable to provide the required support to students with additional needs, and about mobile phone policies. 

Colleges will be advised to only provide answers to questions that are directly relevant, FE Week understands, as most are schools-related.

‘No legal ramifications for non-response’

The children’s commissioner’s office clarified that colleges that did not participate would be chased up, but would not face legal ramifications.

De Souza insisted the survey was “not a ranking exercise or an accountability measure: it is the best way to build up a proper picture of what’s happening on the ground”. 

“Responses will be analysed carefully and anonymised before publication next year. It isn’t intended to be burdensome, nor will it be a judgement on the quality or content of their response.”

Colleges will be asked if they employ staff such as counsellors, “school nurses”, therapists and educational psychologists, and whether they have one or multiple staff for roles such as designated safeguarding lead and mental health lead.

The survey will check if there is outdoor space, enrichment activities, a nursery, on-site alternative provision, breakfast provision, food banks and “student participation”, such as student councils. It also wants to know who pays for it.

‘Full scale of the challenge’

“If we are to create a system that is as ambitious for children as they are for themselves, we need to know the full scale of the challenges and opportunities school leaders, teachers and support staff face daily,” de Souza said.

Leaders will be asked if there are “barriers” to providing additional support for students, such as parent and carer engagement, funding availability, lack of local services, national policy or staff capacity.

And they will be asked if they can make adjustments for young people with SEND, such as access to counselling, adaptation of resources, mentoring, specific equipment and adapted timetables.

They will also be asked if there are any reasons why they are unable to meet the requirements of an education, health and care plan. Examples include funding not matching need, a lack of specialist staffing or accessible facilities.

Leaders will also have to say how many of their students vape or use e-cigarettes.

College’s out-of-court deal ends legal fight

A troubled FE college has settled a claim over an unpaid £426,000 bill from its former internal auditor, FE Week understands.

Bath College faced legal action from Birmingham-based Icca (Holdings) Ltd over the alleged debt.

But the two parties are understood to have settled for an undisclosed amount days before the dispute was to be heard at Birmingham County Court.

The college confirmed legal proceedings had concluded but refused to confirm its link to the company, or how much it agreed to pay.

However, the college’s annual accounts list Icca Education, Training and Skills Ltd, part of the Icca (Holdings) group, as its internal auditor from 2019 to 2022.

Accounts for the year to July 2023 reveal Bath College bosses judged the company’s chance of success were “not greater than 50 per cent” so they failed to set aside the £426,000.

Icca – classed as an “education support company” in Companies House records – runs several firms including the Finance and Management Business School, KHL Transport Training and Skills College UK.

Icca owner Scott Winter did not respond to requests for comment.

Leadership challenges continue

Bath College has been run on an interim basis by FE Commissioner special adviser Martin Sim since former principal Jayne Davis resigned in February for “personal reasons”.

Her exit came shortly after Ofsted downgraded the college from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.

Bath’s most recent accounts published last year said its Education and Skills Funding Agency rating fell from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’ due to “financial underperformance” that breached the terms of a loan from Barclays bank.

Due to the breach the loan was reclassified to “due in less than one year” which increased net liabilities by £2.5 million.

Had the loan not been reclassified, the college claimed its financial health would have been rated as ‘requires improvement’.

The college’s deficit doubled from £1.1 million to £2.3 million from 2022 to 2023, and its education-specific EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) plunged from 4.28 to -4.1 per cent. The FE Commissioner’s benchmark for a healthy education-specific EBITDA is 6 per cent or more of total income.

Bath College’s deficit was reportedly due to higher operating costs and lower than predicted student numbers.

The college teaches around 8,900 students, including 5,000 adult learners, 2,200 16 to 18 year olds and 650 apprentices.

Mayors in spending panic to beat £2.6bn skills cash deadline

Metro mayors have admitted they are racing to spend millions of pounds on skills training before a £2.6 billion funding scheme ends in March.

The Tories launched the three-year UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2022 to help the economically inactive into work, support businesses, push their levelling-up agenda and improve maths skills through the Multiply programme.

But delays in distributing cash mean some regions are now taking “urgent corrective actions” to spend their funding before contracts finish.

Reports from 10 mayoral authorities – that oversee 43 per cent of England’s £1.6 billion share of the prosperity fund – reveal it has been beset by complexity, cash delivery delays and rule changes.

Authorities also warn the “cliff edge” when the fund’s three years end in March mean key project delivery staff are already looking for new jobs.

Beset by delays

Reports from authorities say the “challenging” three-year spending timeframe was made worse by months of delays in the release of funding.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) said it got its first year’s £17 million payment nine months after the launch in 2022 because the Ministry of Communities, Housing and Local Government (MCHLG) demanded detailed investment strategies it then took months to approve.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which underspent its first two years’ £24 million budget by £4.6 million, said the “complexity” of the government’s timeline and reporting requirements made it difficult to manage.

The GLA, which received a £144 million pot, revealed the MCHLG had admitted the “tight timeframe” was an issue and allowed underspends to be carried over into future years.

Then in 2023 the GLA said the MCHLG took a “late decision” to let each area spend more of its share on people and skills in the scheme’s final year.

It also changed rules to “chivvy” authorities along by withholding 30 per cent of their third-year allocation if they failed to spend enough in the first two years. This new rule was punishing as the final year accounts for around two-thirds of the total allocation.

Spending rush

The West Midlands region was yet to spend £65 million of its £88 million budget in July.

As a result it received £39 million from the government for year three, about 30 per cent less than it was eligible for.

Apparently worried about having to hand funds back to the MCHLG, the region’s new Labour mayor Richard Parker asked his team to take “pro-active mitigating actions to maximise spend” before March.

In a bid to spend an average of £5.5 million per month, Parker told staff to “swiftly” redistribute funding to projects that were performing well.

Meanwhile, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority received £5 million less than it hoped for after underspending in earlier years and mayor Steve Rotheram asked senior officers to move funding around to “maximise delivery”.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority secured its full share for the final year after spending £9 million in the five months up to March this year, but mayor Tracy Brabin has now given permission for staff to move money to more effective projects “at speed”.

Provider concerns

Ian Ross, chief executive of Whitehead-Ross Consulting which has several UK Shared Prosperity Fund contracts, said the short spending timeframe was “not practical” for learners and risked authorities wasting money on “pointless schemes”.

And the Learning and Work Institute told FE Week it feared the budget deadline meant projects would “scale down and lose staff”.

It added: “This is vital employment, learning and skills provision and we need both a long-term plan and to avoid the impending cliff edge in provision.”

How much has been spent?

The MCHLG confirmed only 36 per cent of England’s £157 million allocated in the first year was spent – excluding Multiply, which is overseen by the Department for Education.

The majority of the second year’s £314 million allocation was spent, while figures for the final year are not yet available.

In a letter defending the department’s management of the fund in January 2023, the then-minister for levelling up Jacob Young said interim findings on its success would be published “in 2024”.

What now?

It is not known whether Labour will replace the prosperity fund but concerns have been raised by MPs and the Local Government Association (LGA) in the last week.

Labour MP for Rochester and Strood Lauren Edwards called an adjournment debate on Thursday.

Edwards, who oversaw economic development as Medway Council’s cabinet member for economic development, said despite its problems she and others wanted the fund to continue as it is a “really great scheme” for local authorities.

The LGA said: “Programmes which support the long-term economically inactive require engagement and trust to be built with residents to help them into stable employment.

“The lack of funding certainty can jeopardise this. Providers are likely to see staff leave as contracts end.”