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Yorkshire SEND college fails to make safeguarding progress after third Ofsted visit in four months

Ofsted inspectors have raised the alarm over the safety of learners at a Wakefield SEND college following a full inspection and multiple follow-up monitoring visits.

Following Camphill Wakefield’s full inspection in March 2022, Ofsted inspectors found the specialist college was inadequate overall for its SEND provision, leadership and management, and the quality of education.

Inspectors have since conducted three monitoring visits, the most recent was an unannounced monitoring visit focused on safeguarding on April 26 and 27, which found the college had made insufficient provisions to keep learners safe, particularly during trips outside of the campus.

Lead inspector Jacquie Brown said in her report that while staff complete generic risk assessments for off-site visits, they do not consider individual learners’ needs of health, care and behaviour support needs.

“As a result, they cannot guarantee that learners are safe in these situations,” she said.

Camphill Wakefield offers residential and day provision for learners aged between 16 and 25. The college had 66 learners enrolled as of its last inspection last March.

James Heaton-Jennings, CEO of Camphill Wakefield, told FE Week that the safety of students is its “first priority” and the college “immediately addressed” concerns as soon as inspectors identified key risks.

“This included reconfiguring our safeguarding team with additional members of the SLT. We then triangulated our actions by inviting our host local authority to review our progress, which lead to a positive report,” he said.

Inspectors also found that managers failed to guarantee that information about learners’ allergies is correct, finding some potentially inaccurate information in documents used by staff. The report said that the college has undertaken a full review to address the issue.

Brown added that the college was aware that the residential care staff were not recording safeguarding concerns on online systems consistently, which meant education staff would not always have information on safeguarding concerns that occur in the residential settings.

Camphill Wakefield has recently hired a new head of care, who is currently revising the culture and reporting procedures in residential accommodation.

“However, it is too soon to see the full impact of their actions,” the report added.

Two subcontractors work on the 56-acre campus: Stride Theatre Group and Riding for the Disabled, who deliver programmes on the college site. The college also has a working farm and gardens with greenhouses.

The report that that college leaders “work well” with external health and safety specialists and staff in the farm areas and horse-riding school supervise learners in these areas closely.

Camphill also reviewed their care plans for learners with epilepsy and staff have recently undergone epilepsy training.

The report found most staff have completed mandatory training in safeguarding and the Prevent duty and a number of members have been identified as needing additional safeguarding training, such as the administration of medication.

Heaton-Jennings confirmed that 86 per cent of staff have completed the additional level 3 qualification in principles of safeguarding children, young people and adults.

“Like many colleges, we have experienced disruption and uncertainty over the past few years, but we are very proud of the way in which the staff team have stepped up to rebuild a fantastic resource for our young people,” he concluded.

The two previous monitoring visits found reasonable progress was being made to the quality of teaching given to learners. However, the first visit found learners were not receiving good enough feedback to improve on, and the second visit said that parents and carers were not receiving “appropriate updates” on the progress of learners.

“Too often these staff are occupied with other tasks and are not able to make the calls as often as they should,” the report said.

In 2020, the college won a Natspec award for pathways to employment, where judges praised the college for having an “aspirational” pathway into employment embedded into the curriculum.

Pride is as pride does. LGBTQ+ communities need us to listen and act

Working with the Lifelong Education Institute recently, I was struck by a sentence one of their talented researchers used: “Pride is as pride does”.

Now entering my eighth decade, I’ve been reflecting on the years I’ve lived, work I’ve done, people I’ve met, experiences I’ve had, and the challenges I’ve faced. I have come more and more to appreciate why it is existentially and linguistically important to define our individual identity in words and concepts which are meaningful to us, and which are closely linked to our need to belong.

Hearing from a colleague, who identifies as bisexual, I was reminded of the progress we’ve made towards LGBTQ+ inclusion, but also how far we have left to go.

I’ve also been reminded (as a linguist by background) how much our language evolves and is shaped by our need to determine more finely and describe more accurately the unique and precious experience of life we each encounter.

The way we describe our ‘lived experience’ is much more complicated these days. However, when I was growing up in Moss Side in the mid-1950s, the idea that ‘homosexuality’ was acceptable and that each June we would celebrate Pride Month was unthinkable. A little shared discomfort over new terms and new definitions is a small price to pay for the emancipation of LGBT+ communities.

Pride as we know it today (although sadly not universally or globally) commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in Manhattan. Stemming from the same period, ‘gay’ was originally an abbreviation of ‘good as you’. There is a rich history – still being written – behind our practices and our language about LGBTQ+ inclusion that we can ill afford to forget.

This is one reason why we need to repeat the Pride narrative generation after generation. And this is why we should support the teaching in schools, colleges, universities, training and workplaces of the history and importance of Pride month.

We need to repeat the Pride narrative generation after generation

Let’s not forget that during the Thatcher and Major years (1979-1997), the ‘promotion’ in educational settings of homosexuality as an acceptable way of life was against the law. I know. When I became a FE college principal in 1987 (at the time, the youngest ever at age 34), I could not have admitted that, at the time, I was a woman in a relationship with another woman (even though neither of us defined ourselves a lesbian).

It wasn’t long before a clique of local, male secondary school headteachers were referring clandestinely and in a derogatory manner to me and my two (straight female) deputy principals as ‘the three lesbians’.

They felt professionally threatened, because aside from anything else we were making waves, changing the college culture and learning offer. Young people were choosing FE rather than staying on in school sixth forms, and they were losing funding.

But, really! Is it any wonder that I never came out formally to the sector until I bared all in my article for FE Week in February 2019?

If lifelong learning is to mean anything, then it must mean that adults remain open to learning, whatever the lesson and whoever is teaching it. It was working with young people in my role as chair of the Scouts that I discovered from them that I was a ‘cis woman’. It was they who sensitively explained to me what ‘nonbinary’ means.

Now, as chair of the Lifelong Education Institute, I am blessed to be working with my young colleague, who believes in promoting a shared message of greater love, tolerance and acceptance. I am therefore learning ever more about the experiences of LGBTQ+ people, and the language that is emancipating them.

I’ve learned that the term TERF refers to trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), for whom being a woman should be limited to those who are AFAB (assigned female at birth). They remind me of those three secondary headteachers in the late 1980s.

And I’ve been challenged by my colleague’s mantra, that pride is as pride does. There is no space for complacency. Pride is a name with rich history, and it is an emotion, but it must also be an action, like shouting from the rooftops that we exist and have a right to feel that we belong.

There are many queer young people around and near you. Open your ears to them.

Fund careers advisers directly to ease burden on colleges, DfE told

Ministers should trial direct funding of careers advisers amid fears asking schools and colleges to foot the bill is leading to “significant disparities” in provision, MPs have said.

Colleges should also be made to publish information on the amount of time that leaders in charge of careers provision are able to devote to their role, a report by the Parliamentary education committee recommended.

Although “many changes” to careers advice and guidance over the past decade mean the “right framework is broadly in place”, the report warned of a “lack of a clear overarching strategy and stated outcomes”.

While new legislation enforcing post-16 provider access to school pupils is “an important step in the right direction,” the committee said it was concerned that ministers did not have a system to monitor compliance.

“Simply informing pupils of the options available is not enough to tackle the fundamental bias towards academic routes still seen in many schools” the report said.

Progress towards meeting the Gatsby Foundation’s eight benchmarks for good careers advice has been “slow”, with schools and colleges “only meeting just over half of them on average”.

This is based on self-reporting by colleges, which “means that we do not have a full picture of how many are being achieved”, the committee warned.

Since 2012, schools and colleges have been required to fund their own careers provision from their own budgets.

Research by PWC for Gatsby in 2014 estimated that the cost of meeting all eight benchmarks would range from £38,000 to £76,000 per school and sixth form.

‘Significant disparities’

The report warned the expectation on schools and colleges to pay for services out of their “already stretched budgets” was “causing significant disparities in provision”, with some spending just £2 per student.

The DfE should therefore pilot a programme of funding careers advisers directly through the CEC, the report said, rather than “requiring schools and colleges to buy in this support from their existing budgets”.

The department should also make “one-off developmental funding available to schools and colleges who have the lowest record of achieving the Gatsby benchmarks”.

The report also found that careers leaders – those responsible for ensuring their colleges meet the benchmarks – are “struggling to fulfil their responsibilities effectively due to lack of time amid competing pressures”.

Support for careers provision should also be included in the package available to education investment areas.

Almost half have less than a day per week allocated to their role. The DfE should therefore update its statutory guidance to “suggest an appropriate proportion of time that careers leaders should be given to fulfil their role”.

They should also require schools and colleges to “publish information on the time they have allocated to the role on their website”, and ensure the CEC publishes data from schools and colleges about time leaders have to fulfil their role.

The report also makes a number of other recommendations, summarised as follows…

Ensure Ofsted looks at schools’ achievement of the benchmarks
Make reporting on progress against the benchmarks compulsory for schools and colleges
Extend coverage of careers hubs to all schools and colleges by the end of 2024
Make the National Careers Service appropriate for under-18s or provide an alternative
Consult on how to incorporate careers education into different levels of teacher training and development
Provide more teachers with “experience of modern workplaces across a range of sectors”
Consult on whether any administrative barriers to providing work experience can be removed or lightened
Create a ‘national platform’ for work experience placements
Track compliance against the Baker Clause and ensure ‘appropriate action’ is taken against non-compliance
Collect and publish data on the proportion of SENCOs who have undertaken careers training and set out steps to train them all

WorldSkills UK rolls out Centre of Excellence after three-year pilot

WorldSkills UK is opening its Centre of Excellence programme to all UK colleges, training providers and higher education institutions for the first time.

This follows a three-year pilot of the programme, which WorldSkills UK developed in partnership with awarding body NCFE, which involved 46 colleges and two independent training providers.

WorldSkills UK said that more than 140,000 young people and nearly 5,000 educators can now access support and development opportunities through the programme for a further three-year period.

Members of the Centre of Excellence will have access to free “world-class” teacher training, a community for thought leadership to influence policy and practice, and a hub for innovation known as the Network for Innovation.

Membership is free.

WorldSkills UK interim chief executive Ben Blackledge said the programme “is already delivering results for educators and young people, inspiring learners at all abilities to achieve their own level of excellence.”

“We want to build on that success and ensure we are delivering for employers too. That is why this next stage of the Centre of Excellence will have a strong focus on innovation, creating opportunities for business and education to come together to achieve the shared ambition of a truly world-class technical education system.

“In key growth sectors covering digital, net zero and advanced manufacturing, these networks will support the development and delivery of skills specific, industry-led and internationally benchmarked training. Providing the sector access to insights and learning from across the global WorldSkills network.”

The programme was piloted to 48 organisations over the last three years. Two of those were ITPs, while the rest were FE colleges (see list below). Those 48 organisations will remain registered to the programme as it rolls out to a wider audience.

Organisations interested in the project can register here.

NCFE chief executive David Gallagher said the two organisations are “committed to helping to create a fairer and more inclusive society through the delivery of exceptional technical education.”

“If we are to achieve this, we believe that our educators need greater access to world-class teacher training, interactive networks, and international insights. That’s how we can unlock their potential, so they are able to then deliver the highest quality education and training to our workforce of the future.”

Software company Autodesk and the Skills and Education Group are now also funding the Centre for Excellence alongside NCFE.

Scott Forbes, a chief operating officer at the Skills and Education Group, said: “In order to achieve a world-class skills system and to ensure our students are industry-ready – armed with the technical know-how employers need – we must invest in our teachers.

“We are therefore delighted to be championing the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence as it enters its next phase.”

Perkins pledges additional spending on SME apprenticeships

The Labour Party will commit additional spending for a ringfenced budget for apprenticeships in small businesses, the shadow skills minister has confirmed.

Toby Perkins told the Association of Employment and Learning Providers national conference in London this morning that an “additional spending commitment” had been agreed with the shadow treasury team to fund apprenticeships in small and medium-sized businesses.

The opposition announced plans to replace the apprenticeship levy with a skills and growth levy at its annual party conference last September.

Should it win the next general election, levy-paying employers will be able to spend up to 50 per cent of their contribution on non-apprenticeship courses. At least 50 per cent would need to be spent on apprenticeships.

With employers therefore likely to spend more of their levy contributions, sector and provider leaders have been concerned that Labour’s plans would leave no funding for apprenticeships in small and medium-sized businesses, which are currently funded from unused levy funds.

“There will be no reduction in the amount of funding available to fund non-levy payers’ apprenticeship funding” Toby Perkins, Labour’s shadow skills minister, said today.

“One of the big failures of the apprenticeship levy and the apprenticeship reforms more generally has been the reduction in apprenticeships in SMEs. Both the uncertainty of funding and the complexity of bureaucracy are barriers that prevent SMEs from taking on apprentices,” Perkins said.

“So I repeat, if we’re successful in helping levy payers spend more of their levy, this will not reduce the budget set for SME apprenticeships.”

Pressed from the conference floor by Crawford Knott, managing director of Hawk Training, about safeguarding SME apprenticeship spending, Perkins said that supporting levy payers to use more of their levy will mean “an additional spending commitment” adding, “they’re tough to get out of our shadow treasury team.”

Elsewhere in his speech, Perkins said that funding for the flexible non-apprenticeships side of the skills and growth levy should be spent on courses that benefit “the employability of the learner in general, not just to their usefulness to their current employer.”

Perkins reiterated Labour’s plans to launch Skills England, a new body which would oversee the new levy and decide what non-apprenticeship courses employers could spend their levy funding on.

The shadow minister would not be drawn on whether Skills England would replace the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, but told delegates: “We are exploring what the role of these different organisations will be.”

We need a visible culture of equity and inclusion to root out racism

The Student Commission on Racial Justice will soon publish its 2023 Manifesto for Action. Over five weeks, its commissioners will set out its five key priorities and recommendations exclusively for FE Week.

I’m 19, I study performing arts at college, and I’ve experienced racism since primary school. I remember being verbally abused by grown White men who called me racist slurs. Since then I’ve experienced microaggressions and other racially motivated behaviours, not just to me but to friends and family. These sorts of behaviours are not acceptable, and education must do more to be part of the solution.

One of the key areas of investigation for the Student Commission on Racial Justice was a crucial aspect of college life: events, social life, and college culture. Our recommendation is a simple one: Celebrate diversity and normalise racial justice conversations.

But just telling you how to improve the culture within colleges doesn’t matter without understanding why it is important, especially for minority students. The truth is that colleges throughout lack in cultural education. Despite living in a diverse country, there is poor cultural visibility, making minority students feel that their voices do not matter. This same lack of cultural and racial visibility leads to harmful and uneducated mindsets.

The cultural life of a college affects us all. It forms a sort of invisible curriculum, and what that curriculum is teaching many minority students is that they are not safe, that they do not matter, and that perpetrators’ lack of education is an excuse for their racist words and actions.

Too many of us have experienced verbal or physical abuse within education settings, from students and staff. We are victims of stereotypes and worse, which add up to a common experience of living in a discriminatory culture.

One ongoing refrain is that things are “not as bad” as they were fifty years ago. Fine, but this tells us more about how bad things were then than it does about how good they are now. And besides, we didn’t experience it. This is the baseline from which we are striving for improvement.

Our society is becoming more culturally and racially diverse, but our understanding and respect is not keeping up. The majority find it to be a “difficult conversation”, and all of this goes back to education. Educating people in their formative years about different cultures and racial backgrounds fosters more understanding, and a willingness to tackle that difficult conversation. We found that students want more opportunities to do this, as well as more visibility for their own cultures.

We also found that education institutions need to do more to eliminate racist behaviours. On my performing arts course, we often learn about different cultures and perform stories that represent many different walks of life. We have deep conversations about identity, society and culture. This is not a common enough experience. In fact, only 50 per cent of students surveyed by our commission said staff encouraged them to talk about major events related to race in the news. This should be a given, no matter what you study.

Improving college culture isn’t restricted to the classroom. We recommend targeting your events and activities also. You could create a calendar of significant cultural events that reflect the diversity of modern-day Britain, and involve your students in the design and delivery.

You could hold regular, visible awareness campaigns on racial justice issues, exploring topics from current affairs to the impact of microaggressions. Black History Month is a good start, but remember that celebrating Britain’s diversity is everyday work.

Having said that, celebration days work. My personal favourite recommendation is to establish a culture day, which many students reported as a positive part of their college experience. A culture day creates a space for students to celebrate their own cultures and those of their peers. At my college, students help to organise it. We attend in clothing that represents our cultures, wave our many flags, and enjoy food and music from around the world.

In the end, there is nothing invisible about racism – only what we choose not to see. To create a genuinely inclusive society, we have to choose to see it, and each other.

Capita loses out on £233m Teachers’ Pension Scheme contract to Indian IT firm

Outsourcing company Capita has lost its government contract to administer the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) after 27 years.

A contract notice published by the Department for Education (DfE) on Friday shows Indian IT company Tata Consultancy Services will now administer the scheme under a 10-year, £233 million contract.

It comes despite Capita, which recently withdrew from delivering the government’s flagship teacher training and development programme to teachers, tendering to regain the contract.

DfE said it would “transition” the scheme to Tata over a two-year period from this October, with the new contract beginning in October 2025.

Capita took over the administration of teachers’ pensions in 1996 and was reappointed in 2011 under an £80 million contract.

A three-year £32 million extension was handed to the company in 2018. In 2021, it received a further four-year extension worth £60 million.

The same year, the DfE published a contract notice for the administration of the TPS. It is not yet clear why the process to award the contract took two years.

Retender follows failures in pension administration

FE Week’s sister publication Schools Week revealed in 2020 that teachers’ pensions could be tens of thousands of pounds short because of administrative failures.

The investigation found some teachers were missing up to 80 per cent of their pensionable service, finding gaps from almost 30 years ago.

Others struggled to find information from schools and colleges that had closed, with the growth of academy rebrokers said to increase the “risk of errors” in the system.

At the time, DfE admitted it had no idea how big the problem was as it did not record how many corrections were made.

The TPS is managed by the department and administered under contract by a supplier.

Capita confirmed that it had bid to continue delivering the scheme.

Last month, however, Schools Week exclusively reported that it would cease to provide early career framework (ECF) courses starting from September after deciding not to continue.

The firm, which is currently one of six founding providers overseeing the rollout of the national scheme, declined to comment on why it made the decision.

But figures from Ofsted inspections in the ECF’s first year show Capita had much lower take-up of its training course compared to the five other providers.

New contract will provide more ‘automated’ service to teachers

Capita oversees several schemes on behalf of the department, including most recently a flexible working programme.

It also runs the SATs series in schools, which ran into several problems last year.

TPS is one of the largest pension schemes in the country. Tata already administers the government’s workplace pension scheme Nest.

In a statement, Tata’s president for financial products and platforms, Vivekanand Ramgopal said it was “delighted” to partner with the DfE to “digitally transform” the administration of the TPS.

“Enhanced customer service has been the cornerstone of our platform’s value proposition to clients in the UK pensions industry,” he added.

The DfE said the new contract would “provide a more automated, digitalised and personalised service to our members and employers”.

FE Week asked it to expand on how this would be delivered. Capita has also been contacted for comment.

College principal to succeed Birbalsingh as social mobility chair

A college principal has been picked by government as its preferred candidate to take over from Katharine Birbalsingh as chair of the Social Mobility Commission.

Alun Francis, outgoing principal of Oldham College, has been filling in as interim chair since January. The former deputy chair has been overseeing the State of the Nation report, which aims to cement the commission’s shift from focusing solely on talented youngsters moving from the “bottom” to the “top” social mobility rungs.

“The Commission has been working hard for two years to build a solid foundation for some new thinking about the focus and priorities of policy,” Francis said.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to bring this work to fruition. I especially hope to draw on my experience of working in further education, and my knowledge and understanding of so-called ‘left behind’ people and places, to make a positive contribution.”

Birbalsingh quit earlier this year saying her controversial opinions “put the commission in jeopardy” and it is doing “more harm than good”.

Francis’ appointment will be subject to a pre-appointment hearing with the House of Commons women and equalities select committee.

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said Francis had “demonstrated the knowledge, skills and expertise which are necessary to lead the Social Mobility Commission, maintaining the organisation’s position as a champion of social mobility across the UK.”

Baroness Stowell, an FE college alumna from the Midlands who has led the House of Lords, has also been appointed a commissioner on the board.

She would provide “further insight and understanding to the already diverse and accomplished SMC board”, Badenoch added.

The commission is expected to publish its final State of the Nation report later this year.

Exceptional funding review: Care apprenticeships boosted by a third

Two popular adult care apprenticeships have received a 33 per cent funding uplift this week, but training providers have warned that won’t be enough to keep up with rising costs.

Skill minister Robert Halfon revealed the long-awaited outcome of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s exceptional funding band review (which has been beset with delays) at this week’s Association of Employment and Learning Providers national conference in London.

Announcing funding increases for ten apprenticeships standards, Halfon said: “We know that inflation is hurting our whole economy, and I know this is putting pressure on you as you deliver high-quality training. It is affecting the costs of energy, materials, food, and tutor salaries.

“We are alive to the cost pressures you are facing to deliver high-quality apprenticeships, and I hope I’ve shown we will take action to support you,” he said.

Twenty apprenticeships were initially in scope for funding uplifts through the exceptional review when it was finally launched in January, having been originally announced last November. IfATE then passed its own planned end date for the review. It was supposed to have concluded in May.

AELP said lessons must be learned over the process.

Simon Ashworth, director of policy, said “The increase in adult care level 2 and level 3 by a third is most welcome. However, there are still lessons that must be taken from this process. It has simply taken far too long to get an outcome to a process that was meant to enable a speedy decision to be taken against the backdrop of unprecedented inflation rates.”

In March it was revealed that 10 of the twenty apprenticeships were opted out of the review by their employer-led trailblazer groups who instead wanted a full review including content, funding and assessment.

One of those that had opted out was the level 3 heavy vehicle service and maintenance technician apprenticeship. However, that apprenticeship, alongside the level 2 adult care worker and level 3 lead adult care worker, received one of the largest funding increases this week.

From Monday, when the announcement was made, funding for heavy vehicle apprentices increased from £15,000 to £20,000 and the two adult care standards increased from £3,000 to £4,000.

Apprenticeships for production chefs, senior production chefs and commis chefs were increased by one funding band. As were other popular apprenticeships, such as the level 2 engineering operative, level 3 motor vehicle and maintenance technician, and the level 2 large goods vehicle driver.

IfATE chief executive, Jennifer Coupland, said while the funding uplifts “should have a positive impact on providers and learners” she was “sorry the process has taken longer than anyone would have hoped for.”

It was also revealed that trailblazer groups for two of the remaining ten standards have opted out entirely because “they decided they didn’t need funding” according to Coupland.

Those are the level 2 maritime mechanical and electrical mechanic apprenticeship and the level 2 autocare technician, both funded at £12,000.

HGV apprenticeships funding row

Heavy vehicle service and maintenance was a surprise entry, considering it had been removed by its employer trailblazer group from the exceptional review in favour of a normal review.

An IfATE spokesperson told FE Week that this apprenticeship had completed a full standard review “at pace” alongside the other ten standards.

“This sector literally keeps our economy moving. It is right that we mitigate the significant cost increases it is facing, and recognise the critical contribution it makes to productivity,” Halfon said.

However, one training provider said it was “hugely disappointed” that the apprenticeship didn’t receive a larger increase to account for the standard being subjected to under-funding “by mistake” for the last four years.

Sue Pittock, chief executive of Remit Training, told FE Week that the funding band should be £26,000, similar to other advanced engineering apprenticeships, to run “a quality HGV programme safely”.

Pittcok also took aim at the minister’s claim that funding for that apprenticeship was increasing by 33 per cent.

“The funding band for HGV was in fact £18,000 back in 2010, but was reduced to £15,000 in 2019, based on an error which IfATE acknowledge it made. In reality, at £20,000, we are behind where were back in 2010 once you add EPA costs and inflation.

“Things have changed materially in the 13 years since 2010 and our costs of delivery have increased exponentially,” Pittock said.

An IfATE spokesperson said that the organisation is “satisfied that its published processes were followed at all times and the decision to reduce the funding of HGV tech in 2019 to £15,000 was based on the evidence presented.”

However, in 2022, the spokesperson added, IfATE “became aware some of the information put forward in 2019 could have been inaccurate.”

“The most appropriate response was to re-run the funding band process using refreshed evidence, which has now been concluded,” they added.

Time to care

Inadequate funding for adult care apprenticeships has long been criticised by the health and training sectors. Several training providers that have specialised in care training have gone bust in recent times, notably Qube Learning, Quest Vocational Training, and GP Strategies Training

News of the £1000 funding increase this week was welcomed by the sector, but some have said it is still not enough.

Ian Bamford, chief operating officer at Paragon Skills and an AELP board member, told FE Week the adult care uplift was “really positive for the sector” but suggested a further increase to £5,000 was needed.

“We’ve had to increase staff salaries, so we’re now having to pay probably in the region of £28-£30,000 for an adult care tutor. A year to 18 months ago, that was £24-25,000, and we’ve had to swallow that cost.

“We’re also looking for a more digitally rich and innovative curriculum. On £3,000 you just can’t do that. So, this [uplift] allows us to be able to put investment in our programmes,” Bamford said.

Bamford said he believed there are discussions about a further review for a new care apprenticeship standard being pitched at a £5,000 funding band, “which is where it needs to be.”

Another large training provider in the care training sector, Lifetime Training, said the increase was “a step in the right direction.”

Matt Robinson, Lifetime’s commercial director, told FE Week that the “increased funding bands will greatly benefit our apprenticeships, allowing us to invest in delivering high-quality programmes despite mounting inflationary cost pressures”.