The specialist FE sector should have its own clear ministerial brief

Whenever the election takes place, it is essential that the next government take a more coordinated approach to specialist FE. Clear lines of responsibility are needed to truly support young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Specialist FE colleges play a vital role within the wider FE and Skills sector for 16-25 year-olds with complex needs. But they are often overlooked because of a disconnect between responsibility for SEND, which lies with the minister for children, families and wellbeing, and responsibility for FE, overseen by the minister for skills, further and higher education.

The SEND and alternative provision improvement plan pledged better integration of specialist colleges with FE and SEND policies. But meaningful steps have not yet been taken.

As a result, there is poor coordination and policy fragmentation for SEND in FE. The left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. Schools dominate SEND policy and FE is often overlooked. Local authority schools forums make decisions on high needs budgets, and according to research by Special Needs Jungle high needs provision capital allocations will create just 160 places in FE – less than on per cent of the 20,000 new specialist places being created.

Meanwhile, there is a similar lack of consideration of SEND within FE policy. The recent change to the condition of funding rules demonstrate this with a one-size-fits-all approach that overlooks diverse and complex learning needs.

In a survey of 46 Natspec colleges, 91 per cent said that the new minimum teaching hours would have a negative impact on some or all of their students who are studying qualifications. Nearly 81 per cent said that the requirement for “stand-alone, whole-class, in-person teaching” would have a negative impact due to the importance of a person-centred approach, small groups and 1:1 interventions.

Overcoming neglect requires a unified strategy 

Such neglect of SEND within FE policy has also resulted in underfunding. Despite being entirely state-funded, specialist colleges are not in scope for FE capital funds at all, and receive an average of just £40,000 annually for all their capital needs – a drop in the ocean. They depend on donations, fundraising and reserves to maintain and repair aging buildings.

Failing to co-ordinate across briefs leads to inefficiencies, limited accountability and policy fragmentation. Specialist colleges are under-valued and fall between two stools, with each Department for Education (DfE) minister wrongly presuming the other is primarily responsible for SEND in FE.

Neither the two ministers nor their officials offer any clear leadership, and they do not appear to be working actively together to ensure a joined-up policy for the sector. We often find ourselves signposted to different teams, each with a limited understanding of either FE and Skills, or SEND.

Recent discussions with Robert Halfon indicate ministers are beginning to recognise the issue. The Labour Party has also shown a promising commitment to a ‘joined up’ approach to specialist FE. Seema Malhotra MP, the shadow minister for skills spoke at Natspec’s 2024 manifesto launch, also attended by Helen Hayes MP, the shadow minister for children and early years.

However, we need more than talk. Overcoming the neglect of specialist FE requires a unified strategy.

Specialist FE providers should be formally, firmly and overtly placed within the minister for skills and FE’s brief. That minister should be the main point of contact for specialist FE and also be responsible for ensuring that the minister for children, families and wellbeing considers the needs of FE providers within 0-25 SEND policy. No more being passed from pillar to post. 

In addition, there should be regular joint meetings between the specialist FE sector and both ministers. They should mandate their two DfE teams to collaborate, ensuring that no FE policy is introduced without consideration of learners with SEND, and no SEND policy is introduced without consideration of FE, including specialist provision.

An inclusive, bold strategy is overdue. Allocating responsibility, with methods of collaboration across ministerial briefs baked in, is essential – not only to support the sector but to support the government’s own goals of reducing the disability employment gap and encouraging economic growth.

The next government must actively champion specialist FE with clear, dedicated leadership and accountability so that specialist FE no longer falls through the cracks.

City and Guilds fined £200k for regulatory breaches

An awarding giant has been fined £200,000 for repeated “errors” in its exam materials and failing in its duty to notify regulators of problems in good time.

In a notice published this morning, exam regulator Ofqual said an investigation into City and Guilds last year uncovered a series of errors with its assessments.

The regulator looked at 75 incidents between April 2022 and May 2023 and found that the awarding body had failed to quickly report some issues, with delays of six months or more in some cases.

Awarding organisations are required to tell Ofqual about incidents which may have an adverse effect on the delivery of qualifications or assessments under their conditions of registration with the regulator. Failure to do so is considered a breach.

Overall, Ofqual found 28 errors with exam papers and online examination materials, 16 issues with delivering the exams and 13 issues with results or certificates issued to learners.

A “significant aggravating factor” for Ofqual was that many of the errors related to issues City and Guilds promised to fix three years ago after admitting “delivery failures” in its animal management qualifications in 2018/19.

Ofqual said an action plan agreed after those failures was “not successful” in preventing the more recent errors, which were “similar in nature”.

The regulator said: “There are indications that City & Guilds did not effectively review its approach to the development, delivery, and award of qualifications when producing the action plan in 2019 and since.”

Third fine for the awarding giant

The £200,000 fine is the third and largest City and Guilds has received from the exam regulator.

It has also agreed to cover Ofqual’s “reasonable” legal costs, which are yet to be confirmed.

Following City and Guilds’ 2018/19 delivery failures, Ofqual issued a £50,000 fine and asked it to pay £8,558 in legal costs.

Ofqual issued its first-ever financial penalty – a £38,000 fine plus £9,000 in legal costs – to the awarding body in 2016 over the late issuing of 22,000 results.

An additional aggravating factor was that each of the previous fines for regulatory failures included a “failure to promptly notify Ofqual of relevant events”, the notice said.

Over 20 conditions of recognition, rules exam boards must follow, were found to have been breached by City and Guilds.

Mitigation accepted by enforcement committee

In mitigation, the regulator accepted that City and Guilds developed its 2019 action plan in “good faith”, even if it was not based on a “sufficiently deep root cause analysis”.

The notice said: “In each incident, City and Guilds has acted with integrity and with the interests of the learners at the forefront ensuring that thorough incident management has been implemented to minimise the effect on learners.”

Ofqual’s enforcement committee agreed that the length of time the issues have occurred is “in part due to the impact of the pandemic”, which diverted most of the awarding body’s resources towards “alternative assessment and certification models”.

City and Guilds has since put in place a £1 million “awarding organisation transformation programme” as well as “short-term improvement actions” in the last 18 months.

Key changes to its operations reportedly include a new responsible officer, strengthened governance, new heads of assessment and development, investment in specialist software and a new quality management strategy.

Ofqual also recognised that in the last two years of spring and summer exams there have been “very limited issues” with its results.

Ian Bauckham, chief regulator at Ofqual, said: “City and Guilds have co-operated from the beginning and their latest improvement plan promises to be strong. An improved approach, along with the fine, should allow everyone to draw a line under these issues and go forward with a renewed sense of confidence.”

A spokesperson for City and Guilds said it is pleased to successfully issue around 650,000 qualification results every year in England.

They added: “Whilst the vast majority of our qualifications are taken and awarded each year without issue, we are sorry that in the past some of our assessment materials and operational processes have fallen short.

“We accept Ofqual’s finding that there were errors in some cases dating back to 2018.

“Although we sought to mitigate these, we recognise that the steps we took – though undertaken in good faith and accepted by Ofqual – were not sufficiently effective in addressing the issues which had arisen.

“The adjustments needed to our operations were affected by the later COVID-19 pandemic which slowed progress in our ability to implement actions as fully as we would have hoped.”

Neurodiversity in the workplace will stall without support from FE

Young learners are contending with a range of challenges and one area that is often overlooked is how neurodiversity can be better supported as people train and enter the workplace. Diversity and inclusion are more than just buzzwords; they are essential components of success.

However, the City & Guilds Foundation’s Neurodiversity Index 2024 shows that neurodiversity is still not given the attention it deserves. Whether learners and younger workers have been diagnosed with ADHD, are on the autism spectrum or have a learning disability, neurodivergent people face significant challenges entering the workforce and thriving in the workplace when they do.

According to this new piece of research, half of neurodivergent employees in the workplace have missed work due to a lack of support for the challenges they face with their condition. This is the workplace that young people across training providers and colleges when they leave their educational settings.

The report also shows that 36 per cent of neurodivergent employees have received no guidance or support in their work environment while 20 per cent are waiting for adjustments to be put into place. Understandably, this exacerbates feelings of isolation and hinders productivity.

Most concerning of all, the survey shows that only 49 per cent of employers say that disability and inclusion policies are important to them, down from 53 per cent in the Neurodiversity Index 2023. These statistics are a sobering reminder of the obstacles faced by those who aren’t neurotypical, and quite often these obstacles don’t start when someone enters work but much earlier in their lives.

The rise in diagnoses of neurodivergence, especially among young people, in recent years further emphasises the urgency of creating inclusive workplaces for the future. For instance, between 1998 and 2018, the UK saw a staggering 787 per cent increase in diagnoses of autism, while another study shows a 20-fold increase in diagnoses of ADHD between 2000 and 2018.

Embracing neurodiversity is a moral and strategic imperative

With such a substantial rise, we must adapt to support cohorts of young people who will be entering the workplace. Their greater representation is inevitable, and they need to be supported to offer their full potential. This means tackling practices that perpetuate the exclusion of neurodivergent individuals, but also empowering them to make the transition from education to the world of work and to advocate for themselves with their future employers.

While our report focuses on actionable steps that businesses can take to foster neuroinclusive environments, there are learnings too for those that are nurturing our young people as they prepare for work. This includes:

  • Rolling out mandatory neuro-inclusion training to support tutors, trainers and staff not only to increase their knowledge and awareness but also to make necessary adaptations where required
  • Adopting ‘Neurodiversity Champions’ who can model best practice and provide a first port of call for young people who are seeking advice
  • Encouraging young people to look for organisations that adopt inclusive practices during the hiring process, for example those that make job descriptions accessible or provide questions before an interview to allow for preparation
  • Ensuring that physical, technological, and communication accommodations are in place to support all learners to succeed.

Embracing neurodiversity isn’t just a moral imperative, it’s also a strategic one. By tapping into the unique strengths and perspectives of neurodivergent individuals, businesses stand to gain a competitive edge.

Many neurodivergent individuals possess highly valued attributes such as enhanced creativity and ‘thinking outside of the box’ as well as heightened analytical and problem-solving skills—qualities that are particularly sought after in future-facing growth industries like tech.

As has been written in these pages before, further education is ideally placed not only to empower neurodivergent learners but also to work with partners in the business community to advocate for and support the development of more inclusive workplaces. And of course, colleges and training providers are employers too, who can model this important work.

As we strive to build more inclusive societies, let us remember that diversity extends beyond what meets the eye. By embracing neurodiversity, we create environments where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Read the full City & Guilds Neurodiversity Index Report 2024 here

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 456

Kersty Ellis

Principal, Writtle College

Start date: March 2024

Previous Job: Director of Further Education, Writtle University College

Interesting fact: Kersty is a registered veterinary nurse and absolutely adores cats. Once on a holiday in Greece, Kersty found a poorly kitten at the hotel and arranged veterinary care. The cat arrived at Gatwick a month later and now lives a life of luxury with Kersty’s other cats.

Chris Stoker-Jones

Director of Business Services, Direct Skills Group

Start date: March 2024

Previous Job: Client Engagement and Experience Director, Learn Plus Us

Interesting fact: Chris has a passion for football & graphic design and has set up a business combining the two and providing photo shoots and professional matchday graphics for North East grassroots sports teams.

DfE snatches £1.5m from popular FE leadership and governance scheme

The Department for Education is slashing a near-£10 million popular programme aimed at strengthening leadership and governance in further education, FE Week understands.

Last year, the Education and Training Foundation was awarded a £9.55 million two-year contract to deliver continuous professional development (CPD) to around 5,500 people.

The much sought-after programme drew in over 4,000 leaders and governors just in its first year.

But the DfE, which is on a money-saving venture, is planning to reduce the value of the contract by £1.5 million and scale back the programme offer ahead of the final year.

Experts warned last year that nonprotected government budgets are at risk of cuts after chancellor Jeremy Hunt told all departments to “redouble efforts to find savings”.

The DfE just this week ditched a school governor recruitment scheme, slashed subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses, and scaled back funding for national professional qualifications.

Value for taxpayers’ money?

The ETF had already been running a CPD programme for FE governors and leaders with other sector bodies since its launch in 2013, but the January 2021 skills for jobs white paper outlined that the government would “build upon” the ETF’s offer.

The organisation won the £9.55 million contract in 2023, which involves 30 programmes for students, professionals, and governors across FE through online, face-to-face and hybrid sessions.

DfE said at the time that it was targeting more than 5,500 people in leadership and governance roles from the contract, which ends in March 2025.

Following the first year, DfE and the ETF claimed to be conducting a “regular review” of the contract to ensure “value for taxpayers’ money”.

Dr. Katerina Kolyva, chief executive at the ETF, told FE Week that the review is to ensure “the offer remains holistic and joined up”.

An ETF spokesperson said they were “not in a position” to specify what parts of the programme will change in year two.

“Contract reviews are not unusual, with contracts being explored across many other sectors and industries during the current economic climate,” they said.

“ETF and the DfE recognise that together we have made great progress in the first year of the leadership and governance (L&G) contract, supporting leaders and governors with their career development.”

The spokesperson added: “We are unable to comment on [the total contract value] until the review is completed. Our priority is mitigating any impact potential changes may have on the sector and those individuals whose ongoing career development we remain committed to support.”

Additionally, through the contract, the ETF commissioned several delivery partners such as the Saïd Business School, which runs a CEO programme to support chief executives and college principals through face-to-face sessions located at the University of Oxford.

Plus, the Association of Colleges was commissioned to develop and run the Governance Development Programme for college governors through a series of online modules.

Other delivery partners include the Institute of Directors, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, and FE Associates.

Kolyva said: “Before the start of year two, we have been working together to ensure that the offer remains holistic and joined up, and that it continues to support leaders and governors with their continuous professional development. We have explored new opportunities to do things differently; to be innovative, explore new ways of delivery and using new technologies.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “We are confident that our updates will continue to support FE leaders and governors with everything they need for their continuous professional development. This work is part of our regular review of our contracts to ensure we’re meeting our obligations, the needs of the sector, and value for taxpayers’ money.”

Mayors’ use of AEB powers ‘disappointing’, says ex No 10 adviser

England’s combined authority mayors need to “step up” and do more with their devolved skills powers, a former Number 10 policy adviser has said.

Baroness Alison Wolf will appear alongside Sir Michael Barber, who until recently advised DfE and the Treasury on skills policy implementation, on the first episode of the new series of the Let’s Go Further podcast next week.

The two public policy experts will give their insider perspectives on how further education and skills is perceived in Whitehall, and what reforms the next government should prioritise.

Wolf will speak of disappointment at how combined authority mayors in England don’t appear to have made much use of their devolved powers on adult education.

“I just am really disappointed by how few seem to me to have done anything more than essentially just carry over the quite restrictive ‘pot here, pot there’ regime which they’ve inherited from DfE,” Wolf will say.

With the introduction of degree apprenticeships, the lifelong learning entitlement and more employer-led local skills plans, Barber will make the case for a single regulator for tertiary-level education.

“I would like to see, whoever the next government is, a single regulator for post-18 education looking more consistently at the emerging range of options than we’re able to do with the current system,” he will say.

Wolf will also explain how consistent calls from businesses for apprenticeship levy reform were batted away by the Treasury.

“What you mostly got in Number 10 was a combination of businesses lobbying to be allowed to do whatever they want to with the money and Treasury going ‘this is a tax, get off our lawn’.”

Both guests will set out what they believe should be the next government’s priorities for FE and skills. Barber will argue for “significant investment” so England can be “the leading provider of skills to the 21st-century workforce in the world”.

For Wolf, her top priority is “to build on the success of the bootcamps” and “a much larger proportion of college activity focussed on locally driven, locally relevant skills provision”.

Wolf and Barber will appear on episode 1 of the new series of the Let’s Go Further podcast, produced by the Skills and Education Group and guest-hosted by FE Week editor Shane Chowen, available to download from all major podcast platforms on March 26.

IfATE plans staff cuts after DfE orders cost-saving measures

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is stripping back its workforce after being ordered to find savings by the Department for Education.

Staff costs at the quango ballooned from £14.4 million in 2020-21 to £21.5 million in 2022-23 as additional responsibilities were handed to the institute through the skills and post-16 education act.

Over that period the institute’s hiring spree led to its average full-time equivalent staff figure growing from 200 to 298.

But FE Week understands IfATE is now looking to downsize with a voluntary exit scheme opened to all staff.

The institute confirmed it was embarking on a “reorganisation in line with wider civil service efficiency savings”.

IfATE would not say how many posts it is looking to cut or how much it is aiming to reduce its staff costs by.

The DfE was tight-lipped about the reasons behind the instruction. It declined to comment on whether IfATE’s annual budget, which totals £32.7 million in 2023-24, would be reduced or whether any other DfE-sponsored agencies were also told to find savings.

A spokesperson for the institute said: “IfATE has a duty to deliver value for money for taxpayers, so regularly makes sure we are operating as efficiently as possible.

“Our work across occupational maps, apprenticeships, T Levels, higher technical qualifications, and post-16 qualifications remains unchanged, as does our passion for shaping skills training on behalf of employers.”

IfATE restructure follows ESFA clear out

Launched in 2017 to spearhead the government’s apprenticeship reforms, the then-known Institute for Apprenticeships has seen its responsibilities and workforce expand over the past seven years.

“Technical Education” was added to the quango’s name and brief in 2019 as the authority also took over the content of T Levels and procurement for awarding organisations.

The institute had around 80 full-time staff in its first year of operation, a figure which now sits at around 300.

IfATE was recently handed new “powers” as set out in the FE white paper and skills bill, such as defining and approving new categories of technical qualifications as well as reviewing those already on offer and withdrawing their approval where they are no longer performing as expected.

The institute’s restructure follows the Education and Skills Funding Agency halving its staff headcount last year after the Department for Education approved Sir David Bell’s recommendation to strip the agency of its policy responsibilities in 2022.

The ESFA’s annual report published in July 2023 showed its average headcount stood at 829 in the last financial year, down from 1,779 in 2021-22. This brought total staffing costs down from £104 million to £49 million. Most staff were however moved into the DfE.

FE Week is not aware of any other DfE sponsored agencies that are being told to find savings by DfE currently.

Separately, Ofsted, a non-ministerial department that is funded independently by Treasury, has warned that the reliability of inspections will be “compromised” if its funding is “further constrained”.

Ofsted’s chair Dame Christine Ryan said during a September board meeting that actions taken by the watchdog to absorb rising costs are a “short-term fix” and will likely “store up cost pressures” for this year and beyond.

The inspectorate’s funding is now 29 per cent lower in real terms compared with 2009-10, despite its role and responsibilities expanding significantly over that period. 

Halfon threatens low achieving apprenticeship providers

Apprenticeship providers that have persistently low achievement rates face “limitations on growth” and removal from the training market, the skills minister has warned.

Individual apprenticeship standards with high drop out rates are also in line for the chop while officials eye reforms to the end-point assessment market.

Robert Halfon wrote to the sector this morning after the achievement rate for apprenticeship standards rose by 2.9 percentage points to 54.3 per cent in 2022/23.

He told providers that the government “remains committed” to an ambition of a 67 per cent achievement rate by the end of the 2024/25 academic year, and he was “pleased things are moving in the right direction”.

However, the minister revealed plans to use “contractual measures” to crack down on providers that are showing “insufficient improvement”, particularly those with high drop out rates.

The overall retention rate on standards grew by 3.1 percentage points to 55.9 per cent in 2022/23, which means that just less than half, 44 per cent, of all apprentices dropped out before completing their end-point assessment last year.

The government currently uses its apprenticeship accountability framework to assess provider performance against a range of 10 measures, including achievement and retention rates.

Halfon said that while the government will “continue to consider factors outside of providers’ control, where these can be evidenced”, he warned of tougher action to come.

“We will also use contractual measures including potential limitations on growth, stopping delivery of standards with low apprenticeship achievement rates and removal from the market where this is necessary to protect apprentices and employers and ensure they have access to high quality training,” his letter read.

The accountability framework states that providers will be classed as “at risk” if they have an overall achievement rate under 50 per cent. 

FE Week analysis of 2022/23 data shows that 282 out of the 1,071 providers across the sector are below this benchmark.

Just 279 providers have an achievement rate of 67 per cent or higher.

The Association of Employment Learning Providers told members last week that it is “not expecting wholesale action” and there won’t “quite [be] a return to arbitrary minimum standards” for achievement rates, but the Department for Education is now “leaning a bit more that way”.

Halfon has also tasked the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education with improving or even scrapping standards with persistently high drop out rates.

His letter said: “IfATE will be looking closely at apprenticeship standards that are not producing good outcomes for employers or the economy – especially where they are underused or too many learners are dropping out without completing – and speed up action to either improve them or remove them where it is clear the apprenticeship standard is not working.”

Of the 425 apprenticeship standards, 121 have a retention rate below 50 per cent.

Apprenticeships that attract high volumes but have consistently low achievement rates and high drop outs include both the level 2 and 3 adult care worker standards, the children, young people and families practitioner, the associate project manager, and hospitality team member.

EPA model under review

Halfon also told the sector the government “continually reviews” the assessment process for apprenticeships to make sure it is “proportionate, supports achievement and is fit for the future”, before hinting at change to the independent end-point assessment market.

He said officials will “identify further options to improve the assessment model, making it more efficient for the whole sector” and “ensure that assessment retains its validity and value to employers and apprentices”.

Halfon told the sector he knows “that you are all dedicated to supporting current and future apprentices from every background to achieve the best possible outcomes”, adding that with a “renewed focus on quality, together we can continue to make long-term increases to achievement rates and support economic growth by improving the skills pipeline”.

National apprenticeship achievement rate rises to 54%

The proportion of apprentices who successfully completed their training and assessment grew marginally to 54.3 per cent last year, new figures reveal.

Overall apprenticeship achievement rates on the new-style standards rose by 2.9 percentage points in 2022/23, up from 51.4 per cent the year before.

It leaves the sector 13 percentage points off of the government’s 67 per cent achievement rate target that it hopes to achieve by then end of 2024/25.

If overall achievement rates continue to rise by 2.9 percentage points a year, the target would not be reached until 2027/28.

The apprenticeship dropout rate has also slightly improved but still remains worryingly high.

In 2021/22 the overall retention rate on standards sat at 52.8 per cent, which grew by 3.1 percentage points to 55.9 per cent in 2022/23. It means that just less than half, 44 per cent, of all apprentices on standards dropped out before completing their end-point assessment last year.

Skills minister Robert Halfon said he was “pleased things are moving in the right direction” following today’s figures, but warned that the Department for Education will take tough action against individual providers showing “insufficient improvement” (click here for full story).

When taking into account the old-style frameworks, which had just 9,640 leavers last year and recorded a 63.5 per cent achievement rate, the overall apprenticeship achievement rate reaches 54.6 per cent in 2022/23.

Here’s what else we learned from today’s NARTs…

Steep fall for Lifetime

Achievements at England’s largest apprenticeship training provider have declined by 10 percentage points.

Lifetime Training Group recorded nearly 13,500 leavers in 2022/23, a slight increase on the previous year, but saw both its overall achievement and retention rates reduce from 45 per cent to 35 per cent.

David Smith, Lifetime Training’s CEO, said his provider operates in sectors affected by the aftermath of the pandemic and high staff turnover which resulted in higher withdrawals.

Of the 37 apprenticeship standards measured for its latest achievement rates, its highest volume provision was in retail, hospitality, and care.

Smith also said his figures were “impacted by the learners who were removed from their programmes as a result of being passed their planned end date”.

He said: “Over the past year, we have implemented a series of improvements to our programme offering, which are forecasted to lead to a significant improvement in achievement rates.”

Multiverse Group, rated ‘outstanding’, doubled the number of recorded leavers from 1,800 to 3,630 but saw its achievement rate decline by 10.9 percentage points to 51.8.

A Multiverse spokesperson told FE Week the drop was due to a “substantial” number of apprentices who withdrew because they changed employer.

“We believe this is partially the result of increased job changes post-pandemic,” they said, adding: “We’ve implemented new processes to enable apprentices to stay on programme if they move jobs and that’s already had an effect on reducing withdrawals.”

Babcock International attributed its 26 per cent achievement rate to its “divestment” from most of its apprenticeships during the year. 

HIT hits out at ‘inaccurate’ figures

The boss of another of the country’s largest training providers has accused the ESFA of knowingly publishing inaccurate data about its apprenticeship performance.

Official published figures report HIT Training’s 2022/23 achievement rate as 41 per cent. This is 6.8 percentage points below HIT’s own calculated overall figure.

Jill Whittaker, executive chair of HIT Training, claimed there was multiple data quality issues which ESFA was aware of, including double counting leavers and “historic uncorrected errors”.

She told FE Week that ESFA officials had agreed there were errors in HIT’s QAR calculation and reneged on an agreement to redact their figures.

Whittaker said she was informed yesterday, a day before publication, that its application for a redaction had been rejected.

The Department for Education denied any wrongdoing. “We refute this allegation – the process for redaction has been followed,” a spokesperson said.

HIT data shared with FE Week shows differences ranging from -12.5 and 15.6 percentage points between the ESFA and HIT’s figures for its apprenticeship standards.

“After over 25 years of trusting and working collaboratively with the ESFA and the various bodies that went before them, I am very sad to say they have let us, and themselves, down. It is too early to understand the impact of the publication of this erroneous data on our 5,000 plus learners,” Whittaker said.

Of the 1,071 providers that recorded an achievement rate for 2022/23, just one was excluded due to data errors.

A University of Chester spokesperson said its request for a redaction from this year’s figures was accepted by the ESFA after identifying “an issue” with their R14 data return giving incorrect figures.

Rates improve across most provider types

Achievement rates grew for every provider type this year, except for specialist colleges.

The largest rise was in schools, 66.4 per cent to 76.8 per cent, but this represents just four providers and 140 apprenticeship leavers.

For independent training providers, which deliver the vast majority of apprenticeships, achievement rates improved by 0.8 percentage points to 51.2 per cent.

The DfE’s ‘other public funded’ category – made up mostly of local authorities and universities – came close to hitting the government’s 67 per cent target scoring an overall achievement rate of 65 per cent this year.

There were just over 2,000 fewer apprenticeship leavers in further education colleges in 2022/23 compared to the previous year, but the overall achievement rate increased from 50.4 per cent to 57.8 per cent.

Specialist colleges on the other hand increased the number of leavers, from 1,990 to 2,190 but saw their overall achievement rates decline from 57.9 per cent to 54.2 per cent.

Gap between most and least deprived narrows

The achievement gap between apprentices from most and least deprived households narrowed slightly in 2022/23 – but is still higher than in 2020/21.

Officials use the index of multiple deprivation (IMD) to classify the home areas of apprentices into five quintiles of relative deprivation.

DfE figures state the average achievement rate of apprentices from the most deprived quintile was 49.5 per cent in 2022/23, 8.9 percentage points lower than apprentices from the least deprived areas.

The same gap in 2021/22 was 9.8 percentage points but in 2020/21 was 7.7 percentage points.

But gap between LLDD grows 

The gap between apprentices with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LLDD) and their peers has grown, according to the latest achievements data.

Thirteen per cent of apprentice leavers in 2022/23 were recorded as having a learning difficulty and/or disability, and had an average achievement rate of 51 per cent. For apprentices without LLDD, the achievement rate was 55.3 per cent.

This 4.3 percentage point difference is higher than in 2021/22 and 2020/21.

Achievements for LLDD apprentices improved slightly from 50.6 per cent in 2021/22 but remain lower than the 54.6 achievement rate recorded in 2020/21.

Ethnicity gap also grows 

There was a 6.8 percentage point gap between apprentices from ethnic minority and white apprentices, the highest in the past three years.

Figures for 2022/23 reveal the average achievement rate for ethnic minority apprentices was 48.9 per cent, compared to 55.7 per cent for white apprentices.

The largest achievement gap continues to be between apprentices from Black, African and Caribbean backgrounds and white backgrounds – a 10.2 percentage point difference. This is an increase from an 8.7 percentage point difference in 2021/22 and 7.1 percentage point difference the year before. 

Only the mixed/multiple ethnic group saw a slight reduction in the achievement gap with white apprentices this year.

Level 6 improves the most 

Compared to the previous year, achievement rates on level 6 apprenticeships have improved the most.

Figures for 2022/23 showed an average achievement rate for level 6 apprentices of 65.7 per cent, the closest of all levels to the government target. The achievement rate for this group of apprentices was 57.3 per cent in 2021/22.

Achievement rates for level 2 apprenticeships increased 4.9 percentage points to 53.9 per cent.

The lowest performing apprenticeships were at level 4, which scored an overall achievement rate of 46.9 per cent, down from 47.4 per cent in 2021/22. Level 7 apprenticeships also saw a 0.5 percentage point decline to 57.8 per cent.