UCU staff to stage 11-day walk out over alleged ‘trade union victimisation’

Nearly two-thirds of University and College Union (UCU) staff are set to walk out next week in another row between the union and its own staff.

Over 130 Unite members who work for the teacher’s union claim they will strike for up to 11 days in support of one employee who it said has been subject to claims of “unlawful” trade union victimisation.

Staff will down tools from February 12 to protest an investigation opened into Marie Monaghan, the staff union’s health and safety representative, following allegations of gross misconduct. Unite allege the investigation has only been launched because of her activity as a trade union member.

UCU said the accusation is “categorically untrue” and the investigation has no connection “whatsoever” with any voluntary role taken up by Monaghan in the staff union.

Monaghan works as a regional support official with UCU in the north west team.

Unite said she was targeted by managers and “suddenly” became subject to “unjustified and unlawful” treatment after raising safety complaints on behalf of UCU staff in her capacity as Unite health and safety officer.

Complaints of workplace stress, as well as workplace racism and alleged breaches of collective agreements, have been part of the industrial dispute that has embroiled the two parties since March 2024.

Trade union laws prohibit employers from subjecting trade union members to detrimental treatment because of their union activities.

Such treatment could include victimisation from an employer, dismissal, being chosen for redundancy or refusal of work, all on the grounds of trade union activity or membership.

A UCU spokesperson said: “The position of UCU, which we can evidence and have made very clear to both the UCU Unite branch and the individual concerned, is that this accusation is categorically untrue.

“Given that information has been made public by the staff member and Unite, we can confirm that a member of UCU staff is currently subject to an investigation under UCU’s employment policies, which are agreed between management and trade unions.

“It is possible that the investigation could lead to disciplinary proceedings, but that is not the case at present and has not yet been determined.”

A Unite spokesperson said: “Our member has been subject to unlawful treatment on the grounds of trade union victimisation for the last year. UCU’s recent escalation is now a direct risk to their ongoing employment. 

“While we recognise UCU’s own internal processes, on this occasion we do not feel that they have been followed in an acceptable manner. We have called on UCU to enter talks to resolve this matter. Disappointingly UCU has rejected our offer for talks.”

UCU added that the case is being handled by an external investigator who will make recommendations on the way forward.

UCU’s spokesperson said: “It is vital that UCU, as an employer, implements agreed policies and procedures consistently and effectively, and that those policies are applied to all staff without exception. We cannot and will not implement a two-tier approach to staffing that treats union reps differently from everyone else.

“Everyone is bound by the same rules and expectations that apply to all staff. The current investigation has no connection whatsoever with any voluntary role in a UCU staff union. Any assertion to the contrary is completely untrue.”

Lost in transmission

Monaghan’s team of nine in the northwest will begin their strike action from February 9, while the other 126 Unite staff members will walk out from February 12.

The discrepancy in strike action start times is due to an “administrative” error in which the trade union employer was not served the legal two-week notice of industrial action until last Friday.

UCU said last week that it was only made aware of the strike from FE Week and social media posts made by Unite UCU.

A Unite UCU spokesperson said the dispute will continue until UCU leaders stop “union busting” and come to the negotiation table.

“Across the trade union movement there is one thing we are all united on: that we do not act unlawfully towards our own,” they said.

“This issue will now bring together all voices across our movement and Unite will be shouting the loudest and with the strongest voice. The victimisation of our health and safety rep and the threat to their job and livelihood must end immediately.”

The staff dispute with UCU has been ongoing for nearly two years, which began over complaints of “institutional failings” over UCU’s alleged disproportionate treatment of black staff.

A walkout was staged during UCU’s national congress in May 2024, which led to the cancellation of the HE and FE sector conferences.

Next week’s strike represents the first industrial action from the branch since March 2025 when staff walked out as part of a “threat of sustained action” lasting for 20 days over six weeks.

University-owned awarding org fined for ‘negligence’ by Ofqual

A university has been fined £150,000 by the exams regulator for failing to closely monitor a music qualification test centre and “negligence” in handling an independent audit.

An Ofqual notice issued today says University of West London (UWL), which awards music qualifications, let an unnamed third-party test centre design, deliver and award 224 students’ assessments without sufficient monitoring between January 2020 and November 2022.

The regulator said about 40,000 students received certificates from the centre while it was not “adequately” supervised, and that the failures posed a “significant risk” to students and public confidence in exams.

UWL’s breaches of Ofqual’s general conditions of recognition for awarding organisations also included 4,300 students not receiving certificates promptly and an absence of any appeals process for nearly three years.

The university’s board was also “negligent” for failing to provide an independent auditor with a document that clearly set out the allegations that should be investigated, the notice also said.

Ofqual’s executive director of delivery Amanda Swann said the £150,000 fine reflects the “serious nature” of UWL’s failures.

She added: “Students must be able to trust that awarding organisations are properly overseeing how their qualifications are delivered.

“These failures by UWL also had a real impact on thousands of students who were left waiting for certificates they had earned and would have been unable to appeal their results. 

“This action is necessary to deter UWL and other awarding organisations from similar failings in future.”

How it came about

UWL, a university based in west London and Reading, has been delivering Ofqual-regulated music qualifications at levels 1 to 7 under its London College of Music Examinations brand since 2010.

An anonymous former employee of UWL first blew the whistle about the breaches in 2022, after becoming concerned about a “verbal agreement” between the test centre and a former senior manager at the university that had begun during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Ofqual notice said the arrangement, agreed without the senior manager’s colleague’s knowledge, meant qualifications were delivered on UWL’s behalf without its awareness or assurance that assessments were “fit for purpose”.

In total, 4,330 students reported not receiving their certificates in time.

Furthermore, after the issues came to light, UWL’s relationship with the centre “deteriorated” and it was prevented from accessing information needed to resolve the issues.

Negligence

Ofqual also concluded that the university was “negligent” for failing to provide the independent auditor appointed to investigate with a document known as a “statement of reasons”.

As a result, an initial audit report was “substantially more positive” than a second that the regulator forced UWL to produce, containing “no or limited evidence of non-compliance”.

The Ofqual notice said it was “clear and unambiguous” that the statement of reasons should be provided and noted that the university had made a “conscious decision” not to disclose it.

UWL later created “the impression” that the auditor had read the reasons by appending a copy to its submission of the first audit report on the regulator’s online portal.

The exam regulator ultimately accepted the university’s claim that it was acting on the advice of its financial controller, that the statement of reasons could “potentially prejudice” the independence of the audit and had no intention to “mislead or avoid scrutiny or sanction”

The notice said UWL accepts that its breach was a “product of negligence by its board” by failing to exercise the level of care, skill and diligence expected of it under Ofqual’s special conditions.

In deciding the £150,000 fine and £10,000 investigation and enforcement costs, the regulator said the university had co-operated fully during the enforcement process and had no adverse regulatory history.

However, Ofqual balanced this with the need to deter other awarding organisations from similar failures, the need to promote public confidence and previous fines it has issued.

A spokesperson for the university said: “UWL accepts Ofqual’s decision on this matter. 

“UWL regrets that its oversight of this centre fell short of the standard required and apologises to the candidates affected by these failings. 

“Since the relationship with the third-party was terminated in 2022, UWL has undertaken a thorough review of its oversight processes and has implemented new controls to ensure future compliance.”

First college report cards flag dropout risks and GCSE weaknesses

Ofsted inspectors have warned against high 16 to 18 dropout rates and weak GCSE resit progress among the first FE colleges to be inspected under the inspectorate’s renewed framework.

The watchdog handed multiple ‘needs attention’ judgments to one college and raised concerns at another, after publishing new-style inspection reports for three FE colleges this morning.

Inspectors urged college leaders to strengthen their use of in-year risk indicators to spot learners at risk of dropping out, “rapidly” improve GCSE English and maths teaching, and “sharply” focus on improving the progress learners make from their starting points.

St Helens College received one ‘strong standard’ and eight ‘expected standard’ ratings but also five ‘needs attention’ judgments across its 16 to 18 provision and adult learning programmes, alongside a further ‘needs attention’ rating for leadership and governance, following an inspection on December 9, 2025.

Sandwell College was awarded two ‘strong standard’ and 12 ‘expected standard’ ratings, but also a single ‘needs attention’ judgment in the achievement category of its 16 to 18 provision, while Gloucestershire College met the ‘expected standard’ in all 15 inspection areas.

Ofsted released the first batch of reports last month, which awarded one independent training provider (ITP) with the coveted ‘exceptional’ grade.

Following a consultation last year, Ofsted abandoned overall headline grades in favour of a five-point scale in 15 individual areas – including inclusion for the first time.

Education providers will now be graded from ‘exceptional’, ‘strong standard’ and ‘expected standard’ to ‘needs attention’ and ‘urgent improvement’.

Ofsted expects providers to achieve the ‘expected standard’ grade as a baseline. Anything below will be deemed ‘needs attention or ‘urgent improvement’, and above will get a ‘strong standard’ or ‘exceptional’ grade.

Drop-out risks not identified quickly enough

Achievement rate data is now visible on report card pages for individual colleges and providers.

Inspectors said leaders at Merseyside-based St Helens College, which enrols over 5,500 students and apprentices, do not identify “quickly enough” why students leave their courses early or do not achieve.

The finding triggered a ‘needs attention’ grade for leadership and governance.

The report said “appropriate” measures were taken to improve the quality of provision since the previous inspection in 2023, when it was graded ‘requires improvement’, but added that managers’ “oversight” of in-year risk indicators “lacks precision”.

This was after the inspection visit identified “too many” young and adult students leave their courses early or do not achieve on completion. 

Inspectors criticised the varied achievement across St Helen College’s course provision and highlighted many students on GCSE English and maths courses do not make progress towards achieving a higher grade.

“[They] often achieve less well than they did at school,” the report card said.

All three inspection areas under the 16-18 programme category and two out of three inspection evaluation areas under adult programmes were deemed ‘needs attention’ by the watchdog. 

Interventions to improve GCSE resit provision did not have the “desired impact” and the quality of teaching was found to be poor “in some cases”.

Inspectors urged GCSE resit teaching to be “rapidly” improved at St Helens College as well as interventions to increase retention and better in-year monitoring of indicators of risk “across all courses” to identify potential dropouts.

Inspectors pointed out in Gloucestershire College’s report that while its GCSE resit pass rates were low, most do make progress by “at least one grade” from their starting points.

At 7000-strong Sandwell College, the report found entry level, level 1 and level 2 learners often make “better than average” progress towards achieving the GCSE English qualification, with around a third receiving at least a grade 4 when they resit the exam.

But “too many” learners at level 3, who study A Levels or vocational qualifications, do not make enough progress from their starting points.

“Too many learners at level 3 do not continue to the second year of two-year courses,” inspectors added, leading to a ‘needs attention’ grade in the achievement inspection area.

The watchdog made a recommendation to “focus sharply” on improving the progress that learners on level 3 courses make from their starting points so they “achieve at least the grades of which they are capable”.

“We are always ambitious for our learners and our strategy ‘your future our focus’ is all about progression to their next stage,” said Sandwell College CEO and principal Lisa Capper.

“We continue to go from strength to strength with good achievement and progression, and a great ethos embracing learning, diversity and well-being.”

Sandwell College was also found to be delivering inclusion and meeting skills needs to a ‘strong standard’.

Attendance ‘persistently low’

Ofsted found two colleges struggling with attendance at GCSE resit lessons.

St Helens College learners’ attendance at GCSE English and maths, and “a few vocational lessons”, was “persistently low”.

They also criticised managers’ lack of support for adult students to attend, though it found that the college has improved “wraparound support” to vulnerable students on English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses so they are “fully supported” to attend and achieve.

At Gloucestershire College, attendance at GCSE English and mathematics sessions is “typically lower” than vocational and technical lessons.

Meanwhile, Sandwell College achieved ‘expected standard’ in the participation and development of 16-18 programmes.

Inspectors found staff put in “suitable” plans for learners when they are absent or their performance falls.

St Helens College declined to comment.

Essential skills are the missing test of the skills white paper

The skills white paper set out the government’s plans for skills reform to deliver increased productivity and a skilled workforce. So what does it mean for people who could benefit most from the opportunity for a second chance in learning?

The white paper recognises that 8.5 million adults have low essential skills, like literacy and numeracy. It notes that 15 per cent of the working-age population don’t hold a level 2 qualification.  

There is much talk of ‘joining up’ the employment and skills system. There might even be a better chance of this actually happening. Bringing together high-quality teaching of essential skills, employment support and employer engagement could be a gamechanger for those looking for work.

The adult skills fund (ASF) supports most essential skills, including literacy, numeracy, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and digital skills. Essential skills provision is often funded on the basis of supporting people into work. But it doesn’t always include specific features of employment support, such as helping people understand the local labour market, or connections with local employers.

Adult skills is moving into the Department for Work and Pensions’ remit. The government wants the ASF better joined up with support provided through Jobcentre Plus (JCP), which can include use of the flexible support fund to access locally run training.

It makes sense to use touchpoints like engagement with the benefits system and employment support to identify people with low essential skills gaps. People with low essential skills are less likely to be in work. Support can then be offered, including referrals into learning provision where appropriate.

The trick will be to develop more effective ways of making it happen. Conflicting priorities between JCP and training providers have long been challenging to align. Flexibility in funding and provision, and strong relationships between JCP staff and providers, will be key.

The white paper promises that the government will review their offer on adult essential skills. There are few details on what this will mean, bar a specific and sensible commitment to update the essential digital skills standards to reflect the latest developments in everyday digital skills.

Skills minister Jacqui Smith has said that the statutory entitlements to fully funded English and maths qualifications up to Level 2 remain.  Although there is no commitment to additional investment to support delivery, this is still a welcome indicator of priority, helping ensure that essential skills provision is not consigned to a future of short-term programmes and projects.

While the white paper positions essential skills as primarily relevant to employment, there is strong evidence for good essential skills supporting social outcomes too, like better health and stronger communities. The white paper omits any mention of this wider role for adult learning, including ESOL and other essential skills, in college and community settings.

Beyond that, it’s not clear if this review – or the announcement of new level 1 English and maths qualification for use in 16-19 programmes – will mean a full-scale redevelopment of adult essential skills standards, curriculum and qualifications. Functional skills qualifications were last substantially revised in 2018, and ESOL skills for life in 2014. National standards and the adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL curriculum have been relatively untouched since the turn of the century.

Sorting all this out is a big job. But it is one that is also becoming more urgent, as the old infrastructure for essential skills provision is increasingly creaking and dated. It’s important that teachers have up-to-date and relevant curriculum content, materials and assessments to work with.

Ultimately, addressing the nation’s essential skills needs is going to take more than this, though. The central challenge of engaging more adults in essential skills learning won’t be helped by a new curriculum and qualifications alone. Adult participation in essential skills learning has declined by over 60 per cent over the past decade.

If we want at least nine in ten UK adults to have good essential skills by 2035, it requires an extra 3.5 million adults to gain them, as our Ambition Skills research has shown.

This means that the government and metro mayors need to choose to invest in essential skills, alongside employers. It requires a concerted effort across the state, employers and in communities to identify people who can benefit from improving essential skills – and to find new ways to support them.

A top football coach gives us lessons to learn – and avoid

On one of my commutes to work, I started thinking about the similarities between teaching and football. As I write this, Arsenal are still clinging to the top of the Premier League table. Much has been made of their success with set pieces this season, with numerous goals coming from corners and the beautiful head of Gabriel Magalhães in particular.

Manager Mikel Arteta is a friend of the Los Angeles Rams coach, and has perhaps learnt from the set play tactics commonly used in the US National Football League. Arsenal have evolved their game to include more dynamic set pieces, or what we might see as little creative fire-crackers. They are deeply controlled and rehearsed moments, which explode into light, confusion and movement. And above all, goals.

Learning as a flow of thoughts

 It’s not enough to plan the most brilliant set pieces, though. In teaching, we too can see learning as either set pieces or open play. I have always felt that only 50 per cent of teaching is planning. The other 50 per cent is responding.

Learning is not like a ladder you can steadily climb up, on a pre-ordained route to success. Once released, it is more like the sea – the students respond in different and surprising ways, and the current changes. The energy flies this way and that, and misconceptions emerge that you hadn’t thought of. Brilliant questions are asked which make you stop, stagger back and reflect.

Learning becomes a flow of thoughts, with students moving in different directions. Your job as teacher is to respond, adapt and change route. It’s to pass the learning around the classroom in the mould of a creative midfielder, to keep that momentum going, and keep everyone involved and thinking.

We have our dead ball moments

Yet we also have our set pieces. Our dead ball moments, so to speak, come at the starts of lessons and at transition points. These are strategies we prepare, practise and distribute through lessons knowing we have a formula we want to deploy.

There’s the Do Now, designed to get students thinking as soon as they enter the room. Starter activities which throw back (retrieval practice), or warm up (for new learning). Quizzes to assess, using tools like Kahoot. Polls to gauge, using Mentimeter. Project briefs for group work. Structures for asking questions like Pose, Pause, Pounce, Bounce. Exit tickets for plenaries.

In many ways these are the safe parts of the lesson – the stepping stones we jump to and hold onto, especially when we are early in our careers. There is a danger they can start to feel formulaic, though. So the goal (no pun intended) is to ensure that they remain dynamic, and that we shuffle our pack, remaining creative and purposeful. It’s that we use them to create light and movement, rather than predictable passes.

Open play: the part we learn on the ride

As for open play, this is the part of teaching we learn on the ride. It’s about listening and watching, feeling the vibe in the room, and being prepared to abandon the plan when needed. It’s about noticing the expressions on our learners’ faces, on asking the right questions to drill down, rather than assume. It takes confidence, flexibility, humility, and the willingness to allow students to direct the learning too.

It’s this bit that comes with experience, where we learn through feeling the surprises and the chaos how to help learners make meaning of it all. This is adaptive teaching in action. It’s something we have been working on at South Bank Colleges. As the American ventriloquist and educator Ignacio Estrada said: “If they can’t learn the way we teach, we need to teach the way they learn.” And the better we know our students, the more equipped we become to anticipate the challenges and misconceptions.

But there will always be surprises. As teachers, we don’t have the capacity to bring fresh legs off the bench through substitutions. We still need to be able to respond though to new currents, unexpected barriers, and faces which say, “we don’t get it”. Or, “we get it already – let’s move on”.

V Levels ambition will outrun reality unless we slow down

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

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

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

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

V Levels: A seismic shift

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


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

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

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

What we don’t yet know on V Levels

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

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

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

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

Extra pressures on estates, staff and timetabling

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

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

We can reshape things for the better

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

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

My son made me think differently on apprenticeship assessment

Bear with me. This piece is about reforms to apprenticeship assessment – currently one of the hottest topics in the sector. But I need to start somewhere else entirely.

We’re all encouraged not to take work home with us, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. As a dad to triplet teenagers (yes, the early years were tough), I always knew my limited IAG (information, advice and guidance) skills would eventually be put to the test. Last year was the pinnacle. After much debate, we hit the full FE house: one chose A-levels, one opted for a vocational programme, and one embarked on an apprenticeship. Bingo.

What I hadn’t fully appreciated was just how different each assessment experience would be. I’m no expert on A-levels or vocational qualifications, but I do know apprenticeships. And seeing the reality of a learning model that is effectively 100 per cent assessed – often through multiple and sometimes duplicative methods – hits differently when viewed through your own offspring’s eyes.

For my apprentice son, the scale and timing of assessment is daunting. At the end of his four-year programme, he’ll be expected to recall knowledge and demonstrate skills first learned almost four years earlier against an assessment plan stretching to 38 pages.

Add three separate assessment formats, and the challenge becomes obvious. For a young person or a busy employee, it’s a high-stakes experience that creates significant stress. For those who fall at the final hurdle, the personal and financial cost is huge.

There must be a better way. I welcomed the introduction of end-point assessment. For too long, some assessments had become tick-box exercises, and the meaning of a genuine pass was diluted. Rigour and employer ownership were rightly the buzzwords of the time.

Government has listened, and through the expert provider group, I’ve played a small part in shaping change. Our ability to influence reform feels stronger than ever.

Looking at the current proposals, rigour hasn’t been lost. If anything, the sector deserves credit for developing a refreshed approach that keeps the core principles while tackling unintended consequences. Stagnation was an option, but it wouldn’t have addressed the problems we face.

So, what exactly am I welcoming in this new era?

First, a more flexible and proportionate assessment design. This aligns apprenticeships more closely with other qualifications, reduces duplication and introduces milestone achievements that formally recognise progress. This alone will boost motivation and relieve some of the unnecessary pressure created by years of back-loaded assessment.

Second, deeper employer involvement. Our network of more than 950 employers invests heavily in apprentices, and wants to play a meaningful role in recognising their development. Readiness for assessment is already a major conversation within our organisation, and employers are well placed to judge it. Their message is clear: they want to contribute more, not less.

Third, simplified and more focused assessment plans. This isn’t about diluting quality; it’s about concentrating on what truly matters. Single assessment methods, with flexibility to expand when required, can create a more holistic and realistic picture of competence. Greater use of technology is also a clear win.

Quality sits at the heart of what we do here in Exeter, and we’re proud of our delivery and outcomes. We want to play a greater role in assessing our learners, and we want awarding bodies to remain deeply involved. That balance – provider expertise, employer insight and awarding-body oversight – will underpin high-quality results. If that means taking on additional regulatory responsibility, so be it. In most other areas of education, that’s already the norm.

Will my son be any less qualified or competent because of these changes? No. Apprentices and employers deserve an assessment system that recognises progress, reduces unnecessary barriers and maintains the integrity of the qualification and the skills needed to thrive and be safe. These reforms move us closer to that goal.

I read with interest the concerns raised by employers and awarding bodies. There are solutions to the challenges of change, and collaboration will be key.  I hope Skills England matches the sector’s appetite by sharing more detail and setting out a clearer timeline for the reforms ahead.

Speaking as both a provider and a parent, change can’t come soon enough.

There’s an easy way to stop some small firms shunning apprentices

Amongst a flurry of government announcements at the end of last year, one stood out. The headline read: “50,000 more young people to benefit from apprenticeships as government unveils new skills reforms to get Britain working.”

It is an admirable goal, and something that very much aligns with the Edge Foundation’s mission to encourage more young people to take on apprenticeships. But is it achievable?

In short, no. Or at least, it’s not achievable without small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Putting aside the problematic nature of apprenticeship targets (apprenticeships are jobs, not just training places), we won’t get that kind of supply without engaging with SMEs, which account for 60 per cent of all employment in the UK.

SMEs’ engagement in apprenticeships has been flagging in recent years, however, and they now make up just 37 per cent of apprentice employers. Often it reflects a lack of time and resources.

The government has been seeking to address this, in two key ways. Firstly, we saw the Chancellor put SME apprenticeships in the national spotlight by announcing in the Autumn Budget that training for apprentices aged up to 25 in SMEs will now be fully funded. The usual 5 per cent co-investment cost is being removed for SMEs.

This is a welcome step, but it’s difficult to assess how much of an impact it will have. SMEs already have access to fully funded apprenticeships for under-22s. But this seems to have only had a modest impact since it was introduced in April 2024. In fact, since the 2023-24 academic year, we have actually seen a 5 per cent fall in under-19s starting apprenticeships.

The 19-24 cohort has risen, but only by 1 per cent. There is also no evidence that the additional under-22 funding is what increased starts among SMEs in particular.

Trends have been broadly similar between employers large enough to pay the apprenticeship levy, and those which aren’t. So while the expansion of funding is welcome, it is unclear what thinking lay behind this policy decision.

The government’s other approach has far more promise. It plans to work on a £140 million pilot scheme to help link young people up with local apprenticeship opportunities, in areas which have regional mayors. In other words, a brokerage service. Details were scarce when it was announced in December, but it marks a hugely exciting development for Edge, and particularly for our Apprenticeships Work campaign – which aims to encourage more SMEs to hire apprentices.

Brokerage services can have a significant impact on engagement, as we laid out in our Agents of Change report last year. They can help SMEs understand both their skills needs, and how these can be addressed through the local training offer.

More than two-thirds of companies we surveyed with the help of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation said that personalised advice would be a decisive or encouraging factor in whether they chose to hire an apprentice. There is already an evidence base for this in the National Apprenticeship Hub Network, a group of around 25 organisations providing free and impartial guidance to businesses. But this is not a national or a lasting solution – many of these services rely on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which is due to expire at the end of March.

In our letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary last year, our Apprenticeships Work campaign called on the government to establish a centrally funded and coordinated, high-quality framework of local brokerage support so that all SMEs, regardless of postcode, can understand and reap the benefits of apprenticeships.

Despite the challenges, there are many excellent SMEs who go above and beyond to offer apprenticeship opportunities to young people in their communities, however. Because of their more manageable size, SMEs can offer progression opportunities at speeds unmatched by larger companies.

One SME who shared their story with our campaign has two directors under 30 who are both former apprentices. Close contact with other teams can also provide exposure to a broader range of disciplines that just isn’t available in the more siloed environment of large corporations. These opportunities, which only SMEs can offer,  could make all the difference to a young apprentice.

So, let’s use this National Apprenticeship Week as an opportunity to celebrate SMEs – and call on government to do more to support them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This ecosystem demands:

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

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

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

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

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