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Who is Lucy Powell? 10 facts about the new education secretary

Lucy Powell has been appointed secretary of state for education by new prime minister Andy Burnham as he forms his first cabinet.

Taking over from former education secretary Bridget Phillipson, Powell is the tenth person to hold the role in 10 years.

As we await details of how Burnham’s government will approach education policy, here’s what we know about the minister who will deliver it…

1. She’s Mancunian

She was born and raised in Manchester.

A Labour Party bio says she is a “proud Mancunian” whose politics “were shaped growing up in the North under Thatcher”.

2. She’s from a family of teachers

Powell’s mother was a headteacher.

“I’m from a family of teachers,” Powell told Schools Week in 2015. “Practically everyone in my family is a teacher, apart from my dad, who is a social worker.”

Her parents were also active Labour supporters, and she joined the party at just 15.

“My mother went into labour on election day and refused to have me until she’d voted,” she told an interview with Vogue in January. “We are a very Labour family.”

3. Powell is state educated

Born in Moss Side in 1974, she attended Didsbury state schools Beaver Road Primary School, and Parrs Wood High School.

She studied A Levels at Xaverian College, a large Roman Catholic sixth form in central Manchester.

She excelled academically, taking maths, further maths, physics and chemistry. She was singled out by a teacher who encouraged her to apply for Oxbridge, and was reportedly the only pupil in her year to get an offer from Oxford.

4. She left Oxford after a year

Powell cried when she found out she’d secured a place to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford.

“I didn’t want to go at all,” she told GB News in 2021. “But what do you do? You’ve got an offer at Oxford, and everyone’s like ‘oh that’s amazing, that’s great’, so you’re on this treadmill.”

Once there, however, she felt “like a fish out of water” and left after her first year. “I was a state-educated, northern girl doing science. I couldn’t have been more a fish out of water, really.

“I’m sort of glad I went to see how the other half live in a way, but I didn’t thrive there at all.”

She transferred to King’s College London, where she completed her degree.

5. She spent time outside of politics

Powell reportedly considered a PhD but instead went into politics. After leaving university, she worked at Labour’s Millbank headquarters during its triumphant 1997 general election campaign, before spending two years working for MP Beverley Hughes.

She went on to spend the best part of a decade in public affairs, PR and campaigning roles at the Britain in Europe group and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta).

6. She’s been an MP since 2012

Powell first ran at the 2010 general election as Labour candidate for Manchester Withington, but came second to incumbent Lib Dem MP John Leech.

She was elected as Labour MP for Manchester Central in a by-election in 2012 – a role she has held ever since.

She joined the opposition frontbench, holding roles as shadow childcare and early years minister, and later shadow minister for the Cabinet Office under Ed Miliband.

In 2015, Miliband made her vice-chair of the 2015 UK general election campaign. It would be one of Labour’s heaviest defeats in decades. Powell later described it as “crushing and gutting”.

7. She backed Burnham as leader a decade ago

In the 2015 Labour Party leadership election, she nominated Andy Burnham in his second attempt at the job. But he was beaten by Jeremy Corbyn.

Powell has been a staunch advocate of Burnham and has praised his record as Greater Manchester mayor.

8. She was shadow education secretary

Powell has experience with the education brief.

Corbyn appointed her shadow education secretary in September 2015, replacing Tristram Hunt, who had served under Miliband.

During her tenure, she said investment in, and focus on, post-16 education is vital for young people getting decent jobs and for creating a productive economy.

She resigned from this role in June 2016, along with many other shadow cabinet members, to oppose Corbyn’s leadership.

9. Powell beat Phillipson in deputy leader race

Powell was appointed Leader of the House of Commons in July 2024, when Keir Starmer formed his first cabinet.

She was dismissed in September 2025. But a month later, in October 2025, she beat Bridget Phillipson in the race to become deputy leader of the Labour Party, following the resignation of Angela Rayner (her friend, and fellow Manchester MP).

Powell secured 87,407 votes – almost 14,000 more than Phillipson.

10. She loves Glasto

She lives with her two children, Katie and Tom, and adult stepson Joe, according to her interview with Vogue. Her children attend the same state school she did.

Her husband James Williamson is a doctor who works in emergency medicine. They have been married since 2009.

Her Vogue interview also revealed she’s been to Glastonbury 23 times.

‘I don’t teach English as a subject, I teach it as a lifeline’

From a Syrian refugee turned business graduate to a nursery worker who once lacked the confidence to try, FE Week revisits last year’s Mayor of London adult learning awards winners as nominations for the fifth edition close on Monday

When Hamzeh Moullem arrived in London from Syria in 2019, he spoke barely any English. Separated from his parents, he took on a paternal role when his younger brother joined him two years later while working full time in a restaurant to fund his studies at City of Westminster College. He rarely missed a class.

In November, he was announced in City Hall as the Mayor of London’s inspirational adult learner of the year, having completed a business HND with a distinction and secured a place at the University of West London to top it up to a degree.

“The learning has had a huge impact,” he said. “I now speak English with confidence, and I understand the UK business environment in a way that opens real opportunities for me.” His brother has since enrolled at college, which Moullem counts among the most rewarding parts of the journey.

Moullem (pictured, centre, above) was one of ten winners at the adult learning awards, the Mayor’s flagship celebration of the capital’s adult education sector, delivered with the support of Ascentis and FE Week as sponsors.

Nominations for this year’s awards have been extended to close on Monday, July 27 ahead of a City Hall ceremony in the autumn.

Over its first four years, the awards drew more than 1,000 nominations and recognised over 90 winners and finalists. Last year‘s round alone attracted 252 nominations across ten categories, whittled down to ten winners and ten highly commended runners-up.

Second chances

Judith Guarte Lee, who won the learning for professional progression award last year, moved to the UK from the Philippines five years ago after meeting her husband online in a support group for people with cerebral palsy. Attitudes to her disability had held her back from pursuing a careers at home. After ESOL classes and level 1 and 2 childcare qualifications at Redbridge Institute of Adult Education, she is now a childcare practitioner at an Ilford nursery with her sights on nursery management.

“I want to show my son that if you put your heart and soul into something, good things can happen,” she said.

Left to right:
David Coleman, assistant principal, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education
William Pickford, principal, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education
Judit Guarte-Lee,
Maria Sotiriou, assistant principal, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education
Rachel Harris, tutor, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education and Judith’s husband

Pictured left to right: David Coleman, assistant principal, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education, William Pickford, principal, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education, Judith Guarte-Lee, Maria Sotiriou, assistant principal, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education, Rachel Harris, tutor, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education and Judith’s husband

The category was so competitive that the judging panel took the unusual step of awarding all three remaining shortlisted nominees with highly commended status.

Among them was Shukria Wisa, denied schooling in Afghanistan, who taught herself how to read and write before joining Lewisham College’s entry level 1 functional skills English course. Another, 74 year old Rukiya Mukadam, a former GP living with dementia, rebuilt her digital confidence through Open Age courses ranging from touch typing to an introduction to AI.

Jennifer Flanigan, highly commended in the learner of the year category, took up British Sign Language in her fifties, despite eyesight problems and little confidence with technology, so she could hold meaninful conversations with her non-speaking son for the first time.

“Before I learned BSL, most of our communication was nods and pointing,” she said. “I felt shut out of his world.” She now sits as co-chair of governors at his Deaf school.

Keighly Luff took the learning for good work award after a facilities management apprenticeship at Chelsea FC, delivered by Capital City College, have her the confidence to speak up in meetings and mentor the club’s second apprentice. “This apprenticeship hasn’t just just changed my career,” she said. “It’s changed how I see myself.”

Teachers who’ve lived it

Several of the staff winners know their learners’ circumstances first hand. Iryna Hura arrived in London as a refugee from Ukraine and joined the ESOL teaching team at Hammersmith and Fulham’s adult learning and skills service. She researches trauma-informed teaching strategies in her own time and helps students with visa renewals and employability skills.

“I understand my students’ struggles, fear, loss, isolation, because I’ve lived them too,” she said. “I don’t teach English as a subject, I teach it as a lifeline.”

Darren Avery, strategic workforce development manager at London Ambulance Service, won the inspirational professional award for building apprenticeship pathways that have brought more than 2,500 apprentices into the service since 2017, including over 350 paramedics trained with a 90 per cent completion rate.

Employers and providers

Highways contractor Marlborough Highways took apprenticeship employer of the year for a programme targeting people not in education, employment or training, with all apprentices paid the London living wage.

West London College, where adults make up roughly 70 per cent of the student body, won the inclusive provider award, while Kundakala, a Camden charity teaching tailoring and sewing skills to women from ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds, won the outreach category.

More than 150 women have been through its co-designed programme, many launching businesses or returning to education.

What’s new for 2026

Higher education institutions are now eligible through the new participation and excellence in higher education award, recognising universities widening participation, strengthening progression pathways and supporting Londoners through higher education.

To make room, the two employer categories have been merged. The standalone apprenticeship employer of the year award, won by Marlborough Highways last year, has been folded into a single champion employer for skills and apprenticeships award covering training programmes, early careers engagement and apprenticeships.

The ten categories for 2026 are: inspirational adult learner of the year, learning for good work, learning for personal progression, the Ascentis award for distinguished provider of adult education, inclusive provider of adult education, inspirational tutor in adult education, inspirational professional in adult education, champion employer for skills and apprenticeships, participation and excellence in higher education, and the inclusive talent award for outreach and engagement into learning.

Nominations are made online at www.london.gov.uk/london-adult-learning-awards and close at 11.59pm on Monday 27 July. Winners, selected by a judging panel drawn from the capital’s adult learning sector, will be revealed at City Hall in the autumn.

Lucy Powell appointed education secretary

Lucy Powell has been appointed education secretary by prime minister Andy Burnham, returning to government less than a year after she was sacked by Keir Starmer.

The Labour deputy leader succeeds Bridget Phillipson, who had held the role since Labour entered government in July 2024 and who will remain in cabinet as minister for women and equalities.

Powell previously served as shadow education secretary between 2015 and 2016 and was a member of the Commons education committee from 2017 to 2020. She later served as leader of the House of Commons before being removed from government in September 2025.

In a post on X, Powell said she was “thrilled” to have been appointed education secretary.

“For me there’s no more important job for any government than making sure young people have the best education, the best opportunities and the best future they can. Lots to do and I look forward to getting started”.

During a debate on the technical and further education bill in 2016, Powell warned that “pernicious and deep cuts” to FE and technical education had caused lasting damage and left England behind international competitors on post-16 funding.

She also raised concerns about creating a binary divide between academic and technical education that would force 16-year-olds to choose between the two routes. Burnham has repeatedly stated his intention to raise the parity of technical education in his role as mayor of Greater Manchester and in the run-up to becoming prime minister.

As an education committee member, Powell worked on inquiries into apprenticeships, college funding and adult skills.

She will now inherit responsibility for colleges, 16-to-19 education, technical qualifications, major SEND reforms and higher education.

Her immediate post-16 challenges include overseeing the introduction of the first V Levels from September 2027, implementing new level 2 qualifications and managing continuing pressure over college finances, pay and workforce shortages.

Pepe DiIasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Prime minister Andy Burnham has said that a ‘complete rethink’ of education is needed which builds parity between academic and technical routes and provides every young person with great opportunities. This is particularly important as we currently have one million young people who are not in education, employment, or training.

“However, a great deal of policy detail is needed about how to turn those aspirations into reality. School and college leaders are absolutely ready and willing to be part of that process and we look forward to working with the new administration to shape a fairer future.”

Responsibility for adult education, apprenticeships and Skills England was transferred from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions last September.

Powell will work alongside Pat McFadden, who has been reappointed as work and pensions secretary, to deliver the government’s post-16 education and skills reforms.

Appointments for ministers of state and junior ministers are expected in the coming days. Baroness Jacqui Smith currently holds the skills brief as a joint minister across DfE and DWP.

Powell was elected Labour deputy leader last year following her dismissal from government, with Burnham publicly supporting her campaign.

She studied for A Levels at Xaverian College, a Catholic sixth-form college in Manchester.

A spokesperson from the Sixth Form Colleges Association said: “Lucy is a longstanding champion of sixth form education and is a former sixth form college student. We know that the new secretary of state values, understands and appreciates the transformative power of 16-19 education and we look forward to working with her in the years ahead”.

McFadden reappointed work and pensions secretary

Pat McFadden has kept his job as work and pensions secretary in new prime minister Andy Burnham’s government.

McFadden, MP for Wolverhampton South East, has held the role since September 2025, when he took charge of apprenticeships, adult skills and Skills England in the machinery-of-government change that shifted the brief out of the Department for Education.

Writing on X, he said: “I’m honoured to have been reappointed as secretary of state for work and pensions. As the prime minister said, our mission as a government must be to support people into work and spread opportunity. That’s how we’ll reform the welfare system in a way that is fair & sustainable.”

During his tenure, he oversaw the repurposing of the apprenticeship levy into the growth and skills levy, expanded foundation apprenticeships into hospitality and retail and defunded 16 apprenticeship standards, including popular leadership and management courses, in a bid to free up cash in the apprenticeships budget for young people.

He commissioned Alan Milburn’s review into youth unemployment and expanded the youth guarantee into a £2.5 billion package of programmes and incentives aimed at tackling high levels of youth unemployment.

He will now see through the outstanding final report of the Milburn review, due in the autumn, along with apprenticeship co-investment and levy changes taking effect from August.

It is not yet clear whether education secretary Bridget Phillipson will keep her job.

Burnham became prime minister earlier today and is appointing members of his cabinet.

In the run-up to his coronation as Labour leader and prime minister, Burnham said he wanted to use public procurement to increase apprenticeships and end the “university-first” approach to education.

Earlier this evening, former defence secretary John Healey was appointed chancellor of the exchequer. Healey served as adult skills minister between 2001 and 2002, his first government post, before moving to the Treasury.

Appointments for ministers of state and junior ministers are expected in the coming days.

Specialist FE belongs in Burnham’s Britain

Andy Burnham believes in a place-based delivery model. Natspec has argued against place-based inclusion.

We are using the same phrase to mean two different things; we mean setting and he means geography. Once that distinction is clear, our positions are much closer than they first appear – but if we are to understand each other, one of us will need to shift our language – and I doubt it will be Andy Burnham.

‘Place’ has both positive and negative connotations. Nobody wants to be ‘put in their place’ or told to ‘know your place’. But having a ‘place at the table’, seeing things ‘fall into place’, and feeling part of a place are essential to wellbeing and growth – personal, organisational, economic and communal.

Natspec has challenged the concept of ‘place-based inclusion’ because it prioritises setting over access to appropriate expertise, a mutually supportive peer group and learner preference. We argue that inclusion isn’t about place (setting) or the preserve of mainstream.

It is wrong to expect everyone to thrive in the same type of school or college. Above all, inclusion is a sense of belonging, feeling valued and heard, and not being overlooked or drowned out by louder voices or other priorities.

That same sense of belonging and agency sits at the heart of Burnham’s “Manchesterism” and the politics of place, with its emphasis on community connection and bottom-up growth. This is a much broader understanding of ‘place’ than the one currently dominating the inclusion debate, and it is one that Natspec feels much more comfortable to sign up to.

This creates a timely opportunity for us to work with new ministers on a richer, more meaningful understanding of inclusion – one shaped by young people’s experiences, aspirations, sense of belonging and voice.

It is an opportunity for specialist colleges to show that belonging, connection and place are already at the heart of their work.

Within college, individualised programmes help learners feel valued and achieve their goals; they form deep and lasting friendships, sometimes for the first time; and they experience a profound sense of being in a place that is right for them.

Beyond the college gates, learners contribute visibly and meaningfully through local projects, volunteering, engagement with community issues, work-based training and disability awareness training for local businesses.

The new politics of place, devolution and local accountability also creates a wider opportunity for specialist FE. Burnham sees place-based development as a route to growth: giving local areas the power, responsibility and funding to shape their futures, rather than relying on short-term, centrally imposed solutions.

Meanwhile, Natspec has long argued for an inclusive system in which specialist colleges are recognised as essential partners in education and the wider economy.

Both these positions see colleges as outward-looking, collaborative partners, like that proposed in a recent Centre for Young Lives report.

The report says that education should pivot away from competition and towards community development, and argues for education settings to be held accountable for how well they collaborate and contribute to communities.

Rather than a narrow set of (largely academic) performance measures, it proposes a much broader accountability framework covering attendance, exclusions, inclusion of learners with SEND, NEET rates, employer engagement, wellbeing, safety, and economic participation.

Devolution gives specialist colleges a chance to cement their place as valued local and regional partners, including as hubs of specialist expertise supporting mainstream providers across groups of local authorities.

Treloar’s disability employment report in Hampshire, produced as part of the Local Skills Improvement Plan, shows what contributing to regional planning can look like.

As devolved bodies are judged on social and economic outcomes, specialist colleges should be recognised for their contribution to employment, independence and reduced long-term reliance on public services. In fact, specialist colleges are already a microcosm of Burnham’s place-based collaboration – they work across employers, housing, social care, health and community organisations around the needs and aspirations of young people.

It is disappointing that this contribution is too often overlooked, with specialist colleges excluded from policies and programmes because of their legal status.

Our challenge is not to abandon our position, but to explain it more clearly. With this in mind, Natspec will no longer be resisting ‘place-based inclusion’ but instead working with government, mayoral authorities and local partners on a concept of inclusion that sits comfortably within place-based politics.

A positive version of place-based inclusion would see all partners across education, health, care, employment and community life working together.

Ministers, mayoral authorities and local partners would design specialist FE into systems from the outset, not treat it as an exception, an afterthought or a distant placement of last resort. Everyone would recognise that an inclusive place is not one where every young person follows the same route, but one where they can access the support, expertise and opportunities they need to belong, progress and contribute.

If the new politics of place is about giving communities power to shape better futures, specialist colleges must be supported to take their rightful place as essential civic and economic partners.

Preston College appoints Burnley deputy as next principal

Preston College has appointed Burnley College deputy principal Kate Wallace as its next principal and chief executive.

Wallace will take up the post in late August, succeeding Simon Nixon, who is retiring after three years as principal and more than a decade at the college.

Nixon joined Preston as executive director of resources in 2015 and spent a year as interim principal before taking on the permanent role in 2023.

Wallace lands her first permanent principalship after serving as interim boss at Burnley during one of the most turbulent periods in the college’s recent history.

She took over in March 2025 after long-serving principal Karen Buchanan stepped aside shortly before an Ofsted inspection.

Buchanan was subsequently suspended pending an investigation, then quit in July.

Wallace was leading Burnley when it was downgraded to ‘requires improvement’ after Ofsted found inaccurate learner records had inflated achievement rates for young people on level 3 vocational and A Level courses.

Inspectors said the data had misled learners, parents and the local community and criticised leaders and governors for failing “for too long” to question exceptionally high achievement rates.

Wallace remained interim principal until February this year, when Jason Faulkner took over the permanent role, before returning to her deputy principal post.

She began her career as a lecturer at City of Liverpool College and went on to hold senior curriculum, apprenticeship and employer engagement roles at Accrington and Rossendale, Myerscough and Bolton colleges.

Wallace joined Burnley in 2022 as assistant principal for apprenticeships, adult and commercial provision and was promoted to deputy principal the following year. She has also worked as a contracted Ofsted inspector since 2021.

She will move between two sizeable Lancashire colleges, although their student populations differ significantly.

Burnley was allocated funding for 3,770 16-to-19 students in 2024-25, compared with 2,107 at Preston, and reported 623 higher education learners against Preston’s 145.

Preston had the larger adult education cohort, with 2,444 learners compared with Burnley’s 1,627. Their apprenticeship numbers were almost identical, at 1,186 for Preston and 1,181 for Burnley.

Burnley was also the larger employer and institution financially. It employed the equivalent of 608 full-time staff and recorded income of £45.5 million, compared with 444 staff and £34.7 million at Preston.

However, Preston recorded the larger annual surplus in 2024-25, at £2.4 million compared with Burnley’s £1.7 million.

Wallace said it was a “real privilege” to join Preston and that she was “incredibly honoured” to have the opportunity to lead it into its next chapter.

“While I still have a few busy weeks ahead at Burnley College, which I will be very sad to leave, I am already looking forward to this next chapter,” she added.

Preston chair Jose Sedano-Martinez said Wallace had demonstrated a “clear vision for the future of the college” and the collaborative leadership style and strategic ambition needed for it to “continue to thrive”.

Bonding at a bootcamp before their march east to China

It’s half past seven on a sunny Saturday morning and two dozen of the UK’s most talented young tradespeople are on their feet, running through a pre-match warm-up.

This is Team UK’s final push before WorldSkills Shanghai, and after 18 months of training and with less than 70 days to go, there’s no time to waste.

The group flies out to China in September to join 1,500 competitors from more than 80 countries, all chasing gold, silver and bronze stardom at the “skills Olympics”.

The 28-hour bootcamp, held last weekend, is a final chance for the entire squad to train together and refine tactics for competition, evaluate their psychological mindset and, for at least one competitor, get a lesson in not sleeping in.

Oliver Coombs, an apprentice with BIMTek in Bath who competes in additive manufacturing, misses the early wake-up call entirely.

His excuse is he had been waiting for a fellow team member to arrive from Scotland the previous evening, “so I stayed up a little later for him to get here,” he says.

The morning energiser, comprising a mix of physical activity and team bonding, will be good practice for the team out in China. The group will run through the same pre-match routine on every day of competition in Shanghai.

The bootcamp, run at the University of Warwick, also involves sessions designed to make competitors dig deep.

WorldSkills UK psychologist Louise Kerr encourages squad members to break down their goal of victory into manageable targets, such as examining scoring criteria and sharpening awareness of their own personal strengths.

For Coombs, who began 3D printing as a hobby seven years before his lecturer at Bath College entered him for a competition, the exercise does not come naturally.

“I’m terrible at self-reflection,” he says.

“One of the things we had to do was ask ourselves why we are doing this. I answered, ‘why not? I enjoy doing it’.

“Everyone around me sees my potential to do well at Shanghai. I’m taking their word for it because I’m very bad at saying that I can.

“I definitely have more of a motivation now to live up to expectations. I don’t want to be too self-deprecating about it, but I also don’t want to be too up myself.”

Elsewhere, renewable energy competitor Madeleine Warburton is taking her ambitions in her stride.

She is an apprentice with RWE where she works on offshore wind turbines, and joined Squad UK ahead of WorldSkills Lyon in 2024 but didn’t make the final cut for the team until now.

“I knew from the start I wanted to get as much out of this as possible,” she says.

“I really threw myself into it. I do want to aim for a medal but I know if I focus and fixate on that, I won’t be performing as well as I could do.”

She says the pressure of a WorldSkills competition is, in some ways, easier than her day job.

“Doing it through WorldSkills you’re doing it in a safer environment, where you’re training under pressure but it’s a known pressure.

“Whereas when I’m working on the turbines, we’ve got weather pressure, the sea state, we’ve got lightning fronts coming in. There’s a lot of unknowns that can come out of nowhere.”

Both the additive manufacturing and renewable energy competitions were introduced at the WorldSkills 2022 special edition. The UK first participated in the events in Lyon two years later but did not come away with any medals.

During the summer, Team UK will continue their rigorous schedule with training managers, including international pressure test “friendlies” against overseas peers.

Robot systems integration duo Peter Jenkins and Pratham Lohia recently returned from a friendly in China, and web technologies competitor Finn Gallagher is also heading to the host country this month for training.

Marginal gains

Back in Warwick, as the competitors take part in exercises, Team UK’s training managers learn about marginal gains, a practice that helps competitors order their tasks during competition.

“We’re trying to build on the baseline knowledge and understanding but it’s also about being tactical that is going to give competitors an edge,” says Parisa Shirazi, director of standards at WorldSkills UK.

Christian Notley, cabinet making training manager and WorldSkills expert since 2011, leads the session and uses the bootcamp to brief the team on a significant change to this year’s competition: fully blind test projects.

For the first time, WorldSkills International organisers will withhold details of competition tasks from competitors until competition day.

The change is an attempt to curb so-called “hot-housing”, where some countries recruit and drill competitors specifically for WorldSkills events instead of developing rounded workplace competence.

Shirazi is pleased by the move, and says it will create a “level playing field” for all participating countries.

“Some projects used to be shared amongst participants. What that resulted in is people training specifically on one element,” she explains.

“For us in the UK, we’re not training just for competition. Well, we are, to some degree, but most importantly you’ll be better in the workplace because you’ve got a full set of skills at your disposal that you’ve been trained in over this period of time.

“That’s why we’re good at innovation, creativity and problem solving. Our competitors are able to adapt and adjust to whatever that project may be.”

Team UK at evening reception receiving their enamel badges

By the evening, the Team UK members are ceremonially presented with their ‘enamels’, the silver badges worn by competitors at opening and closing ceremonies.

The squad have just enough time to squeeze in some light relief from their packed schedule to catch England’s World Cup match against Norway.

WorldSkills Shanghai runs from September 22 to 27. Team UK are set to take on rivals from more than 80 countries across 24 skills disciplines.

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

Security regulator bans BIIAB after fraud probe

BIIAB has been stripped of powers to award security industry qualifications in an “unprecedented action” that puts an estimated £805,000 of qualification-fee income at risk.

On Tuesday, the government’s Security Industry Authority (SIA) gave BIIAB 20 working days’ notice that it would terminate its recognition agreement after intelligence-led investigations, including unannounced inspections, uncovered “serious examples” of malpractice among BIIAB-approved training providers.

The regulator found “serious and persistent material breaches” of BIIAB’s obligations which were “not capable of being remedied”.

It follows Ofqual’s decision earlier this month to block the awarding organisation from registering new learners on three security qualifications. The SIA’s termination marks a significant escalation, withdrawing BIIAB’s approval across all five of its licence-linked awards.

BIIAB, a subsidiary of Skills and Education Group, must immediately stop registering new learners on any of its five SIA-linked qualifications and cannot issue SIA licence-linked qualifications after August 10.

Qualifications awarded by BIIAB before that deadline will continue to be accepted by the SIA.

The SIA told FE Week that BIIAB had failed to undertake necessary quality-assurance activity, keep and maintain appropriate records, and co-operate with its monitoring and auditing procedures.

“Extensive work was undertaken by our quality assurance investigation teams, including multiple unannounced visits to BIIAB’s training providers, following information reported by whistleblowers and employers,” a spokesperson said.

The regulator declined to disclose detailed findings but said information had been passed to relevant authorities “where appropriate”.

A BIIAB spokesperson said the awarding organisation was “disappointed” by the termination notice.

They said: “We continue our efforts behind the scenes, and it is deeply frustrating that this ongoing work has not been acknowledged or allowed to embed.”

They added the matters related to a “small number” of BIIAB qualifications and did not reflect or “involve” the group’s wider operations or governance.

“As an organisation, we are committed to actively working with both SIA and Ofqual. Quality assurance, our customers and their learners remain our highest priority.

“We will be working with all parties concerned to provide clarity on the next steps for learners.”

However, Skills and Education Group’s accounts state that a monthly scrutiny group attended by its executive and senior leadership team reviews “regulatory needs across all awarding functions” in the group.

They also say risk registers for each subsidiary are reviewed monthly by senior leaders and quarterly by trustees. Regulatory changes and a failure to respond adequately to maintain compliance are listed among the group’s key risks.

An SIA spokesperson added: “The SIA, Ofqual and BIIAB will be meeting on a regular basis to ensure that there is an orderly conclusion for learners. BIIAB have an ongoing obligation to Ofqual to ensure that they protect the interests of learners.”

£805,000 of earnings at risk

The termination covers BIIAB’s level 2 qualifications for door supervisors, security officers and CCTV operators, alongside door supervisor and security officer refresher awards.

FE Week analysis of Ofqual data found BIIAB issued around 26,700 certificates across those five qualifications in England in the year to March 2026.

These included 18,100 certificates for the main door supervisor award, 6,660 for its refresher qualification and 1,485 for the CCTV operator award.

A further 380 security officer refresher certificates were issued, alongside fewer than 50 for the main security officer qualification.

Applying BIIAB’s published per-learner training-provider charges suggested the five qualifications had an annual value of around £805,000 in England, before separate charges paid by centres.

The estimate does not represent confirmed BIIAB income because it is based on certificates rather than registrations and does not account for any discounts or alternative pricing arrangements.

BIIAB listed a £31.50 provider fee for the main door supervisor, security officer and CCTV qualifications, and £26.50 for both refresher awards on its website before its pages promoting the courses were taken down.

The estimate is equivalent to more than a quarter of BIIAB’s latest reported annual income.

Newly published Skills and Education Group accounts show BIIAB generated income of £2.95 million in the year to August 2025, down 7 per cent from £3.17 million the previous year.

It spent £3.1 million and recorded a £147,540 deficit. Although that was an improvement on its £605,329 deficit in 2023-24, BIIAB’s post-acquisition reserves were £459,081 in deficit at the end of the year.

BIIAB also owed its parent organisation £582,032 after Skills and Education Group recharged it £1.62 million for wages and other costs during the year.

The accounts were approved in April, before Ofqual’s direction and the SIA’s decision to terminate BIIAB’s approval.

The five SIA-linked awards also accounted for about half of all BIIAB certificates issued in England during the period.

Every affected centre faces inspection

Ofqual first intervened in September 2025, requiring BIIAB to conduct additional checks before releasing results for three security qualifications.

It issued a formal direction on July 2 preventing new registrations for the main door supervisor, door supervisor refresher and security officer awards.

The full legal direction, published this week, states that Ofqual determined BIIAB “has failed, and is likely to continue to fail” to comply with its conditions of recognition.

Ofqual’s direction requires BIIAB to commission an independent review of every centre connected to its level 2 door supervisor, door supervisor refresher and security officer qualifications.

The review must include a physical, unannounced inspection of each centre, checks on staff and invigilators, and scrutiny of potential malpractice or maladministration.

Ofqual must approve the reviewer and terms of reference before the work begins, and can accompany inspectors on visits.

BIIAB is also prohibited from issuing results to existing learners until it has completed a compliance pro-forma for each cohort.

The checks must cover assessment conditions, authentication of learners’ work, invigilation, previous quality-assurance activity and any outstanding malpractice or maladministration cases.

Ofqual can require results to be withheld if it is not satisfied with the assurances provided.

The September controls applied to the same three security qualifications had required similar cohort-level assurances before results could be released.

Ofqual said BIIAB was drawing up a plan, required under its conditions of recognition, to ensure learners were not disadvantaged.

It said BIIAB and Skills and Education Group Awards were regulated as separate legal entities, but confirmed it was “considering the impact” of the regulatory action in light of the relationship between them.

Ofqual declined to say which conditions BIIAB had breached, whether it had complied with controls imposed last September or whether further sanctions, such as financial penalties, were being considered, citing “ongoing regulatory action”.

It said it continued to monitor BIIAB’s wider qualifications and assessment activity.

Five security awarding organisations remain

BIIAB was one of six awarding organisations approved by the SIA in a market that issued 158,000 licence-linked qualifications during 2025-26.

The SIA said it would work with Ofqual and the five remaining organisations to ensure there was sufficient capacity for learners and training centres.

Operation RESOLUTE, the SIA programme behind the inspections, has targeted poor standards, malpractice and fraud in commercial security training over the past 18 months.

The SIA carried out 24 unannounced inspections across training centres in England during the past month, although it has not disclosed how many involved BIIAB providers.

It said Operation RESOLUTE had resulted in learners’ qualifications being revoked and licences suspended where they were found to have been obtained fraudulently.

A number of investigations into specific allegations of training malpractice were under way at any one time, but the SIA did not say whether any qualifications or licences linked to BIIAB had been revoked or suspended.

Tim Archer, the SIA’s executive director of licensing and standards, said it was “critical to public safety” that frontline security operatives obtained licences through legitimately earned qualifications.

Amanda Swann, Ofqual’s executive director for delivery, said the case demonstrated that regulators were working together to tackle malpractice.

“Those that do not take these matters seriously will be held to account,” she said.

DfE sticks with ‘overly broad’ digital V Level

Ministers will press ahead with a wide-ranging digital V Level despite fewer than half of consultation respondents backing its proposed content.

The Department for Education has published final subject content for the first V Levels and new level 2 qualifications due to be taught from September 2027.

But just 45 per cent of the 59 responses to its digital systems and data V Level consultation said the content as proposed would fully or mostly enable students to achieve the qualification’s aims.

Another 45 per cent said it would only partly do so, while 6 per cent said “not at all” and 7 per cent were unsure.

The DfE received 260 responses across eight consultations covering three V Levels, two foundation certificates and three occupational certificates.

FE Week reported in March that the first V Levels would launch in education, digital systems and data, and accounting and finance. They have been designed to be the same size as one A Level with 360 guided learning hours, and can be combined with other V Levels or A Levels as part of a young person’s post-16 study programme.

The nationally set content is intended to ensure learners studying the same subject gain comparable knowledge and skills wherever they are.

Broad digital course retained

Respondents welcomed the proposed digital V Level’s coverage of data analysis, cyber security and digital solution design.

However, the DfE said a “consistent theme” was it was “overly broad for a single qualification”, creating a risk that teaching several complex areas would limit depth.

Concerns were also raised about gaps in core IT skills, programming fundamentals and database concepts. Some respondents also believed there was too much emphasis on data and artificial intelligence in the proposed content, instead of networking, hardware and general IT.

Some respondents questioned whether learners without previous digital knowledge could access the content effectively, while others warned that limited technical depth could leave students insufficiently prepared for degree-level study and technical pathways.

The consultation surfaced deliverability issues, including whether providers would have staff with expertise spanning all of the specialist areas, as well as access to hardware, software and secure environments for practical cyber security learning.

Respondents also warned the volume of content could not be taught effectively within the available guided learning hours.

The DfE said it had made “targeted refinements”, including making programming logic, systems understanding and digital solution design more explicit, and strengthening requirements around data quality, limitations and bias.

But it has “retained the broad applied structure”, arguing the V Level is intended to provide a sector focus rather than a specialist route.

Headline feedback about the level 2 digital foundation certificate content was more positive, with 77 per cent saying it fully or mostly achieved its aims.

However, “many” respondents still considered it too demanding for level 2 learners because of its breadth and expectations around programming, networking and analytical skills.

The other foundation certificate has been renamed from “education and early years” to “education”, although early-years content will remain. The DfE said the new title better reflected its broad scope across different ages and education settings.

Early years occupational course hours cut

Only 53 per cent of respondents fully or mostly backed the proposed level 2 early years practitioner occupational certificate.

Feedback suggested the proposed content was too theoretical and did not place enough emphasis on practical skills and day-to-day work in early years settings.

However, the DfE said many respondents appeared to have mistaken the introductory content for the full curriculum, when it was intended to sit alongside its existing “full and relevant” criteria.

Others warned about the availability of high-quality placements, staffing and workplace assessment capacity, while the proposed two-year length risked affecting learner engagement and delaying progression into work.

The DfE responded by cutting the qualification from 600 to 540 guided learning hours and adding a section setting out the additional content that awarding organisations must include to meet “full and relevant” early years requirements.

Meanwhile, the accounting and finance and education V Levels received stronger support, with 63 and 73 per cent of respondents respectively saying the proposed content fully or mostly met the qualifications’ aims.

Respondents to the education consultation nevertheless questioned whether a qualification intended to prepare learners for employment in the sector should include a compulsory placement or practical experience.

The DfE has not added a mandatory placement, but said links between core knowledge and work-related purposes had been strengthened to support the application of educational knowledge in context.