Four colleges are yet to publish their annual accounts for 2021 – one of which has now failed to publish financial statements for the previous three years.
Clawback disputes, last-minute and “frustratingly slow” funding assurance reviews, audits and bank loan negotiations have all contributed to the delays, according to the colleges involved.
The data file contains 227 of 231 expected returns. Those missing include Brooklands College, Fareham College, Stoke on Trent College and Kingston Maurward College.
Government rules state that colleges must publish their audited accounts in an easily accessible location on their website no later than January 31 each year to “maximise transparency and to support accountability”.
This is the third year in a row that Brooklands College has failed to file financial statements. The college, based in Surrey, was stung by a £20 million apprenticeship subcontracting scandal back in 2018.
Brooklands College has been negotiating repayment demands from the ESFA ever since.
Principal Christine Ricketts said the college is “well advanced in discussions to resolve outstanding issues and we are expecting to publish the accounts before the end of this financial year”. She added that the college “continues as a going concern”.
Fareham College in Hampshire was a surprising inclusion on the list of colleges to not yet publish accounts. The college is judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted and has no financial notices to improve from the government.
A spokesperson told FE Week the college received a “random sampled ESFA funding assurance review” very late in the normal cycle, the pace of which to conclude has been “frustratingly slow despite best endeavours by the college to work proactively with the ESFA”.
“The delay to the publication of the college financial statements for 2020/21 is simply down to ensuring correct procedures are followed for sign-off of the accounts and is not a reflection of the financial health of the college,” the spokesperson added.
Kingston Maurward College, a land-based college in Dorset, has faced financial challenges over the past couple of years due to a big hit on its commercial income during the pandemic and associated lockdowns.
The college received a financial notice to improve as well as an FE Commissioner visit earlier this year and is currently undergoing a structure and prospects appraisal.
Principal Luke Rake told FE Week his college breached loan covenants due to the income impacts of Covid-19, and as a result “our banks and ourselves have been in conversations for some time as to how these breaches should be treated”.
This is taking place alongside a “very amicable discussion about refinancing to consolidate loans and give the college an even better financial position in conjunction with our strong post-Covid recovery,” he said.
Rake added that both banks have been “exceptionally supportive” but until these discussions are complete the college “is not in a position to fully sign off the accounts”.
Lastly, Stoke on Trent College said the delay to its accounts is due to the “finalisation of an ESFA funding audit”.
A spokesperson told FE Week this has now been “successfully completed” with a “very small clawback of just over £250”. The accounts are expected to finally be signed at the end of this week.
Stoke on Trent College had spent six years in government intervention, partly because of a £20 million bailout in 2018, but the ESFA lifted its financial notice to improve in May 2021.
The college has been on the mend and recorded an underlying operating surplus of £165,000 in its 2020 accounts.
The college’s self-assessed financial health grade for 2019/20 was ‘outstanding’, and the FE Commissioner’s team praised the college that year for being on a “strong trajectory of improvement”.
End-point assessment organisations were honoured today during the first-ever EPA Awards – with judges recognising winners’ efforts to overcome challenges posed by the pandemic and Brexit.
The inaugural EPA Awards, run by the Federation of Awarding Bodies, recognised the contributions made by end-point assessment organisations to apprentices, employers and to education and skills in England over the past year.
“We’re delighted that for these inaugural awards we received so many entries dedicated to celebrating the achievements of end point assessment organisations,” said Federation of Awarding Bodies chief executive Tom Bewick.
Bewick said the awards marked a “crucial point” when the majority of EPAOs in the marketplace are now being “properly regulated” by a statutory body in Ofqual.
“We’re moving to a new system where only the very best organisations will be able to continue to offer end-point assessment services in future,” he said.
“There was tough competition for the best-in-class winners of each of the four EPAO categories, which is why the independent judges decided to announce four highly commended EPAOs as well. And we congratulate all the finalists this year.”
Association of Apprentices chief executive Emily Austin and Association of Colleges director of diversity Jeff Greenidge judged the awards.
Professional Assessment Ltd, which does EPA for over 20 standards for sectors including healthcare and retail, won the ‘multi standards EPAO of the year (SME)’ award – with judges saying the organisation “conveyed their passion and focus on service”.
The judging panel was impressed with their approach to communication with all parties, and in particular their helpline for apprentices during the pandemic regardless of whether they were a PAL apprentice or not.
Picking up the ‘multi standards EPAO of the year (50 + on payroll)’ award was Innovate Awarding. The organisation does EPA for over 50 apprenticeships.
Judges said Innovate Awarding’s work to support other EPAOs with responses to the pandemic and for Ofqual approval “is excellent and will have a significant and long-lasting impact on the entire sector”.
FDQ, which does EPA for 11 standards in the food sector, won the ‘specialist sector based EPAO of the year’ award.
“This was such a hard category for our judges. All of the entrants have demonstrated how they have overcome the challenges of the pandemic, Brexit and the regulatory environment,” a spokesperson for the Federation of Awarding Bodies said.
“The submissions convey deep knowledge and passion for their sector and how they contribute to the UK’s economic success.
“FDQ have won this award because their entry demonstrated that they focussed on building a sustainable business while responding to external changes and pressures.”
And the ‘best collaboration to deliver EPA services’ award went to NCFE – the EPA for over 30 standards.
Judges said NCFE’s relationship with Fika – an app that supports apprentices’ mental fitness – is a “brilliant example of leading-edge excellence” that will have a “significant impact on apprentices and will contribute at scale, to apprenticeships as a whole”.
Bewick said he hoped the awards would help to inspire other EPAOs who didn’t enter this year, to submit an application next year.
The full list of winners are:
· Multi standards EPAO of the year (SME) – sponsored by Skilltech Solutions: Professional Assessment Ltd.
· Multi standards EPAO of the year (50 + on payroll) – sponsored by GradeMaker: Innovate Awarding
· Specialist sector based EPAO of the year – sponsored by PSI: FDQ
· Best collaboration to deliver EPA Services – sponsored by Advanced Secure Technologies: NCFE
A college surviving on emergency bailout funding has appointed a deputy FE Commissioner as its next principal.
Martin Sim (pictured) is set to take on the job at City College Southampton in July.
He’ll take over from Sarah Stannard who is leaving after almost nine years at the helm to work as the new director of education in the Falkland Islands.
Stannard has been highly critical of the Department for Education and FE Commissioner’s handling of a city-wide review of Southampton’s FE provision, which was launched almost two years ago.
City College Southampton hopes the review will result in a much-needed merger to ensure its survival after seeing multiple attempts fall through due to its perilous financial position.
Sim has been parachuted in to turn-around five other colleges since 2017. Most recently as interim chief executive at Nottingham College.
He said City College Southampton has experienced “challenging financial times over recent years, but it has talented students supported by committed staff and governors”.
“This provides the foundation on which to demonstrate that the college is a strong and vital partner in any future solution,” he added.
Geraint Davies, chair of City College Southampton, said the college is “very fortunate to have secured such an outstanding candidate, who brings with him a successful track record of working with colleges facing significant challenges, and delivering quality outcomes for students, staff and the wider community”.
He added that the college is “eagerly awaiting the outcome of the education minister’s review of the provision for FE in the Southampton area” and he is “confident that City College will have an integral and purposeful part to play in the implementation of the preferred solution”.
The college’s first proposed merger was with Southampton Solent University, as recommended in the FE Commissioner’s 2016 area review. However, this was rejected by the DfE in February 2018, because of “concerns about the suggested governance model and value for money”, Stannard said previously.
Following a “rapid” structure and prospects appraisal, supported by the ESFA and the FE Commissioner and concluding in June 2018, City College selected Ofsted grade two Eastleigh College as a merger partner.
The ESFA pulled funding for this move days before it was due to be completed, just as Stannard was preparing to step down in favour of Eastleigh’s then principal, Jan Edrich.
Without the government’s support, Eastleigh withdrew from the merger.
Sarah Stannard
A later proposal to merge with neighbouring Ofsted grade three Itchen Sixth Form was also rejected by the ESFA in September 2020, owing to what it called “too much uncertainty” around the merged college’s financial viability.
Ofsted rated City College Southampton as ‘requires improvement’ last month, in a report which said “external decision-makers” have failed to resolve questions on the college’s financial position and this has slowed leaders’ progress in improving its quality of education.
Stannard will take up her new role in the Falkland Islands in September 2022.
She said City College Southampton will be a “wrench to leave”.
“However, working and living in the Falklands has been a long-held ambition of mine since I visited the islands in 2008 and 2012,” she added.
“When the opportunity arose to become director of education in the Falkland Islands I felt that this was the right time to move after nine fulfilling years leading City College.”
Strike action at Bury College has been called off at the eleventh hour after leaders agreed to give staff a pay rise worth triple their original offer.
Staff at six colleges in the North west had planned to strike today over staff pay – the same day that many GCSE students are due to take what University and College Union calls a “crucial English exam”.
UCU had demanded that colleges increase pay by at least 8.5 per cent to meet the cost-of-living crisis.
However, an agreement was reached between Bury College and its UCU branch meaning that strike action has been avoided.
Staff at Bury College will receive a permanent pay award of 3 per cent and will be given a non-consolidated payment in this and the next financial year of £1000.
UCU claims that the offer is worth between 6 per cent and 6.2 per cent and is triple management’s original offer of 2 per cent.
Strikes at the other five colleges – Burnley College, City of Liverpool College, Hopwood Hall, Nelson & Colne College Group, and Oldham College – have gone ahead as planned.
UCU regional official Martyn Moss said: “The offer made by Bury College in recognition of our members’ incredible work is great news for both staff and students. It means the college is now able to avoid disruption during this crucial examination period.
“To avoid further strike action, management at the other colleges need to look at Bury and see what can be achieved when bosses engage with us on pay. With inflation and energy costs soaring, they urgently need to raise pay so we can avoid any further disruption.”
A spokesperson for Bury College told FE Week that their staff “aspire to provide the best for every student”.
“At the same time, our staff’s welfare is of utmost importance and the college has maintained throughout negotiations the need to balance a desire to make the best offer possible to staff in these difficult times, with its duty to maintain financial sustainability and manage future risk,” they said.
“By combining an approach of offering a consolidated pay award of 3 per cent along with a non-consolidated payment in this and the next financial year we feel we have been able to strike that balance.”
Staff at the other five colleges on strike today were on picket lines at college entrances and an online rally took place with UCU general secretary Jo Grady.
“UCU is demanding the other colleges follow Bury’s example and make improved pay offers to meet the cost-of-living crisis,” UCU said in a statement.
The union said that the Manchester College – the largest further education college in the UK – is also set for action “short of a strike” on May 20. This includes working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues or vacant posts, and not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action.
UCU noted that since 2009 pay in further education has fallen behind inflation by 35 per cent and the pay gap between school and college teachers stands at around £9,000.
Photo: Protestors on the picket line at Burnley College. Credit: UCU Burnley College
MPs have said prisoners should have laptops in their cells to help them study and should be assessed by an educational psychologist when they first enter the prison system.
In a new report, the House of Commons education select committee highlighted what it called the “cracks in a clunky, chaotic, disjointed system which does not value education as the key to rehabilitation”.
Citing data that shows prisoners who participate in education whilst incarcerated are 7.5 percentage points less likely to reoffend than those who don’t, MPs made recommendations to improve the current situation.
These included allowing every prisoner to receive an assessment for learning needs from an educational psychologist.
MPs also said a change in attitude to technology in prisons is “long overdue” and that if security concerns can be overcome, prisoners should have access to in-cell laptops, such as Chromebook, when undertaking education – something that the Prisoners’ Education Trust have advocated for.
The Ministry of Justice told FE Week they have made “clear commitments” in the 2021 Prisons’ Strategy White paper to expand the use of secure laptops so that more prisoners can study from their cells.
“For the majority of offenders, prison must be a place where an old life ends, and a new one begins,” said chair of the committee Robert Halfon.
“The key to starting again is education. Education – from a practical apprenticeship to a masters’ degree – increases employability, one of the most important factors in reducing reoffending.
“The argument for placing education at the heart of the prison system is a no-brainer: prisoners who engage with education and those who find employment on release are statistically less likely to reoffend.”
However, he noted that six years after these points were set out to the government in a landmark review, prison education is in a “chaotic place”.
“Shambolic transfer of records, no assessment for educational needs and the lack of access to modern learning tools add up to paint a dismal picture.”
The committee made recommendations around the assessment of needs, education delivery, education facilities and infrastructure, academic study and the route to employment.
The report noted that a high proportion of prisoners have learning needs.
“It is concerning that prisons have only had to screen for additional learning needs since 2019. This means that the majority of the prison population may never have gone through a screening process,” MPs said.
“It is clear that there is a lack of data around the numbers of prisoners with special needs and that the true scale of the issue is not known.”
To address this, MPs said they believe there is a “strong case for every prisoner to receive an assessment for learning needs from an educational psychologist, or at the very least a more intensive form of screening”.
The committee recommend that the Ministry of Justice prepares a cost appraisal for implementing such an approach.
Many of the suggestions centred around taking a more digital approach to improving the system.
As well as laptops in cells, MPs called for the introduction of digital education passports which would contain a record of each prisoner’s learning and educational needs.
This, it is hoped, would facilitate better transfer of studies across the prison estate and help improve prisoners’ ongoing education.
“Prison education has been underfunded for many years and is at the bottom of the class when providing outcomes for prisoner learners,” Francesca Cooney, head of policy at the Prisoners’ Education Trust, said.
“The digital divide between prisoners and the community is ever increasing and the committee is clear that we cannot let that continue.
“We strongly support the call for the government to set a date for prisons to provide restricted broadband and for prisoners who are studying to have in-cell access to security-approved laptops,” she added.
The Prisoner’s Education Trust told FE Week that the Committe was right to highlight the lack of support for those with additional learning needs.
“Ensuring that every prison has a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, as the report recommends, could really benefit those with additional learning needs, helping them to get the support that they need,” a spokesperson said.
The Ministry of Justice, in its 2021 Prisons Strategy White Paper, said that only four adult prisons (including one privately managed prison) and one Youth Offender Institution (YOI) in England and Wales have access to in-cell technology, with the appropriate infrastructure in place for staff and prisoner facing digital services.
The government said in the white paper, that it will extend this to a further eleven prisons by Summer 2022 including Young Offender Institutions and two Women’s prisons.
“Making our streets safer is one of the government’s top priorities,” a spokesperson from the Ministry of Justice told FE Week.
“Offenders who have a job are significantly less likely to reoffend when they leave prison – that’s why we’re rolling out in-cell education technology, prisoner apprenticeships and driving up the incentive for governors to get prisoners into work to cut crime and protect the public.”
Quality of prison education
The committee said that the quality of prison education is of “huge concern” and has been deemed “inadequate”.
“The vision of governor autonomy, as set out by the Coates Review, has not been realised by the new contracts and we are disappointed that the new contractual arrangements resulted in the same four educational providers being appointed.”
The report noted that new contracts were meant to encourage partnership between prisons, prison educators, the further education sector and the voluntary sector, but in practice bureaucratic contracts undermine this vision and make educational provision transactional, rather than rooted in the needs of the individual and the local area.
“The government must ensure that there is a greater emphasis on working with the further education sector,” the report added.
Apprenticeships
MPs said they were pleased on the government’s recent decision to let prisoners take apprenticeships.
They added that in any future review of the apprenticeship levy, the government must change the rules to allow businesses to direct it towards prisoner rehabilitation schemes.
The report concludes the committee’s 18-month long inquiry. Peter Cox, managing director of Novus, one of over 70 organisations that submitted evidence to the committee, said that the report “highlights the vital role [prison education] can play in reducing the £15 billion-a-year cost of reoffending to taxpayers.”
The six colleges that will host the WorldSkills UK national finals this year have been named today.
Barking & Dagenham, Belfast Metropolitan, Blackpool & The Fylde, Cardiff & Vale, Edinburgh and Middlesbrough colleges have been chosen as the venues for a total of 62 finals between them during the week commencing November 14.
The UK’s most skilled students and apprentices will compete for gold in trades (see full list below) ranging from bricklaying to culinary arts, and aircraft maintenance to hairdressing.
Competitors who impress under the pressure of a national final could be in with a chance of representing the UK at the “skills Olympics” in France in 2024.
Winners will be revealed in a special live medal ceremony show presented by TV presenter Steph McGovern from her Packed Lunch Studio on Friday November 25.
WorldSkills UK deputy chief executive Ben Blackledge said he hopes witnessing the drama of the finals live will “inspire young people to keep developing their technical and employability skills”.
During the finals, the host colleges will run events showcasing what they offer, providing careers advice and giving visitors the opportunity to talk to employers and industry experts.
People who cannot get to a local event will be able to follow online through a special broadcast featuring live finals action, as well as interviews and advice from previous winners, experts and career advisors.
Zoe Lewis, principal of Middlesbrough College Group, said she was “incredibly proud” to have been chosen by WorldSkills UK as “one of only a handful of hosts for this major competition”.
“We’re training people at the cutting edge of technology and knowledge, and this competition brings together the very best up and coming talent in these sectors,” she added.
The finals are the culmination of a seven-month process including regional heats and intensive training.
What happens after a serious violent incident plays out in a college? How can colleges best support students and communities around criminal exploitation? Jess Staufenberg looks at whether safeguarding responses and violence reduction units are working
Lindsey Styles, inclusion and safeguarding lead, was soon on the scene, trying to get an ambulance to the teenager. “The poor young man had collapsed, so students and staff ran out to administer first aid,” she tells me. “They responded amazingly well, doing CPR, trying to staunch the blood and save the boy’s life.”
The ambulance arrived quickly – but they couldn’t save him. Later the hospital rang the college to thank them for their efforts.
How does a college cope with this sort of terrible incident? How can safeguarding against criminal exploitation of students be as effective as possible?
FE Week has researched the subject and found 17 colleges in the news since 2014 for a serious violent incident on or near the college.
In 2021, for instance, a student at Richmond upon Thames College, who was also a refugee who had fled war in Afghanistan, was stabbed and killed. In 2020 at Riverside College in Liverpool, students were stabbed at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, very close to the front door.
It’s important to say colleges are largely very safe environments, and not to overstate the threat of violence. But providers also say violence and criminal exploitation is increasing.
Oldham College students practicing emergency street first aid
Back at Milton Keynes College, Styles is clear the impact can be devastating. “Staff and students were deeply distressed by it. We responded immediately by having counsellors to help staff and students to offload.”
Aside from therapeutic support, the next issue was misinformation. The first police officer had incorrectly reported that the victim was a college student. Following a review, the college has now set up a telephone hotline for the media.
“If there’s an incident, now there’s a designated number to prevent misinformation.”
The college also wrote a “more specific” emergency “step-by-step plan”, around how to manage traffic and parent requests.
But interestingly the college chose not to ramp up security measures, such as knife arches and more stop and search procedures.
“We don’t want students to feel we are searching them every time they come in,” says Styles. “This is about young people feeling safe, and acting in a safe way – not about feeling threatened and so acting in a threatening way. It’s about de-escalation not escalation.”
It’s about de-escalation not escalation
Instead, knife arches were showcased to students by police officers as a “learning activity”, says Styles. Talking frequently to local community leaders is especially important, she adds.
It’s an important area of debate. Two months ago City & Islington College paused stop and search checks introduced in February in response to concerns about local knife crime and student safety, after students said the measures left them feeling “violated” and staged a mass walk-out.
Nationally, criminal incidents have risen in line with austerity cuts since 2010. Last year there were around 41,000 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, which was a drop on 2019/20 ̶ but still 27 per cent higher than in 2010.
At the same time the number of police officers in England and Wales has been cut back: a staggering 20,600 fewer between 2010 and 2019. The reoffending rate remains high ̶ in 2020, 39 per cent of children reoffended.
Drugs-related criminal activities have also received more attention. National Crime Agency figures show at least 14.5 per cent of referrals were flagged as county lines issues last year, compared to around 11 per cent in 2019.
Oldham College students graduate after completing the Greater Manchester VRU funded Street Doctors Step Wise, street first aid programme
A flagship response from the government has been violence reduction units (VRU), launched in 2019 as cross-agency groups, with police, health, education and local government representatives.
For 2022/23, £64 million will fund 20 violence reduction units (VRU), split across eight regions: for instance, £7 million has gone to London, £3.4 million to Greater Manchester, £880,000 to Bedfordshire and so on. These share information and signpost providers to services.
Eddie Playfair, senior policy manager at the Association of Colleges, said colleges in all regions are reporting engaging with their nearest VRU. They also say “the number of issues and referrals is greater”.
“Colleges are much larger than schools and draw students from a wider catchment area, so it means the cross-agency violence reduction work is really important,” he added.
Longfield met with staff from eight colleges at the end of March for the ‘colleges’ section of her report: Kirklees College, Shrewsbury College, Bolton College, Cheshire College, Orbital South College, Liverpool College, South Thames College Group and Stoke College.
The report, published in April, emphasises better inclusion of vulnerable young people at risk of criminal exploitation, but notes “it is clear from our conversations the college sector feels it is often an afterthought in national policy discussion”.
One suggestion is youth development facilities could be based inside colleges.
“Why spend youth investment money on new shiny buildings when colleges have many sports and arts facilities that could be open for longer?” the report quotes a college leader.
It chimes with Longfield’s view that colleges can play a key role in her goal for inclusion to be “baked” into the accountability system, she says. She notes many colleges are “almost inclusive by default” because they take in so many disadvantaged students, including the 14-to-16 age range as alternative provision.
Given that 60 per cent of 16-to-19-year-olds attend college, Longfield wants to “do more work” with the sector and is also holding a 16-to-24 age range roundtable soon.
“I’d like to look at exclusions in colleges, but also the number of kids who fall off courses,” she adds. “Sometimes they drop out in a matter of weeks.”
One college the commission team visited is Kirklees College, in West Yorkshire. Polly Harrow, assistant principal for student experience, echoes Longfield’s concern about students excluded from FE due to criminal activity.
“Every college has their own threshold of what they will tolerate ̶ there can be exclusions in areas of this country where students are excluded more quickly than elsewhere. But do we always understand we might have a very, very frightened human here, who might be under threat? We are sometimes criminalising young people who are afraid, traumatised or being exploited.”
Harrow was driven to introduce a trauma-informed, restorative justice approach at the college following an awful personal experience: her husband’s brother was murdered by a 17-year-old.
“When that 17-year-old was 24, he was released from prison, and we went through that process of restorative justice and sat opposite that person. The fact is, if we can do this here, then we can do it in education.”
Harrow says the key is “really respecting the student voice” on the issues at play.
In such discussions, students are often shocked to discover that those who die through knife crime often die on the weapon they are carrying.
Delivering trauma-informed and restorative justice training to colleges is the Greater Manchester VRU, whose education lead is Rebecca Bromley-Woods, on secondment from The Manchester College. (In 2016, the Manchester College received national media attention when two students were stabbed in an argument outside the canteen.)
The interventions are co-designed with students, but it’s important they don’t compound a feeling that students are unsafe, says Bromley-Woods.
This also helps to counter social media, “which amplifies and escalates” violent incidents, she explains.
“People involved in serious violence are low numbers, but there’s now more people on the periphery following it on social media. That fuels a perception they have to keep themselves safe and maybe carry a knife.”
There’s now more people following the violence on social media
Social media sharing also makes violence more normalised, adds Bromley-Woods. “It’s like violence is almost accepted because it’s online, it’s not real. We’re potentially headed for a culture of acceptance, where it’s seen as the norm by too many groups.”
The VRU, which delivers against a violence reduction strategy, also delivers training on “safer searches” of students and on neurodiversity and inclusion.
John Poyton, chief executive at Redthread charity, which is the joint secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime and Violence Reduction, says an “incident” is a “teachable moment” for colleges, but long-term prevention is all about knowing the wider context.
He points to sociology professor Carlene Firmin’s work on “contextual safeguarding”. Firmin’s approach counters the traditional safeguarding model of students focused “on the home, in isolation” and calls for public services to look for abuse outside the home too.
“It could be about training up council workers cutting the grass in parks, because actually where are young vulnerable adolescents going to be sleeping? Probably on a bench.
“It’s about looking at all the contexts,” says Poyton, adding that the contextual safeguarding framework “fits well” with violence reduction strategies.
Finally, in terms of how best to support young people at risk of criminal exploitation, staff should again listen to students. Suzanne Taylor, assistant director at Barnardo’s (also the joint APPG secretariat), said students report wanting access to peer support and a trusted adult, rather than a referral to a professional service.
“They want support to come to them, in their context,” she explains.
It’s clear that colleges face extremely difficult situations around criminal exploitation and violent behaviour. Take this situation: just last month, a student at Crawley College brought in a fake gun, pulling the trigger in order to scare people. He will now serve more than five years in a young offenders’ institution. It’s such a complex scenario to unpick.
And how effective is the government’s response, including VRUs? In April, the Home Office announced the VRUs and “hotspot policing” are “working”, and have supposedly prevented 49,000 violent offences.
But can better information sharing and signposting really undo such huge loss of personnel among police and youth workers, and cuts to FE funding?
Meanwhile, protecting students aged 18 and over, when they are classed as adults, remains a “cliff edge” of support, experts warn.
There’s some brilliant practice happening, but much more to be done. Let’s hope the Commission on Young Lives, and the Home Office, work with and support colleges as closely as possible.
The government should create a new minister for skills and youth employment role that is shared between the Departments for Education and Work and Pensions to help tackle the NEET crisis, a think tank has said.
The recommendation was made in the ‘Finding a NEET solution’ report by the education and skills think tank EDSK, which was published today.
EDSK’s paper said that on current trends it will take over 150 years before there are no longer any young people who are ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) in England.
The think tank made a number of recommendations to tackle the issue, including calling for more money for the 16 to 19 bursary fund and the removal of level 7 apprenticeships from levy funding.
“After two decades of failing to make any notable progress in reducing the number of young people who become NEET after leaving school or college, it is time for government to look again at why thousands of students are still leaving our education system every year with poor academic results and low self-esteem,” said Tom Richmond, director of EDSK.
Richmond said this “failure” to engage many young people is needlessly driving some of them out of the education and training system by undermining their motivation, aspirations and confidence over the course of several years.
“It is then left to taxpayers and society to subsequently spend considerable sums of money trying to bring these young people back into the fold later,” Richmond said.
“Not only is this desperately inefficient from a public expenditure perspective, it is also a tragic waste of young people’s talents,” he added.
The paper noted that at the end of 2021 there were over 700,000 16 to 24-year-olds classified as NEET in England – equivalent to 1-in-10 young people.
“Worse still, despite endless initiatives and interventions from successive governments, the proportion of young people who are NEET after leaving school or college stands at 12.6 per cent – just 0.4 per cent lower than in 2016, and only 0.7 per cent lower than two decades earlier,” the report said.
The think tank made 14 recommendations to the government to tackle the issue, including the creation of new roles and responsibilities in government.
EDSK said that to create clearer accountability and responsibility in government for preventing young people from becoming NEET, the current role of ‘minister for skills’ at the Department for Education (DfE) should be converted into a ‘minister for skills and youth employment’. This role would be shared between the DfE and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
EDSK called for the government to remove level 7 apprenticeships from the scope of the apprenticeship levy.
“The requirement for 5% ‘co-investment’ from non-levy paying employers towards the cost of training younger apprentices should be scrapped,” the report said.
The aim of this would be to stimulate more demand for, and supply of, apprenticeships for young people.
Another suggestion is for the government to create a new service called ‘CareersLink’, that would coordinate the support available to young people who are at risk of becoming NEET.
Authors of the report said that more support for young people within schools and colleges was needed. To tackle this, they argued that the 16 to 19 bursary fund should be increased from £150 million a year to £225 million a year for the start of the academic year 2022/23.
EDSK also said that financial incentives could be used to encourage more employers to recruit young people into schemes like apprenticeships, traineeships and T Levels.
“To build capacity among employers to recruit and support young people, financial incentives ranging from £500 to £5,000 should be available to organisations offering apprenticeships, traineeships and T Level placements,” the report said.
Interesting fact: Rachel is a keen sportswoman and currently has a gold handicap of 12, she once played four rounds of golf in one day for Cancer Research, teeing off at 4am in the dark!
Matt Laws
Vice Principal- Technical and Vocational Education, Shrewsbury Colleges Group
Start date: May 2022
Previous Job: Assistant Principal, Dudley College of Technology
Interesting fact: Since 2014, Matt has supported international education authorities in designing and delivering leadership programmes in countries such as South Africa, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and India.
George Ryan
Press and PR Manager, Association of Colleges
Start date: May 2022
Interesting fact: George’s signature party-piece/go-to karaoke is singing Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights word-perfect, in falsetto, with appropriate dance moves.
