College reclassification: Major changes you need to know about

Salaries of over £150,000 will need government sign-off and private sector borrowing for colleges will be highly restricted following their reclassification as public bodies, the Department for Education has announced.

College hopes of being exempt from VAT have also been squashed and while they will still retain the ability to operate their subsidiaries, those subsidiaries will now also be brought into the public sector and be subject to new constraints.

But there will be additional cash pumped into colleges this year to “eliminate the current deficit in funding” and to make up for their new inability to borrow commercially, and colleges will be allowed to retain surpluses and proceeds from sales of assets.

The DfE outlined the key changes to financial rules for colleges as a result of today’s announcement from the Office for National Statistics that they will switch from the private to public sector.

The DfE said that colleges will “maintain many of the flexibilities they currently have,” and day-to-day operations will continue with “minimal changes”.

But the guidance added: “It is our intention that reclassification allows colleges to continue to operate efficiently and in the best interests of students and taxpayers, while complying with managing public money and other central government guidance.”

A new college financial handbook is to be produced, with sector consultation expected in the autumn of 2023 ahead of publication in March 2024 and introduction in the autumn that year.

Here are the key developments the DfE has confirmed.

New private sector borrowing restrictions

DfE permission will be required, as a condition of funding, for any new private sector borrowing, the department confirmed, adding that colleges “may only borrow from private sector sources if the transaction delivers value for money for the Exchequer”.

It said that it was “very unlikely” colleges would be able to satisfy that condition given the higher financing costs of non-government avenues.

Finance leases are not affected.

Extra funding to address historic cashflow issues

To help colleges manage their cashflow, the DfE said it will “address the historical issue of uneven monthly payments from central government, which leave colleges out of pocket by March”.

This will include investing £300 million before the end of the current financial year “in bringing forward payments”, which will “enable us to smooth out the funding, so we have a new even profile for colleges from 2023 to 2024 for both the 16-to-19 and adult education budgets”.

Each college will get an additional funding payment in March 2023, with equivalent reduction in funding for each college between April and July, which will be made available between January and March 2024.

Existing debt

The DfE confirmed that colleges’ existing debt commitments will not change, but recognised some colleges had loans which require a lump sum to be paid at the end.

The government said that expectations of refinancing that debt commercially is unlikely to be possible as it doesn’t fit with its criteria on managing public money.

For colleges that can’t pay that lump sum at the end, the DfE will provide funding for that debt to be paid, with an agreed timeline set out between the DfE and the college to recover the handout by “withholding an agreed amount of planned future funding”.

It added that further use of existing overdrafts and revolving credit measures will be subject to DfE consent, and expectations for those arrangements to be phased out by August 2024.

Senior pay controls

Colleges will maintain responsibility for setting the pay, terms and conditions for the workforce, but senior pay will be subject to government rules.

It means that from May 2023 government approval will be required for salaries over £150,000 and bonuses above £17,500.

No change to VAT

The DfE said VAT-recovery is not linked to colleges’ ONS classification and therefore has not changed despite today’s announcement.

It added: “Many public bodies cannot recover the VAT they incur. We keep all taxes under review, and any proposals to change the tax system would need to be considered in the context of the broader public finances.”

Subsidiaries

Subsidiaries of colleges will also be reclassified into the public sector with the parent college, and colleges will continue to be able to operate those.

“Subsidiaries play an important role in the college system, both in delivering provisions and generating commercial income,” the guidance said.

Fresh capital investment

The government will provide £150 million of capital funding for general FE colleges and sixth forms from spring next year, building on the existing FE transformation programme.

That is in recognition that some colleges will have been planning commercial borrowing to fund improvements to their estates.

‘Contentious’ transactions

The DfE will be required to approve any transactions by colleges or subsidiaries that are considered to be outside of colleges’ normal sphere of business, may cause controversy or criticism, or have wider financial implications on other colleges.

Surpluses

Current flexibilities to carry over surpluses will remain, including unspent grants.

The DfE said this is to enable long term financial planning.

Asset disposal

Colleges presently can sell fixed assets without government approval and keep the proceeds.

That will remain but “be kept under review”, the guidance states, although income from those disposals must be used for capital expenditure.

Banking and pensions

Commercial bank account facilities can continue unchanged, or colleges will be able to bank with the government banking service.

The DfE is set to encourage establishments to switch to the government banking service over an unspecified period of time.

Colleges will not have to take any action with regard to the local government pension scheme.

Accounts

Colleges will produce an annual report and accounts as normal for the year ending July 31, 2023, with a review for measures in future years.

Further information will be sought from government from 2024 as the DfE said it must consolidate the accounts for colleges into one.

Requests will be made to colleges for information on budgetary spend on a financial year basis (April-April).

Colleges return to public sector, ONS announces

Colleges in England are to be reclassified as public sector bodies, it has been confirmed, which comes with new controls on borrowing and senior staff pay.

Today’s decision concludes a six month “classification review” by the Office for National Statistics, the independent body which decides which sectors of the economy should be accounted for in the government’s accounts.

This affects further education colleges, sixth form college corporations and designated institutions in England and ends a decade of private sector status.

The ONS has said: “These further education institutions will be reclassified from the non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sector to the central government sector. This comes into effect, retrospectively, from 1 April 1993 for FECs and DIs, and from 1 April 2012 for SFCCs.” 

It means the college sector’s debts of around £1.1 billion will now sit on the government’s balance sheet and could triggers the start of new controls on college finances, borrowing and governance. 

Leaders from the Association of Colleges and Sixth Form Colleges Association have issued a series of demands on the government to reverse longstanding inequalities in funding.

It is now up to the Department for Education and the Treasury to make decisions on how to respond on issues like VAT, borrowing rules and senior staff pay. On VAT, the Association of Colleges believes over £200 million could be reclaimed by colleges if they are made exempt in the same way as schools and academies.

But this request has been denied, with the DfE saying: “The ability of colleges to recover VAT is not related to their ONS classification. Many public bodies cannot recover the VAT they incur.”

Some colleges leaders fear the change will result in a loss of autonomy and even greater red tape and regulation.

VAT rebate request denied

The AoC has also called for a guarantee of local government pensions, support for teacher recruitment, funded collective buying schemes and capital funding to compensate for borrowing restrictions.

And the Sixth Form Colleges Association have said they are “very disappointed” that the government hasn’t acted to “address the long standing and indefensible inequalities that exist between colleges and other providers of 16-19 education.”

The government has said it will consult on a new financial handbook for colleges to be effective from August 2024, signalling a two year transition period to the Treasury’s managing public money framework.

In the meantime, there will be a new “consent process” for new borrowing placed on colleges and DfE expect any overdrafts and revolving credit facilities to be phased out by August 2024.

Reclassification also means colleges are now in scope for government senior pay controls for new appointments from May 2023. This includes government approval for salaries over £150,000 and bonuses over £17,500.

Extra funding worth £150 million will be provided to colleges in spring 2023 through the DfE’s FE capital transformation programme to make up for the inability of colleges to borrow commercially.

And £300 million will be spent on college cashflow this financial year to “smooth out” payments to colleges by March 2023, though this will mean lower monthly payments between April and July 2023, “which is then available to each college between January and March the following year.”

Sector leaders had feared that a move to the public sector could result in a raid on reserves, but FE Week understands that colleges will be allowed to retain their reserves and continue to operate subsidiaries. This has been confirmed today, though subsidiaries are also automatically reclassified.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, has said today that colleges’ new public sector status could “risk making colleges less fleet of foot in meeting the needs of their students, employers and communities.”

In a statement, Hughes said officials have developed new rules which leaves colleges “in control of their budgets, reserves and capital projects … It is helpful that DfE will be distributing the remaining funds from the three-year capital budget via a formula in the spring and also bringing forward revenue payments to March 2023 but we need to see whether these fully compensate for the new borrowing restrictions.”

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “The imposition of VAT on sixth form colleges will continue to act as a tax on learning that redirects funding away from the frontline education of students. There is very little in today’s response that will benefit students, but a great deal that will tie up college staff in bureaucracy and red tape.

“Today’s announcement will encourage more sixth form colleges to consider the academy option and it is more important than ever to remove some of the longstanding barriers to conversion.”

Colleges in Scotland and Northern Ireland are already part of the public sector. Colleges in Wales remain in the private sector.

Universities are currently recorded in the private sector, though the ONS have confirmed today they intend to conduct a classification review on universities to report this time next year.

New intervention powers swung the balance

The classification review was triggered by the Skills and Post 16 Education Act 2022 passing in to law, according to the ONS.

In their decision, the statistics body said the new legislation gives the secretary of state for education greater powers to intervene in the governance of a college in “instances of mismanagement”.

“The presence of this intervention power indicates that the secretary of state has the legislative powers to appoint and/or remove members of the relevant institution’s governing body.”

As well as cases of mismanagement, new powers in the Act which give the education secretary powers to direct colleges to college governing bodies to better meet local skills needs, including by ordering mergers, was also a factor in ONS’ decision to reclassify.

Digital skills: Government action is needed – but the right sort

Qualification reform is a tricky business. Often government’s best laid plans to introduce shiny new qualifications go awry due to competition with other, existing qualifications with an established track record with employers and universities. I’m looking at you, 14-19 diplomas. Alternatively, when governments are successful in replacing the old with the new, there are often have unintended consequences.

This certainly seems to be the case with digital skills qualifications, as demonstrated in new research published today by EPI, supported by The Hg Foundation. There is no doubt that employers need more employees who have digital skills: official data confirms that one in 20 employers report a vacancy due to a shortage of skills. Of these vacancies, 29 per cent were related to a lack of digital skills and 17 per cent to a lack of advanced digital skills.

And yet, both previous and ongoing qualification reforms may mean that employers continue to struggle to find employees with the skills they need.

As part of GCSE reforms in the mid-2010s, the government announced it would replace IT with computing. The new qualification placed greater emphasis on underlying digital skills which were thought more likely to remain relevant in the face of continuous software and hardware innovations.

Unfortunately, this reform has had a substantial impact on the proportion of female students taking digital GCSEs. Indeed, the shift towards computer science has seen the proportion of female entries in either subject fall from 46 per cent in 2011 to a mere 21 per cent in 2021.

This has had a knock-on effect on take-up of technical qualifications by 16- to 19-year-olds. Taking GCSE computing or IT quadruples the likelihood a female student will take a level 3 technical qualification, while only tripling the likelihood for male students.

We need a clear set of proposals to increase entries from young women

Correspondingly, with fewer female students taking IT or computing at GCSE, the proportion of female entries into technical digital qualifications has dropped from 23 per cent in 2012 to just 17 per cent in recent years. This fall is even more stark when you consider that male entries have also been falling, by a third since their peak in 2015.

And yet, research from CVER suggests female students taking a level 3 digital qualification see an average salary increase of 20 per cent by the age of 28, compared with those who study to level 2. The increase for men is only 4 per cent.

Of course qualification reform never ends, and T levels remain a flagship ambition for the current government. Given the Gillian Keegan’s background in vocational training, it’s likely they are due to receive more attention in the coming years, not less. Happily, it seems that digital T levels will provide many 16- to 19-year-olds with a valuable opportunity to strengthen their skills in this sought-after area.

However, there are significant risks of more unintended consequences. Our analysis suggests the more demanding nature of T levels may result in as many as a quarter of students taking the qualifications T levels are due to replace will not make the transition. Some students will take qualifications at lower levels and some may opt for other subjects altogether.

Ensuring that female students and students with lower key stage 4 grades have more opportunities to establish deeper digital skills does not require more qualification reform. But it does require more government action than is currently taking place.

First, the government must update their digital strategy with a clear set of proposals to increase entries into technical qualifications from young women.  Second, ministers must avoid any decreases in the proportion of 16- to 19-year-olds taking level 3 qualifications in digital skills, by ensuring alternative qualifications continue to be available, at least until enough students are able to access T levels. 

Young people with digital skills qualifications are in high demand. Without further government action, young people and employers alike stand to lose out over the coming years. But focus must be on removing unintended consequences, rather than creating new ones through more qualifications reform.

Government agency enters top 20 biggest apprenticeship providers

The government’s prison and probation service agency shot to the top 20 biggest apprenticeship providers last year after making it mandatory for all new prison officers to begin their career as an apprentice.

Analysis of provider-level apprenticeship starts data shows His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) had just 20 starts in its first year of delivery in 2018/19 but grew to 2,387 in 2021/22.

This made the HMPPS the 19th largest training provider of apprenticeships in England for the whole of last year, according to numbers crunched by Apprenticeship Data Insight – operated by FE Week publisher Lsect Ltd.

HMPPS, which is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, appears to have ramped up its numbers after gaining quality approval from Ofsted. The inspectorate judged HMPPS to be making ‘reasonable progress’ across the board in an early monitoring visit report in July 2021 when it had less than 200 apprentices.

Since then, the agency has introduced a policy that states: “All new prison officers will begin their career by completing a custody and detention professional apprenticeship which should take 12 to 18 months to complete.”

HMPPS isn’t the first government department to introduce a mandatory apprenticeship policy for its staff. In 2019, the HMRC made it compulsory for all employees to enrol on an apprenticeship in response to a “requirement” to increase recruitment and training significantly.

But the move didn’t end well. Ofsted went into the tax office earlier this year and judged it ‘requires improvement’ overall after finding the mandatory apprenticeship approach was not appropriate as the HMRC did not have the structure or capacity to support the 2,500 employees it enrolled, an issue exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The HMRC later reversed its compulsory apprenticeship policy and the majority of its employees dropped out of their apprenticeship.

Asked by FE Week how HMPPS has built capacity in such a short space of time to train almost 2,000 apprentices a year itself, the Ministry of Justice said: “The MoJ is committed to ensuring that the apprentice programme was, and still continues to be implemented professionally and confidently, to benefit both graduates and prison-based colleagues alike.

“As the role and demands of prison officers continues to evolve and new requirements emerge, we will also continue to evolve our training provision and apprenticeship offer to ensure it remains fit for purpose and supports the requirements of a modern prison service.”

A spokesperson added: “Apprenticeships are just one of the many ways in which we invest in staff and keep the public safe by bolstering the frontline.”

Create new ‘national apprenticeship inspectorate’, says think tank

A think tank run by a former government skills adviser has called for a new apprenticeship inspectorate to be formed to clamp down on poor quality training that is leading to half of apprentices dropping out.

In a radical report that claims tens of thousands of apprentices are not receiving their minimum entitlements to training, EDSK director Tom Richmond has called on the government to take direct action against those employers and training providers who are “letting down their apprentices”.

He also said there is a widespread “lack of genuine training” that has become so prevalent that one in ten apprentices are “not aware that they are on an apprenticeship”.

But provider chiefs say the report, called ‘no train, no gain’, paints a picture of the apprenticeship system that is “simply not true or one the sector will recognise”.

EDSK’s report aims to assess the state of the apprenticeship landscape 10 years on from the coalition-government commissioned Richard Review.

It said that while there were “many excellent apprenticeships available” it had “no choice but to conclude that the quality of apprenticeships in England remains a serious problem”.

The report, penned by Richmond and Eleanor Regan, has called for a new “national apprenticeship inspectorate” to be formed, with the role of carrying out inspections instead of Ofsted, and responsibilities to manage the register of apprenticeship training providers.

It said that a new body would enable the scope of inspections to be widened to include regulation of the on-the-job training that an apprentice may receive from their employer which is currently “not subject to any formal quality assurance”.

This new inspectorate would also be able to make more timely and frequent inspections, of at least once every three years regardless of the provider’s grade, after noting that “frequency and scale of [Ofsted] inspections for new and existing provision” can be too slow because it is essentially determined by government which sets Ofsted’s budget.

The report said this new body would, in effect, be created by “spinning out Ofsted’s current apprenticeship inspection duties and then expanding its remit and responsibilities”.

Richmond and Regan propose that the national apprenticeship inspectorate should have a budget of £60 million a year – three times what Ofsted is able to spend on all further education and skills inspections.

Elsewhere, their report said that some low-quality and low-skilled roles rebadged as apprenticeships were “just as prominent today as they were in 2012” with some apprenticeships offering training that could be learned in a few weeks.

The report continued that, while allowed in the funding rules, allowing homework tasks and online learning as training went against what the Richard Review wanted to see.

EDSK referenced IFF Research’s evaluation of apprenticeships in 2021 which said that one in five of more than 5,000 apprentices surveyed were not even aware of the 20 per cent off-the-job training requirement, and less than half (46 per cent) achieved the minimum amount of off-the-job hours.

In addition, it said that it was “concerning and regrettable” that many apprentices were only given limited information about their training programme before starting, explaining that the lack of curriculum for standards gave apprentices “no point of reference for what training they should be receiving”.

Around one in twenty apprentices were unaware they were on an apprenticeship, according to IFF research, while Department for Education data indicated that more than two thirds of those who dropped out cited quality of the course as a reason.

The report called on the government to “publicly restate its commitment to the Richard Review’s definition of what constitutes a high-quality apprenticeship” and any apprenticeship that does not meet this definition should be “immediately banned from accepting new apprenticeship starts and fully withdrawn by 2024”.

It also said employers should be required to produce a “training curriculum for each apprenticeship standard from 2024 onwards”. Every training curriculum should have to demonstrate that it meets at least 300-hours of off-the-job training each year, and a minimum 200 hours of the 300 must be delivered face-to-face.

But Jane Hickie, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said the report “tried to paint a picture of the apprenticeship system which is simply not true or one the sector will recognise”.

She said Ofsted remained the correct body for regulation and said the 300,000 starts last year indicated a “strong appetite from employers” for apprenticeships.

She added: “Simply identifying a few weak vacancies posting as a proxy for quality of lower-level apprenticeships is wholly inappropriate.

“The suggestion of remote training being poor quality is totally misinformed and any sort of arbitrary cap goes against the principle of an employed-led system. This would jeopardise the bespoke and innovative programmes that are co-designed by employers and providers.”

EDSK director Tom Richmond said there were “many excellent apprenticeships available in this country” but added: “So long as the government is content for watching webinars and doing homework to be counted as ‘training’ then there is little hope of improving the experience for current and future apprentices.

“The only wat to eradicate poor provision and substandard training within the apprenticeship system is for the government to now set a much higher bar for what constitutes ‘quality’, as well as doing a better job of protecting apprentices from malpractice and exploitation.”

Minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education, Robert Halfon, said apprenticeships “continue to deliver great outcomes”.

He added: “Our reforms have made apprenticeships more rigorous, with more training and they now properly reflect the needs of employers, with high satisfaction rates and 92 per cent of apprentices securing sustained work or further training.

“We know there is more to do to ensure all apprentices get a great experience, which is why we’re introducing a suite of reforms to boost quality. This includes refreshing our register of training providers and strengthening provider accountability, Ofsted will inspect all apprenticeship training providers by 2025, and we have launched a new feedback service for apprentices.”

Revealed: The 2022 Pearson Teaching Awards winners

Sixteen winners from across UK schools and colleges have been honoured in the 2022 Pearson Teaching Awards for their dedicated work in education.

The “inspirational” gold winners have been revealed following a week-long celebration of teaching on the BBC’s The One Show.

Now in their 24th year, the awards celebrate the best teaching across the UK and thousands of nominations were received for the gold award winners.

The week ended with all the award-winning teachers, schools, leaders, teaching assistants and lecturers being presented with their trophies at a ceremony at The Brewery in the City of London.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan congratulated the winners, saying their “fantastic work and dedication to their students is truly an inspiration, and these awards provide well earnt recognition of the work of incredible teachers and school staff up and down the country”. 

“We have some of the best teachers in the world and I want to thank every single person working so hard to support children and young people for their expertise and commitment.”

Here are this year’s winners. You can also read about the silver award winners here.

Primary teacher of the year

Nicola Richards, Caegarw Primary School, Mountain Ash, Wales

Nicola is described as an “inspirational teacher who places staff and pupil wellbeing at the heart of the whole school curriculum”.

Her “sunny and positive approach to school life is infectious, and she is a much-loved member of staff”.

Secondary teacher of the year

Tara Hall, Fir Vale School, Sheffield

Tara started as literacy co-ordinator at Fir Vale School in 1999 and “has been a leader at all levels, from head of english to mentoring early career teachers and those in teacher training”.

She mentors a teacher, and former pupil, “who couldn’t speak English when they joined the school, who credits Tara with turning their life around”.

Outstanding new teacher

Simon Wheatcroft, Outwood Academy Adwick, Doncaster

Simon is a motivator and is described by colleagues as “an inspiration to his entire school community”.

He “brings a love of technology and a wealth of knowledge and industry experience into the classroom to bring alive for students the impact of technologies in society”.

Primary headteacher of the year

Helen Stott, Allerton CE Primary School, Leeds

Helen has “shown throughout her 30-year career a burning passion that the arts are not the advantage of the privileged but a right for every young citizen”.

She is a “strong, inspirational, and open leader with the courage to take risks”. Helen is “determined to make the school a home from home”.

Secondary headteacher of the year

Andrew O’Neill, All Saints Catholic College, Kensington

When he was appointed as head in 2016, the “future of the school was bleak”. In 2022, All Saints is a “completely different environment, both physically and academically”.

A 2021 Ofsted inspection which marked the school as ‘good’ also suggested that there was “enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged to be outstanding”.

Primary school of the year

Port Ellen Primary School, Isle of Islay, Scotland

Port Ellen Primary is a “small school with big ambitions, central to the heart of the community”. 

Located on the Isle of Islay, a two-hour ferry journey from the Scottish mainland, the curriculum is “designed around island life and has won a number of awards around STEM and entrepreneurialism”.

Secondary school of the year

Limavady High School, Limavady, Northern Ireland

Limavady High School in Causeway Coast and Glens in Northern Ireland has a “dedicated, dynamic, and hardworking team of teaching and non-teaching staff who are all committed to developing the whole child”.

The ethos of the school is “one of inclusivity and support in a caring environment where each child is valued and the school specialises in pastoral care”.

Excellence in special needs education

Andrew Sanders, Moorcroft School, Uxbridge

Moorcroft is an ‘outstanding’ secondary special school for students aged 11-19 with severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorders.

Sanders is described by colleagues as “more than a headteacher: an educator, a facilitator, a community leader and the ‘steady rock’ of the school”.

Teaching assistant of the year

Esta Bernardini, Carlton Keighley, Keighley

Esta joined Carlton Keighley as a dinner lady, then volunteered as an unpaid teaching assistant before applying for a role supporting a visually impaired student.

She has “worked tirelessly to support students with additional learning needs to be successful, and has quietly transformed the culture of special education needs and disabilities (SEND) support there”.

Unsung hero

Carolynn Southcombe, Cottingham CofE Primary School, Cottingham

Carolynn has worked as an administrator at the school for 20 years. She organises student enrichment trips, arranges weekly whole school yoga sessions, and opens these up to students and parents.

She also leads the Magnificent Minds group, working with select children who work as role models to promote wellbeing and healthy living to other students, as well as the ‘Love to Lunch’ group which invites family members into school to eat with the children.

Early years team of the year

Redgate Community Primary School, Liverpool

The early years team at Redgate has grown from one teacher and a teaching assistant working alongside seven reception pupils in 2015, to the 20-strong team it is today, which works across nursery, reception and the complex needs unit, supporting 84 children.

This growth “has brought new and exciting opportunities for the children and families in the community to learn and develop together within an inclusive, nurturing, child-centred and play-rich environment”.

Impact through partnership

Royal Opera House: Create and Dance Partnership in Coventry, Earlsdon Primary School, Coventry

In 2019, the Royal Opera House’s Create and Dance team partnered with Coventry Schools, the Local Cultural Education Partnership (CCEP), Coventry City Council and Coventry City of Culture.

The partnership assembled schools across Coventry to address a perceived gap in inclusive dance provision. It continued throughout the pandemic, offering online events, and has since launched a programme for all schools in the area.

Lifetime achievement award

Angela Williams, Huddersfield New College, Huddersfield

During her 15 years as Principal at Huddersfield New College, Angela has helped “well over 18,000 young people to achieve their dreams in an environment that provides equality of opportunity for all”.

She “transformed the post-16 education available to young people in Kirklees and the surrounding areas, and their life chances. Huddersfield New College is now in the top 10 per cent of colleges in the UK”.

Digital innovator of the year

Kalam Neale, Barnsley College

Kalam has “envisioned, created and driven ground-breaking, specialist digital provision with educational development at its heart”.

Barnsley College has become a sector leader in the field “because of his trailblazing work, and his expertise is now in demand in the UK and across the world”.

FE team of the year

Health Studies Team at North West Regional College, Londonderry, Northern Ireland

The health studies team is “focused, passionate and committed, and support their students to reach their professional goals and open doors to bright futures for them”. The team brings years of “unique professional health and caring experience with them”.

They are focussed on introducing their students to the practical skills they need to succeed in a career in the health services, including through work placements. They have an “overwhelming sense of duty, to their students and to the health profession”.

FE lecturer of the Year

Steph Lee-Vae, The Bedford College Group

Steph’s “boundless energy, prolific ideas and ability to network drives an extensive list of opportunities for their students”. Her courses have a track record of 100% retention and achievement over the past few years.

Steph set up a YouTube channel during lockdown in 2020-21, with video tutorials and digital workshops for students to access at their own pace, so that no one was left behind. It remains in place in 2022.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 407

Kam Nandra
Assistant Principal – Quality, South and City College Birmingham

Start date: November 2022
Previous Job: Director, Nandra Education Ltd

Interesting fact: Kam says the best CPD he ever took part in was an introduction to plaiting hair. He is now an expert and is allowed to plait his seven-year-old daughter’s hair!

Amber Massey
Director of Hairdressing and Beauty Academies, Learning Curve Group

Start date: November 2022

Previous Job: Head of Sector – Hairdressing and Barbering, Realise

Interesting fact: Amber started her hairdressing career path at 15 whilst still at school doing an evening course and then started teaching hairdressing and barbering when she was 20

John Low

Chair, JTL Training

Start date: November 2022


Previous Job: Chief Executive, Charities Aid Foundation


Interesting fact: John has driven on the bottom of the English Channel in a submarine with wheels while testing sonar imaging equipment with a French crew

Winners of 2022 BTEC Awards revealed

Inspiring students, teachers, colleges and schools from across the country have been honoured in Pearson’s 2022 BTEC awards.

Twenty winners were announced today for the awards that are in their twelfth year.

Pearson’s senior vice president, Freya Thomas Monk, said that after “two long years spent giving or receiving lessons behind a computer screen, through face masks, or socially distanced, 2022 has been a whirlwind for everyone involved in education”. 

“Considering this, it makes the inspiring achievements documented in our winners’ submissions all the more impressive,” she added.

Prizes were won across multiple categories including health and social care, engineering, music, esports and creative media.   

Learner of the year

Judges praised ‘learner of the year’ winner Lyla Khan for her curiosity and relentless motivation as “incredibly impressive”.

Fleeing her native Pakistan to claim asylum in the UK a few years ago, she has gone on to achieve unimprovable triple distinction star grades to win a place at university.  

Khan, who attended The Pendleton Sixth Form College in Salford, was said to have regularly brought new ideas, arguments, and theories into class to challenge pupils according to her teachers.

Harrow College and Uxbridge College (HCUC) in London won BTEC College of the Year. Judges highlighted that 96 per cent of HCUC BTEC students went on to study at a higher level or into employment last year.  

BTEC International Institution of the Year 2022 was presented to Beaconhouse International College, in Islamabad, Pakistan. 

The college offers BTEC learners the opportunity to gain an international qualification and building strong industrial experience.  

Other awards went to Tahreema Khatun from Newcastle College for the BTEC Art and Design Learner of the Year award.  

Daljeet Sachdeva, from Blackburn College, landed Business and Enterprise Learner of the year award and Mark Cruxton, from Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group won BTEC Tutor of the Year.

During lockdown, Mark Cruxton, who is the curriculum leader for graphics, games design, animation and concept art, created a 3D virtual gallery space from scratch and helped more than 20 courses to render work which allowed hundreds of students to give their efforts the showcase it deserved, in spite of the testing circumstances. 

Over the course of several years at Stafford College, he has maintained a 100 per cent success rate of his students being accepted on to university-level courses. 

He said: “I am very surprised and honoured to have been selected for this award. 

“I enjoy helping students to move forward in their journey and have had the pleasure of seeing many students fulfil their ambitions of working within the creative industries at some of the biggest names in the business.” 

The ceremony also included the 2022 Showstopper Challenge, a chance for students to showcase their performing talents, in addition to the award winners.  

Performances came from Stage Right College, Jackie Palmer Academy, D16 Performing Arts College, and Woodkirk Academy.

The full list of BTEC winners 

BTEC Art and Design Learner of the Year – Tahreema Khatun, Newcastle College  

BTEC Business and Enterprise Learner of the Year – Daljeet Sachdeva, Blackburn College  

BTEC Child, Health and Social Care Learner of the Year – Alfie Brown, Truro and Penwith College  

BTEC Construction Learner of the Year – Rebekah Woodend, Leeds College of Building  

BTEC Creative Media Learner of the Year – Siomha McStay, Belfast Metropolitan College  

BTEC Engineering Learner of the Year – Elizabeth Willis, Blackpool and The Fylde College  

BTEC Esports Learner of the Year – Layton Ripley, Barnsley College  

BTEC Hospitality, Travel and Tourism Learner of the Year – Bethany Bradford, Blackpool Sixth Form  

BTEC IT and Computing Learner of the Year – Adam Davey, Callywith College  

BTEC Land-Based Learner of the Year – Emma Radcliffe, Dean Valley College  

BTEC Music Learner of the Year – Domhnall Morris, Belfast Metropolitan College  

BTEC Performing Arts Learner of the Year – Lise-Mari Van Wyk, Northlink College, South Africa  

BTEC Public Service Learner of the Year and Adult Learner of the Year – Emily Checkley, Blackpool Sixth Form College  

BTEC Learner of the year and Science Learner of the Year – Lyla Khan, Pendleton Sixth Form Centre  

BTEC Sport Learner of the Year – Lois Page, Nelson and Colne College Group  

BTEC College of the Year – HCUC Group, Harrow  

BTEC International Centre of the Year – Beaconhouse International College, Islamabad, Pakistan  

BTEC School or Multi-Academy Trust of the Year – Archbishop Holgate’s School, York  

BTEC Teacher of the Year – Caroline Noela Gichuru, Braeburn International School Arusha, Arusha, Tanzania  

BTEC Tutor of the Year – Mark Cruxton, Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group, Stafford   

Lifetime Training taken over by ‘lenders’ amid ESFA investigation

England’s largest apprenticeship provider has been taken over by its “lenders” amid an investigation that could result in the government demanding over £13 million is repaid.

Lifetime Training had been owned by private equity parent Silverfleet Capital since 2016 but has now been sold to Alcentra – one of the provider’s lenders which specialises in credit management, private credit and structured credit strategies.

Jon Graham, Lifetime Training’s chief executive, claimed the sale is part of the “natural cycle of private equity and puts the business on firm, secure footing for the future”.

FE Week understands the Education and Skills Funding Agency is about to commence an audit into the provider after they raised concerns over overclaimed funding.

The provider’s newly published accounts state: “A funding partner of the company communicated its desire to further audit past trading and referenced a figure of £13.7 million.

“The amount and timing of any contingent liability is uncertain and a reasonable estimate cannot be made at this time and therefore a provision has not been included in the financial statements. The company has retained legal counsel regarding this matter.”

Graham claimed Lifetime Training is being audited as part of the ESFA’s “regular audit cycle of all independent training providers” but added that the investigation is specifically looking into the use of additional learning support funding, which is available to meet the costs of putting in place reasonable adjustments for apprentices with a learning difficulty or disability.

Lifetime Training’s accounts show there was an additional £1.46 million clawback, which has already been repaid, to the Student Loans Company after an “error” was identified which was “directly attributable to funding for apprenticeships for the years ended 31 July 2016, 2017 and 2018”.

The reason for the refund was because Lifetime Training’s systems “did not retain sufficient evidence to support their adherence to the requirements of the ESFA for these learners for the periods mentioned”, the accounts state.

Lifetime Training was founded in 1995 and currently trains around 20,000 apprentices and learners. The firm has recruited more apprentices and secured more levy funding than any other provider in the country for several years, delivering to big-name employers including the NHS, KFC, McDonalds, Wetherspoons, B&Q and David Lloyd, as well as the civil service.

The provider was recently hit with a ‘requires improvement’ report from Ofsted, in which inspectors criticised the firm’s focus on financial performance and starts over quality, as well as a lack of off-the-job training and poor achievement rates.

Lifetime Training has made several leadership changes this year, including bringing in Geoff Russell, who used to head up the Skills Funding Agency, as chair and Jon Graham as chief executive.

The firm’s accounts show that its highest paid director received a salary of £430,362.

Lifetime Training has almost 1,000 staff.

The firm’s turnover increased to £71.1 million compared to £59.9 million in 2020. But its EBITDAE (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items) fell from £9.391 million in year ended July 31, 2020 to £2.249 million in the 18 month period ended January 31, 2022.

The accounts also reveal the company made a loss for the financial period of £9.2 million, compared to a profit of £6.8 million in 2020.

Graham said the change in ownership will not affect the day to day running of the business, nor will it deliver any changes in personnel.

“We will be continuing business as usual. Alcentra shares our ambitions for organic growth, and we look forward to working together,” he added.

Lifetime Training’s accounts explain that an “agreement” was entered into to restructure, which means its group parent company – MTH Midco 2 Limited – and its subsidiaries are “to be acquired by a new parent entity, a UK registered company jointly owned by certain lenders who currently provide debt financing to the group”.

Alongside the change in ownership, a new financing package is to be put in place that includes the “extension of the maturity of the existing loan facilities to 31 July 2027 and the provision of an additional working capital facility”.

In addition, the “relevant lenders have confirmed that they will support the Company to meet its financial obligations as they become due for at least the next 12 months from the date of approval of these financial statements”.

The ESFA was approached for comment.