The next permanent chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency has been named.
David Withey (pictured), currently the chief operating officer and deputy secretary at the New South Wales Department of Education in Australia who also has experience in the UK’s civil service, will take up the position from mid-August.
He replaces Eileen Milner who resigned last summer to become chief executive of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. Her decision came just before an independent review was launched to ensure the ESFA “remains effective into the future”.
John Edwards has been interim chief executive of the agency since Autumn 2021 but tweeted today that Warwick Sharp, the ESFA’s director of academies and maintained schools, will take over the role from Monday until Withey joins.
Been a privilege to be interim CEO of the ESFA – huge thanks to all the brilliant colleagues I’ve worked with. Best wishes to @WarwickSharp as interim CEO from Monday and to David Withey joining as permanent CEO in August
Responsibility for those areas have now been absorbed by the Department for Education. The ESFA has been told to focus solely on funding and has essentially become a contracts manager.
Withey began his civil service career in the Northern Ireland Office, and he has experience working on public spending in the Treasury departments in the UK and Australia, where he also led the New South Wales’ Covid economic taskforce during the first stage of the pandemic.
A Tripadvisor-style review tool that allows apprentices to give feedback on their training provider has finally been launched.
Apprentices can now give anonymous feedback from their ‘My Apprenticeship’ account. The results will appear on each training provider’s Find Apprenticeship Training webpage for employers and prospective learners to view once 10 responses have been submitted.
The apprentice will be asked to agree or disagree with 12 questions in the feedback survey before being asked to rate their training from ‘excellent’ to ‘very poor’.
Apprentices can start giving feedback three months into their training and can update it every three weeks.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s digital service has been developing the feature for a number of years. Its launch was originally set for September 2018, with then-skills minister Anne Milton speaking in strong favour of its value over Ofsted inspections.
Around the same time a similar feedback tool for employers got underway and the reviews have featured prominently on the government’s Find Apprenticeship Training site since.
But “low engagement” in a number of trials for the tool for apprentices forced the ESFA to go back to the drawing board last year.
In an update published today, the ESFA said: “We have launched a new feature where apprentices can give feedback about their training. Allowing you to gather insights to help further develop your training programme.
“This new feedback feature will be invaluable in helping you provide the best training possible.”
Ofsted uses the employer reviews to inform inspections. The watchdog confirmed to FE Week that it plans to use the new apprentice feedback in the same way.
Staff at Richmond upon Thames College have warned they will strike during open days as a bitter dispute over plans to “fire and rehire” 127 teachers escalates.
University and College Union members at the London-based college said they will use the opportunity to warn prospective students and parents about the “behaviour of college management”.
The open days, which are described by the college as an opportunity to “meet our teachers” and “speak to our teaching staff”, being targeted are June 21 and 28.
The dispute has seen over 70 staff take five consecutive days of strike action last month as they try to stop plans by management to sack all 127 teachers at the college and force them to reapply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions, the UCU said.
Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) has condemned the UCU’s action, which has been launched during the busy exam period.
The dispute has arisen over the college’s proposal to reduce the current 64 days per year of annual leave, including bank holidays and efficiency days, to what the college calls “a level in line with other FE colleges”.
UCU has claimed staff would lose 10 days of holiday – but the college said they are proposing a “net loss” of eight days of annual leave with full financial compensation.
“This is not a cost cutting exercise but one which in fact will compensate staff fully for the reduction in annual leave and thereby increase their salary during a time of cost-of-living rises,” a spokesperson for the college said.
RuTC added that the option to “dismiss and re-engage” staff and place them on the new contracts would only be used in the “worst case scenario”.
The college’s constituency MP, Munira Wilson has called on the college to withdraw the threat.
“The fact that the college has issued a section 188 notice (which begins the consultation process to fire staff), whilst still in the process of negotiating with those affected, undermines their ability to negotiate in good faith,” she said. “I have urged the college to withdraw the section 188 notice, as I believe this could help bring the strike to an early end and allow for an amicable settlement to be reached.”
But RuTC said it is not possible to remove the section 188 as the consultation process is now over.
A spokesperson for the college said management did agree on May 27 to remove the fire and rehire option if assurances could be given to improve the quality of the student experience by ensuring that there is more time for teachers to have inset days to develop their practice.
But “rather than entering meaningful negotiation”, UCU representatives presented the college management team with an “unreasonable ultimatum and ceased further negotiation,” the spokesperson added.
‘The management and staff will not be intimidated’
The college said it recognises and regrets that the application of so-called “fire and rehire tactics” has caused a “significant degree of upset” among some staff, but added it is “important to reiterate that the application of the option for dismissal and re-engagement is not a coercive tactic but is a recognised part of the procedure for changing terms and conditions, if an agreement cannot be reached”.
“It is known and accepted practice in colleges and all other sectors for old terms and conditions to be removed and for staff to be re-engaged on new terms and conditions,” the college continued.
“The management and staff at Richmond upon Thames College, who have continued to support students throughout this critical exam period while this industrial action has taken place, will not be intimidated by tactics that seek to coerce by means of threat of further disruption to our students’ learning and assessment experience.”
MP Barry Gardiner, author of last year’s proposed fire and rehire bill which was ultimately blocked by ministers, has pledged to visit picket lines in support of staff.
“The management at Richmond upon Thames College are not only treating their staff disgracefully but dragging the reputation of the whole organisation through the mud,” he said. “Fire and rehire is a practice repeatedly used by some of the worst employers in the country and it should be of great alarm to the local community in Richmond and the surrounding areas that it is being used to strip back the terms and conditions of their hard-working teachers.”
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The last thing management at Richmond upon Thames College should want to see is prospective students and their parents visiting the college only to walk past a picket line of teachers protesting at the how they are being treated. But this is exactly what they will see if the college continues with its deplorable plan to fire and rehire all 127 teachers.
“We are urging the college to listen to its staff and its MP and lift the fire and rehire threat so open days aren’t disrupted.”
UCU said staff are also continuing to take action short of a strike by working strictly to contract and not performing additional voluntary duties.
OCN London, a nationally recognised awarding organisation and Access Validation Agency (AVA), has developed a new Access to HE Diploma (Policing) in collaboration with the Met Police’s Department for Learning & Development.
This QAA-approved Diploma is of particular significance because it meets the College of Policing’s programme specification for widening access into higher education. The Met Police and OCN London are keen to remove any barriers to entering the service and believe this Access to HE Diploma will provide applicants from diverse backgrounds across London with a new pathway into Policing entry programmes such as the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship.
This positive change will also help contribute towards the Government’s Police Uplift Programme, which aims to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers by the end of March 2023.
Alex Walsh, Director of Learning at the Met Police, said “We’re delighted that, working collaboratively with OCN London, we’re able to offer this new Met-inspired diploma designed to give people the skills and confidence they need to apply to become police constables.
“We value the wealth of life experience and skills in our London community and recognise that many have the desired attitude and aptitude to become a police officer but feel that they’re unable to join the Met because they don’t have the necessary qualifications.
“This is why we are passionate about creating and offering this diploma so that education providers will help bridge the gap, enabling a more diverse and experienced range of people to pursue a career in policing with one of the most globally-renowned police forces.”
Carlos Cubillo-Barsi, CEO of OCN London, added “It has been an honour working with the Metropolitan Police to develop this exciting, new Access to HE Diploma. The introduction of this qualification provides a viable option for all Londoners to access a great career with the UK’s largest police service and will ensure that the Met has increased access to a diverse pool of talented individuals who may otherwise have not had the opportunity to meet the academic requirements.”
This qualification will not only enable progression to higher education, but it will also be a major stepping stone for adult learners (19+) who wish to begin a career in the police service. Learners will gain the core knowledge required to succeed in a policing role through the completion of specialist policing units that focus on communication, ethics, values, and evidence-based policing. In addition, there is a unit in local policing that examines the importance of community policing. Key topics in criminology and law are also covered.
The Met Police is keen to work in collaboration with providers in London who wish to deliver this Diploma.
The Diploma will be available for delivery from September 2022. For further information, please contact Michelle Wood, Access to HE Development Coordinator, OCN London at m.wood@ocnlondon.org.uk or 020 7689 5640.
Strike action at Hopwood Hall College has been called off after staff accepted a pay rise worth up to 7.5 per cent.
University and College Union members at the college in Rochdale were due to be on the picket line from 8am today and Friday along with four other colleges in the north west.
The colleges already saw a round of strike action last month in this dispute over low pay, with UCU demanding increases of at least 8.5 per cent to meet the cost-of-living crisis.
Hopwood Hall staff called off their walk out today after voting to accept a pay offer that for 2021/22 amounts to 6.49 per cent for all lecturers and 7.52 per cent for lecturers on the lowest salaries.
It comes weeks after the Association of Colleges recommended that college staff should be given a 2.25 per cent pay rise next year – an offer that the join trade unions called “insulting”.
UCU regional official Martyn Moss said: “We welcome Hopwood Hall College’s pay offer to our members in recognition of their dedication to the college and its students.
“Staff shouldn’t be forced to bear the brunt of soaring inflation and rising prices. Colleges need to work with us to get staff the pay rise they deserve so we can avoid any further disruption.”
The four colleges still facing strike action in the north west are: Burnley College, City of Liverpool College, Manchester College, and Oldham College.
Staff at another college in the north west, Bury College, called off their strike last month after accepting a pay offer worth up to 6.2 per cent.
The UCU said that since 2009 pay in further education has fallen at least 25 per cent behind inflation and the pay gap between school and college teachers stands at around £9,000.
Colleges have been given weeks to submit information on their borrowing and financing arrangements following the launch of a review which could see them brought back into the public sector.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency today asked colleges for “immediate assistance” to provide a debt return – including a consent letter that will allow the ESFA to contact their primary lenders to discuss college debt. This is required in just over a week’s time, by June 14.
They must also send details of all college borrowing and financing arrangements as of May 31, 2022 and also details of future financing needs. This is required by June 24.
The request follows a recent announcement by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that classification of colleges in England will be reviewed and potentially changed from private to public sector.
The Association of Colleges said that while the request is not part of the ONS review itself, it is likely to be part of the ESFA’s preparation for discussions with the Treasury which would need to happen if there is a reclassification.
“College leaders are pretty busy at the moment and will be providing 95 per cent of this information in the College Financial Forecast Returns which everyone has to send back on or before July 31, 2022,” Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of AoC told FE Week.
“We are asking officials to co-ordinate their information requests better and to honour the promise in last week’s ministerial letter to minimise bureaucracy.”
Documents requested by the EFSA
Colleges have been told by the EFSA that they must send consent letters for each of their primary lenders, which will allow the agency to contact the lender and discuss the college debt if needed.
This letter is only for primary lenders i.e. commercial lenders and local authorities (not finance lease lenders).
These consent letters have to be signed and submitted by June 14.
Colleges are also being asked to complete an excel template providing details of all college borrowing and financing arrangements as at May 31, 2022 and also details of future financing needs that are currently known.
Colleges have to go into granular detail on their borrowing – with the EFSA requesting information on institutions’ debts, working capital and other financing arrangements.
These excel templates must be submitted by June 24.
The EFSA said that if a college has any concerns about meeting the submission deadline, they should contact their region and providers team as soon as possible and prior to the submission deadline.
ONS review of the classification of colleges
The ONS announced on May 31 that further education colleges, sixth form college corporations and designated institutions are to be assessed and possibly reclassified.
Currently, colleges are classified as part of the private sector, a decision the OfS took in 2012.
The review is expected to conclude by September.
[UPDATE: Two days after this article was published the ESFA extended the deadline for colleges to sign and submit their consent letter. The new deadline date is June 24.]
Sharon Blyfield, head of early careers at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, finished her BTEC at college and rose to the top at one of the world’s biggest brands. She talks to Jess Staufenberg about the ‘employer-led system’ and the scandal of apprentice pay
Employers occupy a curious space in FE. They are the raison d’être for so much of the sector’s work – great links with employers are a key boast for any self-respecting FE provider – but they aren’t strictly in the FE sector itself.
They may work closely with training providers and colleges, but very few are training providers themselves. And yet, ministers often defer and refer to employers in speeches on skills more than to FE providers themselves.
Employers have some claim to call themselves partners, or owners, or funders, or commissioners, or customers of the FE system.
It’s not a new rhetoric. Since the 1960s, just about every government white paper has pledged to give employers a greater role in addressing the country’s deficits in technical education and work-based learning.
As Tom Bewick, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, has pointed out before, when David Cameron announced employer ownership pilots (EOP) in 2011, an independent evaluation of the £350 million pilots over five years concluded “there is no evidence to suggest” they’d had an impact.
So we have a mixed track record on an employer-led skills system. And yet the government has doubled down, introducing ‘employer-led’ local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) overseen by ‘employer representative bodies’, while local authorities, mayoral combined authorities and FE providers have filled column inches reminding ministers to remember them too.
Surely one of the most recognisable employers in the world is Coca-Cola. Today I am sitting opposite the ball of energy that is Sharon Blyfield, head of early careers at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, who works closely with training providers delivering apprenticeships at the company.
Blyfield with her professional awards
She’s a west London girl made good, and is disarmingly frank about the ‘employer-led’ agenda.
“From the Department [for Education], it’s all about employers and how they’re driving the agenda. And as an employer, of course we want to have a seat at the table,” she begins. “But we don’t want to be the only voice.
“We want to work collaboratively. Employers don’t want to own the agenda. They want to be a part of it.”
It’s a clear message to the government from Blyfield: don’t over-egg the employer role.
Her company is also an interesting case study in this debate, since it has a relatively small footprint as an employer in the UK: just 3,000 employees, with about 25 to 30 apprentices each year (Blyfield says they are expected to be made permanent employees, hence the small number).
But Blyfield is frank once more about the issues.
“The interesting question I always have is, who are the employers being spoken to? I say, well, no one has come to speak to me.
“Is it the employers who have thousands of apprentices? Are they the ones being spoken to? As opposed to the smaller, but big, brands like us.”
It’s a very interesting point. Coca-Cola is probably one of the only brands almost every teenager in the world would recognise, just as withdrawal rates on apprenticeships in the UK hover horrifyingly around the 40-50 per cent mark, and apprenticeship starts have plummeted in recent years.
My question is, who are the employers being spoken to?
“So it’s also about, how do they use the power of the brand?” continues Blyfield. It would make an impression with the general public if Coca-Cola were engaged more strongly, she explains.
“Although we have a small number of apprentices, if someone says ‘Coca-Cola are doing x’, they don’t necessarily need to know the numbers behind that. It’s just the fact we have the influence.”
Perhaps it reveals the problem with the ‘local’ in ‘local skills improvement plans’. If an employer has only a small local footprint – but a massive global one – then they might be overlooked in LSIP engagement.
Are certain employers, including those with vast global influence, being under-utilised?
Another reason to listen closely to Blyfield is on apprentice pay. She says all apprentices aged 16 and over at the company are paid above the national living wage that is set for adults over 23 years old at £9.50 an hour.
It’s significantly higher than the current national minimum wage for apprentices of just £4.81 an hour. Her apprentices can also expect an annual pay review and typically a pay rise.
Again, Blyfield is upfront on her thoughts on this. “If you think to yourself about social mobility, how on earth can you expect anyone to live on an apprentice wage? My one ask would be to get rid of that apprentice hourly rate. Morally it doesn’t feel right.”
How on earth can anyone expect to live on an apprentice wage?
Blyfield has fed back her thoughts to the Low Pay Commission, the independent body that advises the government on the national living and minimum wages. In April, both rates rose, as well as the apprentice rate (albeit only by only 51p).
Financial instability is a reality Blyfield understands well from her own childhood. She and her two brothers were brought up single-handedly by her mum in Shepherd’s Bush in London.
Blyfield at primary school in west London
Her mum worked hard to pay a small fee so she could attend what was regarded as the best school in the area ̶ a voluntary-aided grammar school.
“You had kids from very affluent backgrounds and me on free school meals. I always knew I wasn’t strong academically, so I always wanted to make it up by being the best I could possibly be.”
Blyfield also wanted to make sure as she grew up that her mum “never had to worry about money.”
Her entry route into her career was a BTEC in business and finance while studying at Hammersmith and West London College.
The course included several weeks’ work experience at a billboard advertising company and when she completed her BTEC, she was offered a job as a finance administrator.
(Meanwhile, this also explains Blyfield’s strong criticism of the government’s one-time threat to scrap BTECs. She points out T Levels are still only available in the “very niche areas” of digital, health and social care and construction, and says they are “very technical, as opposed to vocational” like BTECs.)
Blyfield and her mum
But it wasn’t all good news at the advertising company. During the 1991-1992 recession, Blyfield and the only two other black employees were hauled into the office together and told to pack their things.
“They said, ‘You three are going to be made redundant.’ That was one of those moments. They handled that so badly.” It looked like a targeted firing.
To Blyfield’s satisfaction, she was quickly offered an impressive sales role at Cadbury Schweppes. At the time, Cadbury owned 49 per cent of Coca-Cola and Schweppes beverages, and Coca-Cola and Schweppes owned 51 per cent of Cadbury.
In 1998, the Coca-Cola side split from the Cadbury group in the UK, and merged with Coca-Cola in the US, forming Coca-Cola Enterprises, as it is today.
“With that came lots of investment,” explains Blyfield.
Whereas previously Coca-Cola drinks had only been in licensed venues, such as pubs and clubs, and in vending machines in leisure parks and schools, now the company developed branded coolers for corner shops – enabling a big rise in distribution.
As a sales manager, Blyfield was at the front of the action. Her team told her she set “really high standards”, although she reflects she may have been “quite abrasive” as she honed her management style.
After two years she wanted a different challenge, and got an internal job as project manager for the early career journey in the company. It was the start of two decades in human resources with Coca-Cola.
In that time, she says she’s seen a shift from apprenticeships mainly for men with an engineering focus, to expanding apprenticeship programmes into sales, administration and degree apprenticeships with more women and those from minority ethnicity backgrounds enrolling.
Blyfield with former Coca Cola apprentices
To improve access further, Blyfield says the company removed entry requirements for five GCSEs for apprenticeships, apart from degree apprenticeships, in 2018 (FE Week has previously reported on well-known employers who set GCSE entry requirements for apprenticeships, even though this is not a government requirement).
Meanwhile, Blyfield and her team also “don’t request CVs for early career programmes. How can I compare someone who has a network and can get work experience, to someone who doesn’t? That’s just not a level playing field.” This approach is applied to all job hopefuls aged 16 to 25, so apprentices, graduates and those on the Kickstart scheme.
Additionally, checking in regularly with training providers is crucial for reducing drop-out, which Blyfield says is usually about two or three apprentices per year.
This year, mental health struggles have seen four apprentices step back. “We’ve said we’ll take you back tomorrow when you’re ready to come back.”
Blyfield picks out three training providers – Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Lincoln and Remit Training – as examples of FE providers she works closely with across all these issues.
As she wraps up, she reiterates once more that the government should not forget where expertise lies – that is, across the whole FE system, not just with employers.
“We have our core business, while educators are the ones who are skilled in terms of delivery of skills.
“Let us be part of that conversation, but don’t put the onus on us to own it.”
The chair of City & Guilds has been given a damehood and a college principal has been knighted in the Queen’s birthday honours 2022.
Over 20 leaders from the FE and skills sector were named in the honours list, including two CBEs, nine OBEs, eight MBEs and one BEM.
Picking up the damehood was Ann Limb, who has over 25 years of experience in FE and last year was the first woman to be appointed as chair of City & Guilds.
Her career includes ten years as principal of Milton Keynes College. When she was appointed in 1987, age 34, she was the youngest ever college principal.
Limb set up the Helena Kennedy Foundation in 1998 and was lately the chair of the Scouts Association.
Ann Limb
The honours list explains that she is being recognised for services to young people and to philanthropy.
“A butcher’s daughter born in 1950’s Moss Side does not grow up dreaming of damehood,” Limb said.
“Inspired by teachers who believed in me and nurtured by the further education system that is a powerhouse for social change, I eventually found the courage to become myself, to speak out against inequalities of all kinds in society, and to speak up for others from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
There was also a knighthood for Weston College chief executive Paul Phillips who was honoured for services to FE.
Paul Phillips
“I am absolutely thrilled to hear the news that I am to receive a knighthood. I have spent my life in industry and education with 40 years in the further education sector and Weston College is the fifth College in my career,” he said.
Phillips thanked his college’s governing body, managers and partners who he said contribute to the institution in “so many ways” – adding that the college has grown “exponentially” without merger.
Three sector leaders from the Association of Colleges were named in the honours list – including chief executive David Hughes and former SEND senior policy manager, Elizabeth Maudslay.
David Hughes
Hughes, who has been made a CBE “for services to further education, particularly during the Covid-19 response” said he was “enormously grateful” for the nomination, adding he believed it reflects the “brilliant work” colleges do and the work the AoC does to support colleges.
“My time at AoC has coincided with an enormous amount of change in the FE sector and my colleagues at AoC deserve a lot of credit for how they have navigated every twist and turn along the way,” he said.
His colleague Elizabeth Maudslay, who was at AoC for seven-years before she retired last year, said she was “delighted to get this award”, adding: “I think it is great that our often under looked sector is being recognised in this way. My wonderful former colleagues at AoC, and across the FE SEND network, have been a tremendous support over the seven years I was there and I want to pay tribute to them.”
Liz Maudslay
It comes a week after Mary Vine-Morris, AoC’s area director for London, was named among esteemed foreign nationals awarded an honorary MBE ahead of the Queen’s birthday honours list.
Picking up a CBE alongside Hughes was deputy further education commissioner and deputy chair of Ofqual Frances Wadsworth.
“I am very proud to have been nominated for this honour,” she said.
“Working with college leaders and boards to improve the quality of education, through strengthened leadership and governance has been very fulfilling.”
Frances Wadsworth
A number of college principals appeared in the honours list. Yiannis Koursis, chief executive of Barnsley College and Jasbir Dhesi, chief executive of Cheshire College South and West, have both received OBEs.
Koursis said: “This honour recognises one’s contribution to public service – but how can you ever make transformational difference without the strong support of those around you?
“I would like to say a huge thank you to my family and to everyone who has enabled me to do what I am proud to say I love doing.”
Those honoured from the independent training provider sector included Robert Colbourne, chief executive of Performance Through People.
Robert Colbourne
Colbourne was made an OBE for his commitment to services to skills and apprenticeships.
“I’m really chuffed for my parents. They don’t know about this yet,” he told FE Week the morning before the honours were announced.
“I’m seeing them tonight and I imagine they’ll be unbelievably chuffed that their son has got an OBE. I’ve never sought after one but I’m absolutely thrilled, someone believes I’m worthy.”
Also picking up an OBE was Jill Whittaker, managing director of HIT Training.
She said: “I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside a vast number of talented individuals and industry bodies during my career and I’m extremely proud of the positive change we’ve achieved in that time.”
Euan Blair, the son of Tony Blair who set up Ofsted grade one apprenticeship provider Multiverse, was awarded a MBE for his services to education.
Also picking up a MBE was DfE national leader of governance Andrew Baird, who is the chair of both East Surrey College and Brooklands College.
Paul Cook, principal at Hereward College was made a MBE for services to young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
And Jane Stoodley, personal assistant to the principal of Strode College in Somerset, was awarded a BEM.
During her 37 years at the college, Stoodley has been the personal assistant to seven different principals.
Current Strode College principal Katy Quinn said: “Jane helped me massively in my early days to understand the background and culture of Strode. She really deserves this amazing accolade of the British Empire Medal as her dedication and commitment to Strode has been exemplary.”
The cap on apprenticeship starts for small and medium-sized employers has been reset to zero again following pressure from the sector.
From today any non-levy paying business can start up to 10 new apprentices regardless of the number they currently employ. The cap will then be kept under review.
The decision, announced this afternoon by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, comes weeks after an FE Week investigation revealed how SMEs were being forced to turn apprentices away after reaching the previous 10 starts limit that had been in place since April 1, 2021.
An ESFA update said: “This reset will give employers who do not pay the levy greater certainty over their recruitment plans for the year ahead. It is made in recognition of the important role that SMEs play in creating apprenticeship opportunities, particularly for younger people and those in disadvantaged areas.”
Any reservations made before June 1, 2022 will not be affected and will not count against the new reservation levels from this date, the agency added.
