Delivery challenges ahead as skills bill finally gains royal assent

Legislation central to the government’s reforms to further education and skills is officially on the statute book.

The skills and post-16 education act 2022 was confirmed in parliament today as one of the final pieces of legislation to get over the line as the current session of parliament came to an end this afternoon. 

Alex Burghart, the skills minister said the new act would “transform the skills, training and post-16 education landscape and level up opportunities across the country.”

“This legislation will make sure everyone can gain the skills they need to progress into a rewarding job, and businesses have access to a pipeline of talented, qualified employees for their workforces – boosting productivity” he said.

It’s taken 11 months for the skills bill to officially become an act of parliament. 

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Since its introduction in the House of Lords in May 2021, the bill had a rocky journey through parliament, including several government defeats in Lords debates and high profile rebellions by senior Tories.

Former conservative education secretary Lord Baker and education committee chair Robert Halfon MP successfully took on the government to increase the number “mandatory encounters” that school pupils have with technical education and training providers.

When Nadhim Zahawi replaced Gavin Williamson as education secretary, he delayed the defunding of level 3 qualifications that overlap with T Levels by one year. 

Attempts by Labour to delay this even further were unsuccessful, however their efforts did force the government to clarify that only a “small proportion” of qualifications will face the chop.

This was welcomed by the Sixth Form Colleges Association which is leading the #ProtectStudentChoice campaign, whose chief executive, Bill Watkin, told FE Week: “The skills act performs two valuable roles for the sixth form sector.

“First, it sets back the defunding of BTEC qualifications by one year, and second, it allows Catholic sixth form colleges to become 16 to 19 academies. Both are welcome developments that we intend to build on and will benefit thousands of young people in England.”

MPs and sector campaigners pushing for universal credit flexibilities and for tighter rules around who should be involved in local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) were defeated over the course of the bill’s journey through parliament. 

“We would have liked to have seen the lifetime skills guarantee on the face of the bill, the role of colleges as co-constructors of LSIPs formalised, and a commitment to look at the rules around Universal Credit conditionality” said David Hughes, chief executive at the Association of Colleges.

While much attention has been paid to level 3 qualifications and careers advice, the act gives the secretary of state a host of new powers over the FE and skills sector.

For example, the secretary of state now has legal powers to designate and remove designation of employer representative bodies (ERBs) responsible for developing LSIPs. They also have powers to introduce “statutory guidance” to tell ERBs who they should consult with and what should go in to their LSIPs.

The lifelong loan entitlement now also has some statutory underpinning. The flagship policy to provide loans with four years of post-18 education for modular and full qualifications at levels 4 to 6 is set to come on stream in 2025 and is currently out for public consultation.

Another of the secretary of state’s new powers is to introduce an official list of approved post-16 training providers along with new conditions for registration and restricting access to funding to providers on that list. 

The act introduces new duties on college governing bodies to review and publish how their education and training offer is meeting local skills needs. The secretary of state gains new powers to use the intervention system where providers are failing in this duty.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education gets powers to approve and withdraw approval for technical qualifications under the act. 

Its chief executive, Jennifer Coupland, said “Following passage of this landmark legislation, we can look forward to creating a unified skills system which is simpler to understand and employers and learners can really trust. 

“IfATE has empowered employers to drive up the quality of apprenticeships and roll out exciting new T Levels. The time is now right to extend the employer-led reforms across technical education.”

Leaders in the sector are now turning their attention to implementation.

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ director of public affairs, Rebecca Durber, welcomed greater access to schools for her members, but told FE Week “officials must offer reassurance that the costs and requirements to join the list of post-16 providers will be proportionate and not squeeze smaller providers out of the market”.

Ministers have already been criticised for “reneging upon promises” by the Federation of Awarding Bodies’ chief executive, Tom Bewick, who says that his members were promised by officials that there were no plans to charge awarding organisations to have their qualifications approved by IfATE.

“Before the ink is even dry on the new legislation, we see that ministers have already instructed the Institute to develop a fees and charging regime. We believe this will divert millions of pounds away from course innovation and supporting learners,” Bewick said.

Looking ahead, Learning and Work Institute boss Stephen Evans told FE Week that while the act has “good measures like the lifelong loan entitlement”, it doesn’t address the shortfall in funding needed for retraining. 

Evans told FE Week: “We need to focus on delivery. That requires more public funding to reduce the £750 million real terms shortfall compared to 2010, policy reform to better support retraining and apprenticeships, and a laser-like focus on joining up support. It is these that will help to determine if these reforms stand the test of time. 

“The passing of this bill is not an end, it is a beginning.”

Small employer apprenticeship starts rise for first time in 5 years

Apprenticeship starts in small employers increased for the first time in five years in 2020/21 – but the numbers are still way off pre-pandemic and levy reform levels, new government data shows.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees saw their starts numbers shoot up by 12 per cent compared to 2019/20, the first recorded increase since 2015/16.

However, this remains 45 per cent lower than in 2016/17 (pre-levy introduction) and 9 per cent lower than in 2018/19 (pre-pandemic).

The increase in 2020/21 means that small employers accounted for 30 per cent of all apprenticeship starts – up 3 percentage points on 2019/20.

Meanwhile, apprenticeship starts in medium sized employers (those with 50 to 249 employees) fell slightly by 5 per cent in 2020/21 compared to 2019/20. This leaves them 21 per cent down on pre-pandemic levels and 56 per cent lower than pre-levy levels.

In 2020/21 starts in large employers fell slightly by 3 per cent compared to 2019/20. Apprenticeship starts in large employers reached their highest level in the series in 2018/19 (224,970) but have now fallen for two years in a row. As a result, starts in large employers in 2020/21 were 20 per cent down on pre-pandemic levels and 14 per cent lower than before the levy.

The “experimental” data, revealed in today’s ‘apprenticeships in England by industry characteristics’ publication, shows that after falling for the previous three years, in 2020/21 the proportion of apprenticeship starts amongst SMEs increased to 41 per cent – 3 percentage points up on 2019/20.

However, SMEs’ share of apprenticeship starts is still lower than it was when the apprenticeship levy was introduced (54 per cent in 2016/17).

Today’s data comes a week after SMEs, particularly the larger medium-sized employers, told FE Week they are currently having to turn apprentices away because the Department for Education is refusing to reset a cap on their starts currently set at 10.

The slight rise in SME starts may have been driven by the cash incentives the government offered businesses for hiring new apprentices – of which 99,140 were claimed in 2020/21 in total. However, there is no breakdown of incentives claims by employer size, meaning it is not known how many were from SMEs. The incentives have now ended but can be claimed up to May 20.

The figures also show which sectors saw the biggest falls in terms of apprenticeship starts during the pandemic, and which industries held up.

Health and social work accounted for a quarter of all apprenticeship starts in 2020/21, and was one of the few sectors with an increase in starts (up by 18 per cent since 2019/20).

The information/communication sector also saw an increase this year as its starts went up by 16 per cent. Other sectors seeing small increases in 2020/21 were the education, financial services, public administration and transportation.

Meanwhile, manufacturing (down by 25 per cent since 2019/20) and the arts/entertainment (down by 18 per cent) sectors saw the biggest falls since 2019/20. Starts in construction fell by 12 per cent.

The DfE said that generally, industry sectors with higher proportions of apprenticeship starts at level 4 and above were more likely to have seen an increase since 2019/20, whilst those with more starts at lower levels saw falls.

SEND review consultation may be extended as accessible versions delayed

Ministers are considering extending their consultation on plans set out in the landmark SEND review, following delays in publishing accessible versions of the documents. 

The green paper was launched at the end of last month, with British Sign Language and an easy-read version of the consultation promised by “early April”.

But almost a month has now passed, and the additional accessible versions have still not been published. This is despite the government having had over two years to prepare the review for publication.

Asked on Twitter by campaign group Special Needs Jungle about the documents, children’s minister Will Quince said he was “sorry” it had taken “longer than I had hoped”.

He said the team was “working as quickly as possible to make accessible versions available in the coming days”. 

Quince added today that he had “heard your concerns about accessible versions of the SEND review green paper not being ready and whether you’ll have enough time to respond”.

“I’m considering extending the consultation period as I want as many people as possible to take part. I will update in the coming days.”

The SEND review was delayed three times after first being launched in 2019. 

It was finally published on March 29, marking the opening of a 13-week consultation. 

Post-16 qualifications inquiry: 5 interesting things we learned from former education ministers

Former education secretary Lord Blunkett and former universities minister Lord Willetts gave evidence to MPs on the House of Commons education committee today, as part of its inquiry into the future of post-16 qualifications.

In a wide-ranging session, the witnesses were quizzed on degree apprenticeships, BTECs and getting the policy balance right between vocational and academic education. 

Here are some key take aways from today’s session:

16-18 ‘heading in the wrong direction’

During the session Lord Willetts claimed that 16 to 18 education is heading in the “wrong direction”.

This was because A-levels have become “extremely traditional” with the abolition of AS levels, which was a “kind of module”, while at the same time the government looks to make higher education more modular under the lifelong loan entitlement.

He said: “There is a contrast where there is the agenda at HE for modular learning now under the lifelong loan entitlement but at 16 to 18 we are heading in exactly the opposite direction. The AS was a kind of module.

“So we’re heading for extremely traditional A-levels, and only three of them, and done in a sustained way over two years with no opting of in and out. It’s a very different model, 16 to 18 is heading in the wrong direction.”

Blunkett added: “It was sad for me that there was only a handful of universities who fought to stop the demolition and abolition of AS levels, Cambridge was one of them, when we were moving in exactly the opposite direction of what everyone was preaching.”

Cash constraints will restrict degree apprenticeship growth

Commenting on calls from committee members for a massive expansion of degree apprenticeships, former universities minister Lord Willetts warned that cash constraints are likely to restrict their growth.

“If higher level apprenticeships on this model keep on growing, we’ll end up with exactly the same dilemma as we had with conventional higher education, which is the Treasury saying ‘hang on, this is very expensive. How can we fund it?’”

His warning comes after the National Audit Office reported in 2019 on the “clear risk” the apprenticeship programme was not financially sustainable, after the average cost of training hit double the sum the government predicted in 2015.

Willetts also made the point that with degree apprenticeships there were issues around disadvantaged students and access.

“There the uncomfortable evidence is that degree apprentices are less socially diverse than students doing the same subject at university, not part of degree apprenticeship. We know from Office for Students data that degree apprentices are more white, they’re less disabled, they’re more male,” he said.

Hard to reverse trend of there being higher apprenticeships done by older people

During the session MPs heard that there is a clear trend that apprenticeships are being done by older people at a higher educational level.

“I personally think it’s very hard to see that trend being reversed,” said Willetts.

“I think this is a change in the quality and type of apprenticeships, based on the big fact that to be an apprentice you already have to have an employer who has decided to take you on as an employee with all the rights and costs that go with them.”

He called for the expansion of traineeships, sometimes referred to as pre-apprenticeships, that doesn’t require the employer to take on young people as full-time employees.

“I would start with that to plug that gap rather than try to push apprenticeships back down to 16-year-olds and back down to level two. I think they’re heading in a different direction,” he added.

BTECs offer valuable niches

Robert Halfon told witnesses that when he talks to the skills minister or the department about BTECs, they say qualifications produce poor outcomes for students.

Halfon quoted statistics from the Education Data Lab which suggest pupils who take BTECs are more likely to be in employment by age 22 compared with those who take A-levels and that they earn £800 a year more on average.

He asked the witnesses “is this your view or are there too many BTECs, is it quantity over quality?”

Lord Willetts told MPs that the applied general qualification, of which many are BTECs, is well understood by employers and has got an employer focus.

He said that while there are issues with BTECs, you can try to improve them and make sure that quality with the qualifications is high.

“But saying after 40 years, we are going to close them down and shift to this new thing called T levels, is a high-risk strategy,” he said.

Willetts said that some BTECs are niche – citing stonemasonry as an example – but that some of these niches are recognised and valuable and ministers should be careful when they say there are “too many” of the qualifications.

Stop the standoff between vocational and academic education

Education committee chair Robert Halfon kicked off the session by citing a recent report from the Tony Blair Institute which argued for expanding the proportion of young people entering higher education to 60 per cent by the end of this decade and 70 per cent by 2040.

Halfon challenged the findings of the Blair report, noting that the Institute for Fiscal Studies said one in five students lose money by going to university and the financial returns for graduates are “often underwhelming”.

He also cited research by the Centre for Social Justice which said that a graduate earns less than on average five years after graduation, than a level five apprentice earns three years after completion.

“So should we be setting a higher target for university admissions when our current university system is misaligned with the needs of the economy, and fails to deliver a return on investment for many young people?” he asked witnesses.

His question was met with a gruff response from Lord Blunkett.

“Firstly, chair, I think there’s an absolute load of garbage talked in this area, there should not be a standoff between properly equipped technical and vocational education with high rewards and the future of education in terms of higher-level skills, which can be often obtained during one’s adult life and not just when a young person leaves school,” he said.

Blunkett explained that he appreciated the IFS statistics, but some of the statistics read out by Halfon were “highly dubious, to put it mildly”.

However, he acknowledged “we desperately need hands on technical skills, partly because of a million people going back to their original homeland in Europe following Brexit, partly because of the fallout of Covid”.

And he argued the UK government should invest heavily in technical and vocational education, including T Levels, maintaining high level BTECs, national diplomas and other high quality, advanced qualifications.

But he said: “Until we actually stop the standoff between vocational and academic and realise that quite often we need both… unless we do that in the new era with new qualifications and new ways of teaching. We’ll be miles behind.”

IfS: 1 in 4 poorer pupils could lose out under proposed student loan grade thresholds

Plans to deny student loans to pupils who fail their English and maths GCSEs could deprive around one in four disadvantaged learners of a higher education place, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.

Setting a minimum GCSE threshold for student finance would also have excluded almost one in 10 entrants to education degree courses in the middle of the last decade.

It comes after the government’s own equality analysis concluded students with certain protected characteristics, such as those from black and ethnic minority groups and those with SEND, were “likely to be disproportionately impacted” by the proposed changes.

The think tank analysed the potential impact government proposals would have had on students who sat their GCSEs in 2011 and 2012. They focused on these cohorts so they could observe their degree outcomes.

The analysis found that almost one in four undergraduates from those cohorts who were eligible for free school meals at the age of 16 would not have been able to access student loans if a GCSE English and maths requirement was in place.

This compares to 9 per cent of state school pupils not eligible for free school meals, and just 5 per cent of private school pupils.

Bigger impact on black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani students

The analysis also found a GCSE requirement would have a “much bigger impact” on participation by black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani students than on white British students.

While around 7 per cent of white British undergraduates would have been affected, 18 per cent of Bangladeshi and Pakistani students would have been hit, and 23 per cent of black undergraduates.

The impact would be smaller if the requirement was two Es at A-level, rather than passes at GCSE, the IfS found. For example, an A-level threshold would affect only 5 per cent of undergraduates previously eligible for free school meals, while a GCSE threshold would affect 23 per cent.

The government says its reforms, set out in its response to the Augar Review of post-18 education, would  “ensure students aren’t being pushed into higher education before they are ready”.

Most lower-attainers still graduate

A consultation has asked for views on making access to student finance dependent on having either two Es at A-level or at least a grade 4 in English and maths GCSE.

The IfS did find that students who did not achieve the minimum qualifications at school had worse degree outcomes than their peers. But it also found that close to 80 per cent still graduate, with around 40 per cent doing so with a first or upper second class degree.

The think tank also warned that a GCSE threshold would have excluded around 9 per cent of entrants to education courses from obtaining student loans.

A DfE spokesperson said no final decisions had been made about reforms.

“Evidence shows that students with lower prior attainment are less likely to complete their degree and get a ‘good’ classification, and more likely to have worse employment and degree outcomes.

“The aim of minimum eligibility requirements is to make sure that only those who will benefit from it, go on to study at degree level, regardless of their background.”

Ofsted to review how it inspects FE and skills, new strategy states

Ofsted will review how “complex and diverse” FE providers are inspected as part of its new five-year strategy, the inspectorate has announced today. 

Inspectors will also visit every college in the next four years to assess how well they are meeting the skills needs of the economy in its renewed effort to raise standards. 

Ofsted has made a series of high-level commitments in its new strategy for 2022-2027 guided, it states, by a “fundamental principle” that inspection is a “force for improvement”.

The strategy encompasses Ofsted’s full remit across early years, social care, schools as well as further education and skills.

However, the strategy is silent on areas that were thought to be priorities for inspectors, such as apprenticeships and prison education. 

The chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, has said that the new strategy “takes account of the impact of the pandemic and raises still further our ambitions for children and learners. Ofsted’s mantra of ‘raising standards, improving lives’ has never been more important.”

Spielman’s strategic ambitions have been arranged across eight priorities for her organisation which include “right-touch regulation”, “making the most of our insights” and “keeping pace with sector changes”.

Keeping pace 

Referencing the size and complexity of the sector, and the growing number of large FE college groups, Ofsted’s new strategy states that it will “review” its inspection model for further education and skills, while not abandoning its education inspection framework (EIF): “We will, while retaining the EIF, review whether we have the right model of inspection in further education and skills, given the complexity and diversity of provision and the size of some individual providers.”

Today’s strategy also restates a commitment made in the government’s SEND green paper, published earlier this month, to introduce a new area SEND inspection framework. The strategy says this will “hold the right agencies to account for their role in the system.”

An FE Week investigation into area SEND inspection findings exposed common failings in local systems leading to a “cliff-edge” of support at ages 16 and 18 in many areas.

Meeting skills needs

Over the next four years, all colleges will be assessed on how well they are meeting the skills needs of the economy, Ofsted has said, under its strategic heading “inspections that raise standards”.

The strategy doesn’t say whether this apply to other FE and skills settings, such as independent training providers or adult education providers.

An “enhanced” role for Ofsted in making judgements about meeting skills needs is not new.

It was proposed in last year’s Department for Education (DfE)  consultation on reforms to FE funding and accountability.

DfE proposed a new “skills measure” would be part of a new “performance dashboard” for general further education colleges that measured how technical training offer matched local need.

That measure would, it was proposed, in turn give Ofsted and the FE Commissioner a steer on where intervention and support activity might be needed. 

The government has been quiet on its funding and accountability reforms since the consultation closed back in October.

The current education inspection framework already has provisions for inspectors to make judgements about how well a provider’s education offer is meeting local skills needs.

For example, the inspection handbook sets out how in order to achieve at least a ‘Good’ judgement for ‘quality of education’, inspectors have to see evidence that leaders provide a curriculum that is “appropriately relevant to local and regional employment and training priorities”. 

At the other end, the existing handbook tells inspectors to award ‘Inadequate’ for leadership and management if “the curriculum fails to meet the needs of learners, employers, the local community or local and regional economies.”

Today’s strategy document says that, as a result of assessing how well colleges are meeting skills needs, more colleges “will agree that [Ofsted’s] inspections and guidance help them better match their offer to skills needs in the economy”. 

Help boost apprenticeship starts among young people and fix the drop-out rate, skills minister tells IfATE

The skills minister has told the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to help boost apprenticeship starts among young people, including by reviewing level 2 and 3 programmes to ensure they “meet the needs of career starters”.

Alex Burghart (pictured) has also instructed the apprenticeship quango to address “issues” within its remit that are leading to the high drop-out rate, as well as to help improve achievement rates.

Burghart’s tasks appeared in new “strategic guidance” issued to the institute today.

It comes a month after the skills minister told FE Week’s annual apprenticeship conference the government “must” increase the number of young people starting apprenticeships.

Apprenticeship starts among young people have been steadily decreasing since the government’s levy reforms in 2017.

In 2018/19, under 19s made up 24.8 per cent of all starts, this dropped to 23.6 per cent in 2019/20 and in 2020/21 it fell to 20.3 per cent.

In a letter to IfATE chief executive Jennifer Coupland today, Burghart said: “The department is aiming to increase participation by young people in all levels of apprenticeships. I would like the institute to support the department with this, including in its work on mapping progression routes.”

Jennifer Coupland

In 2022-23 he wants the institute to review “availability” of level 2 and level 3 standards and “consider whether the current offer meets the needs of career starters across all sectors”.

The institute should also “explore and make proposals to the department on how some standards might be flagged as particularly suitable for career starters, so that young people, employers and providers are much clearer about their potential”.

Burghart is also seeking the institute’s assistance in addressing the high drop-out rate in apprenticeships which is concerning ministers, and boost the achievement rate.

Data published by the DfE in March showed that only 53 per cent of apprentices on the new-style standards stayed on their programme until their end-point assessment in 2020/21 – meaning that 47 per cent dropped out.  

The figure was even worse in 2019/20 when 53.4 per cent of apprentices on standards dropped out.

Meanwhile, the overall achievement rate for all apprenticeships hit 57.7 per cent in 2020/21. The achievement rate for 2019/20 stood at 57.5 per cent.  

For 2020/21 the achievement rate on standards was just 51.8 per cent, while in 2019/20 it was 45.2 per cent.  

Former skills minister Gillian Keegan ordered an investigation into the “astonishingly” high drop-out rate for apprenticeship last year.

Burghart said today that by 2024-25 the institute is expected to have reached a position where it has “addressed issues within the scope of its remit regarding occupational standards associated with high levels of withdrawals; and has successfully worked with the department and the Quality Alliance to identify and support the improvement of achievement rates across the range of levers collectively available”.

In response to the letter, Coupland said: “I’m delighted that the minister has recognised the impressive progress made by IfATE and the vital role we will play with creating a unified skills system that delivers for everyone.

“To ensure quality, the new skills system must all be based on standards set by employers and be easier for learners and employers to understand and navigate. Supporting more young people from diverse backgrounds into rewarding careers, pushing up achievement rates, and ensuring entry level training supports social mobility are all areas we are fully committed to.”

The FE Week Podcast: Is there a device crisis in FE?

Is device use seriously negatively affecting student learning?


How can devices be used well?


And what is the situation with device poverty?

In this episode, The FE Week Podcast looks at the use of phones, tablets, laptops, social media and more among students and staff – from all angles of the debate.

Tune in with education journalist Jess Staufenberg as she chats to psychologists, staff and students on the frontline as they spill the beans and shine a light on this big, under-discussed topic in FE.

Deadline to claim apprenticeship cash incentives extended by 5 days

The deadline for employers to claim £3,000 cash incentives for hiring new apprentices has been extended by five days.

Businesses will now have until Friday May 20 instead of Sunday May 15 to get their claims in.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency told FE Week the change has been made in response to customer complaints that the deadline was on a weekend.

A spokesperson also issued a reminder that it is employers’ responsibility to “apply for the incentive before the deadline otherwise they will not be eligible to receive the payment”. 

The cash incentives were first introduced by chancellor Rishi Sunak in August 2020 to help boost starts after a huge drop was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Firms were initially offered £2,000 to take on apprentices aged 16 to 24, while those that employed new apprentices aged 25 and over were paid £1,500. Incentives were increased to £3,000 for all apprentices in February.

Employers can only apply for apprentices with an employment start date from October 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022. They will also need to have an apprenticeship start date from October 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022.

Latest ESFA data shows that as of March 8, 2022, a total of 179,450 claims for the cash bonus had been submitted by employers.

Of the total, 77 per cent (139,010) of claims were for 16- to 24-year-olds and 83 per cent (148,943) were for level 2 or 3 apprenticeships.

Sector leaders have hailed the success of the incentives in boosting the number of starts and called for the cash bonuses to be extended, but the Treasury and ESFA have resisted doing so.