Almost 600 victims of an FE loans scandal have had £1.5 million worth of debt written off following an FE Week campaign.

For years, adult learners were being forced to repay thousands of pounds for a course they had never completed after their training provider went bust.

Ministers refused to write off their advance learner loans, even if the students couldn’t move on to alternative providers.

It sparked the launch of #SaveOurAdultEducation in 2017 which demanded justice for those affected and led to new legislation, introduced in July 2019, that gave the education secretary powers to clear their debt.

New figures obtained by FE Week through a freedom of information request show that since the law change, 585 learners advanced learner loans at a value of £1,438,767 have been written off.

The students spanned 32 different providers, most of which suddenly went out of business, including John Frank Training, Edudo, MiddletonMurray Group and Progress to Excellence.

One of the victims was Grzegorz Bogdanski, who was being forced to repay almost £6,000. The 37-year-old painter and decorator claimed he was duped into the loan by Edudo, which was subcontracting from West London College before it went into voluntary liquidation in November 2016.

He described the debt as a “stone tied to your leg that you’re dragging all the time” and while he said it was a “massive relief” when his loan was written off, he questioned how the government ever let the situation occur.

“It is disappointing how the government and college dealt with the issue. Nobody wanted to help , even though I contacted them many times. There was no accountability.”

He added: “How can the government hand over this money so easily to the provider when they’re not qualified to do it. The situation was bizarre how easily we could be defrauded.

“I’m just very appreciative and will always be grateful to FE Week for stepping in.”

The saga also resulted in the Education and Skills Funding Agency reviewing its audit framework for loans-only providers and changes were made, including the banning of subcontracting for these providers.

Carpenter Lukasz Pacuk, 38, said he and his family had suffered four years of “never ending” stress as he faced a £4,000 debt with nothing to show for it, as did fellow carpenter Marcin Tryka, 40, who had a £4,500 loan.

Tryka told FE Week of how the government would send him monthly reminder letters that he owed the money. “They were happy to chase us for the money but would not offer us any help,” he said. “It was like someone was stealing from me.”

He said he was stuck in a “vicious cycle” of not being able to gain his qualification or a job as a result.

Tryka added: “I can’t imagine what my life would be like right now if it wasn’t for your newspaper. When we were individual people calling, nobody cared; but as soon as you stepped in the battlefield, it ended so quick. You saved the day, so thank you.”

A DfE spokesperson did not respond to the criticism but said: “No learner should be disadvantaged when issues with their education provider mean they can no longer undertake their course.”

Robert Halfon was skills minister at the time the scandal came to light and backed FE Week’s campaign after he left the post in July 2017.

Reacting to the news that almost 600 people have saved £1.5 million since the law change, the now chair of the education select committee said: “Whilst it was very troubling that hundreds of FE students were unfortunately caught up in this difficult situation, with huge uncertainty about their money, education and future careers, it is fantastic that they are now being released from these debts.

“Congratulations are owed to FE Week for pursuing their campaign and for their contribution to this great outcome.”

Labour’s former shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden was a strong supporter of #SaveOurAdultEducation and hosted its launch event in parliament. He said: “It is great news that #SaveOurAdultEducation has had a fruitful aftermath.” (Read his full article on the debacle here.)

A union has called on college leaders to “guarantee” that the latest FE base rate funding increase will result in a substantial staff pay rise next year.

Just before the Christmas break the Department for Education announced that the national funding rate for full-time students aged 16 and 17 will rise by 8.4 per cent from August 2022.

It means colleges will receive £4,542 instead of £4,188 for each young learner. Most of the increase will pay for 40 additional teaching hours that officials say they now “expect” to be delivered and have promised to “monitor”.

The DfE also announced rises to its high-value course premium; programme weighting factors in five sector subject areas; disadvantage premiums; and enhanced funding rates for T Level students.

The funding boost, part of the extra £1.6 billion the Treasury’s spending review pledged to invest in 16-to-19 education by 2024/25, was revealed a day after the Association of Colleges recommended its members give staff a one per cent pay rise despite demands by unions for a more significant hike.

University and College Union head of further education Andrew Harden said colleges have repeatedly used a lack of government funding as an excuse to hold down staff pay. He told FE Week that this latest funding announcement coupled with 2020/21’s £400 million boost means “there can be no excuses for holding down staff pay.

“The one per cent pay increase offered before Christmas was a kick in the teeth for staff, and employers must guarantee that increases in funding for colleges will result in increases in pay for their staff,” he added.

A recent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report showed that even after the government’s planned three years of increases in 16-to-18 investment, the funding per student in 2024/25 will still be ten per cent lower than in 2010.

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the AoC, said the department’s 16-to-18 funding announcement “contains some good news” for college staff and students but warned “we don’t know all the details.

“Funding for FE colleges comes from several budgets and it seems there will be no increases at all to apprenticeship, adult or higher education rates despite rising inflation,” he pointed out.

Gravatt pressed that addressing staff pay is a “priority” for colleges and AoC would “of course want to be able to put forward a more meaningful pay award, and hope to do so”.

However, he added, the “financial outlook for 2022/23 is still extremely challenging and we won’t know until the spring what might be possible for next year”.

While the AoC recommends a pay increase to its members, general FE colleges are independent and make final decision on pay themselves.

The process for staff pay in sixth-form colleges differs. Bill Watkin, the Sixth Form Colleges Association’s chief executive, explained pay awards are nationally negotiated and agreed with trade unions NASUWT and the National Education Union.

He said last year they agreed a 2.4 per cent in-year pay increase for teaching staff.

IFS analysis shows that FE colleges receive around £1,500 per student more than sixth-form colleges.

On the base rate increase, Watkin said: “We are pleased that the government has raised the rate – not to the level it should be, but enough to make a material difference to the education of many students.”

He added that sixth-form colleges will “step up to the challenge” of delivering an extra 40 hours per student next year but warned that in doing so they should not be subject to any “additional bureaucratic demands” from DfE.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association’s Raise the Rate campaign has fought for the FE base rate to go up to £4,760; while the Association of Colleges has campaigned for as much as £5,000.

The Department for Education has set out the evidence behind its decision to temporarily reintroduce face masks in school, college and providers’ classrooms.

The move, communicated to education leaders this weekend, is a particularly sensitive one.

Ministers have faced a backlash from Covid restriction sceptics, with former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith claiming that the data showing imposing face coverings in classrooms was “premature”.

But they have also faced sustained pressure from others, such as staff and unions, to reintroduce face coverings to make classrooms and teaching spaces safer.

Today the DfE has published a summary of the evidence behind its decision. FE Week takes a look …

DfE study suggests positive impact – but data ‘limited’

A DfE study in October found the Covid absence rate across schools using face coverings fell quicker compared to those who were not using masks.

However, the data has limitations. It is based on data sent by schools to the DfE through the education settings form.

It looks at 123 schools and is pre-Omicron, which is more infectious than the previous Delta variant.

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi claimed on talkRADIO that these schools had “face mask policies in the classroom”. He claimed he was the “evidence-led secretary of state”.

But DfE’s report says the data “does not differentiate between whether face coverings were used in classrooms or communal areas”.

The preliminary analysis found that education providers not using masks saw their average absence rate fall by 1.7 percentage points from 5.3 per cent on October 1, to 3.6 per cent three weeks later.

In providers that did use face coverings, absence fell by 2.3 percentage points from 5.3 per cent to 3 per cent.

DfE accepts there is a “level of statistical uncertainty around the result” and that “further work should be done”.

Professor Stephen Gorard, director of the Durham University evidence centre for education, said the analysis was “good enough” to support the use of facemasks in classrooms and was “explicit about its necessary limitations”.

He added the analysis suggested a “small effect size on infections from wearing masks” which “might save some lives as well as absences”.

DfE said it is working to make the underlying data and analysis available to an external peer reviewer for independent replication of results.

Questions around US masks study

DfE says there are scientific studies which look at the link between Covid and the use of face coverings in education settings, but they are “not conclusive”.

It cites several United States studies which “generally find higher rates of Covid-19 in schools without mask requirements, compared to those with mask requirements”.

One study in Arizona published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that education settings without mask requirements were 3.5 times more likely to have outbreaks between July and August last year.

The CDC has recommended that all children ages 2 and above should wear coverings indoors at school – different to the UK’s response.

However, some have discredited this study claiming it is unreliable and flawed.

A second study showed US counties where schools required masks also had less transmission of the virus in the community.

In November 2020, the UK Health and Security Agency looked at mask evidence in education and summer camp settings.

DfE said these three studies were “observational” and had “limitations” so the results “provide less direct evidence of effectiveness of face coverings than randomised control trials”.

Results were “mixed” but “taken together” they supported “the conclusion that the use of face coverings in schools can contribute to reducing” transmission.

In the run up to Christmas, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) told the government it may be necessary to consider the wearing of face coverings in primary school classrooms, where “the balance of risks and benefits did not previously support it”.

But the government decided to keep primary pupils exempt, citing other measures to reduce transmission such as staff testing and improved ventilation.

Education leaders’ communication concerns

The DfE said it will work with the UKHSA to “carefully monitor the data and the evidence” and continue to “strike a balance” between managing transmission risk and reducing disruption to education.

Back in April, when face masks were used in the classroom after lockdown, a DfE survey found that almost all leaders and teachers – 94 per cent – thought wearing face coverings made communication with students more difficult.

Of these, 59 per cent said it made it “a lot more” difficult.

The World Health Organisation said for children with hearing loss, mask wearing may present learning barriers and could miss learning.

The DfE said it is “therefore important” to continue to offer flexibility to schools either not to use face coverings or to use transparent face coverings.

Zahawi told MPs today he has commissioned DfE staff to further research “the negative impacts of face coverings on education”.

He said masks were “distracting for children at a time when they should be concentrating or listening to their teachers”.

But overall he said they are a “sensible, pragmatic and proportionate thing to do” and hopes “that data will allow us to ditch masks in class” from January 26.

Twelve individuals from the further education and skills sector are among those receiving gongs in the Queen’s New Year honours.

These include one CBE, six OBEs, four MBEs and one BEM – but no knighthoods or dames.

No serving college principals were recognised in this round of honours.

Malcolm Press, the vice chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University who also sits on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s board, has been made a CBE for his services to higher and technical education.

Press previously held positions at the universities of Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester and UCL. He joined the IfATE’s board in June 2018.

Press said he felt “very honoured” to be awarded a CBE as “I passionately believe that education in all forms – academic, professional, technical and vocational – transforms lives”.

“I will continue to do my utmost to promote the importance and value of education both here at Manchester Metropolitan University, and through all the organisations in which I have the privilege of playing a part,” he added.

Jennifer Coupland, chief executive of the IfATE, added: “It is absolutely right that he [Press} has been recognised, as his work has had a transformative effect on so many people’s lives.”

Brenda McLeish, chief executive of the Learning Curve Group, is among those receiving an OBE.

She joined the company, which has become one of the country’s largest independent training providers, in 2008 and became its chief executive in 2015. She also sits on the board of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP).

McLeish said her honour is an “incredible achievement that also comes with great responsibility”.

“I will continue to ensure that we give people across the country the opportunities to gain new skills and fulfil their potential. I would like to thank the hard work and dedication of the ‘purple people’ at Learning Curve Group who have helped make this happen.”

Also picking up an OBE is another AELP board member – Sharon Blyfield.

Blyfield is the head of early careers and apprenticeships at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, with a focus on improving equality, diversity, and inclusion.

She said receiving this honour from the Queen is “incredibly humbling”.

“My thanks go to the many people who have supported me, and all those that I have worked with over the years in creating opportunities for the next generation of leaders,” Blyfield added.

Other sector figures to receive an OBE in this year’s New Year honours include Elizabeth Barrett, the principal of Academy Transformation Trust for Further Education; Stuart Edwards, lately the chair of Morley College London; Timothy Jackson, lately the principal of Sparsholt College and Andover College who is also an adviser to the FE Commissioner; and Erika Stoddart, the chair of the TEC Partnership.

Among the four recipients of MBE’s is Jennifer Taylor, the leader of early professionals programmes at IBM UK who also chairs the trailblazer group for the popular digital and technology solutions level 6 degree apprenticeship standard.

After being honoured for her services to education, Taylor said: “As a passionate advocate of the opportunities which apprenticeships provide for young people of all backgrounds, I am thrilled that my advocacy of apprenticeships has been recognised.”

Also picking up an MBE for services to FE and skills is Ian Green, the section manager at Nissan Training’s Global Training Centre and Nissan Skills Foundation;  Margaret Harlock, the chair of St Brendan’s Sixth Form College in Bristol; and Sandra Prail, a governor at Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College.

Emma Beauchamp, chair of the North East Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network, received a BEM.

Full list of FE and skills honours:

CBE

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Malcolm Press – Vice-Chancellor, Manchester Metropolitan University. For services to Higher and Technical Education

OBE

Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Elizabeth Barrett – Principal, Academy Transformation Trust for Further Education. For services to Education

Sharon Blyfield – Head, Early Careers and Apprenticeships, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. For services to Apprenticeships and Skills

Brenda Edmenson-McLeish – Chief Executive Officer, The Learning Curve Group. For services to Further Education

Stuart Edwards – Lately Chair, Governing Body, Morley College London. For services to Adult and Further Education

Timothy Jackson – Lately Principal, Sparsholt College and Andover College. For services to Further Education

Erika Stoddart – Chair, TEC Partnership. For services to Education

MBE

Members of the Order of the British Empire

Ian Green – Section Manager, Nissan Training, Global Training Centre and Nissan Skills Foundation. For services to Apprenticeships and to STEM skills

Margaret Harlock – Chair of Governors, St Brendan’s Sixth Form College, Bristol. For services to Further Education

Sandra Prail – Governor, Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College. For services to Education

Jennifer Taylor – Leader, Early Professionals Programmes, IBM UK, and Chair, Digital and Technology Solutions Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship Trailblazer. For services to Education

BEM

Medallists of the Order of the British Empire

Emma Beauchamp – Chair, North East Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network. For services to Apprenticeships and Skills

All six deputy further education commissioners have had their terms of office extended, it has been announced. 

These posts form part of new FE commissioner (FEC) Shelagh Legrave’s team of 12 FE advisers and six deputy commissioners. 

The deputies work with colleges who have either requested support or who are in formal intervention due to concerns with poor quality of education provision or poor financial health. Each deputy is expected to undertake up to 200 days’ work per year. They are currently each remunerated at £700 per day. 

While the number of colleges in formal intervention has declined, the new commissioner wants to steer the FEC team towards a more “nurturing a supporting” relationship with colleges. 

This follows a 2019 report on the oversight of college finances which recommended that the FE commissioner and the ESFA worked closer together and improved their strategic relationships with the colleges. 

The deputy FE commissioners, who are appointed by the secretary of state, each begin their new terms of office on January 1 2022:

Frances Wadsworth has been reappointed until April 30 2023.

Wadsworth became a deputy FE commissioner in May 2018 and served as interim FE commissioner between Richard Atkins’ departure in March 2021 and Shelagh Legrave’s arrival in post in October 2021.

Alongside this role, Wadsworth sits of the board of Ofqual as its deputy chair.

Meredydd David has been reappointed to serve until August 31 2023.

David was appointed as a deputy FE commissioner in September 2018 and is a former principal of Reaseheath College. He was awarded an OBE in the 2009 birthday honours for services to further education and is also currently the vice chair of the University of Chester.

Martin Sim has been reappointed to August 31 2023.

Sim was appointed as a deputy FE commissioner by Gavin Williamson in August 2019.

Since May this year however, Sim has been working as interim chief executive at Nottingham College. John van de Laarschot stepped back from the role in order to recover from a serious heart attack. In November, the college announced that Van de Laarschot would not be returning to the college in order to focus on his health. 

It’s expected that Sim will return to his deputy commissioner duties once a permanent successor for Van de Laarschot has been appointed. The search is currently underway. 

Steve Hutchinson and Andrew Tyley, the longest serving members of the FEC team, have both been reappointed to serve until September 30 2023.

They both joined the FEC team as FE advisers in 2014 and were made deputy FE commissioners in 2016.

Nigel Duncan has had his interim deputy commissioner position extended to June 20 2022 ‘by exception’ for six months to complete ‘ongoing projects’. He was appointed for a one year term in January.