Provider and DfE agree terms and avoid High Court battle over terminated contract

A training provider has dropped a High Court challenge against the Department for Education after an undisclosed settlement was agreed.   

Abis Resources Limited launched legal action against the department in 2019 after the firm’s FE loans and apprenticeship contracts were “unconscionably” terminated.   

Documents obtained by FE Week showed that the provider was seeking damages worth £600,000.   

But the DfE was contesting the case and even counter alleged that Abis Resources owed the government more than £100,000 in overclaimed funding.  

If the case had gone ahead it would have been the first time a training provider has taken the DfE all the way to court over terminated skills funding contracts, FE Week understands.  

But new documents obtained by this publication show that both parties have come to a settlement agreement.   

A consent order from the court said: “By consent it is ordered that all further proceedings in this action be stayed upon the terms set out in the settlement agreement between the parties dated 9 March 2022.   

“Each party shall have permission to apply to the court to enforce those terms without the need to bring a new claim.   

“There shall be no order as to costs.”   

However, the DfE, Abis Resources and its solicitor DWF have all refused to comment or share any details about the settlement.   

It is therefore unclear whether the provider received any damages, or whether the DfE reclaimed any of the alleged overclaimed funding.   

The Department for Education ended Abis Resources Limited’s funding agreements in 2018 after discovering that an awarding body had imposed the most serious sanction possible and withdrawn its approval of the provider two years earlier.   

Officials claimed that Abis was in breach of its contracts because it failed to immediately and formally notify the DfE of the sanction when it was first enforced in June 2016. The alleged deceit also led to the provider being “mistakenly” accepted on to the government’s apprenticeship provider register.   

But Abis claimed there was “no proper basis” for the termination because it had in fact notified the department of the awarding body dispute at the time.   

ABIS Resources, based in London, was set up in 2006 to offer a range of commercial and publicly funded courses. It is owned by Muhammad Shiraz Uddin.   

The firm initially delivered Train to Gain courses until the controversial scheme was scrapped in 2010.   

Abis moved into the advanced learner loans market in 2015, holding direct contracts with the then Skills Funding Agency totalling almost £650,000 until 2018.   

The provider’s only Ofsted inspection was conducted in 2010 and resulted in a ‘good’ rating. 

Top levy-funded apprenticeship providers for past 2 years reavealed

Lifetime Training has continued its dominance of the apprenticeship levy market for the past two years – but the gap between its competitors is closing, FE Week analysis of new government data shows.   

The Education and Skills Funding Agency this week published the final funding allocations for training providers in 2019/20 and 2020/21, which included the values for how much each provider was paid by apprenticeship levy funded employers.   

The agency published levy allocations for the first time in 2018/19. At the time, Lifetime Training topped the list after it was paid £51.5 million – almost double the next closest provider, QA Limited, on £26 million.   

Since then, Lifetime has retained its top spot, earning £50.6 million and £43.3 million in 2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively.   

Kaplan took second place in 2019/20 with £34.2 million, while the British Army took the position in 2020/21 with £38.4 million.   

The college with the largest amount of levy-funding in 2019/20 was The Sheffield College, which earned £5.3 million – placing it in 33rd place overall. Bridgwater and Taunton College took the top college spot in 2020/21 with £5.5 million – 40th place overall.   

The total amount of levy funding handed out in 2019/20 was £942.4 million, shared between 1,272 apprenticeship providers.   

This increased to £1.3 billion shared between 1,355 providers in 2020/21. 

Union threatens results days as staff mull strike action

Students across the country could face delays in receiving their exam results this summer, a union has claimed, as staff at England’s largest exam board are balloted to strike over a pay dispute. 

Unison and Unite unions are rejecting a three per cent pay increase, plus a £500 payment, for staff at AQA – claiming the charity is “failing its staff and students by holding down pay”. 

Workers now have just days to accept the offer, or could face a “fire and rehire” scenario, Unison claims. New data this week showed inflation at 9.1 per cent, a 40-year high. 

Unison said more than 160 AQA staff are now being balloted to strike at the height of the exam marking period this summer.

Lizanne Devonport, Unison north-west regional organiser, said AQA is “letting down not just its staff but students too, by holding down pay. 

“No one wants to cause disruption to students and teachers in the first summer back in exam halls since the pandemic, but the employees feel like they’ve been left with no choice.”

But AQA said “threats of disruption are nonsense” and “designed to needlessly frighten students and teachers”. The board has plans in place to ensure industrial action wouldn’t impact results day, a spokesperson said.

Many of the 160 staff are not involved in setting and marking exam papers, they added.

The threat of disruption follows two education unions – with a joint membership of over 750,000 – vowing this week to consult on strike action in autumn unless the government gives teachers inflation-busting pay rises.

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said a strike would be “unforgivable and unfair”.

AQA said its pay offer comes on top of additional incremental increases for staff not at the top of their pay grade, meaning the average rise is 5.6 per cent – their biggest pay increase for two decades.

But AQA staff say they have had below inflation pay rises of between one and two per cent in recent years.

Staff were told those who do not opt into the changes, which also include a new pay framework, by June will face consultation meetings in July.

AQA told staff this month there could then be “two extremes” – allowing staff to remain on the current pay framework with a 1.67 per cent rise, or “dismiss and re-engage”.

The unions claim this is a “fire and rehire” process. AQA said it has not made any decisions about what to do with staff who choose not to opt into the new framework.

The two-week ballot for strike action closes next week. If staff vote ‘yes’, strike action would take place this summer.

Unite is also considering an industrial action ballot. The union would not say how many AQA staff were members.

One AQA worker, who wished to remain anonymous, told FE Week staff are “in tears” about what to do, as they feel “very let down” with “no option but to accept”. 

Another said: “Many of us have done our jobs for a long time and are dedicated to public service. Exam board employees work miracles silently in the background to ensure that results are issued on time year after year. But we’ve reached the point where enough is enough.”

Another accused the board of being “content to watch its loyal, long-serving employees fall further and further behind on pay to the point where some of us are struggling to survive”.

Devonport called on AQA to “come back to the negotiating table, make a serious offer and stop threatening its dedicated staff”.

The charity saw its income drop by 28.9 per cent in the last financial year. Its net income before investment gains and losses was £2.9 million, down from £20 million in 2020. It equated to an operating margin of two per cent, a “considerable reduction” on the previous year.

While AQA’s charity funds decreased overall by £7.5 million, they still hold £112 million.

“Rather than using its cash reserves to help employees cope with the spiralling cost of living, it has provoked an unprecedented strike ballot,” Devonport added.

An AQA spokesperson said the pay rise was “affordable and higher than many organisations – so it’s disappointing we haven’t been able to reach an agreement with the unions, who don’t speak for the vast majority of our staff.” 

They have “already made exceptional concessions” and “after already exhausting the dispute resolution process, arbitration would only delay things further”.

The exam board, which has 1,200 staff, provides 62 per cent of GCSEs and 45 per cent of A-levels.

DfE to rename college comparison website as performance tables return

The government will rebrand its school and college performance website to “reduce the emphasis on comparison” after a backlash from leaders at resuming league tables despite Covid’s impact.

The Department for Education said last year key stage four and post-16 performance data would return this year, defending it as an “important” measure to help parents and students choose schools and colleges. 

But it has now advised those using 16-18 data not to compare colleges without considering Covid’s impact – and should ask colleges for this context.

The site will be renamed

Leaders’ union ASCL said earlier this year members felt “thrown to the wolves” by the decision, given the level of Covid upheaval faced by students and impact on “careers and reputations”. 

The DfE has always pledged to put messages alongside data to “advise caution drawing conclusions”, but has now set out how it will do so over the “coming months”.

  • It will change the name of its “Compare School and College Performance” website to “reduce the emphasis on comparison between institutions”. It did not provide the new name.
  • It will remove coloured bandings to “discourage simplistic conclusions being drawn about a school or college”. Results are currently colour-coded through a traffic light-style scheme, with “well below average” figures in red.
  • Comparison tables for local authorities and all schools and colleges nationally will be removed. But the site will “continue to show local authority and national averages for each performance measure on the individual school or college page” – and national and local data will still be available to download.  FE Week asked the DfE for more detail.
  • Data from 2018-19 and earlier will no longer be displayed on school or college pages, but it will remain at “the usual archive with a link on the website”.

A survey of ASCL’s members earlier this year found 82.6 per cent disagreed with plans to resume KS4 performance tables. Some highlighted significant national variations in student and staff absence, as well as disadvantaged students being more negatively affected by Covid.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of leaders’ union ASCL, welcomed steps to “reduce the potentially damaging impact”, calling it a “step in the right direction”.

But publishing the information at all is “hugely disappointing”, as the varied impact of Covid makes for an “inherent flaw”.

It would still result in data being published that “affects public perceptions”. He called for a further year’s suspension to “allow some sort of return to normality before returning to the full barrage of accountability measures to which educational institutions are subjected”.

The DfE’s update on 2021-2022 16-18 accountability measures published today says it recognises the “uneven impact” of Covid. 

Its efforts will “advise caution when comparing a school’s performance” with averages, and it is “vital” parents and others talk to schools and colleges to “understand the broader context” and Covid impact.

Users are urged not to draw “firm conclusions” and advised “strongly” against direct comparisons of schools and colleges without taking context into account. 

Meanwhile Ofsted will be “sensitive in their use of this data” and it should not be used “in isolation” for staff performance management.

But the DfE said publishing data is key “for transparency and as a starting point” for choosing which schools and colleges pupils attend.

ESFA increases adult education over-delivery threshold

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has announced a one-year increase to the threshold for over-delivery of the national adult education budget.

Colleges and training providers will be paid for any over-delivery up to 110 per cent of their contract value for 2021/22 – up from the usual threshold of 103 per cent.

The ESFA said this is “in recognition of providers’ efforts to focus on delivery following the coronavirus pandemic and accommodating additional eligible learners recently resettled from other countries including Ukraine and Afghanistan”.

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said this is the seventh year in a row that the core adult education budget has been fixed in cash terms, so it is “helpful that DfE is providing money for those colleges who are exceeding their 2021-22 targets”.

But, he added, it is important to explain that these funds are being taken from other colleges which have missed targets by more than 3 per cent.

Jane Hickie, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said she was “delighted” that the over-delivery threshold will apply to all providers, and not just those that receive grant-funding.

She added that by providing notice a month before the year-end, this will offer “some head room for additional adult learner starts, that might have otherwise had to be pushed into next year due to capped funding”.

The ESFA also confirmed today that the threshold for under-delivery has reverted to 97 per cent following two years of lower thresholds – 68 per cent in 2019/20 and 90 per cent in 2020/21 – prompted by the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdowns.

In an update to the sector, the agency said: “We recognise the challenges providers have faced because of the pandemic. But we also know that many providers have been able to continue deliver successfully and have adapted the way that they teach.

“We consider the time is now right to return to the pre-pandemic reconciliation threshold.”

Gravatt said the AoC was “disappointed” that the ESFA is sticking to the 97 per cent threshold, first announced 12 months ago, because this will “compound the financial difficulties facing colleges”.

“Covid lockdowns and uncertainty resulted in £60 million being taken from college budgets in the 2020-21 academic year,” he added. “While things are tentatively more normal today, this wasn’t the case last September or even in January.”

Sue Pember, the policy director at adult education provider network HOLEX, welcomed the over-delivery increase but took issue with the return to a 97 per cent under-delivery threshold.

She said: “Many providers are disappointed the ESFA hasn’t recognised that Covid has continued to impact on attendance and participation.”

“There is a cost to keeping open and providing classes for small numbers,” she told FE Week, adding that she is keen to hear what support the agency is going to offer to “overcome financial hardship”.

The over-delivery threshold increase applies to the national AEB administered by the ESFA only. In areas where the AEB has been devolved, mayoral combined authorities or the Greater London Authority set their own thresholds.

London’s over-delivery has been brought in line with the ESFA’s normal threshold of 103 per cent for the first time this year, for example.

The FE Week Podcast: Ofsted in the spotlight

Come and inspect the inspectorate with The FE Week Podcast!

Education journalist Jess Staufenberg speaks to former inspectors, current HMIs, FE providers and staff about the role and relationship of Ofsted in FE.

What is its history in the sector?


How does Ofsted improve FE?


What could be improved about Ofsted?

Tune in to episode 5 here, and follow us:

Union rejects AoC’s ‘totally unacceptable’ new pay offer for college staff

A fresh pay offer for college staff has been rejected by union bosses today, who branded the 2.5 per cent recommendation “totally unacceptable”.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) upped its 2.25 per cent offer from last month to 2.5 per cent in a meeting with the University and College Union (UCU) on Monday.

The UCU was quick to condemn that offer, calling it “beyond insulting” while the cost-of-living crisis bites.

But college principals have since told FE Week that the AoC’s revised recommendation is “simply unaffordable” due to inflationary pressures on budgets.

The UCU, along with the National Education Union, Unison, Unite and GMB, has been holding out for 10 per cent pay rise, with a minimum uplift of £2,000.

It said that since 2009 staff had suffered real terms pay cuts and staff pay had fallen behind inflation by more than 35 per cent.

On Monday, the NEU, which represents teachers in sixth-form colleges, wrote to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi warning it will urge its members to support a ballot on industrial action unless he approved an “inflation-plus” pay rise for teachers.

The AoC, which represents college leaders, said existing funding pressures and soaring inflation meant a larger rise was not viable.

It prompted AoC chief David Hughes to write to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi last month to plea for emergency funding that would allow it to increase its pay offer. Last month’s 2.25 per cent offer and one-off £500 payment was the highest it has made since 2014.

Prior to its 2.25 per cent officer, the AoC has consistently recommended a 1 per cent pay increase.

The stand-off has led to a threat of strikes at 33 colleges. Industrial ballots in England went out last week, and close on July 15. Plans for strike ballots have been announced for a further two colleges over that past few days.

Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: “Employer representative the Association of Colleges continuing its refusal to offer further education staff anything close to fair play is totally unacceptable. While our members are more overworked than ever, going above and beyond to keep colleges running, they are facing an unprecedented cost of living crisis.

“One college staff member recently told us they have had to consider calling in sick to work because they cannot afford transport – nor can they afford the energy required to cook for longer than twenty minutes. It is beyond insulting in this context for AoC to continue degrading the pay of college staff.

“It’s not too late for AoC to avert disruption by giving further education staff a proper pay rise. Our members can’t afford another deep real-terms pay cut, and will fight for what they deserve.”

The UCU said it estimated that an extra £400 million in extra funding was available to colleges in order to pay staff more, with potentially more on the horizon with an 8.5 per cent increase to the 16 to 19 base rate in 2022-23.

Households across the country have faced increasing bills over recent months, including for food, petrol, energy and council tax among others.

David Hughes, AoC chief executive, said: “I am disappointed, of course, but not surprised that our revised offer to the unions was rejected because it fell short of their 10 per cent claim and will be judged by college staff in light of their own personal costs rising.

“I have said many times before that college staff deserve better pay, but that can only come if Government invests fairly in colleges.

“We will continue to pursue additional funding and support from DfE over the coming weeks and have also met with Treasury to press for support.”

Hughes added that unions had been asked to delay strike action “until after the critically important recruitment period to limit the impact on students and on student numbers”.

The AoC’s offer included a one-off £500 payment, with a recommendation that it is increased to £750 for those on less than £25,000.

Speaking to FE Week anonymously, one principal described the cash payment recommendation from the AoC as “simply unaffordable”, and added: “We always pay as much as we can responsibly, but this will be the first time in many years we won’t be able to at least offer what the AoC has recommended.”

EDITORIAL: A hard-one freedom or a failed experiment?

As FE Week went to press this week, the GMB and Unite unions announced that upwards of 700 British Airways workers could walk out over the summer over cuts to jobs and pay.

Strike action and industrial unrest are, literally, in the air.

This comes in the week that thousands of rail users, including students with crucial exams and assessments, have had travel plans disrupted or cancelled due to strikes called by the RMT union.

The NEU has told the government that it will ballot its members for walk-outs this autumn unless an “inflation-plus” pay award is put in place.

And the number of colleges facing autumn action is rising, with UCU announcing this week that teachers in another two colleges, on top of the 33 colleges we reported last week, were balloting on strike action.

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has, somewhat uncharacteristically, described the NEU’s proposed actions as “unforgivable” and “irresponsible”, while his cabinet colleagues deliver combative performances on the airwaves denouncing the “union barons”, proving that politics is at play over pickets.

The AoC, still with its responsibility to negotiate a non-binding recommendation on pay awards, is in an impossible position – and UCU must know it. It’s hardly the case that colleges have been quiet about the unexpected inflationary costs hitting budgets this year and next. We’ve been reporting on it for weeks.

Continuing to paint college bosses as the enemy is easy ground for UCU, but they must know that even if public sector unions win a small concession on pay over the summer – ministers still, for now, have colleges’ private sector status to get out of providing them with anything extra.

And if, as is widely expected, colleges are reclassified as public sector by the ONS in September, there’s no sudden automatic guarantee to national pay bargaining arrangements or nationally set pay scales.

The harder debate for AoC and its members, and the unions, is what should happen next if reclassification happens. For some, setting your own pay and conditions was a hard-won freedom, but for others, a failed experiment that has led to a race to the bottom for FE staff.

There are political choices to come this autumn, and it’s in that longer-term interest of their members that the AoC and UCU should also be focusing on now.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 393

Charlotte Razzell

Director of Corporate Services, Education and Training Foundation

Start date: June 2022

Previous Job: Director of Finance and Resources, The Early Intervention

Interesting fact: Charlotte relaxes by writing science fiction stories for her children

Grant Glendinning

Chief Executive Officer and Group Principal, Education Training Collective

Start date: August 2022

Previous Job: Executive Principal, NCG

Interesting fact: Once a keen guitarist, Grant played in a couple of failed, never-signed bands in the 90s, and has played alongside Craig Gannon (Smiths), Sean McCann (Audioweb) and once jammed with Tony Burnside (Yargo)

Elliot White

Head of Adult Skills, Leicestershire County Council

Start date: June 2022

Previous Job: Senior Adult Learning Manager, Leicestershire County Council

Interesting fact: Elliot caught the travel bug after starting his teaching and education career in Kazakhstan

Guy Ballantine

Chief Executive Officer, Skills Training UK

Start date: June 2022

Previous Job: Chief Operating Officer, Thomas International

Interesting fact: Guy’s career highlights include running a 400-student art and design college in Cambridge and being interim CEO of a global psychometric testing business for 12 months during the height of the pandemic

Colleges told to raid own coffers to get students to exams during rail strike

Schools, colleges and FE providers have been told to raid their own coffers to support exams students affected by this week’s train strike.

The RMT rail union confirmed yesterday that industrial action over pay, jobs and conditions will go ahead as planned today, on Thursday and on Saturday. There will also be a strike on the London Underground today.

The strikes coincide with GCSE and A-level exams, with several papers scheduled to be sat on Tuesday and Thursday.

Although the vast majority of students travel to school or college by car, bus or on foot, many use trains, especially in urban areas.

In an email to education leaders, the DfE said students and staff who travel by train “may be understandably concerned about the impact of the industrial action – particularly if they are due to take or oversee exams”.

The DfE said schools and FE providers should draw on “existing contingency arrangements to manage any disruption, including late arrival of staff or students”, and referred leaders to Joint Council for Qualifications guidance on exams.

This outlines existing “additional flexibility around invigilation numbers and published start times, which could be used if an invigilator is delayed by transport disruption”.

Use ‘core funding’ to help exams students, says DfE

For students who will “struggle to afford” alternative travel for exams, the DfE said schools and FE providers were “best placed to prioritise their spending to support their pupils and students and can consider making available funding for pupils and students who may require it”.

“For example, by using core funding or, for post-16 students, using the 16-19 Bursary Fund to support alternative travel for pupils and students.”

It comes as two teaching unions renewed warnings that they would ballot for industrial action if larger rises are not offered.

Chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke appeared to rule out inflation-related rises for public sector staff in an interview with the Today programme today.

The Consumer Prices Index rose by 7.8 per cent in the 12 months to April 2022, and there is some suggestion inflation could climb as high as 11 per cent.

But Clarke said it was “not a sustainable expectation that inflation can be matched in payoff”.

The Association of Colleges made a recommendation for all college staff to receive a 2.25 per cent pay rise in 2022/23. FE unions have rejected the offer and have threatened to strike unless their demands for a 10 per cent increase is met.