FE needs senior women to share their real stories

Joanna Stokes:

I regularly work with capable, ambitious women who tell me, “I want to step up into senior leadership, but I’m terrified of what I’ll have to give up.”

These are women who have led successful teams, who look at senior leadership and think, “I could do that.”

What holds them back is rarely capability. Instead, it’s the stories they’ve absorbed about what leadership demands. Stories about not being ready, not being the right kind of leader or needing to choose between professional ambition and caring responsibilities. These narratives shape decisions before a role is advertised.

One client, a head of department with over 20 years experience in FE, feared senior leadership would make her “hard, cold, corporate.” She rarely heard senior women talk about getting home for their children. She saw evening events, long hours and little space for real life.

In Rebecca’s research on senior leaders in FE, women downplayed their family commitments while male leaders more freely shared how fatherhood shaped them. When women don’t hear the full story, they draw their own conclusions. To lead, you hide who you are.

Beneath these narratives sit deeper worries. ‘What happens if there’s a family emergency during a board meeting? Who will cover the care?’ ‘What will break if I stretch myself further?’

These concerns aren’t always about children. Many relate to ageing parents, siblings needing support, or being the emotional anchor in a family. The mental load is heavy, and the cost of ambition can feel too high.

One client described it as “the emotional burden I carry.” Even with a supportive partner, she held the mental load. 

DfE workforce figures show that women make up 65.5 per cent of the FE workforce, yet representation drops to 62 per cent at manager level and 54 per cent at senior leadership level. This 8-point drop between managers and senior leaders tells its own story. Women are capable, yet the pipeline narrows at the point where influence increases.  It isn’t a glass ceiling. It’s an invisible exit.

Dr Rebecca Gater:

International Women’s Day 2026 invites us to reflect on this issue through its theme ‘Give to Gain’. In FE, this theme lands with force. Women already give extraordinary amounts of time, emotional labour, and logistical expertise. Yet there is one thing many women do not give, even though it would make the biggest difference to others. Their stories.

The honest ones. The ones about navigating ambition and caring responsibilities, facing guilt, setting boundaries, and negotiating flexibility. When senior women talk openly about the realities of their lives, they give something powerful. Permission to be ambitious without guilt. To lead without losing themselves, and to believe that senior leadership can support family life, not conflict with it.

Women do not need another leadership programme. They need role models who talk openly about sports days, parents’ evenings, caring for relatives and the boundaries that help them thrive. Authenticity is not a liability. It’s a strength.

When women share their real stories, not the polished versions but the human ones, we don’t just support individuals. We strengthen the entire sector.

Leadership rarely begins at work.  It begins in the everyday. Women develop significant transferable strengths through caring for children or elderly parents, coordinating households, supporting others emotionally and navigating difficult life events that require resilience and diplomacy.

In my case raising four daughters meant learning to manage logistics and negotiate competing needs, skills that shape her leadership every day. Every woman has her own version of this story. 

These strengths are leadership assets. Mentorship sits at the heart of “give to gain.” Women in leadership have a responsibility to support others through guidance, sponsorship and generosity of experience.  Women rising through the sector have a role too, which is simply to ask. Most leaders will feel honoured to be approached. 

Our joint call to action

FE cannot afford outdated narratives about who leads and how. We need to:

  • Share our lived experiences openly
  • Mentor generously
  • Champion authenticity as a leadership strength

Who could you support, encourage, or mentor this week, simply by sharing a little more of your story?

Apprenticeships and Training Awards winners 2026 revealed

A specialist data and AI education company has been named training provider of the year at the 2026 Apprenticeships and Training Awards.

Cambridge Spark were named winners of the accolade at a glitzy awards ceremony in Liverpool last night hosted by comedian Sara Pascoe.

They are among 19 winners of this year’s awards, run jointly between FE Week and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers and delivered in association with City & Guilds.

Over 650 nominations were assessed by an independent panel of judges, who set out to find the country’s most innovative and effective training, projects, providers and employers.

The awards recognised SME and large employers, outstanding apprenticeship programmes, best use of technology and employer support for social mobility.

Alongside Cambridge Spark, CSR Scientific was named specialist training provider of the year and Myerscough College took home the prize for outstanding apprenticeship programme.

Shane Mann, chair of ATA judging panel and chief executive of FE Week’s publisher EducationScape, said: “These awards celebrate the very best in apprenticeships, training and workforce development. We had a record-breaking number of entries and every year the sector raises the bar in quality, ambition and innovation.

“Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to our team of amazing judges, sponsors and partners. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Several big name employers were named best-in-class in their categories.

Muller UK and Ireland were named large employer of the year and a partnership between McDonalds and Lifetime Training won best partnership in training.

Meanwhile, pub chain Greene King took home two awards: innovation in training delivery and employer support for social mobility.

This year’s apprenticeship provider of the year was Bradford College and Kaplan won the award for excellence in learner support.

The winners were announced at the annual apprenticeships and training conference (ATC) gala dinner this evening at Exhibition Centre Liverpool.

It follows a parliamentary reception earlier last month, during National Apprenticeships Week, where all finalists were honoured at a reception in the House of Lords, hosted by former education secretary Baroness Nicky Morgan.

The winners in full are listed below:

ATC 2026: DWP apprenticeships chief talks streamlining, units and assessment

Kate Ridley-Pepper, the Department for Work and Pensions’ director of work based skills, offered updates on key areas of apprenticeships reform on day two of FE Week’s Apprenticeships and Training Conference.

Here are the takeaways.

First apprenticeship units confirmed for AI, digital and engineering 

Ridley-Pepper repeated the government’s ambition is to pivot the apprenticeships system towards young people but pressed that employers and older learners will be supported with “more flexible training that they’ve long called for as part of our growth and skills offer”.

She confirmed, as reported by FE Week last month, that the first wave of short courses called apprenticeship units will be in priority areas such as AI, digital and engineering. 

They will be “available from next month”. There is still no detail on exactly how many units will be initially offered, including their funding, content, assessment and duration.

Ridley-Pepper said further details “will be announced shortly”.

She added that the government will expand apprenticeship units over the coming months and years, taking advice from Skills England on where the skill gaps are and which units would be best placed to address them. 

‘Substantial’ streamlining

The DWP senior civil servant told ATC delegates that the government needs to “prioritise” how the apprenticeships budget is spent amid the “flexibility” being introduced through new short courses.

This is to ensure the budget is “sustainable, delivers value for money and benefits those who need it most”.

Ridley-Pepper reminded the sector that the apprenticeships budget is “finite” – it went overspent for the first time last year.

She took aim at “widespread misconceptions that we return significant unspent apprenticeship budget”, adding that government wants to simplify the system and “address this illusion” of excess funding.

Ministers are currently deciding how to streamline the apprenticeship system, which has grown to more than 700 standards, to ensure that it “aligns with government priorities and focuses particularly on the areas of genuine market training, rather than subsidising more general learning and development activity”.

Skills minister Jacqui Smith confirmed to FE Week last month that leadership and management apprenticeships are in the mix for defunding.

Management apprenticeships on the chopping block, minister confirms

Ridley-Pepper confirmed today that the streamlining effort will be “more substantial” than a housekeeping exercise of clearing out apprenticeships with low or no starts.

She committed to being “as open and as transparent as possible”.

The DWP director was challenged by Ben Rowland, CEO of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, for more transparency around the government’s internal thought process – including why streamlining is being done by standard instead of age, salary, or employer co-funding.

Ridley-Pepper replied: “We absolutely have looked at all of those things, and as I say, we have really mixed views back from all sorts of people.

“There’s quite a lot of standards that are primarily taken – maybe 75 per cent or above – by people over 25. So if we were to do age-related streamlining those standards would probably become undeliverable for most providers.

“In terms of co-funding, most employers say they already pay into the levy so they would not tolerate paying again for something they have already paid for. There is a huge range of different views. The challenge is we are trying to trade off what is the right solution for business, for young people, but also for the economy.”

She told delegates that she recognises the sector needs final answers, and committed to publishing details about streamlining and apprenticeship units at the same time to ensure there is “clarity about the future offer”.

Assessment changes won’t reduce competency

Ridley-Pepper also used her speech to address concerns about apprenticeship assessment reform, which includes doing away with end-point assessment, introducing sampling of non-mandatory knowledge and skills, and making mandatory qualifications the sole method of assessment in some apprenticeships.

Independent assessment of behaviours is also being removed, leaving employers to verify them internally.

The DWP director said: “Quality and rigor define apprenticeships and that is not being reduced. Occupational competence remains the foundation of every apprenticeship, and that isn’t changing.

“Apprentices will continue to be required to demonstrate full occupational competence across all key knowledge and skills and behaviours. These reforms are about removing unnecessary complexity and duplication rather than removing rigor.”

Reeves hints at more NEET reforms in spring statement

“More reforms” to tackle the government’s spiralling problem of young people who are out of work or training will be announced in coming weeks, chancellor Rachel Reeves promised today.

In her spring statement, which appeared optimistic on government borrowing and inflation, Reeves also took aim at the Conservative’s legacy on apprenticeships and young people.

The chancellor said: “In the coming weeks I will set out more reforms to undo the Tory legacy of neglect and give young people the support and the opportunity that they deserve.”

She criticised the number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) rising by 113,000 under the last five years of the Conservatives, alongside apprenticeships starts by young people falling by 40 per cent. 

Details of government training due to be confirmed shortly include the youth guarantee work placement programme and short, levy-funded courses known as apprenticeship units.

Although a tight group of apprenticeship units on topics including engineering and construction is due to be launched in April, the government is yet to confirm their content, duration, funding bands or assessment arrangements.

The first phase of a subsidised ‘youth guarantee’ work placement programme is also due to start from next month, involving up to 1,200 young people aged 18 to 21 years old who have been on universal credit for 18 months or more.

The £820 million programme will run over the next three years, aiming to bring down the estimated 957,000 people who are NEET in England, about 12.8 per cent per cent of 16 to 24-year-old population.

Other reforms expected in the coming weeks include the government’s response to its consultation on new vocational qualifications, V Levels.

The spring forecast came alongside an Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast of inflation falling to a two per cent target by late 2026 and government borrowing to fall from 4.3 per cent this year to 1.6 per cent by 2030-31.

However, the unemployment rate is forecast to rise from 4.75 per cent to 5.33 per cent, before falling to 4.1 per cent by 2030.

Economists at the OBR say the labour market weakness appears to be driven by entrants into the workforce “struggling to find work” as well as “subdued hiring demand”.

Emily Andrews, director of policy and research at Learning and Work Institute, said: “The chancellor did not make any policy announcements today, as she promised – but she said reform announcements were coming on youth employment.

“This is clearly one of the issues of greatest concern to her – much more so than the recent overall rise in the unemployment rate, which the OBR forecasts to peak in 2026 before falling back again by 2030.”

The government should also “extend” its youth guarantee eligibility to 24 years old, as the 21 to 24-year-old age group has “the highest NEET rates”.

Education questions March 2026: Live blog

Welcome to FE Week‘s live blog of education questions on March 2, 2026. The session will begin at around 2.30pm.

This is a new function we are testing following our decision to stop posting on the social media website X. 

Instead of live reporting key events via our social channels, we will host these blogs on our website, making it easier for our readers to see all updates in one place.

If you have feedback, please email news@feweek.co.uk

ESOL cuts are ‘bizarre’, says skills minister

Cutting funding to English language lessons aimed at migrants is a “bizarre” decision that undermines ambitions to build cohesive communities, the skills minister has said.

Jacqui Smith told FE Week’s Apprenticeship and Training Conference that she was “concerned” by this development in Greater Lincolnshire, led by Reform UK mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns.

She said the government wants to look “more broadly” at English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision and how officials can “ensure it is available everywhere”. But she highlighted the “challenge” of adult skills funding, including ESOL, being devolved and controlled by local mayors.

At a budget meeting last Wednesday, Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority voted to scrap ESOL courses from 2027 and develop a literacy programme instead.

Jenkyns, who had a stint as skills minister in 2022 for the Conservatives before defecting to Reform, aims to redirect £1 million ESOL adult skills fund cash towards the literacy qualification to “help more adults into paid employment”.

She called the decision “a really exciting moment” and claimed leaders from other areas were interested in the development.

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram took a swipe at Greater Lincolnshire’s decision this morning during his opening address at ATC. He said: “We’re delivering flexible, inclusive provision from entry level and ESOL courses. Yes, we still believe in this city region in ESOL, some others mightn’t.”

Skills minister Jacqui Smith was asked whether central government was concerned that funding coming from Whitehall was being politicised by parties like Reform UK.

She said: “Yes, I am concerned about it. And I speak as a former home secretary, and home secretaries aren’t notoriously soft on immigration. 

“In my view, we should welcome people who have the right to come to the country. We should also ensure that they can become part of cohesive communities, that they can get jobs and contribute, and that they can speak English as part of doing that. And it seems a bit bizarre, if that’s what you believe should be happening, that you would cut the wherewithal for students and people who don’t have English as their first language to be able to do that.”

Pressed on whether the government can take any action, Smith said: “Well, we do have a challenge in that, quite rightly, we devolve responsibility for adult skills funding to mayors in order for them to be able to do precisely the sort of positive things that Steve Rotheram was talking about earlier. 

“But of course, given, as I say, those broader objectives around people being able to work and being able to be part of our society, we’ll certainly want to look more broadly at ESOL provision and how we ensure it’s available everywhere.”

The FE sector has an ethics problem; it needs accountability, not NDAs

More revelations of alleged wrongdoing by FE leaders in the Sunday Times and FE Week last weekend should give professionals and leaders working in the sector a serious pause for thought.

If it wasn’t for FE Week’s excellent investigative journalism and the brave whistle-blowers who informed my Substack – a journal which has helped expose the scandalous sale of City & Guilds – the public would not know that Lord Docherty and Dame Ann Limb were allowed to climb in social status on the back of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ (Docherty) and CV lies (Limb).

Unfortunately, English further education has quietly developed its own sub‑genre of public scandal. Colleges that were once wheeled out as exemplars of “world‑class governance” have appeared in these pages as case studies in terrible leadership and bad governance ethics of how not to run a public institution!

The college names and locations vary – Weston, Gateshead, Hull, Hadlow – but the underlying story is depressingly consistent: hero-worship leadership cultures, weak board challenge, excessive marketisation and regulatory attention that arrives late, often long after the public money has gone.

The FE Commissioner and DfE counter‑fraud investigators found “funding irregularities” and “governance failures” around undeclared payments to former principal Sir Paul Phillips. He has kept his Knighthood, as have so many other recipients of “gongs” in the sector who have subsequently been caught up in scandals. Yet, in what moral universe can it have been ethical for Phillips to be awarded £2.5 million more in remuneration than was ever officially declared?

Similar moral questions now face former senior charity executives, Kirsty Donnelly MBE and Abid Ismail. They both “cashed in” with million-pound bonuses only days after the transfer of all the commercial assets of City & Guilds. The entire delivery body that once formed the core of a 148-year-old non-profit Royal Chartered institution was sold off to a foreign-owned buyer. The charity’s original purpose was hollowed out in the pursuit of profit and gain.

The story is not too dissimilar in the independent training provider (ITP) sector.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s 2023/24 accounts revealed a £5.7 million write‑off linked to the insolvency of the training group Middleton Murray. In the same period, the ESFA reported that about half of the 142 new fraud or irregularity allegations it received related to ITPs, compared with 20 FE colleges and 47 academy trusts. Time and again across the sector, we see examples of “ghost learners” being claimed for and directors abandoning limited liability companies long before any taxpayers’ money can be reclaimed.

FE Week has repeatedly shown how little of this ever sees the light of day. Out of at least 193 ESFA financial investigations into FE providers since 2017, only two reports – both involving colleges – had been published at the time of their investigation. The rest, including many concerning ITPs, remain entirely opaque: contracts are terminated, companies fold or rebrand, directors may quietly get disqualified, but the narrative rarely reaches learners, employers or the wider public.

In my 30-year career as a CEO and former sector leader, I have seen wrongdoing up close and called it out whenever I encountered it. But it always extracts a career-limiting price. Senior civil servants close ranks and deflect responsibility. Boards oust troublesome executives who ask too many pertinent questions, usually by gagging them and booting them out the door through the overuse of legal non-disclosure agreements. Of course, it is dressed up as protecting an organisation’s reputation. In fact, it is to protect spineless leaders and board directors at the top who want to cover up so they can continue ingratiating themselves with the sector.

Power, at its core, is held in trust. It is lent by institutions that must have confidence that the person holding it will not turn it against them. Ethical leadership in FE is not a management style. It should be a moral commitment wrapped up in uncompromising integrity. And to lead in today’s world is to be perpetually uncomfortable. Our current stock of “sector leaders” have become far too comfortable; some of them need to take a hard look in the mirror.

These latest revelations should be a wake-up call. The silence of some sector leaders when a scandal breaks needs to end. Journalists should not face threatening legal letters or be spied on by private detectives for simply doing their jobs.

As the famous saying goes, sunlight is the best form of disinfectant.

Joe Docherty: Labour peer quit college role over ‘inappropriate conduct’

One of Sir Keir Starmer’s new peers has been suspended by Labour after it emerged that he resigned from a college group after conducting sexual liaisons during working hours.

Joe Docherty became Lord Docherty of Milngavie last month after being nominated by the prime minister. He was stripped of the party whip on Saturday, pending an investigation.

Another of Starmer’s nominees, Baroness Limb, an education expert, has said she will not take her seat in the House of Lords after The Sunday Times revealed that she lied about having a PhD.

The Sunday Times and FE Week discovered that Docherty, 57, resigned as chief executive of NCG, formerly Newcastle College Group, days after being confronted with allegations of inappropriate conduct in October 2018. At the time NCG was the country’s largest sixth form and further education group.

Docherty had exchanged more than 50 sexual messages on the same day as an Ofsted inspection and met partners at hotels paid for by NCG during working hours. On one occasion he had a sexual liaison when he was scheduled to be attending a meeting.

The investigation found one message in which Docherty told a partner: “My work scheduled a conference call for 10.30am tomorrow but I’ve given my apologies so we can meet.”

The alleged wrongdoing concerned Docherty’s conduct at a time when Ofsted had issued “requires improvement” ratings after finding serious issues with the management and leadership of NCG. The group, which has sixth forms and further education colleges in London, Carlisle and Kidderminster as well as Newcastle, was also facing serious financial difficulties. 

Docherty quit two weeks after an internal inquiry recommended formal disciplinary proceedings. He did not dispute the underlying evidence but took issue with the way it had been interpreted. He denied his actions had the potential to bring NCG into disrepute and also claimed they were “being brought into question because of his sexuality”. He said he “offered to apologise to anyone who may have been offended”.

The circumstances of his departure were withheld from public view and he continued as chairman of the governing body of Durham University for more than half a decade.

It appears that Docherty did not mention the controversy during the vetting process before joining the House of Lords.

Another of Starmer’s appointments, his former spokesman Lord Doyle, was stripped of the party whip after The Sunday Times revealed his support for a paedophile. Limb, an education expert, not only lied about her PhD but also oversaw the sale of an historic charity’s assets to a foreign buyer in a controversial transaction which led to seven-figure bonuses for two executives.

The Labour Party said on Saturday: “[We expect] the highest standards from our members. All complaints are thoroughly assessed in line with our rules and procedures.”

Docherty said: “I fully accept that whether as a member of the House of Lords or as a senior executive, accountability is paramount and I welcome legitimate scrutiny. However, I am also entitled to a private life. The apparent leaking of a version of a confidential internal HR report and The Sunday Times’s reliance upon such a document is disgraceful.

“The claims being made were robustly disputed at the time and would have been vigorously challenged had the matter proceeded to a disciplinary hearing, which it did not.”

He accused the investigator of bias, which he said his lawyer had raised directly with her. He added: “It is grossly unjust that the paper should rely upon such an inadequate and disputed piece of work.”

Docherty was investigated by NCG after he gave his work phone to the IT department for repairs. According to the investigation, a colleague was concerned by the “very explicit nature and content of the photos and messages” it contained, and the fact that “some of the messages referred to the CEO cancelling work meetings”. They raised the matter with management. 

NCG asked an external human resources consultant to investigate three matters: “alleged use of [a] mobile phone in a manner” that breached company policy, “potential abuse of time” in which “NCG business could and should have been taking place”, and concerns that Docherty’s conduct “exposed NCG to risk of damage to institutional reputation”.

The consultant identified four incidents when Docherty’s “accommodation had been booked and paid for by NCG”, with evidence indicating “sexual liaisons that took place … whilst [he] was working away from home over an extended period between October 2017 and August 2018”. 

The events took place “broadly between the hours of 8am and 4pm on weekdays”. The hotels included the Megaro and the Pullman in the capital, and the Townhouse in Manchester.

On May 21, 2018, Docherty exchanged dozens of lurid messages. His diary for the day confirmed he had several work meetings and that NCG was being inspected by Ofsted. On another date, Docherty had “cancelled and given apologies” for a work meeting so he could go on a date, the investigation found.

Docherty was interviewed as part of the investigation. It found that he “did not deny that the messages consisted of correspondence he had engaged in during visits to London and Manchester”. Nor did he “deny that the meetings these threads referenced had taken place or that he had authored the content [of the explicit texts”.

The investigation found he “reluctantly accepts that his conduct appears to be in contravention of [IT] policy [but] positions this as an ‘honest mistake’”. He also claimed “his CEO role [was] one that could not be defined by working hours”. He said he “did not regard his actions” as ones that “had the potential to bring the organisation into disrepute”, claiming they were brought into question “because of his sexuality” and as such “the act of querying his conduct is discriminatory”. He offered to “apologise to anyone who may have been offended”.

The external consultant dismissed Docherty’s arguments, saying on September 27, 2018, that evidence indicated he had committed all three breaches and should face formal disciplinary proceedings. Docherty resigned with immediate effect two weeks later on October 10. The former banker left with a settlement of £57,000, described in accounts as “payment in lieu of notice”, with a further £1,800 paid towards legal fees. He had been on a total annual package of £278,000.

Sir Peter Lauener, then the NCG chairman, did not make any public statement and those involved were made to sign non-disclosure agreements. Lauener is due to leave his current role as chairman of the Student Loans Company next month.

It is unclear if any of the organisations with which Docherty was affiliated — including Durham University — were notified. At the time, Docherty was already chairman of Durham’s governing council and continued in the role for six years. 

Docherty makes no reference to his time at NCG in the “experience” section of his page on the House of Lords website.

Peers are required to comply with the Nolan principles of public life, including honesty, openness and integrity.

Docherty, who was raised in Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire, became a member of the Labour Party in 1994 and was seconded to work for Tony Blair’s government on regional development three years later. 

He was ceremonially introduced to the upper chamber by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top, a Blair-era minister, and Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay, the former Sunderland Central MP.

Liz Bromley, NCG’s current chief executive, said the matters at hand predated her appointment in 2019, meaning she was unable to comment on specifics. “Since my appointment, NCG has regained Ofsted good [ratings] across all aspects of the curriculum, we are financially strong, and we have a very positive culture across all our seven colleges, based on strong, shared values,” she said.

Second LLE short course trial falls short on recruitment

A £5 million degree level short course trial hit a fifth of its student recruitment target, an interim evaluation has found, raising further questions about demand for the upcoming lifelong learning entitlement.

Between April 2024 and July 2025, enrolments on the Department for Education’s modular acceleration programme totalled 352 – about 80 per cent short of the 1,800 learners anticipated by colleges delivering the courses.

Students on the programme took individual modules of higher education courses in areas such as business, construction and digital skills that are “stackable” into a full level 4 or 5 higher technical qualification.

The concept of offering learners short, modular HE courses is central to the government’s “transformational” plans to reform the student loan system into the lifelong learning entitlement (LLE).

According to an interim evaluation, the programme was challenged by “low levels of understanding” from employers, getting interest from students was a “major challenge”, and providers found the rules on gaining approval for modules “burdensome and inflexible”.

However, learners were “very positive” about the being able to take short modules of HE courses, with most reporting that the content and delivery of the course was as expected.

The £5 million available in funding covered learners’ full tuition fees and grants of up to £20,000 per provider. However, the tuition fee cost per learner will be subtracted from their future LLE.

This week’s report, by government social researchers, is the second to show that trials of short HE level courses have struggled to recruit students.

An OfS-funded evaluation of a higher education short course trial that ran in 2022-23 found that just 125 students enrolled out of an expected 2,400.

It comes ahead of the launch of the LLE in September 2026, with courses starting in January 2027.

The report has also been released at a time of intense scrutiny of the student loans system, with the government facing calls to reduce interest rates and reform repayment terms.

Low awareness causes low enrolments

The LLE will be a single post-18 student finance system that will offer loans of up to £38,140, or the equivalent of four years of undergraduate tuition fees, for full level 4 to 6 courses such as degrees or technical qualifications, or modules of some HE qualifications.

First announced by the Conservatives in 2020, the new loan system is an attempt to shift England’s higher education system to a more flexible format that already exists in countries such as the United States.

The latest trial evaluation found that by July last year, around half of the 108 proposed modules had begun delivery, at 18 out of the 25 approved providers.

All but one, University College Birmingham, of the providers delivering courses were general FE colleges.

The highest enrolments were Herefordshire, Ludlow & North Shropshire College, Shrewsbury College and TEC Partnership, with 69, 49 and 43 students respectively.

About half of senior leaders shared “some dissatisfaction” with the number of learners achieved.

The report said: “While some felt they did the best they could with the funding available for demand raising, others said, on reflection, they would do more or approach recruitment differently in the future to generate more engagement in modules.”

Reasons for low enrolment were low awareness and engagement from employers, and learner apprehension.

Providers also reported frustration with adapting short courses due to the “rigidity” of higher technical qualification frameworks.

Higher technical qualifications are a government kitemark awarded to a set of 280 existing level 4 and 5 courses due to their quality and alignment with employer needs.

The report said: “Validation processes, especially when involving external universities, were often described as administratively burdensome and inflexible, making it difficult to adapt assessments or delivery methods.”

The Department for Education was approached for comment.