Providers denied in-year adult ed growth cash

A plan to provide funding boosts worth up to an extra 50 per cent for in-demand adult education courses has been scrapped to cut costs.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency had previously said it would surpass the usual 10 per cent bump-up for successful courses midway through the academic year, which is achieved by reallocating cash from courses that miss their recruitment targets.

But ESFA officials have now said the system, which applies to independent training providers with procured contracts, will revert to a 10 per cent maximum due to affordability issues.

The government has argued it has less money available to reinvest in the adult skills fund (ASF), formerly known as the adult education budget, due to “significantly high” delivery rates and devolved areas eating up more of the budget.

The announcement comes weeks after mayoral combined authorities were told to expect budget reductions of two to three per cent for the 2025-26 academic year.

‘Unmet demand’

Mark Dawe, CEO of The Skills Network which has a £2.5 million contract with the ESFA, described the situation as a “triple knock” ahead of anticipated ASF cuts and a shrinking national contract, as the portion of adult education funding devolved to combined authorities grows from 60 per cent (about £828 million) to at least 70 per cent over the next two years.

He said: “At The Skills Network we have unmet demand from thousands of learners across the country.”

“While I understand the financial pressures on government, this raid on an already small and significantly reduced budget appears counter to the government’s claim to be focussing on growth, productivity and skills.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers deputy chief executive Simon Ashworth said: “When you piece it together it’s a full-frontal attack on adult funding ahead of the Treasury spending review, and the DfE is probably putting on a bit of a squeeze to find money to return.”

“The adult education budget was £3 billion 10 years ago – it constantly gets pinched and eroded.”

“When you add [long-term cuts, mayoral combined authority cuts and in-year growth savings] together it’s quite an assault.”

Adult provision up ‘significantly’

The DfE declined to comment on the record but provided background information to FE Week that explained the adult education delivery of independent training providers had risen significantly in the current and previous academic year, although no figures were given.

The department emphasised that any growth to ASF contracts was always subject to affordability.

Funding allocations for this year were rolled forward unchanged from the previous year as they were communicated during the pre-election period, it added.

The most up-to-date figures shared by the DfE through freedom of information requests show cumulative adult education underspends of £394 million out of a total budget of £5.2 billion between 2017 and 2023.

Contract review point

The funding system for contracted provision in non-devolved areas works on an academic-year cycle, with allocations under the ASF and smaller Free Courses for Jobs fund confirmed in the summer, and reviewed for amendments in December and January.

The review point allows the ESFA to redistribute funding from underperforming providers to those with stronger delivery performance.

But in a letter to providers this month, the ESFA told contracted providers in non-devolved areas their contract values would not be increased beyond the usual 10 per cent for over-delivery, regardless of demand.

Officials from the ‘in-year calculations team’ said: “We know this news will be disappointing, we appreciate your understanding and remain committed to supporting 10 per cent over-delivery at year-end reconciliation.”

Excitement dashed

An update to funding rules for 2024-25 had previously told providers that, “subject to affordability,” the ESFA would increase funding by up to 50 per cent of their contract value for independent training providers that had delivered 90 per cent of their standard national profile by December 5, had a “good track record,” and met their key performance indicators.

Luke Muscat, CEO of the Back2Work Group, which has a £2.5 million national contract, said: “We were excited when they put the extra wording into funding rules this year, it seemed quite clear cut as to what [we] would have to do to be eligible for growth.”

“Clearly, the intention was there, but something has changed for whatever reason.”

“The Department for Education is probably using it to cover other areas of their budget – I know they’re feeling the pressure.”

It follows two decades of budget reductions to adult education funding, which has dropped from a total of £5.1 billion in the early 2000s to £1.7 billion in 2023-24.

Entrepreneur chased for millions after apprenticeship collapse

A collapsed apprenticeship provider is being chased for £8.4 million of alleged dodgy funding claims, according to a liquidators’ report that also reveals the firm made large payments to “connected companies” of its high-profile owner days before closure.

GB Training (UK) Ltd went bust in October 2020 due to what managing director Lawrence Barton (pictured), a West Midlands entrepreneur, claimed was a “combination of reasons of which Covid-19 was a critical factor”.

But it has now emerged the firm closed after the government’s Education and Skills Funding Agency suspended starts and withheld payments following a probe into the legitimacy of its apprentices’ jobs.

The ESFA uncovered cases of taxi drivers who were either not employed or self-employed on GB Training’s books listed as apprentices. The agency is demanding over £4.7 million be repaid.

Meanwhile, the West Midlands Combined Authority is seeking over £1 million from GB Training for “ineligible” funding claims on an adult education contract, and North East Surrey College of Technology (NESCOT) is seeking more than £2.6 million.

Barton has denied wrongdoing and claimed the government’s Insolvency Service determined there was no misconduct on his part as a director.

A progress report by liquidator Kevin Mawer, published by Companies House and first reported by Birmingham Live, delved into intercompany transactions made in the days running up to GB Training’s demise.

On September 18, 2020, four days after the firm decided to go into liquidation, GB Training made three payments to companies controlled by Barton or members of his family – nightclub The Nightingale, GB Holdings, which traded as Village Inn, and a manufacturer called Good With Wood.

When GB Training went into liquidation on October 19, 2020, £1.7 million had been paid to the three companies.

Mawer said documents show The Nightingale and GB Holdings were not in a position to repay debts to GB Training “for some time prior to the liquidation”.

He stated that whilst there appeared to have been intercompany trading – whereby the connected firms invoiced for services provided in connection with the training business – there “appears to be no commercial justification for advancing such large sums to these connected companies”.

Around £130,000 was repaid by the connected companies by July 2024, according to the liquidator report, and two of them – The Nightingale and GB Holdings – have since gone into administration.

Good With Wood is continuing to repay its debt.

Lawrence Barton is now the festival director of Birmingham Pride and has held roles including leadership commissioner for the West Midlands Combined Authority and board director of Birmingham Southside Business Improvement District, a community regeneration initiative.

He was appointed to be a deputy lieutenant of the West Midlands in March 2020, in “recognition of his community activism”, according to his personal website.

Mawer’s report said there was “little prospect” of GB Training’s largest creditors, including the ESFA, ever being repaid.

Apprentices that were never apprentices

GB Training traded for 20 years and trained thousands of apprentices and adult learners until its closure in 2020. Around 70 jobs were lost.

The ESFA sent a letter to the provider on June 10, 2020, referring to “potential irregularities” in relation to apprenticeship funding claims. GB Training notified the ESFA it had ceased trading on September 24. 

A month later the agency told the company it had found “material evidence of non-compliance” with funding rules.

The ESFA said numerous apprentices claimed they were employees of private hire taxi companies and confirmed that they received no training, or they were not in employment or were self-employed.

Some apprentices were also enrolled as employees of “newly formed companies that lacked sufficient trading/business operations to support the productive purpose requirements of an apprenticeship”.

According to Mawer’s report, the ESFA relied upon the 2016, 2017 and 2018 academic years, when 123 apprentices were provided training at a company which had never filed any company accounts, had no internet or social media presence and operated from a terraced house in Birmingham, which the company recorded as the delivery location of the training.

Some of the delivery locations where GB Training claimed training took place were virtual offices or the company owner’s home address.

The ESFA also allegedly heard from some learners who were supposed to have completed training with the provider, but stated they never worked for the companies in question and had not undertaken an apprenticeship.

Other findings included learner file comments attributed to assessors and learners that had been duplicated across different learners and years.

West Midlands Combined Authority also claimed an audit report by RSM, dated December 8, 2020, showed “ineligible claims or funds at risk” in 44 per cent of the audited claims.

This included a number of learners being contacted and stating they did not undertake the courses referred to, did not complete the courses referred to, and problems with learners’ employment status.

NESCOT, which used GB Training as a subcontractor, was forced to repay the ESFA £2.5 million in 2022 as the college was ultimately responsible for some of the ineligible claims in its position as the prime contract holder.

The college is now trying to recover this funding from GB Training. A spokesperson told FE Week that leadership was continuing to “actively pursue” the claim.

Barton said: “The Insolvency Service conducted a full and independent two-year investigation into my role as a director following a complaint made by ESFA in respect of GB Training. 

“After an extensive review of all relevant evidence, they determined that no action was necessary and there were no findings of misconduct. That decision was reached independently by the UK’s official regulatory body for director conduct and remains a matter of public record.

“While I am unable to comment further due to legal and commercial considerations, the outcome of this investigation speaks for itself.”

The Insolvency Service declined to comment.

Barton and Mawer said in a joint statement they would reach a “settlement” in the “coming days”, but the terms of any settlement would be confidential.

A West Midlands Combined Authority spokesperson confirmed the authority wrote to the liquidator “raising concerns” but could offer no further comment as proceedings are still active.

The ESFA declined to comment.

Read the liquidators’ report in full here.

No more shocks please DfE over apprenticeship achievement rates

It was July last year when we at the Fellowship of Inspection Nominees started hearing complaints from members (mostly judged good or outstanding by Ofsted) that their funding for 2024-25 was under threat.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency had instructed them to stop taking on new apprentices for certain programmes. In some cases providers were forced to comply and apprenticeship programmes were closed down.

The reason, providers were told, was they were failing to achieve a qualification achievement rate (QAR) of at least 50 per cent for one or more standards in 2023-24.

During exchanges facilitated by FE Week editor Shane Chowen at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers autumn conference, the providers’ claims were disputed by the Department for Education, whose officials believed intervention had been triggered instead by judgements made on performance recorded on the apprenticeship accountability framework.

But the Fellowship of Inspection Nominees (FIN) subsequently undertook a member survey, to which 68 providers responded, and held member roundtables that confirmed the original complaints had substance.

FIN is not in the business of defending poor quality and outcomes. But the DfE’s approach taken to intervention last year should not be repeated, especially when the government wants to see apprenticeship opportunities for young people increase.

FIN has recently written to the department urging it to urgently:

  1. Set out in a written statement to all providers on the apprenticeship provider and assessment register detailing what its policy will be on allowing new starts on individual apprenticeship standards from the start of 2025-26, and on what basis or quality thresholds the policy will be based.
  2. Issue the statement publicly, e.g. in the ESFA Update, five to six months before the end of this academic year so potentially affected providers can try to achieve the required performance and programme completion improvements before year-end.

Our members’ concerns are that without adequate notice of the government’s expectations, the DfE may intervene again at a higher level of QAR, e.g. 60 per cent, or at some as yet unspecified benchmark under the apprenticeship accountability framework.

Providers need confirmation that intervention will indeed be based on the Apprenticeship Accountability Framework in future. They recognise that achievement rates are part of the framework, but the framework must offer a more balanced and comprehensive measure of provider delivery.

QAR on its own is a crude and unfair measure of provider performance for several reasons.

FIN is not defending poor quality and outcomes

Firstly, it is not uncommon for the gap between an apprentice completing their training and their end point assessment to be as long as three to five months. This frequently results in the end point assessment taking place after July 31, which means that a successful programme completion cannot be counted towards the QAR in the same academic year.

Meanwhile, insufficient allowance is being made for a provider starting a new programme/standard in any given year. The QAR is effectively zero for that standard, while the provider has made significant investment in upfront costs. The initial learner cohort can be small or immature and therefore non-achievers have a greater impact on achievement rates.

The impact of the functional skills attainment requirement for apprentice completers on the QAR had become an issue before ministers announced their reform on February 11, although the change may actually deter employers from recruiting 16 to 18 year olds who aren’t covered by the announcement.

But equally importantly, the government should overhaul the maths curriculum to make the qualification more ‘functional’. FIN also argues that if early leavers are not funded, they should not count towards QAR.

Some providers reported that they were on their fourth or fifth ESFA account manager before the DfE made recent changes to the supervisory system. It meant the provider had to explain its business strategy to each new manager and it made conversations about QAR harder.

To borrow lyrics from a Radiohead song, providers ask for ‘no alarms and no surprises’ please for 2025-26. They want to know for certain if their performance is being judged on their apprenticeship accountability framework data rather than on QAR alone.

Car-crash Ofsted report for motor industry trainer

A training provider delivering lucrative engineering apprenticeships online has suffered Ofsted’s lowest grades following an inspection held just weeks after it was bought by new owners.

Semester Learning and Development was taken over on October 1 by RMI Standards and Certification (RMISC), which serves the automotive sector, and was then inspected from November 27 to 29.

Ofsted’s report, published on Thursday, was damning. It found the quality of its apprenticeship provision had “deteriorated” and described a “lack of support” from tutors, especially for younger apprentices who “often struggle with learning independently online”.

The number of apprentices completing their course was “extremely low” and “almost all” apprentices had, and continue to have, a “poor learning experience”, the report said.

Ofsted noted that following the takeover, new leaders “immediately began implementing actions to improve the quality and effectiveness of the education and training that apprentices receive”.

However, “it is too early for any of these actions to have had a positive impact,” it said.

Semester Learning and Development has now been downgraded from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘inadequate’.

Private providers typically have apprenticeship funding contracts terminated by the government following a grade 4 Ofsted verdict. Officials can however continue to fund such providers if there are exceptional circumstances.

RMISC told FE Week it could not comment on Ofsted’s report or potential contract termination because its chief executive was out of the country.

Semester started operations in 2014, beginning with telecoms courses before offering online engineering and fire safety courses.

The Rugby-based provider won its first apprenticeship contract in 2018 and currently offers 11 apprenticeships from levels 2 to 4 in engineering-related standards that attract high levels of funding.

Most of the 68 apprentices with the provider at the time of inspection were also studying NVQs.

The company had 19 apprentices on the level 3 compressed air and vacuum technician standard, which comes with a maximum funding band of £14,000. A further 25 apprentices studied engineering operative, fitter and technician standards with funding bands ranging from £10,000 to £26,000 per apprentice.

All training is delivered online.

Ofsted found that Semester’s tutors put a “disproportionate emphasis” on apprentices completing NVQs “at the expense” of their apprenticeship.

It also lambasted the curriculum as “ineffectively” planned and unambitious.

Most apprentices’ interest in their apprenticeship had lapsed since they started, the report added.

Tutors did not give apprentices the theory they needed to build upon their practical skills, and most apprentices do not develop substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours.

“This is particularly the case with adult learners, where most already have the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn,” the report said.

The watchdog also pointed out that apprentices’ vocational training was provided by their employer.

Inspectors slammed Semester tutors for failing to coordinate their training with employers.

“Employers allow apprentices the time off they need to study the theoretical elements of their apprenticeship but tutors do not make sure that apprentices use this time productively,” the report said.

Inspectors added that few apprentices knew how their apprenticeship would be assessed and tutors were not preparing them properly.

As a result, most apprentices were making “very slow progress” and the proportion of learners completing their qualifications was “extremely low”.

The report also found Semester’s safeguarding arrangements were ineffective.

RMISC is the motor industry certification offshoot of the Retail Motor Industry (RMI) Federation.

Collaboration was our way of solving a local SEND crisis

SEND is at the top of many agendas – including that of the education select committee which is conducting a national inquiry into how best to solve the crisis.

Its chair, Helen Hayes MP, recently said SEND was the “single biggest challenge at all points of the education system”.And we know, as respective representatives of a local authority and an education group, this is absolutely the case.

But how do you solve such a complex issue when the needs of children and young people are increasing and becoming more complex, demand for EHCPs is rising and funding is tightening in all areas?

While we don’t have all the answers, we do know that strong, innovative local collaboration has had a hugely positive impact on our own SEND delivery and provision – creating a high quality and sustainable solution for some of our most vulnerable learners.

Without extra money in the system, collaboration has become fundamental. Funding shortages can put organisations on a collision course, with significant pressure on everyone to deliver on their own commitments, often in silos.

But in truth, most local authorities and educators share the same vision; to provide every single young person with the care and education they need and deserve, supporting them to develop the skills they need to live fulfilling lives.

‘Young people didn’t need out-of-borough care‘

With something as challenging as the SEND crisis, we must focus on these shared aims and be willing to pool resources, insight and expertise.

Two years ago, we both recognised that an urgent education solution was needed for Lambeth’s 19 to 25 year olds with complex needs. The independent provider, Michael Tippett College, had been judged inadequate by Ofsted and there was a real risk that learners would be left with nowhere to go.

London South East Academies Trust (sponsored by London South East Colleges) had just been named by the Department for Education as the preferred multi-academy trust to take on its failing feeder school, Michael Tippett School, which is also in need of urgent improvement.

Together, we realised we could create an exceptional progression pathway for learners with complex needs from 11 to 25. This would not only give families peace of mind about a smooth transition (from school into FE), but these young people could remain in their community without needing out-of-borough care.

It is this local, place-based provision that was highlighted in the DfE’s 2023 SEND and AP Improvement plan.

‘The college building was not fit for purpose’

Many local authorities are reaching breaking point due to their high-needs budgets. But without local options, expensive independent schools and colleges with associated high transport costs may become their only choice.

Our journey has not been without challenges. It was clear from the outset that the existing college building was not fit for purpose.

Undertakings were required on both sides, and a commitment from the local authority was made to identify and secure a new building. While this was not straightforward, we both kept sight of our shared aim – and our learners have now moved into the new Nido Volans Lambeth Centre, in the heart of the borough.

The college’s provision is now unrecognisable, with all commissioned places maintained and set to grow further. Learners are being prepared with the skills they need. We’ve all learnt along the way, with communication, negotiation and understanding being key to our partnership.

The benefits go beyond ‘improved provision’. This collaboration has involved people from all parts of our local authority, including adult care, health and skills. Strong relationships between college leaders and the council leads for these areas have developed. Everyone has had to ‘get in the same room’, literally and metaphorically.

This has created a more holistic approach to each learner’s care and an understanding throughout both organisations that we all must be part of the solution.

This local delivery model can be replicated across sectors such as health and social care, and with employers in all industries.

Solving something as complex as the SEND crisis means looking at challenges differently and working flexibly. We know that by continuing to collaborate and innovate, we can sustain high quality SEND provision in our community.

Students need protection from the wealth of misinformation

Four out of five young people say they trust the financial information they get from social media ‘finfluencers’, according to a report from management consultancy MRM. And around 90 per cent of 18 to 30 year olds want more guidance when it comes to managing their money.

This is a perfect storm, with a market of young people hungry for information about how to make money and manage it, alongside a host of potentially unregulated finfluencers  providing advice to them.

Young people are increasingly turning to platforms such as Instagram and YouTube for financial advice, where promises of quick riches can eclipse more measured guidance from traditional financial advisers and institutions.

Some finfluencers lack the expertise to provide reliable advice, and, in the worst cases, are actively spreading misinformation or profiting from vulnerable young people.

Yet this hunger for information and willingness to access it through new channels also presents an opportunity: young people can be reached with engaging, factual content delivered by relatable role models.

Get rich quick

Great examples exist of highly qualified finfluencers reaching young people in an engaging way that we have never seen before. But they are in short supply, and financial misinformation is becoming more pervasive.

Viral “get-rich-quick” schemes promising lucrative returns from dubious cryptocurrency investments, or influencers promoting unregulated payday loans, are among the scams exploiting young people’s trust.

To make things worse, some fraudsters pose as reputable finfluencers, using their image to trick young people into interacting with them.

This makes it critical for FE educators to highlight the risks presented by the rapidly evolving world of AI. The MRM research found 14 per cent of young people would take financial action based purely on what they had seen from an influencer online.

Beyond financial scams, there’s also a growing issue of fake news and misinformation on social media. FE lessons in financial education should align with broader efforts to teach online safety, helping young people to critically evaluate the content they encounter.

It’s not always easy to differentiate a trusted brand from a spurious source – social media is impossible to police and fast-moving. Students must recognise red flags – spelling errors, suspicious email domains and unrealistic guarantees, and be able to discern AI-generated content. These lessons can be integrated into activities mirroring real-world scenarios.

What works

Some colleges are already leading effective financial education programmes, embarking on partnerships with organisations such as Young Enterprise to bring real-world learning into classrooms. Activities like analysing fraudulent emails or decoding misleading adverts resonate with students, helping them understand how scams operate.

The Young Enterprise Company Programme enables students to build a tangible relationship with money through hands-on experience. By forming and running their own businesses, students learn to manage budgets and deal with real-world challenges like pricing strategies and customer engagement, and how to manage risk. This applied learning approach strengthens their understanding of financial concepts and builds confidence.

A collective responsibility

Government backed resources provided by HMRC and the Money and Pensions Service are trusted sources of guidance – and it’s interesting to note that HMRC is working with well-known finfluencers to get their message out there.

Retail banks such as HSBC have collaborated with charities to develop engaging content.

But the government must address misinformation at a systemic level by cracking down on fraud and enhancing digital literacy programmes.  Educators need centralised guidance and training to confidently deliver financial education that reflects the realities students face today, such as teaching students about the risks of high-interest loans or how their online data can be exploited.

Families and communities have a role to play, too. Encouraging open conversations about money, including mistakes and lessons learned, can help demystify financial decision-making.

Ultimately, equipping young people with the tools to navigate financial misinformation requires a unified effort. By supporting FE teachers with modern resources and leveraging credible influencers to deliver impactful messages, we can ensure young people receive consistent, accurate information. This isn’t just about teaching financial skills; it’s about empowering a generation to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital economy.

Maths resitters aim for bullseye on darts day

Last September, the maths team here at Nescot asked me to help them with the perennial problem of engaging our GCSE maths retake students.

I had recently launched Nescot’s education seminars across the college, where we invite high profile leaders from the worlds of business, sport and the community to share their stories with students.

The maths team asked if we could find someone to give a talk about the importance of maths. My first though was ‘does anyone know Carol Vorderman?’ (no one did). Then my mind turned to my sporting passion – darts.

Darts isn’t just any old sport, it’s the second most popular sport on British TV screens. It hinges on the player’s ability to use mental maths to check out from 501 – ensuring they finish on a double.

Helpfully, I had previously worked in sports PR and still had contacts in the darts world which I’d kept alive through my annual pilgrimage to Lakeside and on the odd occasion I could get tickets to Ally Pally (the PDC World Darts Championships).

I speculatively emailed an old contact (who I met while gate crashing the green room at Lakeside to get a selfie with Wolfie) to see if they could help with a speaker, or provide dart boards.

The response I got back from the darts community was incredible. After one phone call, I was in receipt of boards, surrounds and darts. But what happened next was genuinely beyond anything I expected.

The darts management company suggested an entire day of darts events at the college where top professionals and referees could meet with our students, inspire them and help them develop their mental maths skills.

So in March, Nescot’s very own ‘stand up if you love the darts and maths’ day will begin.

The event will focus on promoting the importance of maths and numeracy skills across the college and promoting darts as a truly inclusive sport that anyone can access.

Nescot will also launch a darts club and league. The inaugural Kapsalis trophy will be contested between Nescot and our friends at East Sussex College Group, with support from AoC Sport as we look to roll out a wider league.

Players attending will also run smaller sessions targeting specific student groups, including our foundation learners, 14-16 students, construction and e-sports classes.

As for the players, we’ll be welcoming a trio of legends – Paul ‘The Asset’ Nicholson, Devon Petersen (the African Warrior) and three times champion of the world – Mighty Michael Van Gerwen.

The response from students and staff has been inspirational. Dart boards now adorn every maths classroom (and a few staff rooms!) and the creativity in activities is epic.

‘I’m on the lookout for a sponsor for speedboat prizes‘

The plumbing department is working on a task where students measure angles they are bending for piping and have to take out the scores when they calculate the right number.

Maths teachers who were fans of the ITV show Bullseye are also setting challenges around ways to score 101 or more with six darts. I’m on the lookout for a sponsor for speedboat and hostess trolley prizes!

I have had staff and students coming up to my office wanting to sign up and asking how they can get involved. The staff darts league is in danger of becoming very competitive, with teams emerging across the college.

The event and opportunity to play a leg against sporting icons is encouraging attendance and motivation, with a record turnout for a college maths challenge just before half term.

The darts event itself is a springboard to energise a love of maths, but also to fulfil my new ambition to be (the first?) college darts academy. It also gives me an excuse to walk around college in my vast array of darts shirts and to share the wonderful benefits of this sport.

And the benefits are…

  • Mental health: Darts enhances cognitive function, reduces stress and boosts confidence
  • Social interaction: Darts is a fun and social activity
  • Physical activity: Walking to retrieve darts keeps you active
  • Hand-eye coordination and motor skills: The repetitive act of throwing darts refines motor skills and coordination
  • Problem-solving: There’s more than one way to get from 501 to zero.
  • Mathematical thinking: There’s a lot of mental maths at play. 

GAME ON!

New apprenticeships will boost flow of plumbers

Alarm bells are sounding across the UK skills landscape, with major industries such as technology and life sciences facing daunting shortages of talent according to projections.

However, with a changing regulatory landscape and ambitious targets to ‘Get Britain Building’, construction is being hit particularly hard.

Some would say that right now we are living through the perfect storm. Apprenticeships are notoriously difficult to come by, we’ve suffered a long-term lack of training investment, the pandemic caused early retirements when apprenticeship opportunities were being reduced, Brexit meant we lost workers, and our workforce is ageing.

As a result, there’s a huge skills gap right across the construction industry – hampering the government’s mission to build fast for economic growth.

The skills gap becomes more foreboding by the day

Around 73,700 new plumbers are needed in the UK by 2032, with current construction apprenticeship drop-out rates standing at a staggering 47 per cent according to a report from the British Association of Construction Heads.

The skills gap is becoming more foreboding by the day.

Ultimately, the main solution is education and a major first step has just been taken with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) formally approving CIPHE’s proposal to develop new level two and level three plumbing apprenticeship standards.

These standards follow immense consultation and collaboration across

the industry. To develop them, the CIPHE engaged extensively with plumbing industry affiliated bodies including colleges, independent training centres,

manufacturers, merchants, industry representative organisations and government departments.

The CIPHE has also formed and consulted a plumbing employers’ trailblazer group made up of sole traders, employers, awarding organisations and end-point assessment organisations to ensure these new standards are reflective of on-site realities. This ongoing consultation will assist the group to determine the core skills modules required.

Now, with official approval, the industry is making a step in the right direction to ensure college courses will be more accessible, apprenticeship opportunities begin to increase, and, in time, we will see more people embarking on plumbing and heating careers.

More career entry points

Our education survey in 2023-24 showed 90 per cent of respondents, including industry employers, colleges and those in learning, supported the proposal to introduce plumbing apprenticeships at levels two and three.

A two-pronged apprenticeship addresses the key concerns of both attracting and retaining talent in the industry by increasing accessibility to a wider pool of potential candidates, and providing additional career entry points for those looking to join the industry.

The level two standard allows apprentices to complete an end-point assessment covering topics such as hot and cold-water installations, sanitation and rainwater systems. Successful completion provides learners with a range of options for level three progression.

The qualifications protect high standards of work whilst simultaneously providing more opportunities for plumbing apprentices – especially those who aspire to achieve professional recognition as an engineering technician or even a chartered engineer.

Crucially, these qualifications not only provide the platform to develop talent, but also function as an incentive for employers to take on an apprentice. Through this route businesses can support apprentices through level two without having to worry about providing on-the-job experience in areas outside of their usual remit or having to immediately commit to a full four-year period of training.

Reinforcements are coming

The CIPHE’s new career pathway has only been made possible by working closely with industry employers and educational bodies to understand [ITALS] exactly where the problems and opportunities lie. Their insights, opinions and discourse have been instrumental in shaping this new educational strategy.

The crisis in plumbing education is not going away anytime soon. Whilst the aim is to get this new apprenticeship up and running as soon as possible, the work with plumbing employers and relevant stakeholders to ensure apprenticeship standards will be fit for purpose only ramps up from here. This is an essential moment of progress, but it really is just the beginning.

As this collaboration continues with the stamina and enthusiasm the industry has shown in recent months, in just a few years, the first of those 70,000 missing plumbers will emerge on the horizon.

Research on EMA support has defied common sense

When research turns out to be counterintuitive, it’s time to turn to common sense.  

Back in 1996 I was approached by the late Sir Robert Ogden, who had made millions from reclamation projects in Yorkshire and beyond.  

He had an idea to invest in the education of young people in the South Yorkshire coalfield, paving the way for them to potentially attend university. Three years later I had the chance to evaluate the impact of Sir Robert’s investment in one of the most deprived parts of the UK. That programme, linked to the University of Leeds, provided the basis for the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). 

By 2004, the EMA had been rolled-out across the country. It invested in 16 to 19 year-olds so they could continue learning and develop ambition way beyond the cultural and educational backcloth from which many of them sought to emerge.  

In other words, to inspire, raise aspiration and expectation by enabling youngsters to buy books, purchase emerging computer equipment, afford bus fares to get to college and achieve the same footing as their wealthier counterparts.  

Surprise and bewilderment over IfS research 

I received – from young people and tutors in post-16 education – universal acclamation for the scheme and felt great despair when it was effectively abolished in the 2011 austerity cuts.  

Imagine my surprise and bewilderment when I heard about the research produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and funded by the Nuffield Foundation.  

All these years on, this research – far from highlighting the massive upsurge in take-up of further education by young people in the period the study covered – decided to trash it.  

The researchers claimed that because young people from disadvantaged backgrounds were receiving the maintenance allowance, they didn’t experience the world of work post-16. This apparently discouraged them from earning at that time, and limited potential earnings later in life.  

In plain speak, they weren’t having to survive by going out to work (and they even mention full-time work), whilst also studying. 

So let’s turn the tables over: Do we think it’s been a very bad thing that young people from wealthier backgrounds have not been made to go out to work post-16 whilst studying at school and college?  

Would it not have been better if those from wealthier families tasted the world of work much earlier, giving them the capacity to earn then and to earn more later?  

If you believe the answer is yes, then you’re entirely in tune with these researchers. 

If, on the other hand, you believe that facilitating young people being able to buy the learning materials, get to school or college (I’m presuming the researchers live in London and therefore don’t understand that free transport doesn’t exist in most of the rest of the country, post-16) then you will think that the investment made was worthwhile.  

Sometimes common-sense overrides ‘clever Dicks’

Sometimes common-sense overrides what my grandfather would have called “clever Dicks”. That’s why I used the experience of young people in my own constituency of Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough to determine whether the policy was beneficial or not.  

One outcome was the most enormous uptake of young people continuing education post-16 and entering university in substantially larger numbers, at least in North Sheffield. Sadly, before that investment in young people and post-16 education my constituency was the country’s third lowest area for progression into higher education. 

The correlation between deprivation and opportunity is well documented by researchers over decades; researchers who don’t equate low level, badly paid menial work with progression into educational opportunity or higher paid jobs. 

So too is the link between university education and future earnings – even if the far right is constantly trying to reinvent the facts, and most of those preaching the opposite encourage their own offspring to take up exactly those opportunities. 

If there’s a serious question mark over whether we should be encouraging young people to take up full-time education between the ages of 16-19, then a much more thorough and extensive piece of research is needed. Not least because this would demonstrate that the whole of our thinking over the last century, and the vast amounts of money spent by a small proportion of the population educating their children privately to the age of 18, is completely thrown into doubt. 

Work experience is crucial to good careers advice and guidance, and, for some, a mix of working life and continuing education or apprenticeships will be entirely the most appropriate route. But offering a choice and enabling many to take up and progress in full-time education is a moral as well as an economic imperative. I wanted my children to have that choice, and I want other youngsters to have it too.