More than 100 college leaders used a new mental health and wellbeing service which offers confidential sessions with an expert, according to the FE commissioner.
Shelagh Legrave’s final annual report as FE commissioner, published on Thursday, revealed 118 leaders took part in a government-funded professional supervision service from its launch in April 2023 until July 2024.
Legrave’s report covered her work for the 2023-24 academic year. Over that time, four colleges and one local authority triggered intervention from the FE commissioner, and seven were removed.
As of July 2024, nine colleges were in intervention, down from a reported 15 at the same point last year.
Legrave, whose term as FE commissioner ends this September, praised “welcome announcements” on funding for colleges over the reporting period, such as the £300 million announced in the autumn Budget, the FE capital transformation fund and “generous” incentives for new teachers.
However, “there remain a number of challenges,” Legrave said.
“The first is attracting and retaining teaching staff in a very tight labour market and where pay differentials can be significant between different educational institutions.”
Restrictions on commercial borrowing following the college sector’s reclassification to the public sector in 2022 “continue to be a real challenge”, particularly for colleges requiring development on their estates due to rising student numbers.
Here’s what we learned from the annual report.
Leader wellbeing
Among programmes listed in the report was the first full year of the FE leaders professional supervision service.
The service, offered by education mental health charity Education Support, was extended from schools to colleges following research indicating a “high proportion” of principals experienced stress on a “frequent basis”.
Principals, chief executives, deputies and other senior leaders can access the service, which requires them to commit to six confidential sessions of “professional supervision” with a qualified expert.
Legrave reported that since its launch, 118 leaders have accessed the service, with 97 per cent of those reporting they found it beneficial and would recommend it to colleagues.
Intervention
Two colleges were placed in intervention over the reporting period for triggering the FE commissioner’s financial control measures, one for its poor financial health and another for “failing to progress issues of concern”.
The report doesn’t name the colleges or the precise reasons for entering intervention.
A delayed report on Lakes College, published in October but dated June, said it needed an emergency government loan to alleviate short-term cashflow pressures.
Accessing emergency government funding is a trigger for intervention.
Weston College was also placed in intervention last year. The college was handed a financial notice to improve following revelations from government counter-fraud investigators of “historical failures of financial controls and a failure to disclose certain financial information”.
The college’s long-standing chair was replaced by Tim Jackson, one of the FE commissioner’s advisers.
Several high-profile intervention cases came to an end during the reporting year.
City of Wolverhampton College had its financial notice to improve finally withdrawn in April after 12 years.
Hull College, Cornwall College Group and Moulton College were also among those that finally exited intervention. Hull was in intervention for seven years, Cornwall was in financial intervention for eight and Moulton for seven.
Legrave’s report said: “Neither the FE commissioner nor DfE want colleges to remain in intervention for longer than is necessary.”
After their exit, colleges are placed in what’s called post-intervention monitoring and support (PIMS). According to the report, five of the seven colleges that exited intervention were placed in PIMS and another college was monitored following a merger.
Active support
One popular offer from the commissioner’s team is the curriculum efficiency and financial support programme.
There was “high demand” for the service, according to Legrave, which supports colleges to cost their curriculum plans. A total of 54 colleges accessed the scheme in 2023-24, up from 35 the year before.
Despite being available to any college, only six took part in free, two-day ‘health checks’ with the FE commissioner team. The checks give colleges feedback on their financial and curriculum plans, with the option to request further support from the team.
Another new programme reported on was the further education leadership mentoring scheme, which aims to “create a stronger, more diverse pipeline to the most senior roles in the further education sector”.
Over the 2023-24 academic year, 64 individuals received mentoring from one of 24 “highly skilled” former college leaders.
The report states 15 per cent of places on the programme are reserved for people with disabilities and people from ethnic minorities, groups which are underrepresented in college leadership roles. However, it doesn’t report on how many people from those groups have accessed the scheme and achieved leadership positions.
Two colleges in Merseyside are celebrating Ofsted ‘outstanding’ results today – including one that has achieved the feat for the third time in a row.
Hugh Baird College and Carmel College were inspected in November and December respectively, with both results published this morning.
Carmel College, a sixth form college with Catholic ethos, was awarded the top grade in all but one area in a report that highlighted how students, including the most disadvantaged, achieve “exceptionally well”.
It was first rated ‘outstanding’ in 2009 and retained ten years later in a 2019 inspection and then again following this latest inspection in November.
Inspectors praised Carmel College’s “inclusive culture” and “very high aspirations” where learners are “consistently challenged by teachers to achieve their highest potential”.
Leaders make sure the curriculum offer “widens participation and promotes social mobility” for students “without compromising on their high expectations”.
Carmel principal Janet Gater said the result is a “testament to the hard work, dedication, and talent of our students, staff, governors, and stakeholders”.
She added: “At Carmel College, we are committed to providing an exceptional education that empowers our students to achieve their full potential, both academically and personally. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved together and look forward to continuing to inspire and support future generations.”
The college takes in students from over 100 schools from a diverse range of backgrounds across the wider Liverpool City Region, including St Helens, Knowsley, Warrington, Halton and Merseyside. It teaches 2,175 students aged 16 to 19 on A-levels and vocational courses.
Ofsted’s report said students have “incredibly positive attitudes to learning” and commends the “exceptional” use of assessment by teachers to check students’ understanding. Attendance rates are high and leaders are “considerate of staff workload, welfare and wellbeing”.
Governors were also praised for their “extensive expertise” in educational and industry settings. They use this knowledge “incisively to hold senior leaders to account for the quality of provision”.
Meanwhile, Hugh Baird College was upgraded to ‘outstanding’ after holding a ‘good’ grade for nearly 20 years.
The general FE college received a near-clean-sweep of top grades this time round. Quality of education, leadership and management, high needs provision, and learner behaviour and attitudes were all ‘outstanding’ while apprenticeships were ‘good’.
Inspectors praised “substantial progress” made by students with low prior education attainment and attendance and leaders’ “exceptional network of stakeholders” used to make a “strong” contribution to meeting local skills needs.
At the time of the inspection, the college had just over 2,000 young people on study programmes, including T Level learners in digital, childcare and healthcare science. There were also around 1,100 adult learners and just over 500 apprentices.
Learners’ achievement of high grades was highlighted in the report. Two-thirds of A-level students achieve A* to C grades, and over a third of vocational students get distinctions. Care-experienced and high needs learners also achieve “exceptionally well”.
Bad behaviour is “skilfully redirected” by college staff through “self-regulation techniques”, and students have access to facilities, like stress balls, to “deescalate their behaviour.”
Leaders have “an excellent understanding” of college provision that needs to improve, while “highly effective” governors effectively challenge leaders’ progress.
Ofsted’s report had substantial commentary on the colleges’ links with employers and the Liverpool City Region combined authority. For example, courses and apprenticeships in logistics, warehousing and manufacturing have been developed to support the region’s freeport.
Inspectors also praised college leaders’ partnership with the local authority for bespoke provision for young people not in education, employment or training.
Education and training quality has improved “exceptionally”, according to inspectors. Teachers and assessors were praised for “highly informative lessons”, “high-quality developmental feedback” and for preparing students and apprentices for their next steps.
Rachael Hennigan, principal and chief executive of Hugh Baird College, said: “This accolade reflects the hard work, dedication, and passion of our entire college community – our staff, students and apprentices.
“This recognition also highlights our vital role in addressing skills gaps, supporting emerging industries, and contributing to the growth and prosperity of the Liverpool City Region. We are proud to make a lasting impact not only on individuals but also on the broader community and economy.”
A south Yorkshire council has been awarded an ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted after finding “highly effective” adult learning provision that “levels the playing field”.
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council received a grade 1 in all categories following its November 27 to 29 inspection due to adult education that is “raising the aspirations of adult learners to address high levels of economic inactivity”.
The rating makes Barnsley the third council in the country to currently hold top marks from the watchdog.
The local authority was previously rated ‘good’ at its last Ofsted visit in 2018.
At the time of the inspection, there were 357 learners on courses funded by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. Most students were on ESOL, digital skills, and functional skills English and mathematics courses. There were a handful of learners on vocational programmes and on non-accredited wellbeing courses.
Inspectors found that learners “flourish” on their courses and develop the confidence and skills to make “positive” changes in their lives.
For example, entry level ESOL learners were able to communicate “more effectively” when shopping or visiting doctors’ surgeries or speaking to their children’s teachers with their rapid grasp of words and phrases.
Leaders work closely with stakeholders to “design learning pathways that align precisely with local priorities and to move learners closer towards employment”.
Ofsted said learners contribute to a “highly respectful community” of learning by taking part in community projects, sharing cultural foods from their home countries and participating in activities set by their tutors “with enthusiasm”.
Inspectors identified instances where leaders joined up with local stakeholders to design learning pathways that align with local needs, such as linking up with their local NHS partners to identify patients who would benefit from new digital skills and well-being support.
They also highlighted the “highly effective systems” that ensures most learners remain and complete their courses.
The report commended staff for taking time to understand learners’ complex barriers, for carefully planning educational provision and for motivating students with frequent praise and encouragement of their progress.
Tutors were also celebrated for their “comprehensive understanding” of learners’ starting points to plan ambitious provision.
The council was lauded for taking health and wellbeing seriously. Inspectors found tutors taking learners on wellbeing walks and embedding activities that promote an active lifestyle in lessons.
“Tutors embed activities in sessions to promote positive habits, such as practising gratitude to improve mood and outlook. Learners on well-being courses identify aspects of their lives that they are grateful for, before writing these on coins and depositing them in their positivity banks,” the report said.
Council leaders and members of a “highly effective” advisory board understand the education quality “very well” by attending teaching sessions and speaking to learners.
Councillor Robin Franklin, cabinet spokesperson for regeneration and culture at the council, said: “The achievement is a testament to the hard work of our dedicated staff, learners, and supportive communities. The recognition in the report for our work to level the playing field so that everyone can benefit from work in our borough is a demonstration of the partnership approach to developing better pathways to work through learning and skills development.
“Our adult skills and community learning service remains focused on continuing to build on its successes, exploring new ways to innovate and improve its offerings to be even better.”
Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education chief executive Jennifer Coupland will step down next month to take on a new role at a London university.
She will leave the top job at the government quango after five years in February, ahead of its closure.
Coupland will take on a six-month secondment as pro vice-chancellor, skills portfolio at London South Bank University.
IfATE delivery director Carmel Grant will step in as acting chief executive of the institute.
Legislation is currently making its way through Parliament that transfers all of IfATE’s powers to the Department for Education, paving the way for its new skills body Skills England, which will sit within the DfE as an executive agency.
Coupland took over as IfATE boss in November 2019, two years after the body’s launch. She joined from the DfE where she was director of professional and technical education.
Skills minister Jacqui Smithcommended Coupland for her “superb work at IfATE over the last five years, helping to create positive opportunities for apprentices, learners and employers”.
She added: “Skills England will build on this, delivering on our plan for change by boosting economic growth and spreading opportunity through working closely with employers, providers and others to tackle skills gaps across the country.”
Skills England is currently operating in shadow form and still in the recruitment process for a chief executive, board and permanent chair.
Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, IfATE chair, said Couplandhas played a “crucial part in all IfATE has achieved to put employers at the heart of the skills system, improving the quality, relevance and perception of technical qualifications and apprenticeships”.
“Under Jennifer’s leadership IfATE has made sure that apprenticeships, T Levels, and Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) are well matched to the economy’s skills needs, so employers and learners can have confidence in government endorsed skills training.
Coupland said she was “delighted” to be joining London South Bank University, which took on Lambeth College in 2019.
“I’ve followed LSBU’s journey over the past 10 years and think it is such an innovative place,” she added.
“With a University, Colleges, and an Academy as part of the group it’s an exciting model with huge potential. I am looking forward to joining the team to support them in developing their Skills offer for the next 5 years of their new strategy.”
A Somerset college that “powerfully tackles social disadvantage” has been upgraded by Ofsted to ‘outstanding’ following an “intense yet enriching” recent inspection.
Bridgwater & Taunton College (BTC) secured top marks across all areas after its November 12 to 15 inspection thanks to a “highly supportive and professional culture” that leads to “very high” achievements from students and apprentices.
The college had nearly 3,200 young people, 2,500 apprentices and 2,000 adults on courses across three campuses, who benefit from a “diverse and inspiring curriculum offer that is ambitious for all”, inspectors said.
The 13-strong inspector team lauded teachers at all three campuses for motivating students and apprentices to excel by setting ambitious personalised goals for students.
“This contributes to the very high achievement of students and apprentices and prepares them well for their next steps in education or employment,” the report said.
Andy Berry, principal and CEO of BTC, said he was “incredibly proud” of the whole team after an “intense yet enriching” inspection week.
“We were able to demonstrate how we embed the pursuit of excellence and student success across all areas of the College,” he said. “Our commitment is to bring out the best in every student, to ensure that each individual not only excels academically but thrives within a supportive and inspiring environment.”
The watchdog applauded the wider curriculum and enrichment programme which enhances leaders’ resilience, confidence and independence.
“For example, nursing associate apprentices develop greater assertiveness, learn to speak up for patients and become stronger advocates for patients in their care,” inspectors said.
Leaders at BTC created highly inclusive courses that make a strong contribution to meeting local and national skills needs and that “powerfully” tackle social disadvantage.
They used their employer network to provide “ambitious” work experience opportunities for young students and to ensure their curriculum for adult education is “highly relevant” and meetings local needs.
The report observed leaders and managers responding quickly to community demands by offering courses, such as degree apprenticeships and T Levels.
The college is said to be “well positioned” to meet future training demands in Somerset, including being the lead training provider for employers at the Gravity Smart Campus.
Ofsted also found that BTC leaders “carefully” recruit teachers with strong subject knowledge and industry expertise and provide “highly effective” support for teachers and learning support assistants to maintain up-to-date specialist knowledge.
Apprentices also benefit from highly qualified and experienced industry professionals and staff build strong relationships with employers to “ensure apprentices gain the skills they need to excel in their roles and achieve their qualification”.
Berry added: “This accolade is also a tribute to our incredible staff, whose unwavering dedication to student care and achievement is pivotal. It’s every member of staff’s commitment that empowers our students to shine – truly demonstrating our fantastic teamwork at BTC.”
The report heaped praise onto the college for creating an “ambitious, individually tailored” curriculum for the 329 students with high needs.
Staff were found to be delivering “exceptional opportunities” including employer-led supported employment courses, that prepare high needs students very well for their next steps.
Governors were commended for fostering a “culture of collaboration and improvement”, benefiting all at the college while meeting statutory responsibilities, and for keeping a balance of challenging and supporting leaders.
“Their well-structured processes, such as frequent meetings and scrutiny of key performance indicators, ensure rigorous oversight and continuous improvement,” inspectors said.
Denys Rayner, chair of the BTC board of governors, added: “It’s a huge accolade to be outstanding in every category. This can only be achieved through a relentless determination to deliver teaching and learning to the highest standard, regardless of where you study within BTC.
“I am delighted that Ofsted have underlined what we already knew: that Somerset has an outstanding College in BTC. One that is helping students gain the knowledge, skills and resilience they need to not just face the future but to thrive in it.”
During Covid, the near universal integration of communication platforms into everyday working practices changed the five-day week, nine to five office culture forever. In Spring 2022, we at SECG reflected on how we could mark this cultural step change and put staff work-life balance at the centre of our decision making, by introducing a four-day teaching week.
Our campuses are spread over 25 miles from Thurrock to Southend and staff commute from wider Essex, Kent, London and beyond. Like many providers, Fridays tend to be relatively lightly timetabled. So we asked ourselves whether we were obliging people to come in merely to be present onsite.
We decided to test the feasibility of a four-day opening and challenged curriculum heads to design student-friendly timetables over Monday to Thursday. If they had reported back that it simply was not possible, then we would have abandoned the idea. But they did not. It took effort, but all our curriculum areas delivered timetables they believed would work well for students.
At the start of 2022-23 the four-day campus operation began, albeit with our HE centre and another site remaining open on Fridays to facilitate apprenticeship delivery.
Revolutionary pilot
This revolutionary pilot was kept under review. It became clear that shoehorning a 24-hour teaching allocation into four days was challenging for teachers as it left little time for anything else. So the following year we reduced the weekly requirement to 23 hours to mitigate the stresses caused by four-day timetables. We would very much like to do more in this space, as soon as it is financially prudent to do so.
We were very clear from the outset that the change was not a move to a four-day working week. Fridays were for marking, preparation and other administrative tasks. In retrospect we were not sufficiently prescriptive about how the non-teaching day was to be used, and this caused some unintended confusion among teams.
At the start of 2023-24, we set out a clear structure to Fridays which established specific slots in the morning for team meetings and planned professional development sessions. Friday afternoons were kept free for admin. We have always been flexible about how those afternoons should be used. It was important to us that staff did not feel shackled to their laptops when they might be doing something more fulfilling. It was never SECG’s intention to substitute one type of presenteeism for another. We trust our staff to get their work done and are very relaxed about precisely when that happens.
All staff were canvassed for their feedback at the end of 2022/23. It was overwhelmingly positive. The four-day teaching week continued, and is now part of SECG’s employer value proposition.
We found that any negative impact on students was negligible as the universally compressed timetables enabled them to do part time work and fulfil other responsibilities on Fridays.
Other advantages
There have been other benefits too. We all remember in 2022 the impact on personal and institutional budgets of the huge rise in gas, oil and electricity costs. By closing most of our sites on Thursday evenings SECG has been able to save around £600,000 a year on utilities since the concept was introduced. Our staff turnover has also reduced by 9 per cent.
There may come a time when we feel the four-day teaching week is no longer right for us, but it is working so far. Our outcomes for learners increased significantly in 2023/24 and are above national averages for all levels. And we achieved a richly deserved Grade 2 from Ofsted in October. Is it right for everyone? Well, one of the beauties of the FE sector is that all colleges share the same stresses and strains but are also uniquely different, wrestling with their own internal and external dynamics. Our strategy may not be right for other organisations. But it is always exciting to explore the art of the possible and see where that takes you.
While the proportion of students passing English GCSE resits was down 5.4 percentage points on last year (to 34.9 per cent), pass rates were up by 1.9 percentage points to 24.1 per cent for maths resitters.
For those who achieved a grade four, this will be a fantastic start to 2025 and the key to accessing new opportunities in education and work.
But now is also a chance to reflect on the challenges facing post-16 English and maths, and how we might overcome them.
The November exam window can be a brilliant second chance for those on the cusp of passing in the summer. For some, a few weeks of intensive, well-designed revision is all they need to secure that all-important grade four. However, most learners, particularly those who achieved a grade one or two in the summer and those further down the grade three mark scale, need longer lead-in times before attempting the GCSE. Even the summer exam window comes too soon for many to adequately address the knowledge gaps holding them back.
Our proposal would alleviate the endless cycle of resits
Since the condition of funding began requiring students without a grade four to continue studying English and maths post-16 in 2014, the sector has achieved significant successes. Since then, there has been a 94 per cent increase in those passing GCSE English and maths in post-16 education. Much of this progress is driven by learners who achieve a grade three at 16. The sector should be proud of this. However, there is a clear need for more tailored, evidence-based approaches to help all learners succeed — especially those further behind.
Individual colleges have been wrestling with the differing needs of their learner cohorts for years. We now need to dig deep on a national level and ensure we have the infrastructure to support the delivery of targeted interventions. This is why Get Further responded to the government’s curriculum and assessment review by proposing the introduction of a “GCSE step” for resit students – a one-year course covering approximately half of the GCSE content aimed at those students with the lowest prior attainment (grade 2 or below) that prepares them to sit the full GCSE the following year.
There is plenty of evidence that a mastery approach like this is beneficial for all learners, but particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are disproportionally more likely to need to resit. At present, while many colleges would like to take a longer-term approach to supporting learners, accountability measures mean there is pressure to enter students for GCSE exams each year, leading to the often-mentioned criticism that students are “subjected to an endless cycle of resits”. Our proposal would alleviate this pressure and give learners the opportunity to consolidate foundational skills before tackling the full breadth of the curriculum.
To inform and advocate for more targeted interventions for post-16 English and maths learners, we also need better evidence to draw upon. For example, a wealth of evidence from secondary settings demonstrates small-group tuition to be an effective intervention for supporting learners, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to develop their literacy and numeracy skills. Get Further’s internal impact data supports this. However, there has been little external research conducted on tuition in post-16 settings.
This is why the Education Endowment Foundation has commissioned a team of researchers led by the University of Warwick to undertake an evaluation of Get Further’s small-group tuition in 2025/26. Their investment of nearly £1.1 million is the most they have ever spent on a post-16 evaluation, demonstrating their commitment to generating evidence of what works to support learners resitting English and maths GCSEs. We are now calling on colleges to take part in this evaluation and help us to generate these vital insights.
For some of our international counterparts, such as the Netherlands, fewer than 10 per cent of young people are without equivalent level two qualifications in English and maths by the age of 19. This new year, let’s resolve to take a more targeted approach to matching this achievement in England.
The revelation that graduates are taking up one in six apprenticeship places has caused consternation in some parts of the sector.
Ministers are set to decide what the new growth and skills levy will fund once Skills England is fully up and running.
The argument put forward by a Social Market Foundation report last week was that graduates should be banned from receiving apprenticeship funding.
Analysis by the report’s author and former Tory education adviser, Tom Richmond, found £431 million was spent on apprentices in 2023-24 who had already obtained a degree. “Unsurprisingly”, Richmond states, “this generosity has placed a considerable strain on the apprenticeship budget”.
The problem with this zero-sum approach to apprenticeship policy and funding is that it is wrong-headed. It’s the misguided belief that we can only afford to provide more apprenticeship opportunities to non-graduates and young people by depriving those enrolled in higher-level skills training access to the levy pot in the future.
The other misinformed view about HE student financial support and the apprenticeship levy is the call for these to be treated like other forms of public spending.
In reality, the money individuals have borrowed from the taxpayer is a personal liability that has to be repaid over a working lifetime of 40 years. Once graduates earn above £25,000 a year, they are liable to pay 9 per cent of their earnings above the threshold in repayments for a bachelor’s degree and 6 per cent of their income for courses studied at the master’s level.
We are underinvesting in skills at all levels
Moreover, tax receipts from the employer-generated levy are not public money in the traditional sense of the term. The 0.5 per cent levy on large company payrolls raised about £3.5 billion in the fiscal year 2022-23. The levy was initially sold to British businesses as a hypothecated fund, with the purchasing power gifted to employers paying in to decide what type of apprenticeship standards to acquire.
In practice, the Treasury treats the payroll levy as just another source of tax revenue for its general fund. According to FE Week analysis, the Treasury top-sliced £418 million of what it raised in 2022-23, which subsequently was not included in the apprenticeship expenditure settlement given to the Department for Education.
When a £96 million underspend of the DfE’s apprenticeship budget during the same year is factored in, we arrive at over half a billion pounds of unallocated apprenticeship resources.
The Social Market Foundation report, I suspect, makes no mention of the Treasury’s blatant short-changing of the system, because if it did, it would blow out of the water its main contention that there is not enough money to fund Level 7 apprenticeships. There is plenty of levy money to go around.
It’s time for a more informed debate about how we invest in skills for productivity for growth in future. The truth is we are chronically underinvesting in skills at all levels of our economy.
Compared to European competitors, British employers invest about half of what our rivals invest in employee training. We have a massive problem with lagging productivity in the public services compared to the private sector.
Empirical studies have shown that the poor quality of management and leadership in some industries can explain about a fifth of the country’s productivity gap.
This debate points to the urgency of the Labour government now getting on and fully implementing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement Act. The ambition of this legislation is revolutionary because it has the potential to create a single post-18 funding system in which co-investment by the state, employers and individuals is made more transparent.
In this scenario, the prior academic attainment of apprentices becomes irrelevant. What matters is that we arrive at a sensible “co-investment mechanism”, in which a more optimal level of skills acquisition is taking place to impact economic growth. Destroying our world-class lead in degree-level apprenticeships is not the answer.
You can read Tom Bewick’s other views in his Substack, The Skills Agenda.
Gavin Williamson blitzed it but government-backed union training could return under a new guise now Labour holds power.
By the time Gavin Williamson scrapped the Union Learning Fund (ULF) in 2021, over two million people had used it to access training. Labour accused the then education secretary of ditching the £12 million a year scheme “to settle scores with trade unions”.
Now in government, there is growing speculation Labour could revive the fund, which supporters say helped a generation of workers climb the career ladder and delivered proven value for money for taxpayers.
Big employers including Tesco, Tata Steel and Heathrow Airport lined up with unions and MPs to oppose Williamson. It was an “unnecessary and ideological decision” which “defied economic logic” according to TUC northern secretary Liz Blackshaw, and a source close to government claimed the move flew in the face of Treasury advice.
Funding was instead diverted into the National Skills Fund to provide the free courses for jobs and skills bootcamps schemes, both of which are yet to prove themselves worthy of comparison with the ULF.
A University of Leeds evaluation in 2016 found the ULF delivered an economic return of £12.30 for every £1 spent (£7.60 to the individual and £4.70 to the employer).
Now, with the emergence of Skills England, a more flexible growth and skills levy and greater devolution, unions are eyeing opportunities to embark on a new age of union learning.
Former education secretary Gavin Williamson
Blunkett on a mission
Labour grandee David Blunkett began funding the ULF as education secretary in 1998 and is on a mission to bring it back. The peer wants unions to return to being seen “not just as bodies that only get taken seriously when they go on strike but as engines of positive change”.
Trade unions have a long tradition in learning.
England’s early adult education colleges were affiliated with the trade union movement, and union courses were commonly run in FE colleges.
Blunkett was inspired to create the ULF by his own experience of FE teaching in Huddersfield on “TUC-approved courses” when he became “very familiar with the idea of developing learning representatives”.
He was also later influenced by a scheme rolled out by Sheffield City Council – when he was its leader – which provided 10 days of paid learning opportunities for employees who lacked basic skills.
“It created an atmosphere of combined endeavour, so it wasn’t management versus trade unions. I drew down on that,” Blunkett said.
David Blunkett Photo by Mark Allan
In 2021, Blunkett was tasked by Keir Starmer to form the Council of Skills Advisers to plan how Labour could fix the country’s skills crisis if it won government.
Its top recommendation – to create a ‘national skills taskforce’ of employers and representatives of unions, central and local government and education providers to work cross-government – is now coming to fruition with the creation of Skills England.
The TUC’s learning and skills policy officer Julia Jones is confident that Unionlearn (the skills arm of the TUC that managed the ULF) is on the government’s radar because “we’ve made sure it is”.
It has commissioned Public First to undertake a feasibility study on what a new ULF might look like in light of the devolution agenda, with many areas of the country now gaining control of adult skills budgets.
Proof of concept
Tom Bewick, an advisor to the government on skills policy in the early years of New Labour who “helped devise” the ULF, believes the fund’s “real strength” was “getting to people in the workplace who frankly after bad experiences were mistrusting of school”, but were “more likely to open up” to their union representatives.
Research supports this.
Tom Bewick
A Learning and Work Institute report in 2020 found it was “particularly effective at engaging workers with lower levels of qualifications”, while the University of Leeds evaluation found the fund “notably engaged older learners and learners from ethnic minority groups”.
The ULF provided not only maths, English and digital skills, but also more niche provision. Blunkett cited how the Transport and General Workers Union, working with colleges in the North West, used “transport cafés to lay on IT courses for road hauliers and coach drivers ….stopping off for half an hour – thus bringing about an entirely new version of ‘chips with everything’”.
Employers benefitted too because “they suddenly got motivated employees who wanted progression. They were recruiting in-house from their own workforce, which saved management in external recruitment costs”.
Blackshaw said that union learning set learners on “career paths they’d never envisioned, whether it was a supermarket checkout worker transitioning into an IT apprenticeship or train drivers learning British Sign Language”.
ULF 2.0
With the nation facing critical skills shortages, a new ULF could be purposefully designed to fill those gaps.
Tom Wilson, the TUC’s Unionlearn director from 2007 to 2015, believes that if funding constraints mean a new ULF “must be smaller”, then “priorities should be agreed, for example, social care where there is a desperate shortage of trained staff”.
Dr Benjamin Silverstone, a former union learning rep and now head of skills policy and strategy at the University of Warwickshire, believes a new ULF should focus on “developing the additional technical capabilities that workers need to remain relevant in markets that are rapidly shifting”, highlighting the example of an engineering motor vehicle lecturer who requires “EV competencies”. But he is unsure “how well unions fully understand that”.
Chris Gurdev, who was a union learning rep between 2016 and 2019 tasked with advising people about the union learning courses available, believes the programme lacked the publicity it deserved, and that if reintroduced it should be “linked into education providers and local community groups such as libraries and citizens advice centres”.
But Wilson believes that nowadays, online learning is “often much preferred” by union members. He calls for a future ULF to be designed to support long-term capacity, which the previous scheme did not; annual funding meant unions could only employ union learning staff on annual contracts, which were “fatally vulnerable”.
Chris Gurdev
Economic headwinds
The economic landscape is very different in 2024 to when New Labour took power in 1997.
Skills consultant Aidan Relf questions whether the government could afford to fund union learning, given the urgent need for the Treasury to service the government’s debt.
Blunkett believes a new ULF could be funded if the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business and Trade share the financial burden with the Department for Education.
He concedes the government will also need to channel greater amounts of skills funding into targeting the growing numbers of people not in education, employment or training. But he believes a new ULF does not require “massive expenditure” if employers are “prepared to play ball with the unions”.
There are also concerns about whether unions are strategically placed in the right workplaces to make an impact.
Bewick believes scrapping the ULF was an “outrageous piece of skills vandalism” but points out that when the fund was launched, the country had a bigger manufacturing industry and those unions had a “powerful impact”.
A report last year by the British Chambers of Commerce found larger firms and the public sector were already “far more likely” to provide such training initiatives.
Dr Benjamin Silverstone
Silverstone has positive memories of his time as a ULR at Pembrokeshire College. But he has “difficulty” embracing the idea of reviving union learning funding as he is no longer a union member.
“I feel like the appeal of unions is dropping in certain respects, because they don’t seem to be achieving much. Maybe having a stronger learning component might help to reverse that. But shouldn’t training be the employer’s responsibility, rather than a union’s?”
After the ULF was axed in England, the number of Unionlearn staff employed by unions in England fell sharply despite efforts to maintain programmes.
But they survived where devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland continued funding their work.
The unions could use their seat at the table of the new body Skills England (which skills minister Jacqui Smith pledged would “bring in trade unions in a way that was perhaps not the case previously”), to make their case for union programmes to plug skills shortages.
The devolved nations already have similar arms-length bodies to Skills England tasked with identifying skills gaps, and Unite officer Siobhan Endean says this means these nations “identify the skills needs of the local economy, so as a union we’re able to reach out to the right cohort of workers to encourage them to develop their skills.”
For example, Unite’s Scotland union learning team is working with the construction industry to address “the absolute need for retrofitting of properties”.
Union learning in devolved areas
The devolution of adult skills funding to mayoral combined authorities in England is also slowly helping unions grow their learning provision.
The TUC’s 2024 report says it is “reinvigorating” staff learning with the election of more union learning reps. It is also “exploring new ways of encouraging learning and development, including the offer of individual learning accounts”.
Unison attracted a record 209,000 new members in 2023, including 4,097 union learning representatives, stewards, and health and safety reps – a rise of 56 per cent on 2022.
Skills minister Jacqui Smith
Unions hope the introduction of integrated settlements, giving mayors more freedom to spend their funding as they see fit, could also provide a boost.
They have secured a seat on the West Midlands Combined Authority board, leading to a skills partnership with the TUC which funded workplace learning through the Communication Workers Union in Coventry.
And South Yorkshire Combined Authority is working with Barnsley College and the GMB to teach Sheffield City Council officers digital skills, including its civil enforcement team.
GMB workplace rep Dave Furness, who organised the course, said there was a “massive need for digital skills” within the council and “probably a lot of other local authorities” that have “an ageing workforce”.
The West of England Combined Authority, which is working with unions through its employment and skills panel, recently invited trade unions to fill skills gaps by bidding to deliver training as part of its Union Learn West programme.
Unions can apply for up to £200,000 to“support workers and employers to enhance skills, increase take-up of programmes and simplify access to training”, said mayor Dan Norris.
Meanwhile, in the capital, the TUC last year launched a Greater London Authority-funded union learning project with five unions to provide numeracy and literacy programmes and support migrant workers.
Wilson believes it is “great that some union learning programmes have found local funding”, and believes that a new ULF would “support locally funded learning”.
He said: “Skills should be a priority. History shows that unions can play a crucial role, given the right help.”
