National skills bootcamp contracts will only be extended for courses in the construction sector, the government has told providers.
In an update email, the Department for Education said it would only “continue to fund” contracts procured via its national dynamic purchasing system in construction.
A separate email to bootcamp providers for other sectors such as digital, health and care confirmed contracts will not be extended.
The nationally contracted construction courses – which include skills such as groundworks, bricklaying, carpentry and heat pump installation – will be funded with £100 million for 35,000 learners, confirmed during the Chancellor’s Spring Statement last month.
On Thursday, the DfE’s work-based learning directorate sent an email to providers with existing contracts saying they have until May 9 to request an extension that will be capped at 50 per cent of the original contract value.
Meanwhile, providers of non-construction bootcamps were told: “We are grateful for the key role you play in upskilling and reskilling adults, and for your contribution and commitment to adult skills training, and will be continuing to work with you to support you to maximise completions and outcomes in your contract.”
New contracts start in August
Officials hope to reach a decision on construction bootcamps “by the end of June” with training to start in August and complete by March 31 next year at the latest.
Mark Dawe, chief executive of bootcamp provider The Skills Network, which does not provide construction bootcamps, said: “While not a surprise, it is disappointing that such a popular programme will not be supported on a national basis when we have thousands of learners who we’re now unable to support.”
The DfE update said extensions will only be available to providers that hit 50 per cent of their target starts, have dropout rates of 15 per cent or less, and an 80 per cent or above completion rate.
However, it has chosen not to require a minimum level of positive job outcomes such as gaining a new role or new or increased responsibilities, which are a key measure of bootcamps’ success.
The national contracts, awarded via a dynamic purchasing system, were worth over half a billion pounds between 2022 and 2025.
Locally funded bootcamps continue
Bootcamps commissioning for other sectors, such as creative industries or digital, will continue to be funded locally, via ringfenced grants that the DfE hands to mayoral combined authorities, the Greater London Authority and some local authorities.
However, although grants to each authority were confirmed ahead of the current financial year, procurement is at different stages of planning or delivery across the country.
Ian Ross, chief executive officer of bootcamp provider Whitehead-Ross Education, said: “With many local authorities yet to release their skills bootcamps tenders, we’re going to see a postcode lottery with some parts of the country having no skills bootcamps provision in place until the summer.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “Skills Bootcamps remain an important part of government-funded skills provision and we recently committed £100 million of additional funding for Skills Bootcamps to address skills gaps in the construction sector.
“We are currently evolving the delivery of Skills Bootcamps through funding local areas directly, giving them more control over skills development and supporting more people into work.
“These ongoing changes will further develop Skills Bootcamps to make sure they deliver high-quality training.”
The former chair of Weston College has admitted £2.5 million in hidden payments handed to former principal Sir Paul Phillips was an inappropriate use of public funds – but claimed he was powerless to stop them.
Andrew Leighton-Price (pictured), who stood down from the governing body last year following the launch of a government investigation, spoke exclusively to FE Week about the scandal that was exposed during the Easter break.
Earlier this month, FE Commissioner Shelagh Legrave’s report revealed serious “governance failures” at the seaside college, with £2.5 million of undeclared payments made to its then principal Sir Paul Phillips between 2017 and 2023.
But Leighton-Price refuted the FEC’s claim that governors “concealed” payments, and instead blamed college auditors and expressed a fear that Phillips would sue if he did not get what he was contractually due.
Leighton-Price joined the Weston College board in 2015 and became chair in 2019. He stepped aside in May 2024 when the FE Commissioner’s intervention began. He then officially stood down in October, claiming his eight-year term limit was up.
Presidential role
The Department for Education deployed fraud investigators to probe “funding irregularities” after an FE Week investigation in 2023 revealed Phillips would get a paid “presidential” role following his retirement.
The following month, Legrave and her team interviewed the former principal, ex-governors, former clerks to the corporation, and internal and external auditors.
The long-awaited report exposed board failures to ensure the college demonstrated value for money and accountability of public funds.
Phillips was secretly paid £2.5 million more than was officially declared between 2017 and 2023 through a combination of bonuses, allowances and benefits, including a £909,000 retention payment.
Corrected college financial statements, published on the same day as the FEC report, revealed Phillips was paid a staggering £1,898,000 when he retired in 2023.
The report said the “majority” of these previously undeclared payments were not approved by the full board of governors.
Instead, the college had a “small group of trusted governors” in a remuneration committee who made decisions on Phillips’ pay. These decisions were not reported to the full board.
Leighton-Price said he did not recognise the £2.5 million figure but admitted Phillips’ payments were an “awful lot of money”.
Now he’s no longer a member of the college board, he admitted he’d “probably say no”, the payments were not an appropriate or good use of public funds.
“My opinion didn’t really come into it if I’m honest. It was a legal agreement. We were given the figures by the auditors,” he said.
Phillips’ total earnings for 2022 were £837,000, up from an originally stated £362,000. This was due to a £90,000 increase in his basic salary and a £372,000 performance bonus. Leighton-Price could not explain the rise in Phillips’ basic salary.
He refuted that the payments were hidden from public disclosure or from auditors, as claimed by the FEC.
“The auditors were told everything that was in there,” he said.
“The board is given a set of accounts by the auditors, and they work with the finance department. They don’t work with governors, and we don’t make the accounts up.”
Leighton-Price added that governors would see the college accounts for “probably” an hour for discussion before they were approved.
“As chair of the board, I was fulfilling a legal agreement,” he said. So, was I culpable in that area? Yes.”
‘Easy to blame governors’
The FEC placed Tim Jackson as interim chair in May 2024.
Leighton-Price said he stepped aside as “protocol”. His subsequent cooperation with the investigation comprised a 30-minute interview with Legrave, during which he was asked about minutiae from board meetings from years prior. He added it would have been easier to provide information if he had been given “a little bit of warning”.
Did he think Legrave’s report was fair?
“How can I put this politely… Yes,” he said.
“My impression was that, following my half-hour interview with Shelagh, it was always going to be the governors that were going to bear the brunt of it.”
He was shocked by “most” of her findings and claimed that governors were “all being put down to try and ram home the point that governance was not good at Weston College”.
He claimed it was “very easy” to blame things on governors, and added: “There is really not a lot of safety for governors in these areas.
“Governance is such a tricky thing, you’re held to account and yet you don’t work there. You rely heavily on the information you’re given, and that’s all you can go on.
“I think governance probably hasn’t kept up with the demands of the modern FE college, if I’m honest.”
‘We had no other option’
Regarding the £909,000 retention payment, governors “had no other option other than to pay or be sued by Sir Paul Phillips,” the former chair told FE Week.
The report said the board of governors signed a retention agreement in 2011, which allowed for an “annual accrual” of retention value for Phillips to keep him in post. Phillips served as principal of Weston College for 22 years.
Phillips confirmed to BBC News that undeclared payments were “contractually due” and the retention scheme was needed because, “during my extensive tenure at the college, approaches from other organisations occurred and therefore the college introduced a retention scheme to retain me”.
Leighton-Price said he became aware of the retention package around “six years ago” when he became chair, and it was brought up in an audit committee.
“We did push back at the time when we initially found out about it, but it was pointed out to us, it was a legal agreement, and there was an element of course that Paul would not fulfil the requirements within the agreement,” he said.
In November 2022, Phillips was finally paid the £909,000 as a severance payment.
But it came with some strain. Phillips’ son Joe resisted paying the retention payment to his father in his capacity as Weston College’s chief operating officer, and supported his finance team in their refusal, according to evidence investigators found in the remuneration committee minutes.
Instead, the payment was initially made by the governors “under the authority of the remuneration committee”.
On at least one occasion, the previous clerk to the board processed additional payments outside Phillips’ monthly salary “under the authority of the remuneration committee” because the finance team would not do it.
Leighton-Price claimed the board sought advice from the college’s auditors – though he could not confidently determine the identity of the firm – to make direct payments to Phillips after the chief operating officer refused.
Phillips received “a variety” of bonus payments which were presented to committee members as percentages rather than raw values, compounding the “lack of clarity”, the FEC said.
“Some members of the committee expressed surprise at the actual sums of money paid to the previous principal, despite being party to decisions on remuneration of the senior post-holder,” the report said.
When asked if Phillips deserved such a high payout, Leighton-Price said he was surprised at the cash value, but admitted he was aware of his total pay package as it had been presented by auditors.
“On one hand, you look at it, it was a successful college,” he said. “It’s gone from nothing to where it was. I can see why the original governors wanted to retain him. Personally, if it was me at that time, I probably wouldn’t have put in a retention payment.”
Leighton-Price said with hindsight, the retention package should have been run past officials at the Department for Education.
‘Money in his back pocket’
The FEC report caused a huge backlash amongst leaders and representatives in the sector.
Reacting to the negative public reaction, Leighton-Price said it was “very easy” to target Sir Paul, “whether he deserves some of it or not”.
“That’s up to those individuals who made those claims,” he said. “People always have a grievance against the leader of an organisation.”
In a post on LinkedIn, principal and CEO of Blackpool and the Fylde College Alun Francis labelled the episode “the worst example of unscrupulousness I have seen”.
He added: “When the college could have afforded a better pay rise, a small group of governors bizarrely thought it OK to stick it in the CEO’s back pocket – and even more bizarrely he thought it OK to take it.”
Weston College remains in intervention amid a separate DfE investigation into other undisclosed issues around financial controls.
Paul Phillips and the college’s former auditors were contacted for comment.
Interesting fact: Ian, who has held a private pilots license since 2004 and has over 300 hours of flying experience, has also been playing the trombone since school in various brass bands.
Susan Bonnet
Principal & Chief Executive, Morley College London
Start date: Summer 2025
Previous job: Principal, Ashford College (part of EKC Group)
Interesting fact: Prior to joining education, Susan spent 20 years as an international commercial film and media producer.
A health and safety training group that failed to protect its qualifications against fraud has been fined by Ofqual.
The exams regulator issued the British Safety Council (BSC) with a £5,000 penalty after a string of failings around construction health and safety qualifications dating back to 2018.
Ofqual said the BSC committed “long running, repeated and systemic failures” when investigating malpractice around qualifications it knew were vulnerable to abuse.
Its probe into the BSC’s controls followed warnings from the Metropolitan Police and Construction Industry Training Board of widespread “centre-level certificate fraud” in 2018 that included 333 BSC level 1 health and safety in a construction environment certificates.
The regulator found the BSC, a registered charity, had failed to retain a workforce of “appropriate size or competence”, only conducted “around half” the centre monitoring visits it should have, did not check enough assessments to detect fraud or malpractice, and failed to keep detailed records of learners it awarded qualifications from 2017 to 2020.
The BSC also issued certificates despite “unresolved concerns” about suspicious pass rates, “anomalies” in assessments, evidence of falsified invigilation records and a failure to collect basic information about learners.
The charity failed to complete internal investigations into at least seven centres instead of following “obvious and reasonable lines of enquiry” or carrying out a “rigorous” inquiry into whether fraud or malpractice had taken place, as required by Ofqual.
The health and safety qualification, withdrawn in 2020, was key to obtaining a construction skills certification scheme (CSCS) card.
Construction was the deadliest sector in the UK last year with 51 fatal accidents including falls, people being struck by moving vehicles, or getting trapped by collapsing or overturning objects.
Some test centres have been known to rig health and safety exams to guarantee passes by coaching learners or completing tests for them. Since 2020, around 10,000 health and safety and environment test results have been revoked by the Construction Industry Training Board.
In 2020, the BSC told Ofqual it planned to withdraw 12 qualifications, including the health and safety certificate, due to the level of risk from “surrounding alleged criminal activity” involving CSCS cards.
The cost of increased compliance checks after issues emerged meant the BSC was “in deficit” on the level 1 qualification.
The BSC, which has a £10 million annual turnover, admitted breaching rules and put forward several mitigation arguments, including that its failures were “not intentional” and its employees were not “complicit in the suspected malpractice”.
A BSC spokesperson told FE Week the charity has “accepted” Ofqual’s findings, but declined to comment when asked which centre were implicated in malpractice.
The charity, founded in 1957 and which claims to be “dedicated to making sure no one is injured or made ill through their work”, earned about £1.6 million from regulated qualifications and assessments before it began to withdraw from the market.
Ofqual accepted there was no evidence the failures were “primarily motivated” by a desire to save money, although the regulator noted “savings will have been made” and the BSC dropped the qualifications due to the increased cost of compliance.
When asked why it took seven years to publish the findings, an Ofqual spokesperson said: “A full and thorough investigation was required, which takes time, and the work coincided with Covid disruption which delayed investigation work.”
Other recent Ofqual fines for centre malpractice linked to construction safety cards have taken similar lengths of time to conclude.
Late last year – five years after issues occurred – the regulator publicly rebuked the Scottish government-owned Scottish Qualifications Authority for failing to “rigorously” investigate malpractice at seven training providers in England between 2017 and 2019.
Ofqual carried out two investigations into the BSC. The first concluded in 2019 and resulted in the BSC signing an undertaking to “remedy the issues” and commission an external audit of its new measures.
However, a second investigation was opened after the charity revealed it had failed to flag seven additional serious issues with centres that occurred during the same period as the first investigation.
The BSC blamed the failure to notify Ofqual on the “serious and sudden illness” of staff members responsible for reporting issues, although they had returned to work by the time the charity signed the undertaking.
T Levels need 60,000 to 70,000 students enrolled on courses each year to be viable – and officials are confident of meeting that number by 2029, top education civil servants told MPs today.
The public accounts committee was also reassured that previous internal concerns about capacity for only 48,000 T Level industry placements annually had been quashed after rules were relaxed.
Department for Education permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood, director general for skills Julia Kinniburgh, and interim Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education CEO Carmel Grant were quizzed by the committee on Thursday.
The hearing followed last month’s National Audit Office report which cast doubt on the scalability of T Levels after finding student number forecasts were missed by three-quarters – resulting in a near-£700 million spending shortfall.
Here’s what we learned…
New student number target on track
Original DfE forecasts estimated 102,500 T Level students by the 2024-25 academic year, but just 25,508 learners were recruited.
After a series of “refinements”, the department now predicts 66,000 starts on the flagship qualifications by 2029.
Acland-Hood admitted that growth “hasn’t been as rapid as we first projected” but stressed the new numbers are achievable.
She told MPs: “Our latest projections look towards somewhere in the region of 60 to 70,000 T Level learners in steady state. We’re making good progress towards that number.
“We are now tracking our most recent growth forecasts quite well. So having revised and looked at those again, learning from what we’ve seen in the early years of the programme, we’re confident that we’re now meeting the forecasts.”
Employer placement capacity no longer a concern
The NAO’s report revealed the DfE had estimated in August 2023 that the number of T Level places could be limited to around 48,000 because of “constraints imposed by shortages of teachers and industry placements”.
Quizzed on this figure by the committee, Acland-Hood said it was made “assuming we didn’t make any changes to the structures and systems” around placements, before highlighting “some quite significant changes” to the DfE’s rules announced in December.
Industry placements of at least 45 days are a mandatory component of T Levels and originally had to be fully completed in person.
Learners on nearly all T Levels are now allowed to complete 20 per cent of their placement remotely instead of at a physical workplace – with this allowance increased to 50 per cent for students on digital T Levels.
Ministers have also decided to allow placements to be carried out as “simulated activity” on the school or college’s own site, but only if this is overseen by their industry placement employer.
Owing to these changes, “our assessment now would be that we don’t think industry placements will be a constraint on getting us to the targeted [enrolments] figure,” Acland-Hood said.
She added the DfE doesn’t want to “go beyond” the hybrid working and simulated activity thresholds recently announced as “we still think it’s very important that there’s a strong face-to-face element in the work placement, because I think that’s important for the young person’s learning and engagement”.
But “early analysis” from DfE polling with employers suggest that those flexibilities “could create something close to a 55 per cent increase in the number of placements offered, because that really was proving a constraint for employers based on ways of working”, Acland-Hood claimed.
The adaptive price is right
Senior officials also defended moves to increase future T Level fees paid by colleges, blaming awarding organisations for previously charging too little.
PAC committee member Michael Payne asked why generation 2 contract T Level prices were more expensive for colleges than currently.
Acland-Hood suggested awarding organisations (AOs) intentionally bid for lower fees in order to win the contracts, but suffered the consequences later.
“Our analysis is, we think in the first competition [AOs] underpriced rather than overpriced. And if you look at the typical fee cost of three A-levels, it’s over £300. Typically, [AOs] were setting £150 fees.
“The issue was that because they priced very low, they were essentially loss-leading. They were priced low to win the contract. Then the volumes were a bit lower, and then some of the AOs have had challenges with that.”
T Levels are awarded under licence from IfATE, with new AO contracts now being procured for ‘generation 2’ T Levels.
Officials claimed that higher fees, plus more accurate learner number forecasts, should avoid any more AOs losing money on T Levels.
However, if the forecasts are still out, awarding organisations will be able to increase fees again to prevent losses. This mechanism was introduced to make T Levels more commercially viable for prospective AOs.
“One of the reasons we’ve introduced the adaptive pricing is both to protect colleges but also to make sure the [AOs] aren’t holding all of that volume risk themselves”, Acland-Hood said.
But colleges should not expect to be funded for those higher fees.
Committee member Anna Dixon asked whether colleges would receive more funding to reflect higher fees.
Acland-Hood did not commit. “Even the new higher fees are very comparable with the fees for three A-levels or for other large vocational and technical qualifications. They’re a very small proportion of the total cost to the college as well,” she said.
Kinniburgh said fees for three A-levels were typically around £364, whereas the T Level range is now £214 to £395.
Acland-Hood concluded: “It’s not surprising that awarding bodies would like to charge more and the colleges would like to pay less.
“The adaptive pricing helps to manage that risk in both directions. So if the volumes go down, the prices can go up, but if the volumes go up, the prices go down. And there’s a cap and collar on that, so that’s not unlimited, it keeps it within a reasonable range.”
Isle of Wight College principal Ros Parker tells how her passion for adult education was sparked by village hall sessions that led her, and her young daughters, out of poverty
Parker’s incredible story captures the life-changing power of adult education far better than numbers and data ever could.
As a hard-up single mum aged 25 struggling with mental health problems and with no job or qualifications to her name, an evening creative writing course in a village hall changed her life forever. She went on to teach, then rose through the ranks of councils and colleges to lead FE provision on England’s sunniest shores.
A particularly harrowing memory sticks in her mind of her two daughters, Emily and Boo, sat at the kitchen table of their rented home in Essex waiting for their dinner. She could not bear to tell them that she had nothing to give them.
She had already gone without dinners herself many times before that – and she weighed just six and a half stone. “All I was doing was surviving for my two little girls,” Parker says.
She “couldn’t look” at Emily and Boo and instead looked out the window – where she spotted her neighbour approaching to offer a bundle of fish he had just caught.
“I knew from that day onwards that I had to change my stars.”
Parker, Emily (6) and Bea (3) in 1996
Growing adult education
Parker’s story of how joining an adult education course “saved my life” is particularly poignant given providers are bracing for yet more funding cuts.
But on her island, Parker is committed to investing in adult education opportunities amid soaring demand.
When her college advertised a course in carpentry and welding last year, it had to close early after receiving 500 applications overnight. Parker plans to open more evening courses next year because “we need more people in construction”.
“We’re missing so much just thinking about 16 to 18 when we have these massive skills gaps to fill,” she says. “And it’s important people feel they have a second chance in life.”
Survival skills
The years leading up to Parker’s own second chance were “really hard”, but gave her strong survival skills. After giving up an office job at an insurance company when she became a mum aged 18, Parker and her then husband spent two years living in a caravan before moving to a small farmhouse in Dengie marshes in Essex, two miles from the nearest neighbour. They drank water from a well and huddled in a room with a fire to keep warm.
Parker kept rescued chickens for eggs and learned from library books how to grow vegetables, spending her £4 weekly budget on potatoes and flour, with “all day Fridays spent baking”.
She was used to coping with “next to nothing”. But after being compelled to move out with her daughters (then four and seven) she “actually had nothing” – with no child support, chickens or vegetable patch to fall back on.
Parker felt “broken” and “not in the right mental health to cope with a job”.
Instead, she started making money by writing articles; a crafts magazine paid £10 for her idea for making a caged Easter bunny using tangerine bag netting and cotton wool buds.
Parker and her two daughters at different moments of their childhood
Courage calls
She wanted to join a local creative writing class, but was so nervous at the prospect of returning to education that it made her physically sick the night before.
Parker had always hated school. She had spent a year out of primary school while living in different holiday parks after her mum split up from her father. After “always being at the bottom for everything,” she left school aged 15 with no qualifications.
“It took all my courage to go back into an education setting,” she says. “It was only the fact it was in a village hall that enabled me to go. If it hadn’t been for that class, I don’t know where I’d be now.”
When her creative writing teacher retired, she was encouraged to apply for his role. The adult community college’s principal saw something in Parker that “no one else had seen” and laid on a Saturday creche so she could do her teacher training, and English and maths qualifications. Within two years she was a team leader, teaching dance and drama to adults with learning difficulties.
She says: “I started caring so much about the difference education makes to people’s lives because it saved mine. I wanted to share my experience.”
At this point I am moved to tears – something that does not normally happen during interviews. Parker hands me some tissues before continuing. I am moved not just by Parker’s heartrending story in the light of adult education budget cuts, but how her experiences have clearly shaped her caring and inclusive approach to leadership.
As she walks around her college, she tenderly refers to the learners she greets as her “luvvies” and “gorgeous ones”; they call her “Ros”.
Isle of Wight College
Courage calls
While teaching in Essex, Parker ran a family learning project at Bullwood Hall women’s prison in Hockley which gave her extra cash to take her daughters to the cinema for the first time, and led to a job teaching English there. As a child, Parker’s father had been a prison officer at HMP Hollesley Bay in Suffolk.
Parker helped her learners produce a book, ‘Inside Out’, about “their feelings inside prison and their hopes for the future”.
One particularly “troubled” inmate who was “very dependent on the services around her” was “very nervous” about being released, causing her one day to throw a chair across Parker’s classroom. Prison officers came “storming down the corridor to restrain her”. Before being escorted away, she turned to Parker and said “I just want to say thank you for turning my life around”.
Another girl, aged 17 when she was locked up, was “heartbroken” she could no longer care for her younger autistic and deaf twin brothers.
Parker helped her make an alphabet book for them, but on visiting day she was so scared they would not like it that she started shaking. When they entered, she “swept them up in her arms” and Parker looked on with pride as the girl read to them for the first time.
Ros Parker at her graduation ceremony
Refusing to cut
She moved on to West Sussex to lead the council’s adult learning service and later as it transferred to a new charitable company.
Although other areas were cutting their community learning provision, Parker went “against the curve” by refusing to do so, instead subsidising it through contributions from those who could afford to pay.
A report she compiled found the council’s “small investment” in adult education saved £250,000 a year on health, wellbeing and welfare savings. Parker smiles as she recalls how, when asked whether her yoga class kept her healthy, one elderly lady remarked: “My dear, the doctor doesn’t even know who I am.”
She would “batten down the hatches” on the weekends that her daughters were staying with their dad to study for her degree, and later a master’s in education and training. Studying “distracted” her from not having them around.
A photo of Parker’s graduation, her daughters at her side, is “very poignant” because they were “an inspiration” to her.
Back to Essex
Parker then returned to Essex to head up the council’s ‘delivery transition’, tasked with making council-run school crossing patrols, county parks, sports and leisure and adult education services “more viable”. It gave her the opportunity to turn what she had learned in her career so far, “sometimes in quite painful ways, into something positive”.
Parker next joined Prospects College of Advanced Technology in Basildon, a former independent training provider specialising in engineering and construction, before taking the helm at Southend Adult and Community College where her “biggest issues” were gangs who would “storm the building to sell drugs – they weren’t frightened of going into a class and actually picking kids out”.
Parker in the grounds of Isle of Wight College
During Covid, college rooms were emptied for the local authority to use as morgue space. Fortunately, they were never needed.
Parker and her colleagues also prepared and delivered 4,000 meals for the homeless staying in local hotels at that time, as “the council and charities couldn’t cope”.
In 2021 she was awarded an OBE in recognition of that work.
The following year she became Isle of Wight College principal, and when that community was hit by crisis 12 months later – serious flooding to over 300 homes – she opened the college’s doors for residents to shower, wash clothes and charge devices.
Island life
Moving to the Isle of Wight proved a “gentler way of life” than in Southend, but the island has its own challenges.
The seasonal highs and lows familiar to all college staff are particularly acute. With the holiday season now picking up, student attendance drops off as work opportunities take precedence for many learners.
The college engages in a “massive push on attendance” until the Isle of Wight festival in June to “front-load” learning and “get them through the qualifications as early as possible”. “Then if their attendance does start getting erratic, at least they’ve got their qualification in the bag”.
In many ways, Isle of Wight College has more in common with those on the Channel Islands and the Outer Hebrides than English colleges.
Parker recently visited the Hebrides, which share the Isle of Wight’s “stark” demographic challenges, to discuss “how they were managing to continue to be financially viable and innovative”.
The Isle of Wight’s birth rate has dropped by a third (the number of children entering school is forecast to fall from 1,404 in 2018 to 920 in 2027) while its elderly population continues to grow, resulting in skyrocketing demand for adult social care.
The top floor of the college’s pink block mimics two hospital wings and boasts an immersive room that releases hospital smells including “sick and poo” to “prepare” learners for the realities of caring roles.
Parker with some of her students who recently went on a Turing-funded trip to Thailand
Locked in
Being cut off from opportunities on mainland England can be a barrier for Parker’s learners. She introduces me to graphic design student Tim, who will commute by ferry from his island home when he starts at the University of Portsmouth in September, but knows “there will be times when I’ll miss lectures because I can’t get across that tiny little stretch of water”.
“The ferry is just not reliable and feels quite tethering, like we’re locked in by capitalism,” he tells me.
For many other learners, Parker says the costs of leaving the island prohibits them from aspiring to university. The college is a university centre, and Parker’s “big ambition” is to expand that provision so in the future “no one should have to leave the island for healthcare, education or employment”.
The college operates in every vocational area and Parker offsets the cost of smaller classes against larger-sized ones.
But her biggest passion is adult education.
From being potentially destined for a life on benefits, she is now “paying back thousands in tax and National Insurance and transforming the lives of others”.
Her message to the government now is a simple one. “Your small investment in adult education changes futures forever. Don’t write off adults. They’re the ones that can retrain and become your future leaders.”
AI is not just transforming industries, it’s redefining who drives them.
Nowhere is this transformation more evident than in financial services, where AI is solving inefficiencies, streamlining fraud detection and redefining customer experiences. Yet as AI adoption accelerates, so does a critical challenge: the widening digital skills gap.
At a recent House of Commons event hosted by Code First Girls in collaboration with HM Treasury and the Women in Finance Charter, financial leaders gathered to discuss AI’s role and the pressing need for ethical implementation and workforce transformation. The key takeaway was clear: AI is not just changing what we do, but who gets to do it.
The challenge is not just keeping pace but ensuring that AI is a force for inclusion. It presents an opportunity to create a financial system truly representative of the diverse customer base it serves.
AI, gender parity, and workforce diversity
One of the most urgent discussions at the event was around gender parity in financial services. Emma Reynolds, economic secretary to the Treasury, warned that at the current pace it may not be achieved until 2038 – an unacceptable timeline given AI’s potential to open new leadership opportunities for women.
At Code First Girls, we see first-hand how AI can either be a catalyst for progress or a tool that reinforces existing inequalities. AI-powered hiring tools and credit-scoring models have already demonstrated how bias in data can lead to real-world discrimination.
Representation is critical for the development of ethical AI but only 22 per cent of people working in AI and data science are women. Without intervention these biases will persist, deepening disparities in career progression, pay equity and leadership opportunities.
We need urgent investment in AI upskilling programmes to support underrepresented groups. Code First Girls’ AI conversion courses have helped to diversify the AI pipeline, but only at the top. Government should invest and build on such initiatives to ensure diversity throughout the education pipeline.
This is not just about fairness; it is about ensuring AI teams are as diverse as the populations they serve. We need more women, more diverse voices and more inclusive leadership shaping the future of AI.
Skills needs changing fast
AI is predicted to add £35 billion to the financial and professional services sector over the next five years. This rapid expansion presents opportunity and challenge. AI will create thousands of new roles but risks leaving behind those lacking the necessary digital skills to transition into these jobs. Indeed, skills needs are changing so rapidly that flexible training methods and continuous learning are imperative.
In a recent PwC survey, 69 per cent of global CEOs expected AI to require most of their workforce to develop new skills but businesses are not moving fast enough to bridge this gap.
At Code First Girls, we see how targeted AI education programmes open doors to new careers, particularly for women entering the tech industry. The challenge is scaling these efforts and ensuring businesses prioritise ongoing reskilling as part of their AI adoption strategies.
Ethical AI adoption
Beyond skills development, ethical AI implementation must be at the top of the agenda. AI should enhance trust in financial services, not erode it. The risks of biased data models that disproportionately disadvantage minorities, if left unchecked, will undermine public confidence in AI-driven decision-making.
Businesses need to implement rigorous bias testing, ensure transparency in AI-driven decisions and foster diverse and technically skilled teams to oversee AI development.
The adoption of AI is not solely the responsibility of data scientists and engineers. As Skills England chair Phil Smith recently pointed out, AI innovation must be a collective effort involving leadership, compliance teams, policymakers and frontline employees.
At Code First Girls, we are working to close the digital skills gap by providing AI upskilling opportunities that are accessible and inclusive. Through structured training programmes, mentorship initiatives and partnerships with businesses and policymakers, we are ensuring AI is not just a tool for the few but an opportunity for the many.
The time for action is now. By prioritising inclusive AI education, fostering diversity and embedding ethical principles in AI deployment, we can ensure AI is a force for progress, not division and disadvantage.
The Supreme Court ruling on the legal interpretation of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 will have implications across public life, including in relation to FE colleges. The narrow point which the court decided was whether the appointment of a trans woman who has a gender recognition certificate (GRC) counts as the appointment of a woman for the goal that boards of certain Scottish public authorities are to have 50 per cent non-executive members who are women. In the court’s judgment, it does not and therefore the Scottish government’s guidance on that point was incorrect.
The judgment is of particular relevance to individuals with GRCs, which are not available to those under 18 years old. But it also brings the long-standing issues relating to students or staff who are transgender or questioning their gender identity into sharp focus.
College guidance gaps
There is a current gap in terms of clear and comprehensive guidance on this topic for colleges. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published codes of practice including those for services, public functions and associations (currently under review) which contain guidance relevant to colleges.
But the only publication with a college-specific focus is the draft non-statutory guidance on gender questioning children for schools and colleges in England, published in December 2023. This consultation document issued by the previous government attracted a significant response but was never finalised.
Protections for trans people continue
The draft guidance dealt with practical issues such as name changes, use of pronouns, single sex spaces and sport. Whilst the draft guidance was in line with the recent court judgment insofar as it stated that legal duties regarding sex should be framed around biological sex, neither the guidance nor the judgment fully considers the complex legal issues colleges are regularly dealing with when balancing safeguarding, data rights, regulatory and Equality Act duties for students with different protected characteristics.
The April 2024 Cass Review highlighted issues related to young people socially transitioning which are relevant to colleges, but did not offer specific guidance to the sector. Following the recent judgment, the EHRC confirmed that the code of practice will be revised. It is hoped that the revised code and finalising the gender questioning children guidance will be considered by DfE and/or EHRC in the coming months.
It is important to note that there continues to be significant protections for trans people under the Equality Act, relevant to students, staff and the wider college community.
The Supreme Court’s decision does not change the fact that gender reassignment is a protected characteristic and emphasised that trans people have exactly the same level of protection in the Equality Act against discrimination, harassment and victimisation as other groups. The judgment is not a rollback of rights on the scale that some have suggested.
Emotive issue
For colleges as employers, there may be some immediate impact; staff with a GRC will no longer be able to make an equal pay claim based on the gender stated on their GRC (they may still do so on the basis of biological sex).
In terms of the practical day-to-day management of trans employees, little has changed. As things stand, we would urge caution before making significant changes to staff policies or practices.
Colleges know that this is a very emotive issue for both trans people and those who hold gender critical beliefs, which also have the potential of being protected beliefs under the Equality Act. It may be sensible to consider if any support or clarifications should be offered to affected individuals.
Pending further guidance from the DfE or EHRC, it is important for colleges to continue to proceed with caution in dealing with the complex and sensitive issues which arise. Look carefully at the circumstances, taking all relevant legal and practical considerations into account. Be cautious about taking a blanket approach and, where necessary, take legal advice.
I was diagnosed with ADHD and autism as an adult, after struggling with symptoms for many years without understanding why certain things felt more difficult for me than they did for others.
Learning about my neurodivergence was a revelation – it helped me make sense of my experiences and, most importantly, find ways to work with my brain rather than against it.
Since joining London South East Colleges, I’ve been really well supported and that’s made all the difference. It has also made me passionate about encouraging other colleges to create environments where neurodiverse staff can thrive. Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) isn’t just about race and gender – it also includes neurodiversity, and this is something I am committed to raising awareness of.
Understanding neurodiverse employees
One of the biggest challenges neurodiverse people face in the workplace is a lack of understanding. Autism and ADHD aren’t one-size-fits-all conditions; we all experience them differently. Yet, neurodivergent employees often struggle with common barriers such as sensory overload, difficulty with social interactions and rigid working structures.
Many autistic adults find it difficult to secure employment, with only three in 10 currently in work. And even when we do find jobs, accessing the right support isn’t always easy. Workplace stigma means many of us don’t disclose our diagnoses, and over a quarter of those who do ask for accommodations are denied them.
FE colleges are inclusive by their very nature. We support many neurodiverse students across different provisions, so extending this to staff is a natural progression.
Here are some of the key changes that have made a real difference to me personally – and will help others:
1. Flexible working: Many neurodiverse employees benefit from hybrid or flexible working. For me, working from home most of the week helps me manage sensory overload and social fatigue. My manager is open to adjustments based on my needs, which allows me to perform at my best. Offering flexibility in work location, start times and even communication methods where possible can make a huge impact.
2. Improved communication: Good communication is essential for everyone, but it’s especially important for neurodiverse staff. I need to know things in advance so I can plan accordingly – last-minute changes can be extremely stressful. Providing clear instructions, avoiding vague task descriptions and sharing meeting agendas ahead of time are all small but effective ways to improve workplace communication.
3. No hot-desking: A consistent workspace is important for many autistic people. Hot-desking can create unnecessary stress due to unpredictability. Having a dedicated, familiar workspace helps with focus and reduces anxiety – which is very important to me.
4. A culture of belonging: Neurodiverse staff should feel comfortable discussing their needs without fear of stigma. Creating safe spaces for open conversations and ensuring everyone in the team understands neurodiversity can go a long way. Training from external organisations, peer support networks and visible role models in leadership positions (like my manager) all help to create an inclusive environment.
5. Recruitment: Many hiring processes aren’t designed with neurodiverse candidates in mind! Standard interviews often rely on skills that don’t reflect a person’s true abilities, such as small talk or reading social cues. Offering interview questions in advance, allowing different assessment formats and making job descriptions clearer can make the process more accessible and equitable.
Neurodiverse employees bring unique strengths to the workplace. My autism allows me to see things from a different perspective, bringing fresh ideas and problem-solving skills. My ability to hyperfocus helps me be productive, and my attention to detail ensures my work is thorough.
Employers who embrace neurodiversity gain dedicated, innovative employees who can offer valuable insights and skills. The key is to provide the right support – because when neurodiverse staff are set up to succeed, the whole organisation will benefit.
I hope that this month – which is Autism Awareness Month – the sector takes a moment to reflect on how we support neurodiverse employees – as well as students. Neurodiversity isn’t something to be accommodated as an afterthought; it should be recognised as an integral part of creating a genuinely inclusive workplace.
