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Greater Lincolnshire set to cut ESOL courses from 2027, Reform UK mayor confirms

Greater Lincolnshire’s mayor will press ahead with plans to scrap publicly funded English language courses from 2027, despite a majority of consultation responses opposing the move.

Papers published ahead of a Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) meeting next week have confirmed Reform UK mayor Andrea Jenkyns wants to withdraw funding for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision through the adult skills fund (ASF) from August 2027.

Jenkyns said the courses don’t benefit the “native” Lincolnshire people who elected her and plans to redirect funding to “more inclusive” English literacy and numeracy courses.

But results from a consultation run over Christmas show that almost three-quarters of the 375 people and organisations that responded disagreed or strongly disagreed with the proposals.

Anonymised comments raised concerns that ESOL is a “lifeline” that prevents non-English speakers from being “effectively excluded” from society and warned that cutting funding could “reduce the pool of skilled workers” available to the regions strategic industries such as port logistics.

Supportive comments focused on the benefits of redirecting funding towards literacy, which “affects life chances”.

An analysis included from Lincoln College, the largest ESOL provider in the region, argued that 90 per cent of learners who achieve the course move into positive destinations such as employment or further study, contributing £1,700 per year more to the local economy than they would if they had not.

Lincoln College’s ESOL learner statistics for 2023-24 and 2024-25 suggest that about a third of its students came from Ukraine, with other common nationalities including Turkey, Bulgaria and Afghanistan.

The decision, which is due to be debated and formally approved at a combined authority meeting next week (February 25), will “end funding” for ESOL courses in 2027 and re-introduce a three-year residency rule for learners to receive free or subsidised courses in August this year, and commits to designing a “new literacy qualification” to help adults into employment.

An impact assessment admits that while mayor Jenkyns’ move to “free up” the £1 million spend on ESOL each year in favour of literacy will offer non-English speakers “integrated learning experiences”, the plans may also negatively impact people from refugees and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

As a mitigation, the authority said “delaying” the defunding a year later than planned to 2027 will allow time for the training sector to “adjust their provision to reduce the impact” and to develop a new curriculum or syllabus that is “open to all”.

Responding to the consultation, GLCCA noted that around half of consultation responses were from people “directly involved” in the sector, or experts and specialists, who are “more motivated” to raise concerns.

The residency rule, which could affect the estimated 5,800 people who move to Greater Lincolnshire each year, will be mitigated through an exemption for armed forces personal, refugees, victims of domestic abuse, and people who have moved to England under the Ukraine, Afghan, and Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa schemes.

Other updates to Greater Lincolnshire’s draft adult skills fund rules, which will apply when adult skills is devolved in August, include funding of up to £58 per learner for Construction Skills and Certification Scheme labourers’ cards for unemployed learners and “enhanced support” for young care leavers worth up to £1,500 per learner.

Paul Sceeny, co-chair of the National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults, said: “A delay is obviously welcome, if only because it averts an immediate crisis for providers with the risk of significant job losses.

“Nonetheless, worrying it is that the Authority still doesn’t seem to appreciate the vital importance of dedicated ESOL provision to community integrity and economic prosperity.

“A further year might provide more space for all of us who understand and value the importance of language education to press our case, as well as enabling providers to develop more extensive contingency plans.”

Diana Sutton, director of the Bell Foundation, an ESOL-focused charity, said Greater Lincolnshire’s decision was disappointing.

She added: “Suggesting that learners acquire English language through online, private, or voluntary provision will not fill the gap.

“Furthermore, the proposed one ‘literacy qualification for all’ cannot address the specific language learning needs of ESOL learners.

“Literacy and language learning are fundamentally different with literacy provision designed to meet the needs of first-language English speakers to improve their reading and writing skills.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “I’m concerned that the decision to stop funding ESOL comes before the work to co-create a new curriculum to replace it. If the intention is to support the residents of Greater Lincolnshire to achieve greater proficiency in English, so that they can be active citizens and secure good jobs, then I’d like to see that curriculum work conclude before any decision to simply stop funding ESOL.”

GLCCA was approached for comment.

Julie McCulloch to join EPI as new chief executive

Julie McCulloch has been appointed as the new chief executive of The Education Policy Institute (EPI).

McCulloch is senior director of strategy, policy and professional development at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), and is currently on a secondment as head of policy at the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

She said she was “hugely privileged” to join the EPI, an independent research institute that aims to raise standards in education.

Her appointment comes after EPI co-founder Natalie Perrera stepped down as CEO of the think tank at the end of January, to take up a senior role at the country’s largest exam board, AQA. Perrera had been at the helm of the EPI since its creation in 2015.

McCulloch, who spent 11 years at Pearson in policy roles before joining ASCL in 2015, will join EPI at the beginning of May.

ChrisHusbandsmovers300px | Schools Week — Prof Sir Chris Husbands

Professor Sir Chris Husbands, chair of the board of trustees at EPI, said: “I am delighted to be able to welcome Julie as the chief executive to take EPI into its second decade.”

Husbands said McCulloch was “outstanding” in “a very strong field” of candidates.

“Her grasp of the education policy landscape, her understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the organisation and her leadership qualities made her an ideal leader for EPI.”

McCulloch said: “Over the last decade EPI has relentlessly championed the importance of using independent evidence to improve educational outcomes and to narrow the disadvantage gap.

“I feel hugely privileged to join such an exceptional team as chief executive, and I look forward to collaborating with our partners across the research and policy landscape to build on that vital work.”

Suella Braverman named Reform UK’s skills spokesperson

Former Conservative home secretary and recently-defected Reform UK MP Suella Braverman has been named as the party’s education and skills spokesperson.

Leader Nigel Farage today announced his “shadow cabinet”, with Braverman given the education, skills and equalities brief.

Braverman defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK last month, claiming she had been “politically homeless” for the past two years.

Farage claimed at a press conference earlier today that parents “all over this country are in a state of despair about what their children are being taught at school”.

Braverman served as home secretary twice. She was initially appointed to the role in September 2022 by Liz Truss, but resigned in October 2022 after she sent an official document to a parliamentary colleague using her personal email address.

She was re-appointed by new prime minister Rishi Sunak days later, but then sacked in a 2023 reshuffle.

Before Parliament, Braverman worked as a lawyer and was co-founder and chair of governors at Michaela Community School, known for its strict behaviour policies, high progress 8 scores and outspoken headteacher, Katharine Birbalsingh.

Speaking to the press earlier today, Braverman claimed a “quiet crisis has taken hold” across schools, with the authority of teachers being “eroded” by “violence and disorder”.

Trades target

Reform plots a political tsunami, but skills policy is lost at sea

Farage, who said skills has “been ignored for too long”, announced Braverman’s appointment alongside spokespeople covering business, home affairs and the treasury.

Braverman said universities are “failing our young people”.

“Today, 700,000 graduates are unemployed, each of them carrying, on average, £50,000 worth of student debt. The truth is that too many of our young people have been sold a lie about university, wasting three years of their lives on Mickey Mouse courses, all while we have a chronic shortage of nurses, builders and care workers.

“So I tell you what we need. Instead of Tony Blair’s 50 per cent of young people going to university, this is what we need. We need Nigel Farage’s [target] 50 per cent of young people going into trades.”

“That’s what will produce the next generation of carpenters, electricians that our contry is crying out for. All to work in a thriving manufacturing sector.

“These are noble professions, and these will be the people who rebuild Britain. And to those universities that have descended into hotbeds of cancel culture, antisemitism and which survive thanks to the case foreign students and keep conning young people into worthless degrees, Reform is putting you on notice.”

Fellow recent defector Robert Jenrick was announced as Reform UK’s pick for chancellor if the party wins the next general election, while former education secretary Nadim Zahawi has not been given a position.

Stop blaming level 7 and management apprenticeships. Non-compliance could be the real problem

Amid the talk of certain apprenticeships not being “appropriate” for government funding, it’s time to be honest about a problem hiding in plain sight. One that needs to be addressed before the axe comes down on funding for operations manager, team leader or any other apprenticeships.

It is likely that many of the so-called “apprenticeships” delivered to adults and funded by the levy are not actually apprenticeships at all.

Had they not been funded, the number of true adult apprentices would not have increased by anything like as much, freeing up money for more apprenticeships for younger people and genuine adult apprentices, including up to level 7 where funding has now ceased for the over 21s.

It’s not too late to fix the problem, but time is short.

It’s worth reminding ourselves of the rules.

All government-funded apprentices have a right to receive the amount of off-the-job training they need to reach occupational competence. Every apprenticeship has a minimum requirement but there’s but no maximum. In most cases the minimum is set at roughly six hours a week. So, just less than a working day each week.
Off-the-job-training (all of it – not just the minimum required) must happen during the apprentice’s normal paid working hours. If, by exception, training takes place outside these hours then, a bit like paid overtime, the apprentice must agree and must be paid. It makes no difference how the training is delivered.
If there is insufficient off-the-job training, or training takes place outside paid working hours, the apprenticeship is not compliant or fundable.
The agreed off-the-job training requirement serves as proxy for the size of the apprentice’s skills needs. The absolute minimum is 187 hours of training over 8 months – most apprentices need significantly more. This means someone with modest skills needs (a few discrete management topics, say, or they want to learn how to use AI tools to help them in their role) is unlikely to be eligible.

So, for an employer, a genuine apprenticeship is a huge investment, regardless of government funding for the actual training.

Take an operations manager on £50,000 a year, or £25 per hour. The employer, manager and training provider review their skills needs and agree they need 418 hours of training (the usual minimum for the operations manager apprenticeship).

This means the employer has to make an investment just in salary (excluding NI and other costs) of £10,450 (418 x £25). True investment is more because of lost productivity during the training period and the need to cover the apprentice’s work.

The level 6 chartered manager apprenticeship has a minimum requirement of 926 hours and, at this level, the apprentice will be paid more. Do the maths.

No sensible employer makes this kind of investment unless they have a colleague with great potential but a significant skills shortfall. I’m pleased to know many employers who regularly make such investments, and the returns to their organisations and colleagues are huge.

However, I fear this is not the case across the sector. I suspect that, too often, the skills gap is narrow or significant off-the-job training is taking place outside normal paid hours.

I bet I’m not the only person who has come across degree apprentices who get six hours a week of study time at work but also need to study at the weekend (and not just on an occasional basis). I’m sorry but they are not apprentices.

To free up money for more apprenticeships for young people and for older people with significant skills needs, the government needs to ask:

How many apprentices are doing significant amounts of study in their own, unpaid time?
How many apprentices are not actually undertaking the minimum required amount of off-the-job study (regardless of what might be recorded)?

This is fiddly work. It means having honest conversations with employers, apprentices and providers. It may cause some pain, even embarrassment. And it’s harder than simply drawing a line through “inappropriate” apprenticeships or putting in place more age restrictions.

But it’s the right thing to do.

Age restrictions and de-funding would capture some ineligible apprentices but also harm eligible apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with “squiggly” careers and later-life career changers. It would be unfair on the many fantastic employers already investing more than the minimum and following the rules.

And so, if we are to ensure access to great apprenticeships for those who need them, and maximise the impact of apprenticeships on our economy, it is work that needs to be done.

Grants launched to jumpstart early years degree apprenticeships

Ministers have launched a £3.2 million grant scheme to subsidise training and employment costs in a drive to recruit 400 early years teacher degree apprentices.

Through the scheme, early years employers can access £9,000 per apprentice per year to cover training costs. Meanwhile, training providers can claim £8,000 per apprentice to pass on to employers to cover employment costs like backfill and national insurance.

The Department for Education (DfE) said the programme will help make careers in the early years sector “more attractive” and rewarding amid a shortfall in graduate-level qualified staff.

Early education minister Olivia Bailey said the funding will help “build skilled, well-paid and rewarding careers while continuing to do the vital work they do every day for children and families”.

The early years teacher degree apprenticeship was approved for funding in January 2025 with the maximum funding band worth £27,000. There have been no starts since it was approved, and recruitment is currently paused as the apprenticeship does not have an end point assessment organisation (EPAO).

FE Week understands the government plans to approve an EPAO so apprentices can start the early years teacher apprenticeship this autumn.

Ministers hope the grants will be enough to incentivise early years businesses to upskill their staff to degree level amid concerns that the government’s “30 hours funded childcare” offer, launched in September last year, doesn’t cover the “real cost of delivery”.

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, commented: “We welcome news of this paid degree apprenticeship as a genuinely positive step towards supporting and strengthening the early years workforce.

“However, with the sector facing an unprecedented recruitment and retention crisis, the reality is clear: much more investment, recognition and defined career progression will be needed to build the stable, high-quality workforce that children truly deserve.”

The DfE argues the policy will raise education quality, citing research showing settings employing graduate-level staff achieve better child development outcomes.

A 10 percentage-point increase in settings employing a graduate is associated with around a 1.2 percentage-point rise in children reaching a good level of development, officials say.

The department’s analysis also suggests early years staff with degree-level qualifications typically earn £18 per hour, about £5.50 more per hour than those trained to A-level standard.

Government grants have been available for postgraduate teacher training apprenticeships in priority subjects since at least 2018.

The announcement comes at the end of this year’s national apprenticeship week and forms part of the government’s “best start in life” strategy, which includes a long-term ambition to have a graduate-level early years teacher in every setting.

Other announcements this week include a pilot apprenticeship brokerage to help “near-miss” applicants find alternative vacancies.

Learner loan probe lands provider with £111k clawback

A not-for-profit training provider is being pursued by the Department for Education for over £100,000 in overclaimed funding due to multiple breaches of adult education funding rules.

Brixton-based Lionheart in the Community Limited (LITC) was subject to an investigation by the then-Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in September 2024 over its advanced learner loans funding claims going back to 2021-22.

Investigators found LITC had claimed area uplift funding – a per-student top-up for learners in areas of the country where delivery costs are higher – for training that took place online, and found some delivery had been subcontracted to another training provider.

Area uplifts should not be claimed for online delivery, and subcontracted delivery was not permitted in the years LITC claimed for, the report said.

Subcontracted delivery was discovered when learners named a different training provider, which wasn’t named in the investigation report, to LITC as the one responsible for their training.

LITC now has to pay back £111,234. DfE said “action is underway” to recover the funding.

However, LITC leaders have disputed the investigation’s findings. They said the “very small” sample of learners contacted by investigators was not enough to draw conclusions and claimed that the investigators’ focus on 2021-22 and 2022-23 meant “refinements” to their delivery and quality assurance were not fully taken into account.

LITC also said they were not allowed to dispute the subcontracting findings, noting that investigators relied on learners’ recollection of where their training took place up to four years prior, with some “understandably” recording their employer or work placement host.

They said an offer to commission their own audit to aid the investigation was refused unless it covered 100 per cent of learners over the three-year period.

Helpful advice

In order to help other providers avoid breaching the rules, DfE’s investigation reports contain a “prevention” section with advice.

In this case, DfE’s “prevention analysis exercise” found the breaches could have been avoided if the provider had “complied” with the rules and had “adequate” internal audit and quality assurance.

LITC describes itself as a “dynamic social enterprise” that reinvests its profits into community projects. It had around 530 adult learners on its books when it was last inspected by Ofsted in 2023 and currently advertises Access to HE diplomas and courses at levels 3 and 4 across a range of subjects, including business, accounting, personal training, health and social care, beauty and education.

It received an advanced learning loan allocation of £2.4m for 2025-26, down from £3m last year.

Investigations

This is the third training provider called out by DfE investigations so far in 2026.

Systemic contract breaches led to a £1.2 million repayment demand to Park Education and Training Centre last month. Investigators found a catalogue of missing or unverifiable evidence around learner eligibility, off-the-job training records and apprentice wages. The owner contested the fairness of the investigation.

And Pathway First Limited, part of Pathway Group, was made to repay £54,000 after it was found to have issued qualifications that learners had not studied and claimed funding for learners it could not evidence. A spokesperson said the breaches related to “isolated” and “historic” activity and have now been remedied.

Ofsted requests providers publish QR code with report card content

Ofsted is requesting education providers publish a QR code link alongside any content they share from new report cards to help prevent leaders “cherry picking” grades shared with parents and stakeholders.

Sir Martyn Oliver said last month he wanted parents to see the whole report, not just the best parts of it.

He announced the watchdog would be introducing QR codes, but it would not be mandatory for schools, colleges and training providers to publish these.

Today, Ofsted has written to education providers on how to use them in marketing materials.

“As there is no overall judgment to publicise, you are free to highlight your inspection results as you wish – perhaps by listing grades or quoting verbatim from your report card,” they said.

“However you choose to present printed content from your Ofsted report card, we request that you only do so alongside our new official QR code ‘badge’.”

FE Week understands there is no legal requirement for education providers to publish them and there won’t be any consequences.

Oliver said today: “The beauty of our new report cards is the clear picture they offer about a provider’s strengths and areas for improvement across a wide range of areas, without that blunt one-word judgement casting its shadow over the detail.

“Schools, colleges and nurseries are free to promote and celebrate their successes in any way they wish. But it’s important that parents and carers have easy access to their full inspection report card too, so they can understand those findings in their full context.

“We hope our new QR badges will be a really useful addition to banners, brochures and leaflets and, crucially, they will help us maintain transparency and accessibility in sharing inspection outcomes.”

The badges can be downloaded from the bottom of each education provider’s page on the Ofsted website.

KCSIE 2026: Everything colleges need to know

Colleges should report concerns about a student carrying a weapon and make sure they review internet filtering system effectiveness at least once a year, draft new safeguarding guidance states.

The Department for Education is consulting on draft ‘keeping children safe in education’ guidance until April. It applies to children and young people aged under 18 and would become legally binding if approved.

While the draft guidance includes a new section on young people questioning their gender which says colleges should take a “very careful approach” to social transition, it also includes other important new proposals for colleges.

Here’s everything colleges need to know…

1. ‘Very careful’ approach to social transition

The draft guidance contains a new section on supporting children questioning their gender following the landmark Cass review.

The guidance states schools and colleges should not initiate any action and take a “very careful approach in relation to social transition, with parents involved in the “vast majority” of cases.

Draft guidance also makes it clear that there should be “no exceptions” for single sex facilities in colleges, including toilets and changing rooms, but that colleges should “take time to sensitively explain” this to young people who are socially transitioning.

You can read more details about this here.

2. Serious violence

Draft guidance states staff should report concerns about a student carrying a weapon, using a weapon or expressing intent to use one to the dedicated safeguarding lead (DSL).

The DSL should then assess the risk and take “appropriate action”, including any action to de-escalate peer conflict.

It also reiterates old guidance that states all staff should be aware of indicators of a child involved in serious violence, with risks higher for children with disrupted education.

“Early, evidence-based support for those considered at risk, as well as in ‘teachable moments’ when issues emerge is vital. This includes access to trusted adults, social and emotional skill support, and, where available, targeted interventions such as mentoring or therapeutic support.”

3. Mental health as a safeguarding concern

New draft guidance makes it clear that mental health problems “in some cases can develop into safeguarding concerns”, including self-harm or risk of suicide.

The previous guidance stated staff should be aware that mental heath problems can indicate a child has suffered or is at risk of suffering abuse, neglect or exploitation. Only medical professionals should diagnose a child, it added.

4. Clearer guidance on filtering

The proposed guidance says that colleges should “regularly review the effectiveness” of filtering and monitoring systems on college devices at least once every academic year.

Previously, guidance said colleges had to monitor the effectiveness of its systems but did not give a timeframe.

5. ‘Deepfakes’ are child-on-child abuse

The draft guidance contains updated categories of child-on-child abuse to reflect technological advances.

This includes “consensual and non-consensual sharing of self-generated intimate images and/or videos including those generated using AI e.g. deepfakes”.

It added misogyny is a form of harmful sexual behaviour, as well as sexual violence and harassment.

It also explicitly states that upskirting is a criminal offence to reflect the law changes.

6. New domestic abuse reporting duty

The draft guidance also includes new details on ‘operation encompass’, the statutory duty for police to notify a child’s school or college if they believe a child may be a victim of domestic abuse.

It states police should share the child’s name and details, their relationship to the victim or perpetrator, a police reference number, details of the incident and “the voice of the child, such as what they are saying and how they are behaving”.

The draft guidance also states colleges must comply with data protection laws during the operation encompass process, which involves sensitive information.