Government has ‘no plans’ for FE pay review body

The government has rejected calls for a pay review body that would set equal pay for further education college staff across the country.

Responding to calls from the House of Commons education committee for a statutory pay body for FE teachers and staff, ministers said the “diversity” of colleges means a “one-size-fits-all” approach to pay “may not be appropriate”.

There is “clear value” in colleges having autonomy to set their own pay so they can respond to local labour market and skill needs, the government argued.

MPs on the education committee called for a pay review body for college staff in a wide-ranging report on further education and skills, published in September.

The committee issued more than 40 recommendations, including calling for devolution of 16-19 education, reinstatement of some level 7 apprenticeships and introducing a funding premium for disadvantaged pupils aged 16-19.

Ministers rejected the first two of these and argued that “extra funding” is already available for disadvantaged students via “disadvantage block” and English and maths funding.

The government said retaining central control ensures it can maintain a “universal education offer” for 16 to 19-year-olds which is “consistently high quality across the country”.

In response to calls for a youth guarantee that “expands eligibility” from 18 to 21 to all 16 to 24-year-olds, the government claimed measures are “already in place” through the September guarantee, Jobcentres, and adult education funding.

Review body would ensure ‘equity of pay’

One of the committee’s key concerns was the government’s approach to the ongoing teacher recruitment and retention crisis.

It recommended that the Department for Education (DfE) establish a statutory pay review body for colleges comparable to the School Teachers’ Review Body.

The body should provide “independent, evidence-based pay recommendations” to ensure “equity of pay” across the post-16 education sector, with the goal of closing the gap between college and school teachers by 2029.

In a detailed response to the committee, the government said it is “right” to highlight ongoing challenges with pay and retention, but argued that colleges are “diverse” organisations delivering a range of vocational, technical, academic and functional skills provision in a variety of settings that mean a single approach to pay “may not be appropriate”.

This diversity is reflected in “existing sectoral arrangements” such as Sixth Form Colleges Association’s voluntary binding pay recommendations agreed via the National Joint council, and the Association College’s (AoC) non-binding pay recommendations for FE colleges via the National Joint Forum.

The response added: “The range of approaches within the sector currently reflects the needs of a diverse college system, including recognising the autonomy and flexibility provided to the sector to address its needs via the 1992 Higher and Further Education Act.

“More broadly, it is important to note that the wider FE system is more complex and less uniform than in the schools sector, with provision for young people and adults taking place not only in colleges but also a range of other types of organisation, including independent training providers and local authority providers.”

The government concluded: “While there are currently no plans to establish a dedicated pay review body for FE, we will remain in dialogue with the sector to understand their views on pay arrangements.”

Officials also pointed out that it has increased funding by £800 million in the spending review period to “support colleges and other 16-19 providers to address priorities”.

Statistics also suggest FE college teacher pay increased by 6.1 per cent in 2023-24, the response added.

Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes said rejection of pay review body recommendation “comes as no surprise” given the “enormous costs” that it would incur.

He added: “Our latest submission to the Schools Pay Review Body to support their consideration of the impact of school pay on colleges showed that the pay gap between school teachers and college lecturers has now widened to an unacceptable £12,000.

“This gap and similar differences with industry are making college recruitment and retention incredibly challenging, and is grossly unfair on all college staff.

“A college pay review body would not solve this, because in the end, what colleges need is better funding rates which allow them to set pay competitively compared to others.”

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “We welcome the Government’s stated commitment to further education and the £8.5 billion allocated to 16-19 year olds, but claims it recognises the transformative impact of adult education ring hollow given budgets have been cut by 6 per cent.

“Likewise, many college staff will rightly be disappointed to see the DfE reject key recommendations from the education committee, including its refusal to consult the sector on how a statutory pay review body for colleges could be introduced to bring them more in line with schools.

“Thirty colleges are set to strike next month because increases in funding have not done enough to close the pay gap between school and college teachers.

“Much higher levels of public investment are now needed to help end industrial disruption and ensure colleges deliver Labour’s promised economic growth.”

Perm sec advises against ‘blanket’ council duty on post-16 SEND transport

The Department for Education’s top civil servant has warned against imposing a “blanket duty” on councils arranging transport for disabled learners amid soaring spend on post-16 transport that has outpaced pre-16 costs.

Young people in England must remain in education or training until age 18, but there is no legal duty for local authorities to provide free transport for SEND students over 16. It is instead a discretionary service.

In a scrutiny session by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday, Susan Acland-Hood, permanent secretary in the DfE since 2020, told MPs that it was appropriate to have a different framework for determining transport arrangements for disabled 16-18 learners, but a “blanket duty” would be difficult due to the widespread provision across the country.

She told MPs that young people want to make the “right” choices on their education that might mean a trade-off between travelling “significantly longer distances” and the “rightness of the provision”.

“We see patterns of travel for 16 to 19 are much more widespread because there’s a much wider range of choice of settings,” she said, adding that a blanket set of entitlements could constrain where young people are able to go.

Acland-Hood also revealed that post-16 transport spending has shot up by 170 per cent nationally since 2015-16, a higher rate than the 140 per cent increase in pre-16 spending for the same period.

NAO: SEND transport cuts could increase NEETs

The PAC arranged the scrutiny session on home-to-school transport after the National Audit Office (NAO) recently found “significant” barriers to participation for young people with SEND stemming from cost pressures from councils providing transport.

In October, the spending watchdog reported that councils’ annual transport costs have soared to £2.3 billion, and the Department for Education estimates they could exceed £3 billion by 2029-30.

The NAO found that the government does not have the data needed to understand who is using the transport and why costs are rising.

Here are the key highlights from the PAC session:

‘Blanket duty’ difficult to impose

Councils do not legally have to provide free transport for 16-18 learners or 19-25 aged learners with education, health and care plans (EHCPs), but can provide travel allowances, shared transport or personal travel budgets. Some have introduced parental financial contributions for council-arranged transport. 

They are, however, required to make sure no young person is prevented from attending education. Acland-Hood said councils are adhering to that “broader duty” seriously.

“We do, however, recognise that sometimes the provision will change for children as they get older through the system, and that local authorities may use that moment of the change in support to lift it again,” she said.

Acland-Hood added: “Although there isn’t a statutory duty of the same force there, we don’t think local authorities are wholesale removing that support.”

The permanent secretary said the department is aware of more widespread patterns of travel for 16 to 19 learners due to a “much wider range of choice of settings”.

“[It] also might mean that it’s increasingly right for them to make the trade-off between the challenge of travel and the rightness of the provision, and that makes it hard to produce a blanket duty.”

The House of Commons education committee called for an extension of the statutory duty to FE SEND students aged 16 to 25 in their FE and skills inquiry. The government’s response, published today, said that councils are already required to annually publish the arrangements they consider necessary to facilitate attendance for 16–18-year-olds and 19-25 students with an EHCP. 

Transport not linked to rising NEETs

The NAO’s report warned that councils “scaling back” their post-16 provision could increase NEET numbers and the impact could be felt more by disabled young people.

NEET numbers have soared in recent years, edging close to the one million mark. Current figures from the Office for National Statistics estimate around 946,000 young people aged 16 to 24 were NEET. 

Addressing the concerns, Acland-Hood refuted that lack of transport access was driving the increase and that it was more about the disempowerment of young people to become economically active.

“Transport is obviously something which improves access to the labour market,” she told MPs.

“I think it may be more about what are we doing to try and make sure that young people aren’t getting to the age of 16 or 18 feeling like they’re disempowered, not able to enter the labour market, and there may be some transport component in that.

“I don’t think it’s quite as clear.” 

Data ‘central’ to understanding gaps in provision

The session also addressed gaps and low response rates in home-to-school transport data collection from local councils.

Around 50,000 post-16 learners receive council-funded transport, based on DfE’s inaugural data collection survey back in February from 153 local authorities in England.

But the survey only garnered a 75 per cent response rate, to which DfE vowed it was planning to make it mandatory for local authorities to routinely report.

Anna Bird, chief executive of Contact, a charity which supports families with disabled children, told MPs there was a real “lack of data” to show the knock-on effect of the lack of school transport on attendance.

The spending watchdog also confirmed “insufficient” data to judge how any changes to home-to-school transport might impact attendance.

A Natspec survey last year revealed anecdotal evidence of specialist colleges experiencing learners dropping out or reducing attendance due to revoked council-arranged transport for young people with SEND.

“Data is central to understanding the challenges and pressures that we see in systems,” Juliet Chua, DfE’s director general for schools, told MPs.

She admitted that the government had not received enough “detailed data” of the different modes of transport that young people take and confirmed next year’s collection will ask for more detail.

Determining ‘socially necessary’ transport services

Acland-Hood confirmed DfE is working with the Department for Transport (DfT) on non-statutory guidance to help transport authorities determine services that are “socially necessary”.

Chua also referenced the integration of transport provision into local planning in the post-16 white paper, which stated strategic authorities will have a stronger role in transport interventions to “tailor progression pathways to jobs”.

Let’s ensure this youth guarantee works for every young person

The government’s new youth guarantee represents the most significant investment in young people for many years. It arrives at a time when youth unemployment, long-term NEET (not in education, employment or training) levels and rising economic inactivity demand a coherent, long-term response rather than short bursts of initiatives. This welcome development now requires collective leadership to shape it.

The guarantee sets out:

  • A youth guarantee gateway providing every young person on universal credit with a dedicated session and four weeks of intensive support.
  • An expansion of youth hubs to over 360 locations.
  • Nearly 300,000 additional opportunities through work experience and sector-based work academy programmes.
  • Fully funded apprenticeships for eligible young people in SMEs.
  • A jobs guarantee providing six months of paid work for those furthest from the labour market.

Alongside these sit strengthened NEET prevention measures, including improved data sharing, enhanced risk-of-NEET tools, attendance monitoring and pilots of auto-enrolment into post-16 education or training for young people without a confirmed destination.

For the FE and skills sector, the government’s decision to expand foundation apprenticeships, particularly in hospitality and retail, is also significant. These pathways broaden entry points into the labour market, support young people with lower prior attainment or confidence, and strengthen progression routes into sectors where many begin their careers. Combined with wider apprenticeship reforms aimed at improving accessibility and flexibility for the 16-24 group, this creates a much-needed shift towards more inclusive, practical and employer-aligned opportunities.

These measures reflect what Youth Employment UK, the Youth Employment Group, the APPG (the all-party parliamentary group) for youth employment and many leaders across the system have been calling for. Early intervention, personalised support, locally rooted delivery and a stronger supply of high-quality opportunities have long been the backbone of every credible youth employment strategy. The government has listened; now we must help turn ambition into reality.

Four priorities must guide implementation

First, the system must reach economically inactive young people who are not currently engaged with benefits.
If the guarantee is truly universal, it must flex to include young people managing ill health, SEND needs, caring responsibilities or long-term disengagement – many of whom sit outside conditionality. The policy intention is right, but delivery must ensure that support finds these young people, rather than waiting for them to enter the system.

Second, the foundations of post-16 transition must be strengthened.  The guarantee can only deliver if young people can access meaningful destinations. That requires sustainable post-16 funding, high-quality and impartial advice and guidance, sufficient work experience capacity, strong employer engagement, and an FE system capable of delivering new foundation apprenticeships at scale.

Third, non-Mayoral areas must not be disadvantaged. Much early development has taken place in mayoral combined authorities, where capacity, data and partnership structures are more established. To create a genuinely national guarantee, areas without mayors will need clear frameworks, investment and coordination to deliver with equal ambition. A postcode lottery would undermine the guarantee before it begins.

Fourth, employers must be supported to play their full part. The scale of opportunity promised, from work experience and SWAPs to jobs, foundation apprenticeships and early careers roles, depends entirely on employers having the confidence, clarity and capacity to engage. Our APPG inquiry on employer engagement and the youth guarantee highlighted the need for simple and consistent routes into the system, clear quality expectations, practical brokerage to reduce administrative burden and targeted support for SMEs, who often want to help but face the biggest hurdles. Employers must be able to navigate the system easily and trust they are supported to create the high-quality pathways young people deserve.

A shared responsibility

FE will play a vital role, but not in isolation. The youth guarantee requires coordinated action across local authorities, employers, Youth Hubs, Jobcentre Plus, training providers, and youth services. National direction is welcome; delivery will come from local systems working together with clarity and purpose.

Youth Employment UK’s 2030 strategy commits us to acting as a system leader and the national body for youth employment. Through our tools for transition, Good Youth Employment membership, youth voice insights and policy leadership, we will support partners across the country as implementation begins.

This work will take ambition, honesty and shared responsibility. But if we get it right, every young person will have a meaningful pathway into work, learning and progression.

DfE confirms crackdown on HE franchise fraud

Providers delivering higher education courses under franchised arrangements face stricter rules to crack down on students being treated as a “route to fast cash”, the government has confirmed.

Following a consultation, the Department for Education has decided to carry out plans to force providers delivering franchised higher education to 300 or more students to register with the Office for Students (OfS) for their courses to be eligible for student finance.

Yet four in 10 (40 per cent) organisations consulted on the proposals fear that providers will choose to stay below the 300-student threshold to avoid the requirement to register.

DfE launched its proposals in January this year in a bid to boost regulatory oversight of franchised higher education, which has seen rapid expansion in recent years.

The number of students studying at a franchised provider nearly tripled between 2019-20 and 2023-24, from 56,590 to 159,460, representing 5 per cent of all higher education students.

DfE has calculated nearly 100,000 students were studying at a franchised provider that was not registered with the OfS.

The department said rapid growth in franchised courses has led to “serious concerns about poor-quality provision, financial exploitation, and fraudulent practices among some franchise providers”. 

New rules stipulate unregistered providers with 300 or more students will have to apply for OfS registration for their courses to be eligible for student finance for new students in 2028-29.

DfE also confirmed it will keep the 300-threshold open to review and could lower the limit if there is “evidence of poor behaviour or other significant risks to public funds”.

Out of 53 consultation responses, most of which were from universities, 87 per cent of respondents agreed with the introduction of a student number threshold, and 57 per cent agreed the threshold should be set at 300.

The government did receive concerns from consultation participants on OfS capacity, additional bureaucracy, gaming, access and participation, providers’ capacity and financial sustainability.

Multiple provider types will be exempt from registration, DfE confirmed. These include: FE colleges, sixth form colleges, state schools, NHS providers, mayoral combined authorities, police and crime commissioners, local authorities, government departments, and the armed forces.

Timeline

Ministers expect to update the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 law with its franchising amendments in April, with the new rules coming into force from May 2026. 

Unregistered providers will have until June 30, 2026 to submit their applications to the OfS.

DfE will determine eligibility in September 2027 on whether courses delivered by the franchised providers will be designated for student finance in 2028-29. These will be based on student numbers in 2025-26, recorded in the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and individual learner record (ILR) data.

DfE will publish an annual list of franchised providers whose courses are eligible for student finance to allow students to make “informed decisions”.

Registered providers are also required to sign up to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, which investigates higher education student complaints.

The government said it is working “closely” with the OfS, which is expected to publish the outcome of its own consultation next Spring on new requirements for the oversight of subcontractual arrangements in English higher education.

A spokesperson added that ministers will also legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to give the OfS “stronger powers to act quickly where quality is compromised or public money is at risk, ensuring problems in franchised provision can be dealt with more rapidly in future”. 

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the changes come as too many rogue operators are treating students as a “route to fast cash” rather than people investing in their future.

“Those days are over. If you use public money, you will be held accountable and face proper scrutiny.”

Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “It is vital that franchise provision is underpinned by high and robust standards and we support this step, which will help to protect the higher education sector’s world-renowned reputation for quality.

“UUK’s members have been taking extensive actions to tighten controls, and we have long championed the introduction of measures requiring franchise partners to register with the OfS.”

TimeEvent
December 2025Government response to the consultation is published.
April 2026Amendments to the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 are made and laid.
May 2026Subject to Parliamentary approval, amendments come into force.
Midnight on 30 June 2026Deadline for unregistered franchised providers to submit their application to the OfS to be considered ‘in good time’.
September 2027First ‘decision point’. DfE sends its preliminary decision to providers – lead and franchised – on whether the course/s delivered by the franchised providers will be a designated for student finance in 2028/29.
October 2027Period of appeal for franchised providers to submit evidence that the course they deliver on behalf of a registered provider should continue to be eligible for student finance.
November 2027Second ‘decision point’. DfE issues its final decision and publishes a list of approved franchised providers.
August 2028The ‘first implementation year’ starts.
The above timetable will repeat for the 2nd transition year (2028)
September 2029‘Decision point’. DfE sends its decision to providers – lead and franchised – on whether the course/s delivered by the franchised providers will be a designated for student finance in 2030/31.
October 2029DfE issues its final decision and publishes a list of approved franchised providers.

DWP promises foundation apprenticeships in hospitality and retail

Foundation apprenticeships will soon be opened up to sectors like hospitality and retail, the government has confirmed.

Last month’s budget announced an extra £725 million investment into the apprenticeships system over the next three years.

The Department for Work and Pensions has now provided more detail on what that cash will fund, claiming that around 50,000 additional apprenticeship opportunities will be created.

Here’s what we know so far…

More foundation apprenticeships 

The first seven foundation apprenticeships, which are level 2 apprenticeships lasting eight months designed to be a stepping stone to higher apprenticeships, were launched this autumn in the construction sector, digital, engineering and manufacturing and health and social care.

Ministers previously came under fire for excluding high-demand industries from the offer.

The DWP has now confirmed it has “plans to open up new waves of foundation apprenticeships in sectors such as hospitality and retail”.

Details are however sparse. It is not yet known specifically how many more foundation apprenticeships will be created, the full range of sectors, and from when.

£140m NEET pilot

The £725 million cash injection also includes £140 million for a pilot where “mayors will be able to connect young people – especially those not in education, employment or training (NEET) with thousands of apprenticeship opportunities at local employers”.

Details are again light but the DWP added: “By partnering with regional leaders who best understand their local economies, these pilots will ensure young people can access training that meets the needs of employers in their area.”

Free apprenticeships for under 25s in SMEs

As announced by the chancellor last month, part of the £725 million will also fully fund apprenticeships for under 25s in small and medium-sized businesses.

Since the apprenticeship levy was introduced in 2017, only large employers with a payroll in excess of £3 million pay into the levy at a rate of 0.5 per cent of salary costs.

The contributions go towards funding all parts of the apprenticeship system, including 95 per cent of training of apprentices in non-levy paying businesses. SMEs then make a co-investment payment of 5 per cent.

In 2024, the Conservatives scrapped the 5 per cent co-investment payment for SMEs when they hire an apprentice under the age of 22.

This government is now extending this co-investment relief to those aged 22 to 24 from the 2026-27 academic year.

Growth and skills levy courses

From April 2026, the apprenticeship levy will be turned into a “growth and skills levy” where it will be able to fund a range of non-apprenticeship courses.

The courses will be called apprenticeship “units” and could last just a week.

Today’s announcement confirmed businesses will “benefit from a major boost in flexibility as new short courses in cutting-edge areas including AI, engineering and digital skills will begin rolling out from April 2026”.

“This includes working closely with the defence sector to develop a new suite of flexible, work-based training options to help employers upskill their existing workforce in the critical skills needed for future success.”

It is not yet known when the government will release the list of apprenticeship units that will be funded from April.

‘This funding is a downpayment on young people’s futures’

The reforms are designed to tackle the decline in apprenticeship starts among young people over the last decade – which have fallen by almost 40 per cent since 2015-16.

On Saturday the government also announced more details about how the promised “youth guarantee” will create 350,000 “training or workplace opportunities” and 55,000 subsidised jobs to tackle high levels of young people who are NEET.

DWP said over the coming months it will work “intensively” with its agency Skills England and business on the “right balance to further boost apprenticeship starts for young people while delivering the right flexibilities for business”.

Skills England will also drive forward a “renewed Skills Inward Investment and Infrastructure offer for business, co-created with the Office for Investment”. This will involve “meeting investors to guide them through the UK skills system and potential funding streams to get training for jobs off the ground as quickly as possible and support young people in their careers”.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “It’s time to change the way apprenticeships are viewed and to put them on an equal footing with university. This is a defining cause for this government and a key step towards our ambition to get two-thirds of young people in higher-level learning or apprenticeships.”

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden (pictured) added: “This funding is a downpayment on young people’s futures and the future of the country, creating real pathways into good jobs and providing work experience, skills training and guaranteed employment.”

Funded jobs and training places announced in NEET crackdown

The government has promised to create 350,000 “training or workplace opportunities” and 55,000 subsidised jobs in a bid to tackle high levels of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). 

Described as a “major intervention” in reducing the nearly one million young NEETs, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) claimed a total of 900,000 young people on Universal Credit will be referred for “intensive support” towards work or training. 

The measures will be funded from a £820 million package announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in last month’s budget, covering the spending review period up to March 2029. 

Those refusing support “without a good reason” could face benefit sanctions, today’s announcement confirmed.

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said the package was “a down payment on young people’s futures and the future of the country, creating real pathways into good jobs and providing work experience, skills training and guaranteed employment.”

Jobs guarantee

First touted by the chancellor in September, state-backed jobs for out-of-work 18- to 21-year-olds will be rolled out to 55,000 young people from spring 2026 in six areas with the “highest need”: Birmingham and Solihull, the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire and Essex, Central and East Scotland and South West and South East Wales.

The government will fund 25 hours per week at the relevant minimum wage, but young people will need to have been claiming universal credit and looking for work for 18 months to be eligible. 

DWP claimed at least 1,000 young people will start a guaranteed job in the first six months of the scheme.

“Fully funded wrap-around support” was also promised, but there was no detail on what that includes in today’s announcement. 

NEET-to-work routes

For those not able to access the jobs guarantee, DWP has set out sixth “pathways” that work coaches will use to steer young people into work or training. These include apprenticeships, work experience, work, other forms of training, “learning” or a six week workplace training programme with a guaranteed job interview.

The department said around 300,000 extra training or “workplace opportunities” would be created with employers in the construction, hospitality and health and social care sectors. But there was no detail on how any new programmes will be funded, commissioned or quality-assured.

A written ministerial statement published after the announcement said the 300,000 opportunities would be a mix of 150,000 work experience places and 145,000 additional places on sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs). These already provide six weeks of employer-linked training, work experience and a job interview. While popular, the SWAP scheme’s success has divided experts. 

So-called “youth hubs” will be “expanded to every area of Great Britain” providing training, CV advice, careers guidance, housing advice and mental health support. DWP said there will be over 360 once they’re rolled out, but today’s announcements didn’t say where they will be or who will run them.

More to come

Today’s announcement follows a government-commissioned independent investigation into NEETs led by former Labour minister and social mobility commissioner Alan Milburn. 

The review, announced last month, will place a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disabilities. Over a quarter of NEET young people cite long-term sickness or disability as a barrier to participation in education or training, up from 12 per cent in 2013-24, according to officials.

Interim findings will be shared with the government in spring 2026, with the final report published in summer 2026. 

And the recent post-16 education and skills white paper pledged a range of anti-NEET measures, including new “risk of NEET” indicators, auto-enrolling school-leavers at a “default” further education provider, and improving data sharing and tracking of young people between schools, local authorities and further education providers. 

Emily Andrews, director of policy and research at Learning and Work Institute, said: “We are pleased to see a more comprehensive offer developing, with a range of new opportunities for young people to access experience and training in the workplace.

“Crucially, the national system-level offer is being balanced by more place-based approaches, including trailblazers and the continued expansion of youth hubs to reach young people outside the benefits system.”

Fundraising and volunteering heroes honoured at Lords awards

Exceptional college student and staff social action heroes were honoured this afternoon as the Good for Me Good for FE awards returned to the House of the Lords for the 2025 winners’ ceremony.

Finalists across eight categories were welcomed to an afternoon tea reception hosted by awards patron, and former education secretary, Baroness Nicky Morgan, where winners were announced.

The awards are sponsored by NCFE, FE Associates and The Skills Network. FE Week is the awards media partner.

Opening the ceremony, Morgan said: “I am delighted to be here today, celebrating all your incredible achievements. FE is an inspirational sector and we need to spread the word!”

The Good for Me Good for FE campaign was founded in 2021 by London South East Colleges, Loughborough College and East College, but now involves around 150 colleges, to champion the value to society of the thousands of hours of volunteering and fundraising carried out by colleges, staff and students.

This year’s overall winner, selected by Morgan from the winners of each category, was Queen Mary’s College. Their college-wide social action programme mobilised nearly 1,000 first-year students to raise over £30,000 for more than 100 charities, building learners’ teamwork and problem-solving skills in the process.

“It just shows what young people can do when you give them an opportunity and put your trust in them!”

Collecting their award, principal Mark Henderson and colleague Victoria Renault said: “We are so proud to receive this award, but it is all about our first-year students. They absolutely shattered our expectations, putting in huge effort and raising an amazing amount of money.

“It just shows what young people can do when you give them an opportunity and put your trust in them!” 

Among category winners, the individual fundraiser of the year went to accounting lecturer James Shields from Loughborough College Group, whose “amazing enthusiasm and leadership” saw him organise sponsored walks, raffles and a half-marathon to support a colleague with a rare brain tumour. His efforts raised more than £10,000 and inspired a college-wide culture of social responsibility, according to the judges.

Student volunteer of the year was awarded to Olivia Cook from Newark College (part of Lincoln College Group) for her community response following the tragic loss of her father to knife crime. Through her ‘Cookies Crusaders’ foundation, she has given over 880 volunteering hours, installed bleed kits across Newark, trained as a ‘stop the bleed’ instructor and led lifesaving education sessions for students, staff and the public.

Other winners included projects supporting hospices, asylum seekers, mental health charities and food insecurity.

Sam Parrett, group principal and CEO of London South East Colleges (part of Elevare Civic Education Group), and co-founder of Good for Me Good for FE, told guests: “I am proud to be standing here celebrating the very best of the FE sector.

“Good for Me Good for FE recognises the vast amount of social impact activities that students and staff are doing at colleges across the country to support their communities. The collective impact of this is immense, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone involved.”

Legrave’s last orders: build cash, challenge leaders and don’t ignore teaching

Amid the buzz of the WorldSkills UK national finals at Cardiff and Vale College, Shelagh Legrave is animated but characteristically measured. 

With just weeks left of her four-year stint as Further Education Commissioner (FEC), she speaks with the clarity of someone who’s spent decades leading in further education, and the bluntness of someone whose role has required tough judgment. 

It was then education secretary Gavin Williamson who announced Legrave’s appointment as the successor to Richard Atkins back in April 2021. By the time Legrave took office that October, Williamson had been sacked following heavy criticism over his handling of the education brief during Covid.

It was a time when the college sector felt bruised, not only from the pandemic but also from a previous FEC tenure characterised by fear for many principals. 

“I think there were 23 colleges in intervention when I started, and now there are eight,” she says. “That was one of my missions, to reduce the number of colleges in intervention.”

In her first interview with FE Week at the 2021 Association of Colleges (AoC) conference, Legrave told us she wanted to “change the image of the FEC from fear to support”. Four years on, she argues the shift is real. 

“I feel we’re no longer the police that people don’t want to invite in; that if a college gets into difficulty, they’ll send me an email or ring me up or say, can you come and give us some help?”

Rising tides… and dangers

With leaders like the AoC’s David Hughes enthusiastically hailing a “turning of the tide” on funding thanks to a demographic boom and rising rates for young people, a vigilant Legrave is clear that college CEOs and their governors need to be careful. 

“I think everyone’s feeling cheerful at the moment because the demographics are going up. But when they start to go down? How hard is it going to hit everyone? I don’t think it’s going to be that easy for people who haven’t got enough financial resilience.”

In the face of teacher strike action at 30 colleges next month, and longstanding industrial unease everywhere else, Legrave urged principals to resist the temptation to pump 16-19 funding increases into staff pay rises. Colleges must, Legrave says, build up cash before making any other decisions about how to spend extra funding.

“I would always say to college governors, set a cash level that you know you can never go beneath before making any decisions. Yes, invest in your people, people deserve to be paid well. There will continue to be capital money, but those grants are never going to be enough to resolve all the issues. So it’s about building up your cash reserves to deal with that. That’s what I would prioritise. Cash is king.”

There are certainly fewer colleges needing emergency bailouts these days. “But there are still colleges who go down to two cash days,” says Legrave, even though FEC guidance has been revised up from a 25-cash-day minimum to 40. “With my business head on, you’re too close to the wire if you’re much below 40 days of cash.”

But while the outlook for 16-19 funding is “undoubtedly much stronger”, adult education, particularly for the specialist adult education institutes, is “a huge challenge”.  

Legrave reels off, without notes, the financial perils facing organisations like Northern College (set to merge with Barnsley College next year), Mary Ward Centre (undergoing an FEC structure and prospects appraisal) and Richmond and Hillcroft College “which is also struggling financially”.

Her prescription is blunt: merge or charge. 

“I’d love a direction of travel for adult education to include more funding to support those colleges. But I equally accept there isn’t enough money to go around. If it becomes clear there isn’t going to be any more money, you’ve either got to merge with a college that’s got 16-18, or you do what Mark [Malcomson, principal of City Lit] has done very cleverly, develop your commercial offer.”

Education, education, education

Legacies of debt leaving some colleges with “too much property” and badly forecast capital sale receipts have peppered Legrave’s college intervention reports over the years.

But there are also instances where leaders have lost focus on the core business of teaching and learning.

“One of my takeaways from this role is that if people haven’t got education at the heart of what they’re doing, then they’re not running an effective college,” she says, reflecting on the five colleges to have been deemed ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted over her term.

“Where colleges have achieved an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted, it’s because they haven’t been talking about teaching and learning,” she explains. 

Legrave traces these more cultural failings back over a decade. Staff training budgets, she recalls, were among the first casualties of the coalition-era austerity years. 

“Nobody had any money,” she says. Colleges stripped back training to survive, and have never quite recovered the professional teaching identity she believes is needed.

“FE has always struggled to bring a professional group together of teachers who want to be members of an organisation and continue to talk about teaching and learning,” she says. Renewed investment in leadership helped, but “there’s not enough going into professionalising teachers in FE”.

Vulnerable colleges and vanity projects

The Department for Education’s recent refresh of college oversight beds in one of Legrave’s standout legacies – shifting the commissioner’s office from a service imposed on fearful colleges in trouble, to one of preventative action and an offer to guide and assist all colleges whether or not they are in imminent danger. 

But while the pace of college mergers has slowed under Legrave’s tenure – she counts 10 over her term – there are still a handful of small colleges she is worried about that she will “watch with interest” in her retirement. 

You can probably run a sixth form college on as little as £6 million, she says, but a general further education college bringing in less than £20 million is “vulnerable”. A quick glance at college finance data will show 20 in that position. 

Her advice: don’t go hunting for “income streams you can’t control”, a nod to franchising, subcontracting and risky commercial ventures that have landed multiple colleges in trouble. 

Legrave is candid. “You’ve got to look back to some leaders in the past and think that was a vanity project – why did you do that?”

While she says most leaders today have “a strong set of values”, the temptation to build, expand or chase prestige hasn’t disappeared entirely.

We don’t need another hero

The calibre of leaders has improved though, helped, in part, by better leadership training, mentoring and initiatives like the ‘Just One More Thing’ events where chairs, governance leads and principals share best practice. 

Legrave warned college governors about the dangers of “hero principals”, which are thankfully on the decline. A deficit in values is just as likely to land leaders in hot water as a deficit of cash, she says. 

“We’re in an age where you haven’t got as many hero leaders as perhaps you had in the past, though Weston College was an obvious example of that.”

For nearly two years, Legrave and her team investigated an unprecedented failure of leadership and governance at Weston College that saw the “concealment” of £2.5 million in undeclared payments to its then-principal, Sir Paul Phillips.

The saga could have done immense damage to the college sector had it not been for the rapid intervention and improvement roadmap put in place, under Legrave’s supervision, by the college’s new leadership. 

But it was all avoidable, “with a set of governors who really challenged”, she said.

“There is a danger in any college, and that danger definitely still exists, that either the principal is so dominant that the governors accept exactly what they’re saying, or that the chair is so dominant that there’s no effective discussion at board.

“So when we went into Weston College, we said to the governors, why weren’t you asking questions? And because the college was so successful, they didn’t feel the need to.

‘Cash is king’, Legrave tells college leaders

Not here to be liked

Despite a reputation for calm authority, Legrave is disarmingly reflective about her own limitations.

Without naming names, there were “some colleges where we didn’t intervene quickly enough” and some where “we didn’t know there was an issue because our risk systems weren’t sufficient enough”.

This was, perhaps, behind the surprise post-16 white paper announcement of new ‘regional improvement teams’ that will keep a closer eye on college performance. 

“Possibly, if I had a bigger ego, I might have had even more influence,” she says. But she is unapologetic about the way she has carried out the role: “You don’t do this job because you want to be liked.”

Some colleges, she acknowledges, “still feel very bruised by the FE Commissioner”.

But she insists she has always tried to deal with people as human beings first: “I’ve had some very tough conversations… but I’ve tried to treat everybody as human beings and support them to improve.”

Passing the baton

The highlight of the job though is seeing colleges emerge “from adversity and are now shining lights in their local communities”.

“Look at Coventry, look at Hull. Seeing colleges come through strongly and start to shine, that’s what I love.”

In just a few weeks, the reins will be handed to Education Partnership North East CEO Ellen Thinnesen. The handover meetings have begun, with a caseload Thinnesen will already be familiar with as one of Legrave’s national leaders of further education. 

Taking the leap from running an ‘outstanding’ college group to being immersed in the world of the civil service, just as Thinnesen will do, was “a huge learning curve” for Legrave. 

“It was difficult initially. You’re one of many people. You haven’t got the rituals that you’d have in a college of being in charge. So it’s a very different way of operating. 

“I’ve really enjoyed it, but you just have to adapt and ensure that your voice is heard, because what’s really important as FEC is you have practitioner knowledge, and the civil servants really benefit from that.”

Crucially, she says, Thinnesen must ensure the sector continues to see the commissioner as “a resource they can use and rely on”.

After 45 years of work, Legrave is finally taking a breather. She becomes chair of the Sussex Cricket Foundation, continues her work with the Royal Anniversary Trust, and hopes to travel. “I love sport… I also want to enjoy myself,” she laughs.

ESOL cuts are legal, lawyers tell Reform mayor

A mayor’s plan to cut off funding for ESOL classes has received the all-clear from her combined authority’s legal team.

Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Dame Andrea Jenkyns plans to withdraw funding for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses when control of £17-19 million in adult skills funding is devolved next September.

Jenkyns argues the courses don’t benefit the “native” Lincolnshire people she was elected to serve and that the estimated £1 million spent on ESOL provision in the county each year should be directed at English literacy and numeracy.

But in response to fears that cutting ESOL would cause the government to withhold funding from the combined authority, officials took legal advice.

A report detailing the mayor’s plans for adult skills said: “The authority has sought legal advice and the advice received shows that the authority is legally permitted to make these changes.”

The council said “shifting” ESOL provision into “broader learning environments” would create a “more inclusive culture”.

Its report added: “By embedding language support into wider programmes, non-English speakers may benefit from integrated learning experiences that combine language development with vocational or community skills.”

The decision will go before the combined authority’s mayor and representatives of its three constituent local authorities, one led by Reform UK and two that are Conservative-controlled, next week.

If approved by a simple majority, officials will run a formal consultation with residents, training providers and employers ahead of a final decision in February.

Thousands affected

An impact assessment suggests the worst impacted residents include non-English speakers in deprived communities and coastal areas.

In the 2023-24 academic year, about £1 million was spent on delivering ESOL courses to 1,427 residents in the combined authority area.

Diana Sutton, director at the Bell Foundation, which advocates for language teaching for communities to overcome exclusion, said that Greater Lincolnshire’s proposals, “if properly implemented,” could see language support embedded more firmly in skills-based training.

She added: “It is vital that this aspiration becomes a reality.

“However, as stated in the equalities impact assessment, these proposals must also recognise that English language skills are essential for community cohesion, and that there is a need to ensure that there is still some provision available for both refugees and settled communities whose first language is not English.”

Around one million people in Lincolnshire report English as their main language, while 13,490 cannot speak very well and 2,128 cannot speak English “at all”, according to the assessment.

Officials have suggested the new anti-ESOL funding policy could include “exemptions” for recent arrivals with refugee status, and encourage providers to create courses that “focus on employer skills shortages”.

Officials could also provide “targeted support” for the most deprived areas, with providers “incentivised” to ensure residents are aware of available study opportunities.

‘A false economy’

County council Lib-Dem councillor Martin Christopher said ESOL classes weren’t just about “being nice” as they benefit the local and national economy.

He added: “The local Reform-led government here thinks they’re saving cash by cutting the classes, but research proves them wrong – it’s a false economy.

“Experts have shown that for every £1 the government spends on teaching English, they get multiple pounds back.

“Why? Because when people learn English, they get better jobs, earn more money, and pay more taxes.

“By cutting the funding, they are cutting off a huge future income stream for the country.

“It’s like stopping a small investment that would have earned a huge profit.”

Jenkyns did not respond to requests for comment, but a spokesperson for her authority said: “Our priorities are to ensure funding is directed toward upskilling individuals in essential areas such as numeracy and literacy, where the need is greatest.

“This will include an evaluation of existing programmes, including ESOL, to determine how best to meet the needs of our communities.

“We remain committed to promoting inclusive learning opportunities and will continue to consult with stakeholders to ensure any changes reflect both educational priorities and the diverse needs of learners.”