One in five colleges will be allowed to keep close to one-third of their allocated adult education budget despite failing to deliver any courses for the funding last year, FE Week can reveal.

Figures shared by the Education and Skills Funding Agency show that 33 colleges missed a generous 68 per cent funding performance threshold, introduced in response to the impact of Covid.

Of the 33 colleges, 27 face a maximum clawback valued at the gap between their actual delivery and the 68 per cent threshold. For example, if a college’s performance was 60 per cent then the agency will consider recovering only eight per cent of the allocation.

The remaining six colleges have submitted a business case in the hope of being allowed to further reduce or simply cancel any clawback.

All colleges that reached 68 per cent of the allocation have retained 100 per cent of their 2019/20 adult education budget funding allocation.

ESFA chief executive Eileen Milner said during a Public Accounts Committee hearing on Thursday that no clawback had yet been taken and that they are offering the opportunity for colleges to submit a business case to show why funding shouldn’t be repaid – insisting they are not simply “seizing” the money.

While the agency would not name the six, Shaun Bailey, the MP for West Bromwich West who sits on the PAC committee, revealed during Thursday’s hearing that Sandwell College is concerned about the possibility of AEB clawback.

Milner said she was in “very close contact” with Sandwell’s principal, Graham Pennington, about the issue. She added that the college does “absolutely excellent work to support students, particularly the most disadvantaged and have done so throughout the pandemic” and she wants to “celebrate what they are doing at the most difficult of times”.

After the hearing, Pennington would not be drawn on how much funding clawback Sandwell College currently faces but told FE Week that colleges “need all the funding they have available in order to support their students in these difficult times”.

The ESFA first told the sector in March that they would not force repayment of AEB funds this year owing to Covid-19. But officials changed their mind in July and announced that colleges would retain their full 2019/20 allocation only if they delivered 80 per cent of activity in the whole year.

Following a sector backlash, the ESFA withdrew these plans one week later. But then, in September, the agency backtracked again and said it would “consider reconciling any under delivery up to 68 per cent” unless the provider can justify why they shouldn’t by submitting a business case.

Speaking at a PAC hearing, Milner revealed that when the agency proposed to not take clawback they had “quite a lot of correspondence from colleges who felt it was unfair and a disincentive in fact to not take money back for underperformance”.

“We are walking a tight line between understanding the particular circumstances and at the same time being able to fulfil that reasonable test of spending public money,” she said.

Milner told the committee that the agency is currently looking “carefully” at a “very small number of colleges” that have so far flagged they want to put a business case in to keep their full allocation despite underperformance, and it is “only then that we will consider taking money back”.

She added that the agency is doing this through “conversation and opportunity, not by bureaucratic approach to seizing money from people”.

Data published on Thursday by the ESFA showed that the number of enrolments on to adult education courses in the months following lockdown dropped by half compared to the same period last year.

There were 208,790 starts on adult programmes between March 23 and July 31, 2020 compared to 420,910 in that period in 2018/19.

A new apprenticeship provider blames the impact of Covid for a second poor Ofsted report and is hoping to be given a rare lifeline by the government.

Doncaster Conferences, Catering and Events Limited (DCCE) could be kicked off the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) after the inspectorate found it had made ‘insufficient progress’ in consecutive monitoring visits between February and October 2020.

But the provider contests that the restrictions placed on the hospitality industry due to the coronavirus pandemic “hampered” its ability to deliver the progress required.

When asked whether DCCE would be removed, the ESFA equivocated by saying that, while it “will always take action to protect apprentices if a training provider is not fit for purpose”, they were “currently assessing Ofsted’s findings” and would contact the provider to set out what actions they will take “in due course”.

In DCCE’s latest report, published on Monday, inspectors pulled the provider up on how: “Almost all the apprentices that remain on their programme are beyond their planned end date and are making slow progress towards achieving their apprenticeship.”

The report says DCCE had 20 apprentices at the time of writing, all of whom were employed by the charity that owns the provider, Doncaster Culture & Leisure Trust, which runs several leisure facilities in the town.

At the time of the visit, ten apprentices were studying a customer service practitioner programme at level 2, six were studying a level 3 leisure duty manager or team leader/supervisor programme, and four were on a level 5 operations/departmental manager apprenticeship.

A “great majority” of them, the report reads, “have not acquired substantial new skills or knowledge since the previous monitoring visit”.

Furthermore, DCCE’s staff had not ensured apprentices receive their entitlement to off-the-job training, so the provider’s delivery “still does not meet the principles of an apprenticeship”.

Apprentices who were beyond the end date for their apprenticeship are “yet to be provided with any work” to prepare them for their assessments in English and maths, the report continues.

The apprentices were put on furlough following the UK’s first lockdown in March, and inspectors found once they returned, tutors had been “too slow” to make contact with them, limiting the progress the apprentices have made.

DCCE has protested that when the apprentices returned to work in July or August, their position had changed “significantly” due to the changes put upon the leisure and hospitality industry because of Covid-19.

A spokesperson told FE Week: “It is fair to say the lockdown period and then the restrictions placed on our industry have undoubtedly hampered our ability to deliver the progress required at this point.”

DCCE has since moved to improve its apprenticeship programme, saying it has already completed a structural review of teaching, and recruited a trustee with school governor experience.

There was also a further review to ensure its programme is “fit for purpose”. 

Providers who receive ‘insufficient progress’ ratings at two consecutive monitoring visits are “normally” pulled from the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers, according to ESFA rules.

This means that, although the provider can continue to deliver to its existing apprentices, it cannot start any new apprentices and must wait at least 18 months from the date of the monitoring visit report that judged them to have made ‘insufficient progress’ before reapplying to the register.

A college leader has scooped a prestigious lifetime achievement award at the Pearson Teaching Awards for his transformational work.

The “inspirational” teachers and school and college staff to win the awards have been revealed throughout this week on the BBC’s The One Show.

Now in its 22nd year, the awards celebrate the best teaching across the UK and thousands of nominations were received for the gold award winners in what has been a challenging year for the sector. 

Ten schools and school teachers have also been awarded, as covered by our sister paper FE Week.

Here are this year’s winners…

 

Lifetime achievement award

Dr Paul Phillips CBE – Weston College, Weston-super-Mare

Paul is described as having “transformed” Weston College into “one of the finest schools in the country”.  He was appointed as principal in 2001 and in 2017 he was recognised as one of the National Leaders of Further Education.

Aside from his own students, he leads prisoner education in 19 prisons across the country involving 11,000 learners and has built positive mental health partnerships with the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire NHS Trusts.

 

FE lecturer of the year

Phil Brookes – Dudley College of Technology

Phil is described as having spent his career achieving some of the best results in the country with some of its most deprived students.

Aside from the academic, he has arranged placements in Berlin, Spain, Italy and India for his students, has set up live magazine photoshoots so his students can work with renowned industry professionals, and leads on the regional ‘Living Memory’ project to promote Black Country art and history.

His work has been exhibited at the New Art Gallery in Walsall, as well as published in his own book 60 Degrees North.

 

 

FE team of the year

ETC Prince’s Trust – Stockton Riverside College, Teeside

The team was nominated for their “exemplary” work helping young people, many of whom were facing significant challenges in their personal lives.

They also work with a number of military veterans, turning around their lives helping them find a new purpose through their outstanding partnerships with employers and training organisations.

 

 

Digital innovator of the year

Stefanie Campbell – South Eastern Regional College, Northern Ireland

Stefanie is recognised as a “force of nature” at her school for her drive to use technology to enhance learning at all levels.

She has created 1 minute CPD sessions for all staff to learn new skills and better teachers, and has a constant supply of digital innovations to support her colleagues.

This groundwork was essential when the college moved to online teaching in March due to Covid-19, with no delays in learning, and some departments even reporting better engagement online than they had previously had in person.

New funding to help colleges with a poor cash position to cover the costs of staff absences incurred between November and the Christmas holidays has been announced.

The Department for Education said the ‘Covid workforce fund’, announced this afternoon, will be backdated to 1 November, and colleges’ eligibility will be based on their cash position in their November financial statement.

“It is designed for schools and colleges facing significant funding pressure, and will cover the costs of high levels of staff absences over a minimum threshold, to help ensure schools and colleges can remain open,” the department said.

However, it has not said how much funding will be available.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Keeping schools and colleges open is a national priority, which is why I am launching the Covid workforce fund, to support schools and colleges facing significant budget pressures and staff absences.”

Colleges must be experiencing a short-term teacher absence rate at or above 20 per cent, as well as or instead of a lower long-term teacher absence rate at or above 10 per cent.

Costs, which include bringing in supply teachers and paying additional hours for part-time teaching staff, can only be claimed when incurred above this rate.

The department has said claims for support staff absences will be “on an exceptional only basis”, where they are necessary to keep colleges open.

Detailed guidance will be published “shortly,” the department added. 

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that while the additional funding is “welcome” it comes with “many caveats and will not fully address the severe financial pressure on schools and colleges caused by the Covid pandemic”.

“It provides only for staffing cover in the current half term, and does not take account of the fact that schools and colleges have been plugging staffing gaps since reopening in September,” he added.

“Neither does it address the enormous costs involving in implementing and managing Covid safety measures.”

The extra funding for colleges in a poor cash position comes after the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s top officials revealed to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee yesterday they had identified 64 colleges at risk of running out of cash.

The agency predicts £70 million will be spent this year on emergency funding for colleges, which is above their previous predictions.

The DfE has told colleges today if they need additional support on top of the funding and advice already available, they should contact their ESFA territorial teams

Top civil servants have inadvertently exposed a rift at the top of the Department for Education over the future of college independence, ahead of a delayed FE white paper.

In a Public Accounts Committee meeting on Thursday the Education and Skills Funding Agency director, Matthew Atkinson, told MPs he would “definitely like more power” to intervene in the running of colleges.

He had already told the influential committee the Hadlow College and West Kent and Ashford College insolvencies would probably cost the taxpayer over £60 million – and £6 million had already gone towards paying administrators their hourly fees.

Meanwhile 64 colleges are at risk of running out of cash, said Atkinson, who also revealed the government would spend around £70 million on emergency funding for colleges this year, “more than we thought” would be needed.

However, he was quickly forced to backtrack on his call for more powers after his more senior fellow panellist Susan Acland-Hood, permanent secretary of the Department for Education, disagreed with him.

Quipping that she “appreciated Matt’s desire for ultimate power”, Acland-Hood urged caution in “increasing DfE powers to intervene and act, as opposed to trying to support good-quality college capacity, and build it up”.

“I’m not sure I would frame it in terms of the independence of the sector being a barrier to its health and sustainability.

“I think it’s really important, given the amount of public money going in, where there are real difficulties and failures, we can both support and intervene.”

She said the “most powerful thing” the government had done was supporting “really good” college leaders to take on and bring forward improvements in colleges. 

“My starting point wouldn’t be that we should focus on continually adding powers as the solution to all of these challenges.”

Atkinson then attempted to downplay his own comments as “slightly flippant,” saying: “It is not actually necessary to have more powers. 

“It is helpful to have the insolvency regime as an absolute fall back because it tends to make people behave a bit better.”

Yet their exchange has inadvertently lifted the lid on a tug of war going on between the department and its agency about whether colleges should be stripped of some of their independence. 

Speaking to FE Week after the hearing, committee member Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP for The Cotswolds, said it was a revealing exchange as: “It exposed the fact the government obviously don’t think the system is working properly.

“I mean, he wouldn’t have said that unless he felt he needed more powers.” 

FE Week was first to report in May that the DfE was working on a plan to bring colleges back under public ownership, as part of the FE white paper.

The third civil servant giving evidence to the PAC was the chief executive of the ESFA, Eileen Milner, who under repeated questioning appeared to confirm a likely delay to the publication of the white paper, which she now hoped would be published before April 2021.

The FE Commissioner’s annual report for 2018-19, released last February, detailed how the number of colleges entering formal intervention had risen by two-thirds on the previous year, mostly as a result of leaders’ and governors’ “weak decision-making”.

Two influential reports from former local government boss Dame Mary Ney and the National Audit Office censured the government for how it intervened with struggling colleges.

Ney’s report, commissioned by the DfE, and released in July, said a “lack of a sector-wide strategy” and cuts to the ESFA’s staffing and resources had created a relationship between government and colleges that is “largely contractual” and “focused on financial failure, which inhibits colleges being transparent with government”.

She recommended ESFA staff become “active participants in nurturing college development” and called for a “long-term consideration” of a “new regulatory regime”.

The NAO report from September, which revealed the government was intervening in 48 per cent of colleges as of last February, recommended an evaluation and improvement of the effectiveness of the DfE’s intervention regime.

The FE sector has attempted to pre-empt a grab by the government on its independence, with the Association of Colleges-backed Independent Commission on the College of the Future proposing earlier this month that colleges ought to create their own networks which would have powers over the funding and accountability of individual colleges. 

The association’s chief executive, David Hughes, said colleges were keen on the proposal and the commission had reached “a consensus with employers, government, students and colleges about the system needed to get the most out of colleges over the coming years”. 

Talks are under way to replace functional skills exams with “portfolio evidence grading” for apprentices who are unable to sit the tests due to Covid-19 restrictions, FE Week can reveal.

Around 30,000 work-based learners, mostly in the health and care sectors, are currently estimated to be stuck in limbo and unable to complete the English and maths programme because their employer will not release them to attend test centres or allow onsite visitors in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus.

Many awarding bodies have struggled to create remote invigilation and testing solutions, while Ofqual and the government has ruled out a return to centre-assessed grades, despite pleas from the sector.

Following a crunch meeting with awarding bodies, Ofqual and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers last week, skills minister Gillian Keegan has said she is “more committed than ever to finding a solution”.

AELP has now been given the green light to explore with Ofqual a “portfolio of evidence” solution to allow apprentices to progress. Discussions began this week.

Under the proposal, students and their training provider would submit evidence, such as initial and on-programme assessments, marked mock documentation, evidence of teaching and learning through a learning platform, workshop or group sessions, and any one-to-one sessions with trainers.

A “professional discussion” would follow. Awarding organisations would then carry out a “remote sample check to ensure that consistent and fair assessment judgments are being made by centres”.

Ofqual said it was now reviewing the proposal but could not say when it would make a decision on whether or not to sign it off.

A Department for Education spokesperson added: “We continue to work closely with Ofqual, awarding organisations and sector representatives to monitor the situation and agree how we can, together, identify and support apprentices that are unable to take their functional skills exam.”

AELP managing director Jane Hickie said she hopes “for the sakes of the apprentices and their frustrated employers” that agreement on a way forward can be reached as soon as possible, warning that the “logjam” of apprentices unable to complete their programmes is “growing bigger”. 

Jill Whittaker, managing director of independent provider HIT Training, has hundreds of such apprentices and told FE Week she has seen a “huge increase” in reported “mental health concerns in our learners” as the uncertainty around their programmes is “adding to the strain on them”, particularly in care settings.

She said that she “fully supports” the AELP proposal of introducing portfolio evidenced grading for functional skills learners until normal testing is available again for all.

“It would be unthinkable to delay GCSE, A-level and degree students’ grades for months and months, with no end in sight, until a solution for testing could be found. It should be equally unthinkable for apprentices and other FE and work-based learners,” Whittaker told FE Week.

Hickie said the government’s initial response to the functional skills issue was “disappointingly slow”, and while DfE and Ofqual have tinkered with the system to ease the situation, Whittaker says the solutions put forward by officials have been “insufficient”.

In October, the ESFA extended the end dates for legacy functional skills qualifications, set to end on December 31, 2020, through to July 2021. The agency also temporarily suspended the requirement within the apprenticeship funding rules for level 2 apprentices to attempt level 2 functional skills assessments.

And earlier this month, the ESFA expanded its “examination support service” to allow apprenticeship providers to book Covid-secure exam space, and invigilators, and to claim additional funding where this exceeds their normal delivery costs.

Hickie said that while the AELP welcomes the “effort to move things forward”, the authorities have “acknowledged our concerns about employers not releasing apprentices from the workplace to attend test centres and so this doesn’t really represent a step change in their approach”.

England’s biggest awarding bodies are continuing their developments of remote functional skills tests to help the affected learners, but it could still be months before they’re made available.

Pearson is currently working on an online proctoring solution, while City & Guilds is running trials for remote invigilation solutions and they plan to launch “further scalable solutions over the next few months”.

Whittaker said HIT Training is part of a pilot for an online testing solution put forward by NCFE, but this is “only just starting and is not yet ready”.

Some awarding bodies have, however, been successful in rolling out “at-home” functional skills tests. These include Open Awards and Highfield, which involve remotely invigilated online assessments using technology such as screen share, webcams, digital audio and a tethered smart device (like a mobile phone).

Applications to the government’s register of apprenticeship training providers will not reopen until at least April 2021.

And when it does restart, there will be a “new service” for firms to apply through.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency closed the register to new bids on April 15 to “review our future approach”.

Officials have since remained tight-lipped about when it would reopen but tweeted out a digital apprenticeship service “road map” on Thursday which revealed their current timeline.

Under a column for April to June 2021, the road map says there will be a “new service for providers to apply to join the register online”.

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers told FE Week that they receive an “enquiry every other week” about when the register will reopen so it is a “significant issue”.

“The register has been shut since April and so we are now looking at it being closed for a year, which is way too long, bearing in mind that these days all subcontractors need to be registered as well,” AELP chief policy officer Simon Ashworth said.

Before the ESFA closed the register, applications were made through the agency’s e-tendering portal Bravo, which was shut earlier this year. The agency did not respond to requests for comment about the “new service” at the time of going to press.

The ESFA’s review of the register is likely to include plans to require providers to be “accredited” for the apprenticeship standards they offer, as former apprenticeships director Keith Smith told FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference in March.

Any restrictions would form the second phase of the ESFA’s attempts to strengthen its register of apprenticeship training providers, which was relaunched in 2019 following a host of problems with the original application process.

One-man bands with no delivery experience were, for example, being given access to millions of pounds of apprenticeships funding.

The much-anticipated FE white paper might not appear until next year, the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s chief executive has revealed. 

Eileen Milner, taking questions from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee this morning, was quizzed by chair Meg Hillier on when the white paper would be published. 

“You have talked about how important the FE sector is, but the white paper is pretty critical,” said Hillier, so would it be published “this year, this financial year, this calendar year, next six months?” 

“We would certainly hope this financial year,” Milner answered. 

The Department for Education, including education secretary Gavin Williamson, have long said the “revolutionary” white paper would be published in the autumn of 2020. 

Asked yesterday whether it was still the plan to publish the paper in 2020, the Department for Education said it was working to publish “this year”. FE Week has asked them to clarify whether this is calendar or financial. 

The department’s permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood, also speaking at the hearing, implied the sector would not look dramatically different after the white paper, saying there would be a “continuum” of  what the department is doing already, “rather than a moment where for the first time ever we’re doing something strategic on the FE sector.”

She said it had been difficult for education secretary Gavin Williamson to set out how he would make FE a focus of his department, through such measures as the FE white paper, until the spending review this week.

“It was working towards making sure we had the right things in the spending review, then setting out the strategy that followed on from that.”