DfE scraps provider quality criteria in final phase of T-level roll out

The requirement for colleges and other training providers to be rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted to deliver T-levels will be dropped by the government from 2023.

But those with ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ grades from the education watchdog will initially only be able to teach the T-level routes introduced in 2020 and 2021.

Only providers with the top two Ofsted ratings will be able to deliver the remaining T-level routes launched in 2022 and 2023.

The Department for Education announced the approach today after revealing the list of providers set to teach the qualifications in the third wave of their rollout.

T-levels are being hailed as the new, high-quality technical alternatives to A-levels. They will combine classroom theory, practical learning and a substantial industry placement lasting at least 315 hours.

They are being rolled out over the next three years. The first three will be available in September 2020, another seven in September 2021, another eight in September 2022 and the remaining seven in September 2023.

The DfE said it has taken a “phased approach” to the rollout by selecting “only a small group of providers” to deliver T-levels in the first few years, which “enabled us to work closely with them and ensure we could give them the support they needed as they prepared to deliver T-levels”.

All providers have had to hold a grade one or two Ofsted rating to deliver the qualifications in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The DfE said today that to “sustain momentum and reinforce T-levels as a mainstream offer for all students”, they are “increasing the number of providers able to deliver them”.

“To take this forward all providers currently delivering 16 to 19 study programmes will be eligible to deliver some of the available T-levels from September 2023: T-levels that were introduced in 2020 and 2021 will be able to be delivered by any providers delivering 16 to 19 study programmes; T-levels introduced in 2022 and 2023 will be able to be delivered by Ofsted ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ providers only.”

Providers will also no longer have to submit evidence of prior experience of delivering similar subjects or financial health.

The DfE added that it will announce how providers can register their intentions to deliver T-levels from 2023 in January 2021.

T-level wobble as another four providers cancel September launch plans

Four providers due to teach the first T-levels in just three months’ time have announced they will delay delivery for at least a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It means the number of colleges, schools and other providers in England in wave one of the rollout of the new post-16 technical qualifications has fallen below 50, to just 46.

The providers pulling their plans are Access Creative College, Durham Sixth Form Centre, Salesian School and University College Birmingham.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have always taken a gradual approach to rolling out T-levels to ensure we get the new high-quality qualifications right from the outset.

“Four of the 50 providers for 2020 are delaying delivery until 2021 in light of the current circumstances, but they remain fully committed to T-levels and we will continue to work closely with them.”

Another provider, York College, has also announced it will now only offer one T-level route – construction – this year instead of all three they had planned for.

Skills minister Gillian Keegan confirmed in April that the government would drive forward with plans to launch the first T-levels from September 2020 despite the disruption being caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

She said that while providers have “rightly raised some issues” with delivery, “most wanted to continue to deliver the first T-levels this year” and “we owe it to these young people to find ways to continue to deliver the courses that they have chosen and that will offer them great progression opportunities”.

The initial rollout of T-levels will see providers teach three routes: digital, construction, and education and childcare. Health and science will be added in 2021.

This isn’t the first time providers have pulled out of or delayed T-level delivery. In October, education secretary Gavin Williamson’s old college, Scarborough Sixth Form, pulled out of offering construction and digital pathways from 2020 because of a lack of opportunities for the T-levels’ mandatory 315-hour work placements locally, and a shortage of good-quality teachers.

Three schools previously ditched plans to take part in the 2020 wave.

Access Creative College, a national creative college, is now scheduled to deliver the digital route next year.

Durham Sixth Form Centre is also still committed to teaching the digital route but from 2021, along with health and science.

Salesian School in Chertsey, which was awarded £1.1 million in T-level capital funding last year, will teach digital and education and childcare. The University College Birmingham will now deliver the education and childcare and health and science T-levels next year.

A spokesperson for the DfE said the four providers that have deferred delivery will now support students already signed up for September to find “other suitable courses”, and the department will keep in “close touch to support them to do this”.

The deferrals have been announced on the same day that the DfE revealed the list of providers due to deliver the third wave of T-levels in 2022. Full story here.

T-levels: The providers selected to run courses in 2022

The names of a further 88 colleges, training providers and schools chosen to deliver T-levels in the third wave of their rollout have been announced today.

They will teach the new post-16 technical qualifications from September 2022 in subjects including law, engineering and manufacturing, and legal, finance and accounting.

A total of 18 T-levels will be delivered from September 2022, which includes the four being rolled out from 2020 and 2021.

An initial 46 providers will teach T-levels in three months’ time after four deferred owing to the Covid-19 pandemic (click here for full story), while 67 will now deliver from 2021.

Unveiling those selected for wave three today, education secretary Gavin Williamson (pictured) said: “Now, more than ever, it’s vital that young people across the country have access to high-quality technical education to provide them with the skills they need to succeed and employers with the workforce they need for the future.

“This third wave of further education providers will help us supercharge the roll-out of these new and pioneering qualifications and it’s fantastic to have them all on board. They will play a part in an unique opportunity to shape the lives of thousands of young people.”

T-levels have been designed to be the technical alternative and be on a par with A-levels. They combine classroom theory, practical learning and a substantial industry placement of at least 315 hours.

The first three T-levels to be taught this September will be in construction, digital production, design and development, and education and childcare, with a further seven including three in health and science taught from 2021.

Eight T-levels in subjects including legal, accounting, management and administration and engineering, manufacturing, processing and control will be taught from 2022.

The remaining seven T-levels, including courses in agriculture, environment and animal care, catering, creative and media, and hair and beauty, will be rolled out from 2023, bringing the total to 25.

The providers delivering from 2022 can be found here and below:

Ashton Sixth Form College

Basingstoke College of Technology   

Berkshire College of Agriculture

Biddulph High School    

Big Creative Training Ltd        

Birchwood Community High School    

Birkenhead Sixth Form College 

Bishop Thomas Grant Catholic Secondary School         

Boston College

Bromley College of Further and Higher Education 

Brooksby Melton College      

Burntwood School 

Burton and South Derbyshire College

Callywith College      

Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology  

Capital City Academy    

Carmel College

Chelmsford College 

Christ The King Sixth Form College

City College Plymouth  

Craven College

Crewe Engineering and Design UTC

Croydon College          

Darlington College       

Diss High School        

East Coast College        

East Durham College

East Riding College 

East Surrey College    

Ferndown Upper School      

Garforth Academy    

Gateway Sixth Form College 

Genii Engineering & Technology Training Limited       

Grace Academy Darlaston     

Grantham College     

Harris Academy South Norwood

Hedingham School and Sixth Form   

Hellesdon High School

Heston Community School   

Hope Academy

Isle of Wight College

King James I Academy Bishop Auckland

Kirklees College          

Leeds College of Building  

Leyton Sixth Form College    

Lincoln College

Lincoln UTC  

Macclesfield College 

Macmillan Academy 

Mendip Studio School 

Newbury College          

North Kent College     

North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College  

Northampton College   

Norton Hill Academy    

Portsmouth College     

Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College    

Reaseheath College     

Riverside College      

Rosedale College      

Selby College 

South & City College Birmingham

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College       

Southport College      

Sparsholt College        

St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College   

St John Rigby RC Sixth Form College  

St Philomena’s Catholic High School For Girls

Tameside College   

The Broxbourne School

The City of Liverpool College 

The Education Training Collective    

The Elizabethan Academy   

The Elmgreen School 

The Henley College   

The JCB Academy      

University Academy Holbeach   

University of Derby

University Technical College Norfolk

UTC Sheffield City Centre           

UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park        

UTC South Durham        

Wales High School        

Walsall Academy            

West Herts College        

Wiltshire College and University Centre

Wirral Metropolitan College    

WMG Academy for Young Engineers      

Multi-million pound cut to College Collaboration Fund as DfE reopens applications

The Department for Education has slashed the College Collaboration Fund (CCF) by more than a third as it reopens for applications.

The total pot on offer sat at £9 million when the fund was launched by education secretary Gavin Williamson in February, but this amount has now dropped to £5.4 million.

In confirming the reduction, the DfE told FE Week they have had to take some tough decisions and reprioritise planned activity in order to respond to new and developing priorities as a result of coronavirus.

The first round of the CCF was cancelled in March due to the pandemic. It reopened for applications today to “support FE colleges to respond to the current challenges around quality improvement and capitalise on good practice, including that developed through new ways of working”.

Eddie Playfair, senior policy manager at the Association of Colleges, said: “We are delighted that the CCF is able to go ahead.

“The fund is very welcome in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for the college sector to navigate unprecedented rates of change to every aspect of their work.”

Groups of colleges can bid for grants of up to £500,000 but they will be expected to match at least 25 per cent of the total cost of the programme of work.

However, the DfE said today it may waive a proportionate amount of match funding contribution where a college is in formal intervention with Education and Skills Funding Agency, as asking for a contribution would “undermine a college’s financial viability”.

The minimum application has increased to £100,000 from £80,000. Each submission will need a lead applicant college with an ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ Ofsted grade and at least one other “improvement partner” college.

Merged colleges without an Ofsted rating can still apply, as long as one of the two previous colleges meets the criteria.

Each proposed programme of work must address at least one of the fund’s three “quality improvement themes” identified by DfE: quality of education, financial and resource management, and leadership and governance.

The 12-month CCF follows the Strategic College Improvement Fund – which ended last year after £12.3 million of the £15 million up for grabs was used to help 80 colleges rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ team up with better performing colleges.

Williamson previously said the new fund is needed because there “have been examples where colleges haven’t been getting it right and things that we are not comfortable with have been going on”.

“We mustn’t forget that is a minority,” he added. “Where we have got good we want to make them excellent, where we have got average we want to make them good and then to excellent, and where we have poor we want to make sure that they are actually really achieving the very best on that.”

Applications to the CCF must be submitted by 28 June 2020 and colleges will be notified about the outcome after 10 July 2020.

All colleges that receive the funding must complete their activities from it by the 31 March 2021. Successful colleges will receive payment of their grant by 18 September 2020.

 

 

ESFA ‘considering’ extensions to coronavirus supplier relief schemes

The Education and Skills Funding Agency is “considering” reopening its Covid-19 supplier relief after the Cabinet Office announced the scheme will continue until October 31.

The Cabinet Office’s Procurement Policy Note (PPN 02/20), which allows public authorities to pay their suppliers in advance of delivering during the coronavirus pandemic, was due to end on July 31 but was extended yesterday.

In updated guidance named PPN 04/20, the Cabinet Office said all contracting authorities “should be reviewing existing arrangements as soon as reasonably possible”.

The ESFA’s own supplier relief scheme for non-levy apprenticeships and the adult education budget concluded last month and resulted in a third (107) of the 165 training providers that applied being awarded extra funding.

A separate relief scheme for European Social Fund providers was also run last month. The results are yet to be revealed.

Following the new Cabinet Office guidance, the agency tweeted today: “The Cabinet Office has published Procurement Policy Note 04/20. As a consequence we are considering the options for extending our Provider Relief Schemes, and will provide further information soon.”

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ chief executive Mark Dawe said the scheme “must reopen immediately”.

“With furloughing coming to an end, this is a timely intervention which ought to allow providers to plan through until the end of October and it’s absolutely essential that the DfE applies the latest guidance and extends the current relief scheme for non-levy apprenticeships, AEB and European Social Fund programmes,” he told FE Week.

“AELP has always maintained that the further we get into the summer, the situation with providers’ cash reserves is going to become critical and therefore the four-month extension could make a huge and positive difference.

“In our view, the DfE must reopen the relief application process immediately in the light of the Cabinet Office announcement.”

While non-levy apprenticeships were eligible for the ESFA’s relief scheme, any apprenticeships funded through the government’s digital system – mostly with levy-paying employers – were not.

The agency claimed this was because the contract is directly with the employer and provider rather than government. AELP challenged this legally but dropped the action last week after weighing up the costs.

Dawe said today that “we continue to struggle to understand why the DfE seems to be alone in not recognising that the supplier relief scheme should apply to all apprenticeships and other skills programmes”.

“It should be offering proper support instead of kicking the can down the road,” he added.

Karen Woodward, the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s deputy director for employer relations, told an FE Week webinar in May that many providers struggled to “prove need” for the financial support as a “number of them are not really facing huge cash flow problems at the moment”.

But she did acknowledge this situation could change beyond July as starts on new courses and apprenticeships dry up.

SPONSORED: Supporting the Further Education sector to achieve social distancing goals post-lock-down

At IPS Ltd we have already put measures into place for the return of our staff to work in a safe environment at our London Head Office. 

All businesses, including education providers, have spent many hours planning, creating and implementing post-lockdown recovery plans. For education, the consideration is not only for staff but also for students and ensuring they all have a safe environment for their return to college.

Additional plans will also have to be in place for the effective use of canteens, libraries and how to implement exam conditions not to mention the focus of next year’s student applications, open evenings and enrolment days that will need to take place.

 

We at IPS Ltd are passionate about the Further Education sector and many of you will have, no doubt, met our Managing Director, Robert Powell.

“I want to write to you as a business owner, a father and a supplier for the Further Education sector.

The Coronavirus Pandemic has changed my life both in outlook and in practice. The most pivotal moment for me was around the 8th week of lockdown when one of my friends contacted me to ask how I was coping. 

I had been ill and caring for the children at the same time had been challenging. I told them that I felt better and I was looking forward to everything going back to normal. He replied; “Rob, you need to get used to it, it will never go back to normal”.

As we have all come to realise, we exist in “new” normal times and acceptance, planning and change are all required, if we wish to adapt safely.

I am immensely proud of my team at IPS Ltd who have handled this crisis with dignity and commitment and will take this opportunity to tell them so. They comprise of innovators, thinkers and doers.

At the start of the lockdown, I called a meeting with my SLT team and asked them what position they thought we were in as a company, and how we would manage in the current situation, their answers were all positive and encouraging.

For many years we have designed and developed systems directly for the FE sector. Our focus has always been to help reduce processes, in the search for efficiency and improving service delivery. As a Managing Director, I am not trying to robotise FE, just simplify it.

It just so happens that the reduction of processes that our systems provide, also achieve social distancing goals and help to minimise human contact, as much as possible.

I, like you, value the face-to-face delivery of courses and the teaching methodology that you employ, to see students succeed and often excel, even sometimes in impossible circumstances.

To complement the teaching practices that you deliver, our systems enable students to get what they need, without effort, during their journey through college.

For 10 years, we have been building such systems and now in lockdown, we have perfected all of them. You will already have systems that do some of what ours do, but it’s the bit that they don’t do that matters. We consult with over 70 Colleges in a range of locations across the UK, that we currently supply to, to gain an understanding of what they need from our software.  

We have worked heavily with contactless ID cards, which of course, removes cash handling. We have already developed self-service kiosks that use facial recognition so staff and students can reset passwords or print replacement cards. We can create and delete user accounts as an automatic process for door systems, computer systems, payment systems and our register management system that applies live register marks against MIS systems.

All our systems help to support Safeguarding policies and procedures and minimise the workload of college staff, especially those who work in Reception, IT, Estates, Student Services, Finance and a range of other departments.

Our list of products continues to grow, and we are now focusing on further developments, including; newer messaging technologies, such as WhatsApp for colleges to communicate with students. We can already deliver many of the processes required to enrol a student online, to support face-to-face enrolment, but not replace it.

We are proud to be working in association with North Kent College and Hugh Baird College to release i-Asset, a system that will use RFID tagging to stocktake a room in less than a second, and an entire college as quick as you can walk around it.

It will manage loans of equipment, safety checks, usage statistics and so much more. Like I previously said, you may already have a system like this, but I would like you to see what ours does to highlight what yours doesn’t”.

 

Consider IPS Ltd with your Post-Lockdown Recovery Plans.

 

Each product works independently and joined together gives a robust end-to-end solution.

We install our systems onto your servers, meaning that we, as a company, don’t need to extract or retain any of your data, supporting both GDPR and Data Protection policies.

IPS Ltd.’s software integration solutions will provide you with, state-of-the-art technologies, confidence in simplifying your processes, supporting safeguarding and provide you with a wide range of reports that are suitable for Finance, Student Services, Catering and your MIS department.

“We have a large amount of IPS Ltd products, at Hugh Baird College, each one has enhanced and simplified the technology that we already had in place. 

The systems are easy to use, give a positive experience to our students and help us to implement our Safeguarding Policies”. John Billington, Head of Services, Hugh Baird College.

 

IPS Ltd customers do not deal with machines, they deal with people.

 

Our service doesn’t stop after installation, we provide you with full training, an Account Manager who will be in regular contact with you and our Support Team who will be there to resolve any issues that you may face. 

We are currently working on installing many systems for new FE customers remotely, with the help of a member of your IT team we do not have to come onto college premises, meaning that we maintain social distancing measures.

Our Prince2 certificated operations team will make sure that any project no matter how big or small is installed safely, efficiently and in no time at all.

 

IPS Ltd is here to support FE.

 

If you would like more information, advice or a free consultation from us click here to contact our experts. We are here to support you. 

Worth the wait: ‘Outstanding’ grade for Riverside College

A college in Cheshire that recruits most of its students from areas of “high social and economic deprivation” is celebrating after being rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

Riverside College, which had its report published today following an 11-day inspection in February, was lauded by the education watchdog for applying a “culture of relentless self-improvement” which “permeates” across campus.

The college was formed in 2006 following the merger of Halton College and Widnes and Runcorn Sixth Form College. It currently teaches 3,200 young people, 1,400 adults, 603 apprentices and 136 learners with high needs.

It becomes the third general FE college to be rated ‘outstanding’ under Ofsted’s new inspection framework launched in September, following Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group and Chichester College Group.

Riverside College principal Mary Murphy said they are “absolutely thrilled that this glowing report recognises the tremendous efforts of our dedicated teaching and support staff who over a number of years have worked incredibly hard to consistently deliver high quality education and training”.

Inspectors found that learners and apprentices at Riverside “enjoy a wide range of courses that meet local and regional needs exceptionally well” and helps to ensure that most of them “progress to higher levels of study or work”.

“Their behaviour is exemplary and in keeping with the senior leaders’ and staff members’ high expectations and values,” today’s report said.

They “flourish” in a “calm, orderly, aspirational and safe learning environment”, while learners who have high needs develop the skills “they need to equip themselves for independent living, such as cooking simple meals and cleaning living areas”.

Ofsted praised the college’s attitude to community and fundraising events, with “many” learners doing voluntary work or taking part in competitions which “allow them to demonstrate that they are responsible and caring citizens”.

Engineering apprentices, for example, designed and built equipment for the Invictus Games so that athletes with physical disabilities could take part in throwing events.

Riverside College is located in the 13th most deprived borough nationally and the third most deprived in the Liverpool City Region.

Inspectors reported that leaders, managers and teachers have developed a “high-quality curriculum that widens learners’ and apprentices’ experiences and life skills” and “ensures” that disadvantaged learners develop their self-confidence and self-esteem.

Leaders also have “exceptional links” with local employers and regional business groups, including the local enterprise partnership and regional mayoral authorities, which have been utilised to create their “challenging curriculum” designed to help students “achieve their ambitious career goals”.

The curriculum has been reviewed in recent years to “ensure that there are clear progression routes for learners and apprentices”. For example, a pre-apprenticeship course prepares learners “well” by developing the employability skills and confidence they need to apply for a job with apprenticeship training.

The college’s “very strong and highly effective relationships” with its four subcontractors were also praised, who deliver a curriculum that “meets local needs exceptionally well”.

Ofsted concluded that leadership and management are “outstanding”.

Murphy said she was “delighted” that the inspectors “acknowledged the motivation and exemplary behaviour of our wonderful students, who we cannot wait to welcome back to the College as the lockdown eases”.

“However, this achievement is also attributed to all the people of Halton including Halton Borough Council, Halton Head Teachers, partners, employers, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the young people and their parents/carers who have supported the college on our journey to outstanding over the last decade,” she added.

“We have never wavered from the belief that we could be outstanding and together we have made this happen.”

 

Senior MPs question £3m spent on UTC membership body

An influential cross-party group of MPs have raised concerns over the value for money offered by the membership body for university technical colleges, after its cost to the taxpayer reached £3 million.

The public accounts committee (PAC) has today published a report following a National Audit Office (NAO) inquiry last year which laid bare the extent of financial failure among UTCs.

In its report, the committee criticises the “unusual setup” of the Baker Dearing Trust (BDT) – the owner of the UTC brand – and its relationship with the Department for Education.

FE Week analysis of BDT accounts found that since the programme launched in 2010, the trust has charged and received almost £2 million in “licence fees” from the technical colleges whilst also receiving £1 million in grants from the DfE.

Meg Hillier (pictured), chair of the PAC, told FE Week the costs “smack of a far too close, special relationship with too little scrutiny from government and too much entitlement from the BDT”.

She said it was “very curious” how the BDT, which in her opinion has “not offered” value for money considering the poor performance of most UTCs, has “managed to brand a type of school and milk the taxpayer and schools just for their brand to be used”.

As revealed by FE Week in August, the annual licence fee UTCs have to pay to the BDT increased from £5,500 to £10,000 this year, despite the majority of the technical colleges struggling to survive due to dwindling student numbers. Eleven of the institutions close or announce closure to date.

The PAC grilled the DfE’s permanent secretary, Jonathan Slater, during a hearing in March on the licence fee but said in today’s report that MPs were “concerned” at an “apparent lack of interest in what UTCs are getting from paying out taxpayer’s money to the trust in this way…on top of the already generous funding that the department gave to the trust”.

The fee increase came at the same time that BDT saw a massive reduction in donations, which have been its biggest source of income since its inception. The trust’s 2017/18 accounts show it received £1.7 million in donations, but just £388,000 in 2018/19.

Hillier said it was “very suspicious” that the licence fee doubled this year, and she doesn’t know whether “they were trying to fill another hole in the budget somewhere”.

A spokesperson for the BDT defended the trust’s licence fee and claimed the increase in cost was suggested by UTCs themselves.

They said the payment goes towards BDT’s work in delivering “hands-on educational, financial, student recruitment, and multi-academy trust rebrokerage support for all UTCs, as well as fulfilling the central role of government liaison and raising the programme’s profile”.

FE Week analysis of the BDT’s accounts also show the trust has spent and declared £60,000 on a personal secretary for their chair, former education secretary and UTC architect Lord Baker since 2011.

Lord Baker

The BDT spokesperson also defended the payments made to Baker’s diary manager, insisting the cost since represents “very good value for money”.

He explained that Baker devotes a few days per week unpaid to help UTCs and needs help to arrange his diary but also with drafting letters and speeches.

The personal secretary is still on BDT’s books, but they have been furloughed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The £1 million grants paid by the DfE to BDT were for the trust to support the opening and running of UTCs. The grants stopped last year.

The UTC model, originally for students aged 14 to 19, has been fraught with setbacks since its inception.

The PAC’s report cited many of the findings from the NAO’s inquiry, which found £792 million was spent on the programme between 2010/11 and 2018/19.

The majority of this was capital funding but the DfE has also propped up financially struggling UTCs with £36.8 million in extra cash between 2015-16 and 2018-19, most of which will not be paid back.

The report also found that the 48 UTCs open as of January 2019 were operating on average at just 45 per cent of capacity, and in terms of quality, over half of UTCs were rated as less than ‘good’ by Ofsted in October 2019.

Despite the DfE launching a three-year programme to improve the financial and educational performance of UTCs in 2017, the PAC said ministers still do not have a clear vision for UTCs in the future, and is a “long way from achieving its aim of improving the financial performance of UTCs by summer 2020”.

Hillier concluded that the taxpayer is paying over the odds for the UTC programme where good results are “alarmingly thin on the ground”.

Her committee has called on the government to set “clear” three-year financial targets for each UTC and close those that do not meet them.

They also want the DfE work with UTCs to “obtain the information necessary to gain assurance about the value schools are getting from the licence fee they pay to the BDT”, and write to the committee with its findings within three months.

A DfE spokesperson said: “This government is committed to improving technical education and strong UTCs have a key role to play this, helping to build the invaluable skills our country needs now and in the future, as well as supporting the recovery of our economy in light of the pandemic.

“UTCs are still relatively new and we have always sought to make improvements and address challenges that individual UTCs may face.”

They added that ministers will be considering the committee’s recommendations in respect of the value for money that UTCs are getting from their payments to BDT.

AELP calls for one-off £8.6bn post-pandemic skills package

The government should set aside an extra £8.6 billion for a one-off skills package to “reboot” the economy post-Covid-19, according to the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.

AELP says a large chunk – £3.6 billion – of the “costed” proposal should be spent on subsidising wages for half a million young apprentices to protect them from redundancy, while most of the rest should go towards tripling the existing annual adult education budget to £4.5 billion.

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the membership organisation, said the country “can’t wait” for government to take six months to come up with entirely new employment and skills programmes and must instead “mostly scale up existing programmes using trusted delivery partners”.

He added that the prime minister’s proposed “apprenticeship guarantee” shouldn’t be dismissed as “unworkable”, but employer sign-up is “essential and this requires a realistic level of wage subsidy during the recovery period”.

Boris Johnson told the nation during a coronavirus briefing last week that young people “should be guaranteed an apprenticeship” after warning of “many, many job losses” expected from the fallout of Covid-19.

The unexpected announcement divided opinion in the FE sector, with some lauding the proposal while others were sceptical about its viability. Labour’s shadow apprenticeships minister Toby Perkins branded it a “deception”.

AELP’s proposals, submitted in advance of the expected July statements from the prime minister and the chancellor on post-pandemic recovery, says the only way to achieve an apprenticeship guarantee would be through a wage subsidy at a level “high enough to persuade the employer to make apprenticeships opportunities available”.

They said this should be offered to apprentices aged 16 to 24, and in “some ways” would be an extension of the principles of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

“For this to be a guarantee with teeth we think that this subsidy would need to be at least 50 per cent of the apprenticeship salary which might include National Insurance relief,” the AELP said.

“Employers should receive a start payment, a midpoint payment and an achievement payment. We also think this will be most critical for roles at level 2 and level 3.”

To support half a million young apprentices, the subsidy cost would be around £3.6 billion, according to the association. Unless wage subsidy is offered to employers, AELP believes large numbers of apprentices will be made redundant over the next 12 months.

On top of this, the organisation said an additional £1.5 billion needs to be committed for non-levy apprenticeships.

For adult workers, AELP believes that the government should “park” plans for its £3 billion National Skills Fund and £100 million National Retraining Scheme and instead channel the funding mostly into “well-established adult skills programmes”.

The annual adult education budget (AEB) of £1.5 billion “needs increasing to £4.5 billion to help tackle mass unemployment and support vital reskilling for those who have remained in work”.

Training providers have struggled to spend their adult education budget allocations in recent years, but the AELP believes mass unemployment means that there will be a big spike in demand.

The AELP has also today called for an additional £450 million to be invested for 16 to 18 year old programmes, including traineeships.

The organisation wants traineeships to be introduced for adults aged over 25, as well as the development of a new “pre-apprenticeship” programme for young people and adults which “involves a job commitment being offered by an employer from day one”.

Free travel “should also be considered” for 16 to 24 year olds nationally “in respect of apprenticeships and other skills and employment programmes”.

AELP said the £8.6 billion package should be launched as soon as possible, with a review taking place of its effectiveness 12 months later.