Online assessment will only work for around 40 per cent of apprenticeships and the government’s “vague” guidance in the area opens the market up to “widespread malpractice”, awarding organisations have warned.

Last week the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education announced that face-to-face end-point competency assessment can be carried out remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

But in a letter sent on Monday to the quango’s chief executive, Jennifer Coupland, Federation of Awarding Bodies boss Tom Bewick claimed to have already received “anecdotal evidence” that quality is already being compromised by some providers, who “may be inappropriately interpreting” the guidance as it is “not specific enough”.

The guidance is potentially opening up the system to widespread malpractice

Although he could not share the examples with FE Week, he said his organisation is currently vetting various “skilled trades”, such as the level 2 butcher and level 3 blacksmith apprenticeship standards, where the “application of real world competence is only really proven by a combination of seeing and doing”.

Bewick said that as can be seen in the WorldSkills competitions, the beauty therapist role, for example, is observed working with “real volunteer clients” and “you simply cannot repeat that level of intimacy over Skype or Zoom, especially under the current social distancing rules”.

“FAB estimates that only about 40 per cent of the current frameworks or standards could lend themselves to some kind of remote assessment; and even then we would anticipate some challenges around validity and reliability,” he told FE Week.

His letter to Coupland said he is “not currently confident that the new guidance will protect the quality and integrity of the apprenticeship system as a whole, particularly when there is so much variability and inconsistencyin how the external quality assurance (EQA) providers operate in practice”.

The IfATE’s guidance states that remote assessment can replace faceto-face observation as long as the arrangements are “cleared in advance” by EQA providers and “appropriate” technology and systems are in place.

Remote tests must be “supervised by an appropriately trained invigilator, or qualified assessor, who has the necessary qualifications, training or experience; and who has not been involved in the training, preparation or line management of the apprentice”.

If remote alternatives are not appropriate, a pause of up to 12 weeks in assessment “might be the only action”.

Terry Fennell, chief executive of awarding body FDQ Ltd and FAB vice-chair, said he appreciates that the authorities are trying to keep apprentices passing through the system at a time of strict social distancing measures.

But the “problem arises at the level of practical implementation”.

“Except perhaps for a few standards,many apprenticeships and especially those that require face to face observations are not really geared up for mass-scale remote assessment,” he said.

“Moreover, the government’s guidance is potentially opening up the system to widespread malpractice as EPAOs interpret the flexibilities in different ways that could lead to apprentices receiving inconsistent grades and/or unreliable results.

“The only way I can see potential abuse being minimised is if the Institute requires that all the candidates who pass through assessment in Covid-19 conditions will eventually have their result externally audited, once the crisis is over.”

The IfATE told FE Week that EQA providers have agreed remote assessment plans applying to over 50 apprenticeships standards, for “thousands” of apprentices approaching end-point assessment since their flexibilities were launched last week.

“The institute and EQA providers are working very closely with endpoint assessment organisations who helped to develop the guidance,” a spokesperson said.

“Together we are allowing assessments to be delivered flexibly and remotely, while maintaining quality.”

They added that over 300 of the 538 standards approved for delivery have no EPA due in the next few months

Delays have struck the break-up of the first college group to go insolvent owing to the “necessarily complex and resource-intensive” nature of the transaction.

The transfer of Hadlow College’s home campus (pictured), West Kent and Ashford College’s Tonbridge provision and Princess Christian’s Farm facility to North Kent College was scheduled to take place on April 1.

But this has been now pushed back by two months.

East Kent Colleges Group did, however, take over WKAC’s Ashford College and Hadlow’s Canterbury facility at the beginning of this month – as planned.

A North Kent spokesperson said it had been decided between them, the administrators BDO, and EKC to run to different completion dates “to ensure resources could be focussed on one transaction at a time”.

“The decision was to complete the EKC Group elements on March 31, 2020 and the North Kent College elements on May 31, 2020. That remains the plan that everyone is working to.”

A spokesperson for the Hadlow Group added that the North Kent transaction is “highly complex”.

The break-up of the Hadlow Group got under way on January 1 when its Mottingham campus, which had 186 learners and 23 staff, was taken over by Capel Manor.

The three-way split was recommended by FE Commissioner Richard Atkins back in July.

Ashford College currently has 1,077 students and apprentices and 103 members of staff. It merged with sites in West Kent, under the auspices of Hadlow College, following the break-up of K-College in 2014.

Both Hadlow and WKAC came under government investigation once irregularities in applications for transaction funding to merge the two of them were uncovered. This led to most of the colleges’ senior leaders and governors resigning, FE Commissioner intervention, and the group being placed in administration.

Hadlow went into administration in May with £40 million in debts, and West Kent and Ashford College went into administration in August with debts of over £100 million when including capital grants for the construction of K-College.

Hadlow’s Canterbury site has 158 students and apprentices and 33 members of staff.

The Ofsted grade two EKC Group has around 12,000 students and apprentices spread across five sites in Broadstairs, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Sheppey; it also runs its own schools trust.

Upon completion of their part of the break-up, EKC appointed Folkestone College principal Victoria Copp-Crawley as interim leader of Ashford College.

She has worked in further education for 20 years and was previously principal of EKC’s Dover campus as well.

EKC chief executive Graham Razey said the campus transfers “would usher in a new era of technical and vocational education within the whole of East Kent for the first time”

A university is scrambling to recruit MBA apprentices amid the government’s review of the programme’s funding.

On Monday the University of Bradford contacted small businesses to insist that “if you’ve ever wanted to do an MBA, now is the time”.

An email, seen by FE Week, claims that government has “temporarily opened” the level 7 senior leader apprenticeship “up to non-levy paying companies” – even though the controversial course has been available to all employers since it launched in February 2018.

If you have ever been considering doing an MBA, there couldn’t be a better time

The university also claims the programme has been “massively subsidised for a limited period, meaning rather than firms having to pay £18,000, they would pay only £900”, despite the 95 per cent subsidy referred to for small businesses being government policy since April 2019.

The email adds: “Because there is only a limited window to apply and the government are due to review funding later in the year, if you have ever been considering doing an MBA, there couldn’t be a better time”.

It goes on to list eight course teaching dates from June 2020 to March 2021.

Craig Johnson, a senior lecturer at the university, signed it off by stating: “I urge any business which wants to grab this opportunity while it’s available.”

A review into the level 7 senior leader apprenticeship standard was launched in February after education secretary Gavin Williamson said he was “not convinced the levy should be used to pay for staff, who are often already highly qualified and highly paid, to receive an MBA”.

Government funding for it could be switched off later this year as a result.

A spokesperson for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education said the trailblazer group for the standard is currently reviewing the programme and will provide feedback by May 20.

The Department for Education said the deadline of June 1 for a decision on its funding future still stands.

They added that while the review is underway, it’s up to providers to decide how to recruit and promote the apprenticeship.

Training providers, including many top universities, have made millions from the MBA apprenticeship since 2018 as it soared to become one of the most popular standards in the country.

FE Week analysis shows there had been 6,387 starts on the programme since launch to the first quarter of 2019/20. Each of these attracted up to £18,000 of levy funding – meaning as much as £115 million has been spent on this standard to date.

The University of Bradford told FE Week it currently has 15 apprentices on the programme, but could not say how many more are expected to enrol this year.

When challenged on their claims about the programme being “temporarily” opened and subsidised for a “limited period” to small businesses, the university denied that the advert was misleading.

“The funding is under review. MBA apprenticeships are therefore under scrutiny and therefore we do not know how long we will be able to offer the MBA as an apprenticeship,” a spokesperson said.

“We want to raise awareness amongst local businesses while it is confirmed that funding is available.”

There is only a limited window to apply

Most universities were not able to deliver apprenticeships to small business until the Education and Skills Funding Agency started moving non-levy payers onto the digital apprenticeship service in January.

Prior to that, only providers that won a non-levy allocation via a tender could train apprentices for SMEs.

The University of Bradford confirmed that it only began offering apprenticeships to non-levy payers in recent months.

Natalie Wilmot, an MBA director at the University of Bradford, believes it is “important that the government continue to support this apprenticeship”.

“We see leadership and management development as crucial to boosting UK productivity, as it ensures that people are properlyprepared for leadership roles, instead of continuing to rely on ‘accidental managers’ – people with technicalexpertise in their area, but little formal training or education in business and management,” she added.

All planned routine funding audits of FE providers have been put on hold, the government confirmed today.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency told FE Week it had made the decision “prior” to the prime minister’s announcement of new Covid-19 lockdown measures last week.

The “pause” on financial assurance audits will “cover the period for, at least, the duration of the lockdown”.

A spokesperson said the ESFA “understands” the challenges providers face as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and have been “sensitive to these challenges where we have contacted providers to complete funding audits and investigations already in progress”.

They added, however, that it may be necessary for the agency to contact providers during the crisis in order to continue to maintain effective oversight and protection of public funds.

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said pausing audits “is a sensible decision”.

“We’re not sure that the agency had understood the seriousness of the challenges facing independent training providers in the light of the DfE’s decision not to guarantee funding but it appears that they are now beginning to realise that this is a battle for survival and that therefore unnecessary distractions such as audits should be avoided at all costs,” he added.

The ESFA’s decision follows other suspensions of normal regulatory visits by various government bodies.

Last month, Ofsted announced it had paused all of its inspections until further notice and later confirmed it had also suspended the publication of all reports that were due to be published during this period.

The FE Commissioner Richard Atkins has also confirmed that his team has paused intervention visits. He has offered “confidential” support to any colleges that need it and promised that formal intervention would not be triggered if they seek assistance during the current crisis.

Training providers in Liverpool will continue to receive adult education payments to “provide stability and help to protect the sector during Coronavirus crisis”.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) told FE Week today it has guaranteed funding until at least the end of June, and it is “assuming” this will later be extended to July to round-off the academic year.

It comes after FE Week revealed details of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Greater London Authority (GLA) support for providers with AEB funding.

All three announcements are responses to the cabinet office guidance on “supplier relief due to Covid-19”.

Nationally, the Department for Education has said they will support colleges that are ‘grant funded’ but has yet to say if or how they will financially support private providers with AEB contracts.

Allocation figures for 2019/20 published by the funding agency show they currently contract with around 230 AEB procured providers to the tune of over £80 million, with a further £8.5 million for procured 19 to 24 traineeships.

LCRCA took control of an annual £50.35 million budget to deliver adult education in September 2019, and 19 private providers shared a pot of around £15 million that went out to tender.

A spokesperson for the LCRCA said, “desperate” as they are “to get money into the sector to make sure there is a sector to come back to after the current crisis”, they will look to pay providers up until the end of the academic year in July.

“Our assumption is everyone else in the country will be looking to extend the period to the end of the academic year.

“We are looking at how we can do that, including talking with central government to make sure what is permitted.”

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “By supporting our adult education budget providers at this difficult time we will enable them to support their existing learners as well as the learners of the future.”

The government devolved adult education budgets to seven mayoral combined authorities last year, including the GLA, WMCA, LCRCA, Tees Valley, the West of England Combined Authority, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

FE Week has approached each of them to find out what arrangements they have made to fund AEB providers through the Covid-19 outbreak.

Mayor of the WMCA, Andy Street, has written for FE Week to explain why they have been quick to act on cabinet office supplier support guidance for adult education budget funded training providers.

He said the move “shows the importance for us of maintaining a strong and responsive provider base”. You can read his full article here.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has today announced they will stop accepting applications to the controversial register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP).

It will close to new bids, including second applications from providers that have already applied in the past 12 months, from 15 April.

This will provide “time for applications in progress and second applications to be completed and submitted” in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The agency revealed the move in its weekly update to the sector, which said officials will “take this opportunity to review our future approach to the register”.

“We will advise further on when and in what form the Register will re-open,” the update added.

The news comes as the ESFA also confirmed they have paused plans to implement a “provider growth limit” that was “to be applied to new RoATP listed providers and planned for later this year”.

A “provider earnings limit” was first mooted by Keith Smith, the ESFA’s director of apprenticeships, in November 2018 at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers conference.

He said at the time this would apply to all providers, not just new ones.

No official announcement from the ESFA has been forthcoming since.

The ESFA’s review of RoATP is likely to include plans to require providers to be “accredited” for the apprenticeship standards they offer, as 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 last year 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.

Today’s ESFA update said that any provider that has been “advised they have been accepted to RoATP, that has not yet completed the onboarding process, and that are planning to start apprentices before 1 August should ensure that they do so by midnight Tuesday 14 April 2020”.

“Onboarding is expected to resume from 1 July 2020,” it added.

Colleges across England are identifying staff that could be eligible for an 80 per cent wage subsidy from the Covid-19 job retention scheme, FE Week understands.

One principal said they had identified “about 30 staff to furlough on the basis that we’ve lost income from apprenticeships and commercial programmes”.

Another said their board had unanimously approved a plan for more than a dozen staff to be furloughed as they worked in restaurants, salons and gyms that relied on fee income and had shut this month.

The coronavirus job retention scheme is a temporary scheme which will last at least three months starting from 1 March 2020.

The government, due to have the scheme up and running by the end of this month, says “employers can use a portal to claim for 80 per cent of furloughed employees’ usual monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that wage”.

But colleges leaders have been seeking more guidance as the HMRC also said: “Where employers receive public funding for staff costs, and that funding is continuing, we expect employers to use that money to continue to pay staff in the usual fashion – and correspondingly not furlough them. This also applies to non-public sector employers who receive public funding for staff costs.”

Many colleges are considering what to do for staff funded from unprotected sources as the Department for Education is only promising to keep paying the Education and Skills Funding Agency grant income.

In a briefing last night, the Association of Colleges said they have had “had lots of queries about the job retention scheme and about whether colleges should use it”.

They warned their member colleges that they have “been told clearly by senior officials that DfE won’t be able to cover all college income streams”…so…“ in the absence of any new guidance, we think it entirely proper for colleges to consider furloughing staff whose roles wholly relate to non-funded activities which have now stopped or to physical locations which are now closed”.

The Treasury, as the body responsible for the scheme, has been approached for comment.

The government’s latest guidance on furloughing during Covid-19 can be found here.