ESFA finally launches ‘tougher’ apprenticeship provider register

The “tougher” register of apprenticeship training providers has finally reopened, more than a year after the last window closed.

It’s now open indefinitely – meaning that providers can apply on a rolling basis, rather than having to wait for an application window.

It comes almost 15 months after the Education and Skills Funding Agency revealed it would be reviewing the register after the third window closed in October last year.

Changes to the register include greater scrutiny of providers, who will have to have traded for at least 12 months and provide a full set of accounts.

Subcontractors delivering less than £100,000 of provision a year will now have to be on the register, whereas previously they did not need to be.

All providers will be asked to re-apply, although Keith Smith, the ESFA’s director of apprenticeships, revealed in October that the agency will segment them into groups – with those deemed “high risk” being invited first.

“We want to focus the re-application process on those providers that are potentially not delivering, and on those that we think will struggle to pass our new requirements,” he told the Association of Employment and Learning Providers autumn conference on October 30.

Those that go for 12 months without any delivery are likely to be kicked off the register, he said.

FE Week reported yesterday that a third of the providers on the register in 2017/18 had not delivered any training by the end of August.

There are currently 2,571 providers on the register, of which 1,930 are main providers, meaning they can access apprenticeship funding directly.

A further 261 are employer providers and 380 are supporting providers, meaning they can only deliver provision worth up £500,000 a year as a subcontractor.

The register was originally intended to open on a quarterly basis, and its lengthy closure has left many providers not currently on it that want to deliver apprenticeships frustrated.

Second round of T-levels teacher programme opens

Colleges and other post-16 providers are being urged to bid for cash to train industry experts as teachers, in the second round of the Taking Teaching Further scheme.

The programme, worth £5 million, seeks to recruit industry specialists and retrain them to work in the post-16 and FE workforce with a particular focus on the first T-level subjects.

Up to £20,000 per provider is on offer to train up to five “experienced industry professionals” in a level five diploma in education and training.

The deadline for applications is midday on February 15.

The programme was unveiled in June, and in October the Department for Education announced the names of the 37 providers that were successful in the first round, who will between them recruit 80 trainee teachers.

 “The Taking Teaching Further programme will help attract talented and inspiring people with industry expertise to teach in the further education sector,” said skills minister Anne Milton.

“These are the teachers who can inspire, energise and bring on the next generation of highly-skilled young people.”

She said she was “delighted” the second round had opened, and said she “would urge colleges and post-16 providers to apply and take advantage of this”.

This second round will focus on the same “priority sectors” as the first, which included the first T-level subjects in the fields of education and childcare, digital and construction, as well as engineering and manufacturing and other STEM subjects.

Buckinghamshire College Group was successful in the first round and has already recruited five trainee teachers.

Paula Kavanaugh, senior lead at the group, said these trainees were “benefitting enormously” from the support of experienced teachers.

“However, this is a two-way street and the college recognises and appreciates the value of recruiting industry professionals from these hard to recruit areas,” she said.

David Russell, chief executive of the Education and Training Foundation, which is running the programme on behalf of the DfE, said the second round “will continue to develop and build the country’s future through attracting bright industry talent into the FE sector alongside increasing collaboration between the sector and industry”.

“College staff work to transform the lives of 2.2 million people daily, so it is great that so much work is being put into the further education sector to boost the teaching workforce,” said Steve Frampton, president of the Association of Colleges, which designed the programme with the DfE.

More information, including how to apply, is available on the ETF website

 

Awarding bodies told to ‘strengthen controls’ on applied generals after ‘unwarranted’ rise in grades

Ofqual is urging awarding organisations to “strengthen their controls” on certain types of applied general qualifications, after it uncovered evidence of grade inflation on old-style BTECs.

Its research into the “legacy” level three BTECs, which don’t include any external assessment, found that the proportion of people gaining the highest grades on some of these courses almost tripled in 10 years – from 21 to 61 per cent.

These increases weren’t matched by either the learners’ prior attainment nor their subsequent degree or employment outcomes, according to the report.

“This research shows that there are unwarranted increases in results in some of the ‘older style’ applied general qualifications, and this has the potential to undermine public confidence and devalue the achievements of students,” said Phil Beach, Ofqual’s executive director for vocational and technical qualifications.

“We are therefore calling on awarding organisations to strengthen their controls on internal assessment in any qualification where there are potential risks to standards.”

Ofqual will also look at whether “additional bespoke guidance or additional regulatory requirements” are needed to “ensure qualification standards are maintained”, he said.

Applied general qualifications and tech levels are vocational or technical alternatives to A-levels that can lead onto higher education or employment.

The exams regulator focused on Pearson’s BTEC qualifications, as these are the “market leading” applied general qualification – representing 81 per cent of certificates issued in 2016/17, according to Ofqual’s figures.

The research looked at the ‘older style’ qualifications, which were entirely internally assessed.

Pearson, along with other awarding organisations, introduced new-style qualifications in 2016 that include a proportion of external assessment, in order to meet criteria for inclusion in the Department for Education’s performance tables.

However, the exams regulator said the “majority of assessment continues to be conducted internally”.

There were a number of “typical features” around internal assessment that “weaken the controls available to awarding organisations to maintain standards” which included the “unitisation of the qualifications” and “the availability of multiple re-submissions for each unit”.

A spokesperson for Pearson said it welcomed Ofqual’s report and “its intent to strength qualifications”.

The BTEC National qualification had been “strengthened through a series of other improvements including the introduction of external assessments, tighter rules around work resubmission, and greater pastoral support”.

“The result has been flattening out grade inflation over the last two years, as is evidenced by the recently published 2018 results where we’ve seen fewer students attaining the top grade,” he said.

Ofqual’s research looked into the profile, outcomes and subsequent performance of four cohorts of learners taking level three BTECs between 2005/06 and 2015/16.

It found that the proportion of level three BTEC learners gaining top grades – either a distinction or distinction star – had “increased substantially over time”, while A-level grades “remained stable” over the same time period.

For the level three BTEC subsidiary diploma, equivalent in size to an A-level, the proportion went up from 21 per cent in 2005/06 to 61 per cent in 2015/16.

At the same time, the learners’ prior attainment at GCSE remained “stable”, which suggested “no particular change in the overall ability of the cohort”.

Researchers also looked at how well the BTEC learners performed at university and in employment, in comparison to learners with A-levels.

They found that “successive cohorts” of BTEC learners were “increasingly less likely” to gain top degrees – either first class or upper second – than learners with equivalent A-levels.

Furthermore, the BTEC learners had a “progressively lower likelihood over time” to be in full-time employment, in a highly-skilled role and earning over £20,000 a year than those with A-levels.

“This report makes clear that there are great differences between the old and new versions of the applied general qualifications,” said Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association.

The new version is “more rigorous and demanding” and is “considerably harder for students to get the top grades” in – but “it is quite right that more and more sixth forms – in schools and colleges – are choosing them”.

Provider to challenge ‘inadequate’ grade after Ofsted found copy and paste assignments

A private provider rated ‘inadequate’ across the board by Ofsted has launched an appeal against the grade and accused inspectors of “failing to understand” their provision.

Beyond 2030, a talent development training firm, received the worst possible grade from Ofsted in its first inspection, with inspectors warning that learners “often copy information from the internet and submit it as their own work” and raising concerns about ineffective safeguarding.

However, Beyond 2030, which had 214 learners when it was inspected at the end of October and mainly offers adult courses in health and social care and business, has disputed Ofsted’s findings and said it is launching an appeal against the report’s findings.

Toni Eastwood, founder and chief executive of Beyond 2030 who was awarded an OBE in 2007 for her work towards equal opportunities, has said Ofsted undertook a “flawed investigation process” and she is confident the provider’s grade will be raised after the appeal.

The report, published today, said too many learners “do not know what to do if they feel unsafe” and warned of “poor” assessment, slow progress and “weak” careers information.

Inspectors found that leaders’ evaluation of the quality of the provision “does not identify major weaknesses”, and tutors do not realise or challenge learners who submit copied and pasted work.

“Too often, particularly on access to higher education courses in nursing and midwifery, they fail to identify when learners submit work that is not their own but has been copied from internet sites, and do not challenge learners to produce work that is their own,” it said.

Ms Eastwood, said: “We have launched an appeal against the grading given to Beyond 2030 and provided Ofsted with clear, robust evidence to support our position. We are confident this will give Ofsted the necessary information to review and upgrade our performance.

“The inspectors failed to understand the nature of our learning and training provision, which adopts modern methods and theories about how people learn and therefore cannot be correctly judged simply against parameters used to assess a traditional education setting.”

She added Beyond 2030 is “confident” that Ofsted will “upgrade” its performance after receiving evidence to support their position.

Inspectors warned that “too many tutors underperform for too long and the quality of teaching is not good enough”, and said leaders had “taken insufficient action to ensure learners are safe”.

The report also said the proportion of learners who remain on their programme is “too low”, and said over half the learners studying functional skills English have withdrawn from their courses without receiving qualifications.

However, inspectors praised the “strategic vision” of leaders to work with learners who face challenges in their business lives, and say they succeed in making learners “more resilient and enable them to grow their businesses”.

Sixth form funding rates to remain unchanged in 2019/20

Funding rates for 16 to 19-year-olds will remain unchanged next year, the government has confirmed – prompting disappointment from the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, which has been fighting for extra cash.

A letter from Peter Mucklow, FE director at the Education and Skills Funding Agency, published today, said that “the national base rates of £4,000 per full time student aged 16 to 17 and £3,300 for 18 year olds are being maintained for academic year 2019 to 2020, as are the part-time funding rates”.

The announcement is not unexpected, given that the government has already signalled that it won’t shake up 16 to 19 funding until next year’s spending review.

“Although base funding rates have not been increased, government will continue in 2019 to 2020 to make new investment in 16 to 19 education to improve choices for students, quality and skills training,” he said.

James Kewin, the SFCA’s deputy director, said that confirmation that the funding will stay the same “for the seventh year in a row” was “disappointing but not surprising”.

“Since 2013, costs have rocketed, the government has demanded more of schools and colleges and the needs of students have become increasingly complex,” he said – leading to courses being cut, a reduction in student support services and the disappearance of extra-curricular activities.

“Attempting to defend the indefensible by pointing to small pots of cash attached to technical education or maths is something that colleges and schools find deeply frustrating,” he said.

Funding for 16 and 17-year-olds has been frozen at £4,000 per student since 2013, while per-student funding for 18-year-olds was cut to £3,300 in 2014.

The Raise the Rate campaign, launched in October and led by the SFCA, called on the government to eventually increase funding for all 16 to 19-year-olds to £4,760 in the next spending review.

A report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies in September found government funding for 16-to 18-year-olds has been cut “much more sharply” than funding for pupils in pre-school, primary, secondary or higher education.

Redesigned RoATP to open tomorrow despite no delivery from 1 in 3 approved providers

Almost a third of providers on the government’s register did not deliver any apprenticeships last year, FE Week analysis has revealed – the day before the redesigned register re-opens for applications.

There were 1,787 providers on the register of apprenticeship training providers in 2017, of whom 580 – or 32 per cent – had no starts by the end of 2017/18, based on year-end figures published by the Department for Education last week.

Of those, 506 were main providers, representing 32 per cent of the 1,587 on the register last year.

The proportion of employer providers not delivering was higher, at 37 per cent – or 74 out of 200.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency confirmed last month that the redesigned RoATP will reopen on December 12, and remain open indefinitely thereafter.

Under the new, stricter rules, first revealed by Keith Smith, the ESFA’s direct of apprenticeships (pictured above) in October, providers that go 12 months without any delivery are likely to be kicked off the register.

All providers will be asked to reapply, but Mr Smith said the agency would segment them into groups – with those deemed “high risk” being asked to re-apply first.

“We want to focus the re-application process on those providers that are potentially not delivering, and on those that we think will struggle to pass our new requirements,” he told the Association of Employment and Learning Providers autumn conference on October 30.

Other changes to the register include greater scrutiny of providers, who must have traded for at least 12 months and provide a full set of accounts before applying.

The DfE’s latest statistics include starts broken down by provider for the first time.

They reveal that colleges have been hit hardest by the move to levy funding, with a five percentage point drop in market share and a 35 per cent fall in starts – compared with a 24 per cent drop across the whole of the sector.

DfE figures reveal colleges hit hardest by move to apprenticeship levy funding

Colleges were hit hardest by the move to apprenticeship levy funding, FE Week analysis of new figures published by the Department for Education have revealed.

The statistics, which included the number of starts per provider for the first time, showed that colleges’ share of the market dropped from 31  to 26 per cent from 2016/17 to 2017/18, while their starts plummeted 35 per cent.

At the same time, ‘other public funded’ providers – which includes universities and employers – saw their share go up from eight per cent to 12 per cent as starts jumped 17 per cent.

Meanwhile independent providers’ share of the market remained at 61 per cent over the two years, while starts fell by 24 per cent – the same as the sector average.

Colleges were responsible for 99,220 starts last year, down 35 per cent – or 52,740 – on the previous year’s total of 151,960.

That’s an 11 percentage point bigger fall than the sector-wide drop of 24 per cent, revealed in last week’s final year figures.

Some of this fall in starts will have been the result in changes to rules around subcontracting, which hit colleges that had previously subcontracted much of their provision.

West Nottinghamshire College, which previously subcontracted the overwhelming majority of its provision, had just 1,440 starts last year – down a massive 79 per cent on the previous year’s total of 6,830.

The college blamed the rule changes, which meant it could no longer subcontract entire apprenticeship programmes, for having to make £2.7 million savings and cut 100 jobs earlier this year – before it spiralled into a financial crisis that led former principal Dame Asha Khemka to resign.

And Eastleigh College, which previously told FE Week it subcontracted around 80 per cent of its provision, saw its start numbers drop by 75 per cent – from 6,720 in 2016/17 to 1,630 in 2017/18.

Meanwhile, there were 45,450 starts in ‘other public funded’ providers last year – an increase of 17 per cent on the previous year’s figure of 38,910.

Much of this growth was at providers new to the apprenticeship market, including universities delivering degree-level apprenticeships for the first time.

They made up six of the 10 ‘other public funded providers’ with the most starts in 2017/18 that had zero or fewer than five starts the year before.

The remaining four were NHS trusts – reflecting the fact that the country’s largest employer has a £200 million levy pot to spend.

Independent providers delivered 228,090 starts in 2017/18, down from 300,170 the year before.

That’s a drop of 24 per cent, the same proportion by which starts fell across the board last year, according to final full year figures published last week.

Former skills minister Nick Boles warned colleges more than three years ago not to let independent providers “nick your lunch”, as he called for them to deliver more apprenticeships.

FE Week reported last year that colleges were failing to heed his words.

A freedom of information request by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers revealed that 74 per cent of all apprenticeship starts in 2015/16 were with independent providers, while colleges were responsible for just 21 per cent.

Last month the current skills minister Anne Milton struck a different note from her predecessor by telling the Association of Colleges conference that she wanted collaboration between colleges and private providers in delivering apprenticeships.

Her words were a change from what was written in her speech, which urged colleges to be a “real competition” for private providers.

AELP asks the government to listen to providers before withholding completion payments

The AELP is urging the government to give “flexibility” to providers who make “reasonable efforts” to claim apprenticeship employer contributions, after plans to withhold completion payments for non-compliance were revealed.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency announced a clampdown on employers who fail to pay the 10 per cent co-investment fee last month.

A change to a calculation in the agency’s funding software will enforce a new rule from this month, which will see nearly 20 per cent of the total apprenticeship cash held back until employer payments are up to date.

We hope common sense will reign in the end

It means that up to £4,860 of ESFA funding, 90 per cent of £5,400, would be withheld if the apprenticeship price is at the highest upper funding band of £27,000, for example.

Mark Dawe (pictured), the chief executive of the AELP, said his association “fully supports the policy but there needs to be flexibility where the provider makes reasonable efforts to collect the contribution and a small proportion of employers still don’t pay”.

“We do find it rather incredible that even if the employer doesn’t pay the contribution, the ESFA still pays the employer the incentive payment (which can’t be netted against any outstanding contribution),” he added.

“We hope common sense will reign in the end.”

The way the agency funds providers for delivering apprenticeships training is by paying monthly payments for 80 per cent of the negotiated price up to the funding band, but where the employer has no levy funding or it is insufficient, then co-investment must be paid, currently set at 10 per cent.

The ESFA in future will only pay the provider for the final 90 per cent of the total remaining 20 per cent, once the framework has finished or the end-point assessment has taken place and the employer has paid their 10 per cent.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced last month that the co-investment fee will be halved to 5 per cent, but a start date for this change has still not been revealed.

The return deadline for providers to get their co-investment payments was December 6.

However, the completion payment is only being withheld until the financial fields in the ILR show the employer has fully paid their share. Once that happens, the completion payment would be released in the next monthly funding cycle.

In a little-known monthly update for “MI managers, software writers and suppliers” published last Friday, the ESFA said: “We plan to update the apprenticeship funding calculation at R04 [Individualised Learner Record data return deadline 6 December] to withhold any completion payments that do not meet the criteria in the funding rules.

“The rules state that co-investment due to be paid by the employer must be collected and recorded in the ILR for the completion payment to be paid.”

Additionally, the agency plans to claw back cash from providers who have not claimed the fee from employers.

“This change will also apply to any completion payments already made in the 2018 to 2019 funding year and where necessary payments will be recovered,” the ESFA said.

“We will also identify and recover any completion payments paid to providers in 2017 to 2018 funding year that were not compliant with funding rules. All adjusted payments will be made as part of the December payment run.

“Providers must ensure all co-investment is collected and recorded on the ILR in a timely manner as stated in the funding rules.”

Thousands of apprenticeships hang in the balance as Interserve rescue plan prompts share collapse

The survival of another outsourcing giant that trains “around 14,000 apprentices each year” appears to hang in the balance, after its shares plummeted amid its attempts to secure a second rescue deal.

Interserve, an international support services and construction group which runs a large UK training provider called Interserve Learning and Employment Ltd, is desperately trying to avoid a Carillion-style collapse after falling into severe financial trouble.

The company, which has around 75,000 staff worldwide, saw its shares crash by 75 per cent to just 6p today. The shares were worth 100p a year ago.

Our learning and skills business  had a busy year following the introduction of the UK apprenticeship levy

It follows a report in the Financial Times on Friday which revealed it is in rescue refinancing talks that could mean substantial losses for shareholders.

The deal, which is expected to be finalised early next year, would see Interserve’s creditors who have lent the company more than £600 million take control of the company.

According to reports, debts at the group have grown since its first rescue deal, which was agreed with banks in March.

The crisis surrounding Interserve has sparked fears that it could be heading for the same fate as its former rival Carillion, which collapsed in January.

Over 1,100 apprentice bricklayers, carpenters and builders were left jobless in the wake of the collapse, but the government stepped in and continued paying their wages until they found new work with the help of the Construction Industry Training Board.

But this deal ended in August and saw nearly 350 former Carillion apprentices have their wage support cut off as they were finally made redundant.

The collapse of Interserve would however have a much bigger impact in the apprenticeships market, as FE Week reported in January.

Its training provider, Interserve Learning and Employment, was formerly called ESG and was bought from finance firm Ares Capital in a cash deal worth £25 million in December 2014.

The provider is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted and claims on its website to train around 14,000 apprentices each year.

It had £20.8 million ESFA allocations in 2017/18, and has current skills contracts totalling £10.6 million – but this doesn’t factor in its levy contracts.

Interserve’s annual report, published in April 2018, said its learning and skills business had a “busy year following the introduction of the UK apprenticeship levy and we further invested in this area to maximise the significant opportunities presented by this reform”.

It added: “Our capability in designing, delivering and evaluating apprenticeship training within this business is now playing an increasingly valuable role as higher employment costs and regulatory requirements drive employers to invest more in training and skills, either to defray their apprenticeship levy or to upskill and gain additional productivity from an increasingly costly workforce.

“During the year we won new contracts with DHL, Countrywide, BT Group, Stagecoach Group, Grafton and Unilever.”

READ MORE: Almost 350 Carillon apprentices to lose wage support

 

Interserve Learning and Employment has more than 900 employees, according to its website, and boasts that it is one of the ESFA’s “leading providers”.

Latest ESFA data, for 2016/17, shows that Interserve trained 6,980 apprentices and scored a 70.2 per cent achievement rate.

The company also provides vocational training in three FE colleges in Saudi Arabia under the UK’s Colleges of Excellence programme and claims it supports over 65,000 people a year into work or training.

Interserve told FE Week that it is currently in a strong enough position to not need a contingency plan which would protect their apprentices in case the firm collapsed.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We monitor the financial health of all of our strategic suppliers, including Interserve, and have regular discussions with the company’s management. The company successfully raised new debt facilities earlier this year, and we fully support them in their long term recovery plan.

“We do not believe that any of our strategic suppliers are in a comparable position to Carillion.”

Commenting on the company’s second rescue plan, Debbie White, chief executive of Interserve, said: “Our lenders are supportive of the deleveraging plan which will underpin the long term future of Interserve.

“The Cabinet Office has also expressed full support for the work we are doing to implement our long term recovery plan.”

She added: “The fundamentals of our business remain strong. The deleveraging plan will give Interserve a strong long term capital structure and provide a solid foundation on which to build the future success of the group.”

Interserve topped the list of the government’s strategic suppliers in 2017, according to data provider Tussell, winning £938 million of work across a range of areas including health, education and defence.

But in September last year, the FTSE 250 contractor admitted that its annual profits were likely to halve after a £195 million loss from a number of energy to-waste contracts.