The “extremely large” rises in adult education spending proposed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats open up “genuine risks” to fraud and poor value for money, a think-tank has warned.

A new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has analysed the FE pledges from the three main political parties ahead of next week’s general election.

It found that the Conservatives’ national skills fund proposal, which would be worth about £600 million extra per year by 2022, would reverse about one fifth of the cuts to total spending on adult education and apprenticeships since 2010.

“Although there are risks these can be managed”

In contrast, Labour’s proposals would equate close to a 90 per cent real-terms rise in total spending on adult education.

These included the costed pledges for lifelong learning up to level 3, and six years of free education at levels 4 to 6. Excluding the cost of abolishing of tuition fees, the Labour manifesto costs this and other adult education commitments at £3.3 billion extra per year by 2023.

The Lib Dems’ proposed “Skills Wallets”, worth £10,000 that all adults could draw upon for lifelong learning, would represent about a 35 per cent real-terms rise in total spending on adult education, on the basis this would cost about £1.6 billion extra per year in cash-terms by 2024-25.

Luke Sibieta, report author and IFS research fellow, described the Conservative pledges as “modest” but said Labour and the Lib Dems’ “big increases” in spending and eligibility come with “significant risk and uncertainty”.

The ‘Going further on further education?’ report outlines the possible consequences of these policies, stating that it is hard to predict how many people would take up the new offers and there would be a risk that spending could come significantly above or below what is expected.

The research warned “there is a risk of fraud with new providers and courses popping up to take advantage of the large subsidies, but ultimately providing poor education”.

The IFS pointed out that a similar policy, Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs), was scrapped within a year due to widespread fraud in 2001.

ILAs, which subsidised the costs of courses aimed at widening participation in learning and helping to overcome financial barriers faced by learners, had attracted much more interest than anticipated, according to the National Audit Office.

By 2002, the scheme was wound up amid a fraud scandal that left the public purse lighter by £268 million.

The IFS report noted that both Labour and the Lib Dems have “proposed tight regulation”, but the “very sizeable subsidy will mean that fraud or poor value for money are both genuine risks”.

The think-tank said there has been “a 50 per cent real-terms cut in classroom-based adult education spending” since 2009-10.

Sue Pember, former director of FE at the department for education and now policy director of adult education network HOLEX, said that although there are risks to the proposals “these can be managed”.

“Recent research shows that adults are not aware of what is already free and what their entitlements are therefore we need to find ways to motivate adults and encourage them into learning,”she told FE Week.

“The public seem to like the concept of an account or wallet as it puts them in control of their learning, therefore we should be building on that connection and ensure these new ideas are delivered through robust management of the provider base.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Mark Dawe said: “We need to see investment restored in adult education via skills accounts used with fully regulated and quality approved providers and only with an approved catalogue of courses as we now have for loans provision.”

Commenting on the IFS report, Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “Further and adult education have been devastated by a decade of Conservative and Liberal Democrat austerity that cut billions of pounds from these vital services.

“Labour is committed to giving further and adult education the sustainable funding needed by significantly increasing 16-19 spending, introducing a new fully funded right to lifelong learning, and introducing maintenance support for young and adult learners.”

And a Lib Dem spokesperson said: “We will expand the Office for Students to monitor the programme and ensure courses are being delivered by verified, reputable providers.

“They’ll work closely with businesses to evaluate and identify good courses. Plus, we’ll offer free careers guidance which can point learners towards high-quality courses that will improve their career prospects.

“Similar schemes already work well in countries like Singapore and parts of Austria. Liberal Democrats will give people the power to decide how, what and when they learn.”

Strikes started today at a large London college just a year and a half after staff agreed a pay deal.

University College Union members at the Tower Hamlets branch of New City College (NCC) have been on a picket line since 8am and will be out for 48 hours.

It comes in spite of NCC granting employees a one-off payment of £400 and an annual salary increase of £400 in June 2018 after a dispute which involved three days of walkouts the month before.

Since then, staff have received a 1 per cent pay rise in 2018/19 and a 2 per cent rise in 2019/20.

However, this latest action is part of a wave of strikes that washed across the country earlier this year focused on the national pay deal: the UCU is calling for a 5 per cent pay bump, or £1,500 if that is greater, for college staff.

This led to planned walkouts at colleges like New College Swindon, Lambeth College, Capital City College Group and Hugh Baird College – all of which later reached a deal with staff including a pay rise of between two and six per cent.

Gerry McDonald, chief executive of NCC, said in June 2018 the one-off pay rise and annual increase was “not a pay deal, and is not linked to any national UCU campaign or any organised union action”.

A spokesperson for the UCU said the union is unhappy with the way NCC applied this year’s 2 per cent rise – as it was done without negotiation.

It’s also a “flat percentage increase across the whole staff”, meaning that those earning the most will “receive much more than the lowest paid”, the spokesperson added.

Additionally, they said the pay rise is being applied in two stages: the first 1 per cent comes in at the end of November 2019 backdated to August, and the other 1 per cent in February 2020 – so while staff will end the year 2 per cent higher, in practice this is closer to 1.5 per cent for the 2019/20 academic year.

NCC staff also want action to tackle rising workloads, improvements to contracts and formal recognition for trade unions.

UCU regional support official Caroline Lake said: “Strike action is never taken lightly but staff at the college are sick and tired of hearing the same old excuses.

“The college cannot continue to use government cuts as a reason to hold down staff pay when other institutions are finding ways to fairly reward their staff.

“It’s time for the college to come back to the negotiating table with a better offer that addresses the concerns of staff, otherwise further action could be on the cards.”

In November, the Association of Colleges recommended their members only offer staff a one per cent pay rise this year. AoC chief executive David Hughes said at the time it would be “reckless” to recommend a higher pay rise “given the financial stress colleges find themselves facing”.

The UCU said the pay gap between teachers in colleges and schools was around £7,000 in favour of schools, and some teachers were also awarded a 3.5 per cent pay rise by the Department for Education last year.

NCC staff went on strike in May and September of this year and this latest action was voted for with 90 per cent of the vote.

New City College declined to comment on today’s strike.

A college embroiled in an expenses scandal has appointed an experienced FE leader as its interim principal.

Penny Wycherley (pictured) will take over Stella Mbubaegbu’s responsibilities as principal at Highbury College from today after the latter was suspended last month.

It follows intervention from the FE Commissioner, who recently moved Highbury into “supervised college status”.

Wycherley said: “It’s an exciting time for the Highbury College Portsmouth with so many opportunities for us to serve and develop.

“Although there is much publicity about the challenges facing staff in further education colleges like Highbury College, those staff do amazing work in educating and training millions of young people and adults.”

Wycherley was formerly principal of Waltham Forest College until she retired in March 2018, but then took over the top job at City College Plymouth last November when its leader stood down.

Since 2006, she has helped turnaround South Kent College and Great Yarmouth College – the latter of which moved from an Ofsted grade four to a grade two college.

She originally retired in 2014, but continued to specialise as an interim principal at Waltham Forest College. She moved the college’s Ofsted grade up from a three to a two.

At the same time as Mbubaegbu was suspended, Highbury’s chair Tim Mason announced he would also be stepping down, and said he would be replaced by a national leader of governance (NLG).

FE Week understands the college is still in the recruitment process for this role.

The FE commissioner was sent into Highbury by Department for Education minister Lord Agnew, who said he was “deeply concerned” after FE Week revealed that its principal had claimed expenses of £150,000 over four years, following a year-long freedom of information battle.

Included in the spending were numerous first-class flights, stays in five-star hotels, travel in luxury cars, a £350 bill – including a £45 lobster and nearly £100 on cocktails – at a Michelin-starred restaurant and a £434 pair of designer headphones.

In October Mbubaegbu, who was awarded a CBE in the 2008 New Year honours for services to further education, announced her intention to retire from Highbury in the summer next year.

The action at Highbury also comes a month after FE Week revealed that the college applied to the Education and Skills Funding Agency for up to £5 million to replace “non-compliant” panelling which, according to the architects, “failed” a safety test.

The cladding at the halls of residence for students under the age of 18 is the same type as that used on Grenfell Tower in west London which caught fire in June 2017.

Highbury is also locked in a legal battle with a state in Nigeria and this newspaper last month revealed it has substantially lowered its expectations of recovering the £1.4 million it claims to be owed. Leaders believe they now have a “medium opportunity” of recouping just £872,000.

The college recorded a £2.48 million deficit in its 2017/18 accounts. Leaders axed its sixth form and had to make staff redundant this year owing to financial pressures.

Highbury’s Ofsted grade dropped from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’ in June 2018.

Wycherley said staff at Highbury College are “working hard” to ensure that the students “continue to have a positive experience and to lay the foundations for their future”.

“Our staff are proud to make a difference to individuals and to the communities we serve,” she added. “I welcome this opportunity to work with them doing just this.”

The first college to enter education administration has taken an “important step forward” after it sold its country and business park properties for an undisclosed sum.

Kent developers Quinn Estates have bought the 299-acre Betteshanger Park from Hadlow College and announced a planned mining museum and visitor centre at the site will go ahead.

A spokesperson for the college, which went into administration in May with £40 million debt amid multiple accusations of wrongdoing by its former senior leadership team, said the price it sold the land for was “not something that we’re prepared to divulge at this point”.

Interim principal Graham Morley called the sale “an important step forward in the resolution of the financial issues facing the college”.

“The parks’ new ownership provides a more appropriate basis for the delivery of the original vision of an important community asset and heritage site.”

As the price has not been disclosed, it is not known how much will be put towards paying off Hadlow’s debts.

A statement of proposals by college administrators BDO, which was leaked to FE Week ahead of publication, revealed the college owes the money to a total of 300 creditors, many of which are small, local businesses.

Two of its largest debts, however, are £10.8 million it owes to the Department for Education and £3.8 million it owes to sister college West Kent and Ashford College (WKAC), which entered administration in August.

Quinn Estates managing director Huw Evans said “significant investment” has already gone into purchasing Betteshanger Park, and further funds have been set aside to complete construction works and recruit additional staff.

“We are delighted to bring to a close the uncertainty and look forward to working with local community groups, Dover District Council and other stakeholders to deliver what has been promised,” he added.

“Our vision is to deliver a regional super hub of the highest standard with social, sporting, educational and cultural excellence at its core.”

The park, built on the site of a former colliery, was a passion project of the college’s former deputy principal Mark Lumsdon-Taylor, who has said in the past it was “personal” to him, as he grew up in Sunderland and saw the effect closing mines and shipyards had on the area.

The mining museum was being developed in conjunction with the Kent Mining Heritage Foundation, of which Lumsdon-Taylor was once chair.

It will be based inside the £9.5 million, 175 metre visitor centre and has received at least £1.8 million in charitable donations to fund its development, including a £1.3 million grant from the National Lottery.

FE Commissioner Richard Atkins previously told FE Week the park was one of a number of businesses Hadlow owned, along with a vineyard and cookery school, that seemed neither “financially successful, nor core business”.

The college had tried to sell the park in 2017 for £4 million to Corinthian Land, but this sale fell through.

And due to the challenges of building on a former colliery site, Hadlow had to spend an extra £1.2 million replacing the foundations of the visitor centre

During his intervention at Hadlow and West Kent and Ashford, Atkins found the boards both failed in their fiduciary duty and put the “sustainability of both colleges and learners at risk”.

Beforehand, both Lumsdon-Taylor, principal Paul Hannan and chair Theresa Bruton resigned from their roles.

BDO has been approach for comment.

Pictured: Betteshanger Park visitor centre

The first applications in five years have been lodged for new university technical colleges, FE Week can reveal – but there is a catch.

Three new UTCs are in the pipeline but, like a traditional school, students will join aged 11, rather than at 14.

The Baker Dearing Trust, which owns the licence to the UTC brand, has welcomed the proposals but one union has warned that moving students into technical colleges at 11 will be “as unpopular with parents as moving young people in at 14”.

Ofsted grade-one Energy Coast UTC is hoping to open two colleges, in Salford and Carlisle, while WMG Academy Trust, which operates two grade-two UTCs, has applied for one in Birmingham.

A WMG spokesperson said that this would build on the trust’s existing education model, which offers “an innovative approach to students wishing to study science, technology, engineering and maths”, and they will continue to place an emphasis on STEM subjects “by providing a technical pathway for its learners”.

Energy Coast UTC principal Cherry Tingle said the decision was based on “where there is a need for good or outstanding education or where there is a skills shortage where we have expertise”.

Salford was picked for its cyber and data skills gap while Carlisle has a gap in logistics and aviation, she told FE Week.

Explaining the 11 to 18 age range, Tingle said that students have come to them at year 10 “having made little or no progress in their last three years of secondary education”, but also admitted it was “absolutely true” that there were challenges in recruiting students at 14, especially when the UTC is competing with schools.

A spokesperson for the Baker Dearing Trust said that extending the age range at UTCs was the “right approach” in “certain circumstances”.

The Leigh UTC in Kent was first to open an 11 to 14 feeder school in 2017 and UTCs in Plymouth and Wolverhampton will open to 11-yearolds next September.

“The overwhelming majority of UTCs recruit pupils in to Key Stage 4 [between 14 and 16], however if one wishes to extend their age range and it fits with the local education landscape, Baker Dearing is supportive,” a Baker Dearing spokesperson said.

They added that the last application for a new UTC, in Doncaster, was made in 2014. It will open in September 2020 after being approved in June 2018.

Trust chief executive Simon Connell told FE Week in September that he was “open” to UTCs changing their age range as a pragmatic solution for student recruitment problems.

He also claimed at the time that he wanted Baker Dearing to move from “quantity to quality” with no more of the 14 to 19 providers opening anytime soon.

Instead, he said, it would “consolidate” after nearly ten years of “high growth”.

Low student numbers have been just one of a range of issues with the programme, exposed by FE Week over the years, which also include 11 closures and poor Ofsted results.

Former schools minister David Laws, who called for the 14 to 19 UTC model to be scrapped last year, said it was “encouraging” to see some UTCs are looking at provision for an age-range better fitted with the education system.

Now the executive chair of the Education Policy Institute, Laws warned that a UTC operating a wider age-range “would still need to reassure parents they can provide high quality academic and vocational education”.

The new applications have stoked the UTC programme’s critics, with Andrew Morris, the National Education Union’s assistant general secretary, saying that the scheme has already cost taxpayers millions of pounds which should have gone to the wider schools system.

A National Audit Office report into the UTC programme calculated that the Department for Education has spent £792 million on the programme since it started in 2010.

But Morris was not in favour of the change in intake age, saying that children develop at different stages at school and it was “simply wrong” to think pupils and their parents will be “happy to make a hard and fast decision about the future focus of education for their children at the end of primary school”.

The UTC applicants will discover if they have been successful next summer 

“Many” employers working with a new independent provider for the care sector did not know their staff were on apprenticeships, Ofsted has found.

Care Assessment Training Services was deemed to have a made ‘insufficient progress’ in two areas of an early monitoring visit for a host of issues with its provision to 102 apprentices.

The report, published today, criticised the provider’s leaders and managers for not using “integrity” when recruiting apprentices.

Inspectors discovered that apprentices on the level 5 care apprenticeship framework, for example, complete their courses early but remain on programme until the planned end date.

“Many” apprentices do not know that they are apprentices or why they are on an apprenticeship programme.

Shockingly, Ofsted’s report went further and said “many employers” also “do not know that their staff are on an apprenticeship programme”.

Many of the employees are often placed on an incorrect programme, as assessors do not use the results of initial assessments to ensure that they are on the right one.

Leaders and managers did not ensure employers were aware of the requirements of an apprenticeship, so a majority of level 2 and 5 learners did not receive sufficient time to complete off-the-job training – meaning “too many” learners did not receive their 20 per cent entitlement.

And nor do leaders and managers make sure employers and standards-based apprentices are aware of the end-point assessment.

“They do not plan effectively in preparing apprentices for the professional discussion and tests,” inspectors said.

“Assessors do not encourage apprentices to work towards merit or distinction grades. Consequently, apprentices do not achieve within the planned timescale or at the level of which they are capable.”

Assessors also “do not plan or sequence learning” to ensure that apprentices develop the “substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours that they need to progress in their careers”.

Ofsted added that the “external scrutiny” of policies, systems or quality arrangements “does not exist” at Care Assessment Training Services.

As a consequence, they have been slow to put changes in place such as recruiting more assessors to give learners the full support they need.

There were some positive findings in the report; the provider had made ‘reasonable progress’ in ensuring effective safeguarding arrangements.

All the apprentices know how to safeguard residents and clients who are in their care.

A few of them also increase their skills, their confidence and their communication skills, and can use the knowledge and skills they gain at the provider to adapt how they communicate with residents and clients.

For example, apprentices at level three use electronic translation tools to communicate with residents who do not speak English.

Ofsted added that assessors have the “appropriate knowledge and expertise” in the care sector to carry out training and assessment.

Due to its poor performance, Care Assessment Training Services can expect to be suspended from recruiting new apprentices, under ESFA rules. It will only have this ban lifted if it improves to at least a grade three in a full inspection.

The provider did not comment at the time of going to press.