The former leaders of the first college to enter education administration are being investigated by the Insolvency Service.

The service confirmed the undertaking into Hadlow College today, following a leaked statement of proposals prepared by administrators BDO, which said enquiries into the “conduct of relevant personnel in the period leading up to the onset of insolvency” were being made.

As the Insolvency Service’s investigation will focus on the run-up to insolvency, it is likely it will cover the conduct of deputy principal Mark Lumsdon-Taylor and principal Paul Hannan – both of whom resigned following the commissioner’s intervention – and the chair of Hadlow College’s board Theresa Bruton, who also left the college around that time.

A spokesperson said if there is evidence of misconduct, and it’s in the public interest, the Insolvency Service may pursue enforcement measures, such as director disqualification.

The service has a three-year window from the date of insolvency “within which to issue disqualification proceedings should there be evidence of wrongdoing”.

Hadlow College went into education administration in May, followed by its sister college West Kent and Ashford in August.

Government guidance for FE bodies which become insolvent states that administrators must prepare a report for the business secretary on governors’ conduct for the last three years, which will then be reviewed by the service.

After doing so, the service can then decide whether to seek to disqualify any of the governors; but board members could also be convicted of a criminal offence.

“Sanctions may be imposed for causing or persuading the statutory corporation to commit an offence at common law (e.g. conspiracy to defraud) or for causing or persuading the statutory corporation to commit a statutory offence,” it states.

“A disqualification order may also be made by a court against a governor of a college that is a statutory corporation following conviction of a criminal offence.”

As reported by FE Week, the FE Commissioner Richard Atkins investigated how the college ran out of money as well as claims of financial irregularities.

Atkins’ report, published in May, said Hadlow’s board failed in its fiduciary duty and “put the sustainability of two colleges and its learners at risk”.

It also listed that Hannan and Lumsdon-Taylor “regularly made decisions themselves outside of executive and any open discussion – and reacted strongly to questioning or challenge”.

The leaked BDO report revealed the college owes £40 million to 300 companies; including £5 million to Barclays bank and £11 million to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

The Department for Education will have to open its wallet to the tune of over £2 million to pay off BDO for the costs of the administration process.

Education giant City & Guilds announced today it has acquired its second training provider in two years.

Intertrain, a large provider for the railway industry, is the latest acquisition after Gen2, which claims to be the largest training provider to the UK civil nuclear industry, joined in May 2017.

City & Guilds Group declined to disclose how much the deals were worth due to commercial sensitivity.

Chief executive Chris Jones said the group, which is best known as an awarding organisation, has moved into offering its own training after reflecting “on our purpose – to help people into jobs, develop on the job and progress into the next job”.

“We continue to adapt and evolve with our markets to deliver on that purpose at a dynamic time for individuals, businesses and economies,” he added.

Intertrain, which was established in 1997, delivers over 300 different training courses and assessments, including level 2 and 3 apprenticeships in engineering.

It trains more than 22,000 learners and apprentices every year and has training centres in Enfield, Crayford, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Derby, Warrington, Doncaster, Gateshead, Glasgow and Portsmouth.

The independent learning provider received its first visit from Ofsted earlier this year, and was found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ across all three assessed themes in an early monitoring report published in September 2019.

Director at Intertrain Alex Pond said: “The acquisition provides Intertrain, its employees, customers and learners with significant investment and opportunities in digital learner platforms and blended learning that will meet with the demands of the STEM markets, particularly within rail.”

City & Guilds Group said it expects there to be a substantial increase in learners at Intertrain due to a number of significant infrastructure projects planned for the next decade, including HS2 and Crossrail 2.

Cumbrian-based training provider Gen2 was established in the year 2000 and works with more than 250 employers, including British Steel, Sellafield Ltd and Iggesund, across six sites.

At the time of acquisition in July 2017 it had more than 1,300 apprentices.

It received a grade of ‘outstanding’ in its last Ofsted inspection in 2011.

A scandal-hit college and the first to enter education administration owes £40 million to over 300 companies, charities and government agencies, FE Week can reveal.

Three insolvency practitioners, all from BDO LLP, were assigned to Hadlow College in May 2019 and their joint report is due to be published next week.

FE Week has been leaked a copy of the report. 

It lists £5 million to Barclays Bank in the form of a secured loan, along with £35m to unsecured creditors, including:

• £11m to the Education and Skills Funding Agency
• £2m to HMRC for VAT and PAYE
• £9m to Pension Scheme
• £4m to West Kent and Ashford College
• £3m to around 300 individual companies

Under a normal administration, property could be sold to pay back creditors, but an education administration has a “learner protection objective”.

This has led BDO to assess the likelihood of creditors being paid back as “uncertain” because “the majority of the assets of the College are designated to be for educational purposes.”

However, concerning the £9m debt to the pension scheme, BDO has said they have been “advised that staff accrued pension rights will be unaffected by the Education Administration and any subsequent sale process”.

In addition to the debts, the Department for Education is having to fork-out for the costs of the administration process, set to exceed £2 million.

BDO, between 22 May 2019 and 11 October 2019 have billed the DfE for £627,407 for a total of 3,208 hours (£196 per hour average, with the highest being £320 per hour for BDO partners).

The administrators estimate this will rise to £1.1m by 24 April 2020 along with a further £1m on four property agents, three law firms and a specialist insurer.

And BDO is not only being paid by the DfE to undertake the education administration for Hadlow College.

The Hadlow College Group included West Kent and Ashford College (WKAC), which is a separate legal entity sharing many of the staff and back-office services.

WKAC was placed into Education Administration on 16 August 2019, with BDO again acting as the insolvency practitioners and they will report, in a similar fashion, in due course.

The BDO forensic services team were also paid to undertake an investigation into “the conduct of all relevant persons during the three years before the Education Administration”.

Their “confidential” investigation report “was submitted to the Secretary of State on 22 August 2019.”

The education administrations are also cooperating with the government’s Insolvency Service, which is “undertaking enquiries as to the conduct of relevant personnel in the period leading up to the onset of insolvency”.

The BDO report and Insolvency Service enquiries are understood to be focused on the role of the governors at both colleges as well as Mark Lumsdon-Taylor, Group Deputy Principal, and Paul Hannan, Group Principal who were both suspended in February.

As reported by FE Week (see below), the FE Commissioner investigated how the college ran out of money and claims of financial irregularities.

The FE Commissioner report, published in May, listed governance failures but also that Hannan and Lumsdon-Taylor “regularly made decisions themselves outside of executive and any open discussion – and reacted strongly to questioning or challenge”.

Amongst a number of concerns with data and land transactions, it has been alleged Lumsdon-Taylor doctored emails from the ESFA to prove to the agency that he was entitled to claim extra funding, which he said had been agreed when Hadlow College adopted West Kent & Ashford colleges from K College.

This unauthorised funding over many years will go some way to explain why Hadlow College now owes the ESFA £11 million, according to the education administrators.

HOW FE WEEK EXPOSED IT ALL – A FULL TIMELINE OF THE SAGA:

11 Feb: FE Week broke the news the FE Commissioner had intervened at the Hadlow Group, likely because of its finances; and deputy principal Mark Lumsdon-Taylor had resigned.

14 Feb: We later reported Hadlow College and WKAC principal Paul Hannan had gone on sick leave.

15 Feb: Graham Morley was announced as the interim principal of Hadlow College and WKAC. It was also reported the commissioner’s investigation had been triggered by the group’s application for restructuring funds to the Department for Education’s Transactions Unit.

18 Feb: Hannan and Lumsdon-Taylor were reported as having been suspended, and WKAC chair Paul Dubrow having stood down, with Hadlow chair Theresa Bruton taking over from Dubrow.

1 Mar: Hadlow Group colleges’ boards in “meltdown” as governors step down, the commissioner loans one of his deputies to stand-in as chief financial officer, and it was found Hadlow had not had an accountant on its board.

8 Mar: FE Week revealed the truth behind the investigation into Hadlow College, which told how Lumsdon-Taylor had been caught altering emails from the ESFA to justify claiming taxpayer funding, and the college had failed in a bid for £20 million from the ESFA. It was also revealed the college had failed to sell Betteshanger Park, an organisation within the Hadlow Group, for £4 million and had to spend £1.2 million on new foundations.

11 Mar: Theresa Bruton resigns, as did two other governors. The ESFA and commissioner’s team met the Friday before, ahead of a decision on whether the education secretary should continue to financially support the colleges, or let either of them go into administration.

15 Mar: FE Week exposes how the DfE bailed out WKAC was ordered by the High Court to pay £1 million that was owed to BAM Construction for the construction of a state-of-the-art teaching building in November.

18 Mar: Paul Hannan resigns.

19 Mar: Ex-Association of Colleges boss Martin Doel and mergers and acquisitions expert Andrew Baird are announced as the new chairs of WKAC and Hadlow, respectively.

26 Apr: ESFA takes control of investigation into Lumsdon-Taylor, who is also being evicted from his on-campus flat. But the college admits to paying for the first year of a Master’s degree course he is on at Manchester Metropolitan University.

15 May: Hadlow and WKAC are handed notices to improve by the government after being found to have ‘inadequate’ financial health.

17 May: FE Week broke the news Hadlow College had asked the education secretary, Damian Hinds, to apply to put it into education administration. A financial advisory firm was contracted to shop around for buyers of the group’s assets, including Hadlow and WKAC.

20 May: Hadlow College confirmed it was looking to sell Betteshanger Park, and intends to find a buyer by 31 July.

22 May: The High Court grants the education secretary’s application, and Hadlow College becomes the first FE body to go into education administration.

23 May: FE Commissioner publishes intervention reports into Hadlow and WKAC.

5 Jul: Hadlow College making ‘reasonable progress’, Ofsted finds

11 Jul: FE Commissioner recommends 3-way split for Hadlow College Group

15 Aug: West Kent and Ashford College apply to enter education administration

The Lib Dems have pledged to give every adult in England £10,000 to put towards education and training.

In what the party called a “new era of learning throughout life”, the cash would be placed into a “skills wallet” over a 30-year period.

They would put £4,000 in there by the age of 25, £3,000 at 40 and another £3,000 at 55.

Under the plans, the Lib Dems said individuals can choose how and when to spend this money on a “range of approved education and training courses” – but only those from regulated providers and monitored by the Office for Students.

The OfS currently only regulates higher education providers, and the Lib Dems’ announcement mentions nothing about apprenticeships or other skills programmes.

Ian Pretty, chief executive of the Collab Group, expressed concern about this: “The reference to the OfS here seems to imply that the focus of the allowances will be towards higher education courses.

“The fact remains however, that to really get to grips with our national productivity and social mobility challenges we need to be doing a lot more to help individuals progress from levels two to three, or from levels three to four.

“It is unclear at this stage whether this policy will truly provide a mechanism for doing this.”

A Lib Dems spokesperson told FE Week that the party’s plans would include providing appropriate resource to expand the remit of the OfS to monitor a “range of providers and course types”, which were not just in the higher education market.

This would “not mean that these providers would be subject to the same regulatory regime as universities – just that the regulator would be the same”. The Lib Dems have previously said it would abolish Ofsted.

The Lib Dems said the skills wallets policy would come in by 2021-22, and would cost £1.9 billion a year in total by 2024-25.

It would be paid for by “reversing the Conservatives’ unnecessary and expensive cuts to Corporation Tax and return the rate to 20 per cent, where it stood in 2016”.

Individuals, their employers and local government would be able to make additional payments into the wallets. Access to free careers guidance would also be provided, according to the party.

The proposal has been welcomed by Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges.

“It’s time debate in England faced up to the need to help adults learn, retrain and deal with longer lives,” he tweeted.

2/2. Most of the schemes looked at by OECD were smaller and more targeted than the Lib Dem plan (an offer to everyone at 25/40/55th birthday; assuming 25% take-up) but it’s time debate in England faced up to the need to help adults learn, retrain and deal with longer lives

— Julian Gravatt (@JulianGravatt) November 11, 2019

 

The Lib Dems had originally planned to fund adults’ skills wallets with £9,000, as reported by the Daily Mirror in September. FE Week has asked the party why it has now increased the figure to £10,000.

On today’s announcement, Lib Dem shadow business, energy and industrial strategy secretary, Sam Gyimah (pictured), said: “Working hard should mean secure work and a decent income, but for too many people that’s not the case. In an ever changing workplace people often need to develop new skills, but the cost of courses and qualifications shuts too many people out.

“Neither the Conservatives and Labour have the answers to these challenges. They are stuck pursuing 20th-century policies that simply won’t work in our 21st-century economy.

“Only the Liberal Democrats have a real plan to build a fairer economy and a brighter future. We will create a new era of learning throughout adult life with Skills Wallets for every individual, providing them with £10,000 to spend on education and training at various stages of their lives.”

Labour is expected to make an announcement about their plans for lifelong learning tomorrow.

The college involved in a FE loan scandal has agreed to pay the cost of the debt in full, hours after it was exposed by FE Week.

The investigation found 13 alleged victims of an advanced learner loans scandal were still being told that they must repay thousands, despite some claiming they did not know they had signed up to the course or had never received training.

The course was subcontracted to Edudo Ltd by West London College in 2015.

One victim, Grzegorz Bogdanski, 34, was being forced by the government to repay a £5,421 loan for an NVQ in Wood Occupations as the Student Loans Company (SLC) said their records showed that “the learning provider confirmed his attendance on the course”.

“It is brilliant. I’m still buzzing.”

Karen Redhead, who took over as principal at West London College in September 2018, told FE Week she had spoken to the SLC this morning and confirmed the college would pay off Grzegorz Bogdanski’s loan.

She said: “I spoke to the SLC this morning and passed the names of all the learners [FE Week] sent to me with an instruction that the college would repay the loans.” 

Bogdanski was overjoyed when he received the good news: “She told me not to worry about the loan, all the loan will be written off.

“It is brilliant. I’m still buzzing.”

Bogdanski said he thanked FE Week “from the bottom of my heart”.

Redhead added she had spoken to six of the victims of the loans scandal.

FE Week liaised with the learners to put them in direct contact with the college principal.

Many of the victims had previously claimed that they had been sent “in circles” by authorities after receiving repeated requests to contact other institutions.

Edudo Ltd sold its “assets and business” to Learning Republic Group Ltd in November 2016 and entered voluntary liquidation in January 2017.

West London College was previously known as Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College.

Grzegorz Bogdanski is being forced by the government to repay a £5,421 loan for an FE course he claimed he never started, or even realised that he had signed up for.

The 34-year-old construction worker said that all those involved have “washed their hands” of his case and described the Department for Education (DfE) as “the biggest disappointment” in the saga because of its lack of oversight over training providers.

Bogdanski is not alone. An investigation by FE Week has found that alleged victims of an advanced learner loans scandal are still being told that they must repay their debts, despite new regulations which give the education secretary power to clear them when their provider goes bust.

In June, in the wake of FE Week’s #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign, the DfE announced new legislation that would allow the government to cancel all or part of an advanced learner loan for those left in debt if their provider folded. This was to take effect from 1 July 2019.

However, the Student Loans Company (SLC) has confirmed that Bogdanski is still liable to pay his loan back as “records show that the learning provider confirmed his attendance on the course”.

FE Week has spoken to 12 other Southampton-based Polish building and construction workers who also claim that they have loans due for courses they did not complete with Edudo Ltd, which later collapsed. They said they plan to hire a lawyer and go to court over the payments.

Edudo Ltd was paid as a subcontractor by West London College, which held the contract with the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Many of the victims claim that they had been sent “in circles” by authorities after receiving repeated requests to contact other institutions. 

“There was something wrong… it doesn’t feel right”

Several also question how it was so easy for Edudo to receive funding and to claim to have delivered their courses.

Bogdanski attended an information session hosted by Edudo and a construction agency, named by other alleged victims as their employer AB South Construction Ltd, which is now also dissolved, in March 2015.

Some of the other members of the group, including Blazej Zielinski, 33, and Radoslaw Michalowski, 42, also claimed that they went to one or two initial meetings with the provider and later received letters notifying them of their obligation to repay loans.

They said they were told to sign multiple forms during the sessions but Bogdanski denies personally submitting them to the SLC or authorising Edudo to do so.

“After a while I said there was something wrong with it, it doesn’t feel right. I had my intuition but it was too late,” he added. “We were really tricked.”

Zielinski told FE Week that he was suffering from stress because he has to pay back almost £6,000 “for nothing” and Michalowski also confirmed that he never attended, or was offered, any training.

“I’ve got three kids and a wife and that money is a big problem for me. Everyone [is] just closing eyes and their ears,” he added.

Meanwhile Pawel Klak, 41, claims that he had received assurances from Edudo that they would cancel his loan application after he asked to pull out shortly after attending two meetings.

Klak, who said he has already paid back almost two-thirds of his loan, described the process of trying to contact Edudo, West London College and the SLC as being “like tennis… [sent from] one side to another”.

But Tomasz Lentkiewicz, 38, told FE Week that he had never attended any meetings or had any contact about the course with the provider or the employment agency with which he was registered.

“I think that was some fraud. Probably they use[d] my details to get a loan in my name,” he said.

Bogdanski went on to criticise the government, West London College and the monitoring of subcontractors like Edudo.

“Everyone is just closing their eyes and their ears”

“I don’t understand why the government or the Student Loans Company didn’t check them correctly because this is some kind of scam,” he said.

“They grab the money… and just disappeared without supplying the service they were supposed to.”

The ESFA has now banned the subcontracting of advanced learner loans, but this came too late for the alleged victims of Eduado.

After Bogdanski attended a six-hour meeting in March 2015, during which he completed paperwork, he sent his passport to the SLC, under the impression that he was just checking he would qualify for the loan.

Bogdanski then received a letter detailing the summary of his loan for an NVQ in Wood Occupations in April 2015; a total of £5,421, the maximum for the course as set by the government, had been requested.

It listed West London College (at the time called Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College) as the training organisation and stated that his course would start later that month and end in July, but Bogdanski claims that he did not attend it.

A spokesperson from the SLC said: “SLC processes applications for student loans in accordance with the DfE’s policy and on information provided by customers and verified by learning providers.

“In this case Mr Bogdanski applied for funding on 28 March 2015 and we received a signed declaration form from him on 31 March 2015.”

The SLC was not able to comment on all of the other learners at the time of going to press. However, a spokesperson said it was “satisfied” that some of the alleged victims’ attendance had previously been confirmed.

West London College confirmed that it “had a subcontracting relationship with Edudo for a short period of time between March and July 2015”. The subcontract was “not renewed beyond that date”.

Hampshire-based Edudo Ltd, which was allocated £500,500 in advanced learner loans, sold its “assets and business” to Learning Republic Group Ltd in November 2016 and entered voluntary liquidation.

Former Edudo boss Ronan Smith is currently the only director listed at Companies House for Learning Republic Group.

Bogdanski claims that he kept calling Edudo before it collapsed but the firm just “seem[ed] to just dodge” his attempts to talk to Smith.

Learning Republic Group has not responded to requests for comment from FE Week.

A spokesperson from the SLC said: “SLC has advised Mr Bogdanski that any dispute over his attendance should be raised with the learning provider and the ESFA, who regulate the education and training sector and are accountable for the funding paid to FE institutions.”

Bogdanski and many of the other alleged victims claim to have contacted West London College and the ESFA many times over the past four years.

Bogdanski described being left without any help or alternatives to sort out the situation as “very shameful” and “frustrating”.

“Life was good… and wasn’t so good after”

He added: “It is just like banging your head against the wall to try to do something. Everybody just turns their backs and says sorry we can’t help you.”

Another alleged victim, Marcin Tryka, 38, claimed to have knowingly signed up for the loan after being offered a gold CSCS card (for which level 3 NVQs are required) through his employer AB South Construction, but Tryka alleged that contact from Edudo was cut off after one site visit.

He said it “looked dodgy” from the beginning after the representative of Edudo spoke to a group meeting through a translator and therefore must have known “even if [they] go through the whole process [most people] wouldn’t get it [the gold card] if they can’t speak two words of English”.

Tryka said the ordeal put him “in a stupid loop where I couldn’t get enough money to think about getting a card”, impacting on his employment opportunities.

“It has been four years…, I [still] can’t believe it happened. Life was good and wasn’t so good after.”

Lukasz Pacuk, 36, echoed Tryka’s claims but said an Edudo assessor told him that no more site visits were needed after the first and that he would receive his certificate.

He had originally been enrolled on the Level 2 NVQ in Wood Occupations (Site Carpentry Pathway) in 2014 before being changed to Level 3 NVQ in the same subject.

“Everything [was] very, very strange. They played a game with everyone.”

FE Week has seen copies of correspondence from Edudo confirming Pacuk’s enrolment on both courses from November 2014 and June 2016 respectively, as well as a partially filled-in Edudo course book and other paperwork.

After Edudo collapsed, Pacuk claimed that he called Learning Republic and the company sent him his portfolio in the post but told him that he would not be able to continue the course and would have to take out another loan.

FE Week was also contacted by six other people who also claim to have been “cheated” by Edudo: Rafal Wojcik, Hubert Kot, Dariusz Kowalczyk, Jacek Major, Roman Trela and Damian Nowak.

College fails to say if subcontractor was monitored

West London College, previously known as Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, entered into a subcontracting relationship with Hampshire-based Edudo Ltd “for a short period of time between March and July 2015”.

The college received the advanced learner funding directly from the Student Loans Company, before charging a management fee to Edudo, the subcontractor, and then paying them to deliver the course.

Many of the victims were not aware that West London College was their prime training provider.

The then Skills Funding Agency’s Funding Rules 2014 to 2015 stated that “a regular and substantial programme of quality-assurance checks” must be carried out on subcontractors.

West London College did not comment on whether Edudo was monitored during the period of training provision.

In 2016 the SFA announced that subcontracting within the advanced learner loans programme would be banned for all providers from the start of the 2017 to include the 2018 funding year.

Karen Redhead, who took over as principal at West London College in September 2018, said: “We welcome the FE Week campaign to highlight the plight of learners that have been left with debt but without qualifications, due to training providers going into liquidation.”

After being provided with the details of several other victims who alleged they had contacted the college and were turned away, Redhead admitted she was aware of three former students who had contacted the college recently and that, due to the “wholesale and multiple turnover of managers at West London College since 2015”, staff are now “piecing together evidence”.

She added: “We have been in touch with the Student Loans Company to obtain further information to help us understand the situation and to consider the best resolution for affected learners.”

Redhead maintained that the college was “absolutely committed to working with relevant agencies and individuals to resolve all outstanding issues as swiftly as we can.

“I would therefore urge those affected to contact the principal’s office directly so we can look into their specific circumstances and achieve satisfactory and timely resolution.”

West London College previously also had a subcontracting arrangement for adult education budget funding with SCL Security Ltd, a firm later suspended from delivering new apprenticeship starts, in a deal worth £1.7 million in 2018/19.

At the time Redhead confirmed that the college did not subcontract to SCL Security for apprenticeships but had terminated the relationship as a result of FE Week’s investigation.

This week Ofsted announced that it will launch research into FE subcontracting, after Eileen Milner, chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, sent a sector-wide letter last month warning that the agency was still investigating cases where subcontracted provision was not “appropriately controlled, overseen or managed by the lead provider”.

Changes to subcontracting contracts, to be phased in from 1 August and 1 December 2019, also for the first time require a “list of individually itemised, specific costs for managing the subcontractor”.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

March 2015: Grzegorz Bogdanski attended a meeting hosted by Edudo Ltd, after which he was signed up to an advanced learner loan allegedly without his consent.

January 2017: FE Week reported on 500 advance learner loans students being affected by John Frank Training going into liquidation in November 2016. The firm left no assets despite recording a profit of £1.3 million in the first half of 2016.

February 2017: FE Week launched the #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign in Parliament after speaking to many victims with thousands of pounds worth of debt but no qualifications after their training providers collapsed. FE Week also revealed Edudo Ltd went into voluntary liquidation this month.

April 2017: The Department for Education asked the SLC to defer loan repayments for affected learners during the April 2017 to March 2018 tax year.

April 2018: Repayments were deferred again for the 2018/2019 tax year.

July 2019: The DfE told FE Week that the government would be able to clear learners’ advanced learner loan debt when their provider goes bust from 1 July 2019. Individuals are assessed on a case-by-case basis and past students should not be required to make repayments while their cases are being considered. Students who may be in scope of the new policy should be contacted by DfE or the SLC.

October 2019: Asim Shaheen, an ex-learner at John Frank Training who could not complete his training after the firm went into liquidation in 2016, told FE Week he had received no communication regarding the write-off, nor has Bogdanski.

November 2019: FE Week reveals how loans learners are still being told to repay their loans despite never completing the course or achieving their qualification.

A new provider that has learners on its programme who did not even know they were apprentices overshadowed a ‘good’ week for FE, especially colleges.

Welcome Skills Limited received three ‘insufficient progress’ grades in an early monitoring report, with inspectors finding leaders do not “design or plan” programmes that enable its 329 apprentices to make good progress or gain substantial new skills and knowledge.

The provider became a prime contractor in June 2017 and began recruiting its first apprentices in January 2018 after previously offering hospitality training to the Asian restaurant sector as a subcontractor. It now offers the level 2 hospitality team member and production chef standards.

Ofsted said more experienced apprentices, such as restaurant owners, “complete the same programme over the same time as those newer to the industry”.

Not all apprentices were “aware” that they are on an apprenticeship programme. Others “do not know when their end-point assessments will take place or that they can achieve high grades”.

Ofsted noted that no apprentice had completed an apprenticeship so far at the London-based provider, even though the programme should last 12 months.

However, Welcome Skills Limited was praised for a “strong commitment” to reach young people from the Bangladeshi community who have low educational attainment and “redressing staff shortages and helping to professionalise the sector”.

In contrast, Gateway Sixth Form College was graded ‘good’ in every category this week following a full inspection after previously being rated ‘requires improvement’.

The Leicestershire college offers programmes from level 1 to level 3 to 1,214 students.

The inspectorate reported the large majority of students were “very happy” with the education they receive and many said staff “go beyond their expectations and provide extra help and support”.

It also stated a high proportion of students participate in useful work experience.

Teachers understand what students are likely to do after college, and they “help them to develop their study skills alongside relevant subject knowledge”.

Warrington and Vale Royal College also moved up to grade two from grade three, receiving ‘good’ in every theme assessed except apprenticeships, for which it was graded ‘requires improvement’.

The general further education college formed following a merger in August 2017.

It has 1,440 learners on education programmes for young people, 1,634 on adult learning programmes, 75 learners who have high needs and 743 apprentices.

The report said the range of courses on offer at the college meets “local and regional needs very well”.

Inspectors found an “inclusive learning environment,” with learners and apprentices benefiting from using industry-standard equipment and those with high or special educational needs or disabilities receiving “early help and individual support”.

Most learners and apprentices “quickly develop” new knowledge, skills and behaviours, which prepares them “well” for further study, employment or promotion at work.

Chadsgrove Educational Trust Learning Centre, an Independent Specialist College which was previously graded ‘requires improvement’, made ‘significant progress’ in one assessed theme in its monitoring visit and ‘reasonable progress’ in the other three.

The Bromsgrove-based centre, which opened to provide provision for young people with a physical disability and/or complex medical need, currently has 10 students on programme working at pre-entry level to level 1.

The education watchdog found managers and tutors ensure that learners make “positive progress in terms of their readiness to participate in the community and their own healthcare, developing independence and moving into adulthood” and have “clear and personalised targets” for improvement.

The report stated most learners are now motivated and engaged in learning but that tutors do not focus sufficiently on the development of literacy for adulthood.

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council, an Adult and Community Learning provider, maintained its grade two rating following a full inspection.

Inspectors said the adults studying courses “delight” in learning new knowledge and skills.

“They are enthusiastic about their courses and how they are improving their chances of getting a job.”

All of the other providers that received early monitoring reports this week scored ‘reasonable progress’ across the board.

These were: Harriet Ellis Training Solutions, Learnmore Network Limited, One To One Support Services Limited, Springfield Training Limited and The MTC – Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre Limited.

Independent Learning Providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Harriet Ellis Training Solutions	26/09/2019	04/11/2019	M	N/A
Learnmore Network Limited	16/10/2019	04/11/2019	M	N/A
One To One Support Services Limited	03/10/2019	08/11/2019	M	N/A
Springfield Training Limited	03/10/2019	06/11/2019	M	N/A
The MTC – Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre Limited	09/10/2019	05/11/2019	M	N/A
Welcome Skills Limited	02/10/2019	08/11/2019	M	N/A

 

Sixth Form Colleges (inc 16-19 academies)	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Gateway Sixth Form College	11/10/2019	04/11/2019	2	3

 

Adult and Community Learning	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council	11/10/2019	05/11/2019	2	2

 

Specialist colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Chadsgrove Educational Trust Learning Centre	16/10/2019	06/11/2019	M	3

 

General FE colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Warrington and Vale Royal College	11/10/2019	08/11/2019	2	3

Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College is looking to merge with the Trafford College Group, after the former’s leaders were told it could not survive as a stand-alone.

The move, announced this afternoon, comes three days after a report by FE Commissioner Richard Atkins was published and said the sixth form college’s finances were now “terminal”.

It had already transferred half their apprentices to Trafford College by June.

Chair of Cheadle’s board Alison Hewitt said: “Our proximity to Trafford as well as the complementary provision means a potential merger would be extremely beneficial to students.”

The FE Commissioner’s report found Cheadle and Marple had generated “substantial” deficits since 2013/14, and said it was “unlikely” the college could continue alone.

Merging Trafford College Group and Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College would create a single college group working across the existing college sites.

Trafford College already merged with Stockport College in April 2018, a move which required a £30 million bailout from the Department for Education.

Chair of Trafford’s board Graham Luccock said he was “delighted” to see how Cheadle and Trafford could work together.

According to him, initial discussions have already taken place.