An embattled London college has announced it will officially merge next month, after the FE Commissioner found a new culture of “openness, transparency and trust”.

Kensington and Chelsea College will join with Morley College on 3 February.

The resolution follows a governing body meeting last night, and the outcome of Richard Atkins’ final monitoring visit at KCC, which took place on 30 October 2019.

“Yesterday’s decision was a landmark in the continuing upturn in fortunes for the college”

KCC has been subject to close oversight since late 2017 after serious concerns were raised in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire by the local community regarding a proposed merger with Ealing Hammersmith and West London College. This merger was later blocked by the FE Commissioner.

Campaigners were particularly concerned about the loss of KCC’s Wornington Road site, which was controversially sold for £25.3 million to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 2016.

The college has since undergone changes in leadership and secured £32.3 million from the government to help buy back the campus that serves the Grenfell community, and move ahead with a merger with Morley College.

The FE Commissioner’s latest report on KCC states that there has been a “notable and tangible improvement to the atmosphere and culture across the college”, and its operations are “well led giving a sense of calm in the build up to merger”.

Staff, whilst “understandably anxious” about the merger, talked of a “culture of openness, transparency, accessibility and trust in relation to the board and the senior leadership team”.

They also commented that having an agreed future for the college, together with a commitment to financial support, was “instrumental in providing staff and students with a sense of optimism about the future.

“Planning for the merger is progressing well despite significant complexities and challenges that have mainly been overcome.”

Whilst recognising that the college is making “good progress”, Atkins’ team noted there is “still much to do”.

KCC is “financially inadequate” after recording a deficit of just under £6 million in 2018/19. It is expecting to reduce this to a £2.8 million deficit by the end of 2019/20. The college has no borrowings and still has cash in the bank, the FE Commissioner said.

His team added that governors and senior managers have taken action to significantly reduce its cost base this year.

Whilst this still leaves a large deficit, it “does slow down the erosion of cash through operations and does not include any actions that are contrary to the Morley College London merger proposal”.

“I have been humbled by the passion and determination of campaigner”

KCC received its fifth consecutive grade three report from Ofsted last year.

Ian Valvona, who joined as chair of KCC in 2018, said yesterday’s board decision was a “landmark in the continuing upturn in fortunes for the college and the communities it serves in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy”.

Andy Cole, the college’s principal who also joined in 2018, added: “I am immensely proud of my staff who have remained committed to improving the opportunities and outcomes of our learners in the face of the most challenging of circumstances, and it is heartening to see this reflected in the FE Commissioner’s report.

“Throughout the past two years I have been humbled by the passion and determination of campaigners who have fought so hard to preserve the best of the college’s rich history for the benefit of future generations and wish to place on record my respect for their work both before and subsequent to the tragic events of the 14th June 2017.”

A spokesperson for Morley College said their governing body is now preparing “for its meeting on 20 January when we give final consideration to the resolution to merge”.

A spokesperson for the Save Wornington Campaign group said they will do “everything in our power to ensure that this college stays open for our community”.

“Morley College are showing genuine commitment to the project and we welcome that,” she added. “We will hold them to account and ensure that they are honouring North Kensington and the Grenfell legacy.”

 

Five colleges have been hit with a notice to improve by the government this afternoon, after they were all assessed to have poor financial health and leadership.

They are for: Kensington and Chelsea College, Richmond upon Thames College, East Sussex College Group, Gateshead College and Highbury College.

Two others, Havering College of Further and Higher Education and Easton and Otley College, have had their notices to improve closed.

Colleges subject to notices to improve are typically put into FE Commissioner intervention and must run most spending decisions past the government.

Richmond upon Thames’ was issued following an FE Commissioner diagnostic assessment in August 2019 which recommended that “the college is put into formal intervention and that a member of ESFA staff should attend all future board meetings”.

In particular, the report highlighted the declining financial health of the college and a forecast of significant financial deficit for 18/19, inadequate financial management, control and reporting, as well as “weaknesses in leadership and management”.

Today’s notice added that the FE Commissioner and the ESFA acknowledge the “chair and the governing body’s swift actions to address the situation”.

As previously revealed by FE Week, Richmond’s former principal Robin Ghurbhurun left in July for “personal reasons”, around the same time of a visit from the FE Commissioner amid financial concerns. He has since been replaced by Diane Dimond, a chartered accountant, in the interim.

Highbury’s was issued following an FE Commissioner diagnostic assessment monitoring visit that took place on 4 October 2019.

Richard Atkins’ team was sent into the college after FE Week revealed the principal, who has since been suspended, claimed expenses of £150,000 over four years, following a year-long freedom of information battle.

Highbury’s notice to improve said the FE Commissioner recognises that the college has “made good progress in delivering many of the recommendations there remains significant concern around the college’s leadership and governance, therefore Highbury College has been escalated to formal intervention”.

Gateshead College, rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, has received its financial notice to improve after it launched an investigation into a shock £6 million deficit. Judith Doyle, who was the highest paid principal in England last year, has since retired with immediate effect.

Today’s report said the improvement notice is being issued because Gateshead “has been assessed as experiencing serious cash flow pressures”. The college is now in formal intervention.

East Sussex College Group’s notice to improve only states that it has been assessed as having “inadequate financial health by the ESFA”, and it is now in formal intervention.

Kensington & Chelsea College’s notice follows an FE Commissioner visit in October 2019, the outcome of which signed off on merger plans with Morley College.

Today’s report said the ESFA is now placing KCC in “supervised college status”, due to the “well understood exceptional position and circumstances of the college”. Its deficit for 2018/19 hit just under £6 million.

A large college group in the south west is to sell-off a 35-year-old campus in order to balance the books.

Cornwall College Group, which last year secured a £30 million government bailout to drive forward a “fresh start” business plan, will close its site in Saltash in July.

A total of 74 jobs are at risk, and around 500 students will be affected – although the majority will complete their courses by the end of this academic year.

Cornwall College took on the Saltash site in August 2001, when it merged with St Austell College.

The campus includes a higher education centre, construction skills training centre, commercial hair and beauty salons and a “state-of-the-art” training kitchen that only opened permanently in 2018.

A spokesperson said they “regret” the closure, and blamed the decision on “reduced funding for post-16 learners in colleges which has shrunk by 30 per cent over the last ten years”.

They added that the recent increase in funding for learners aged 16 to 18 – rising 4.7 per cent from £4,000 to £4,188 in 2020/21 – does not “go far enough in covering even inflationary costs; it brings funding up to 2010 rates”.

“In this uncertain financial climate difficult decisions are needed.”

Cornwall College Group has 11 different campuses in total. The spokesperson confirmed that “all other sites will remain open”.

The college is working with affected learners, who will be offered “progression opportunities” at either Cornwall College St Austell, Duchy Stoke Climsland “or another provider”, such as City College Plymouth which is just seven miles away from Saltash.

The college will also consult with staff on possible job losses, and “redeployment and retraining will be offered where possible”.

The group has had a rocky recent history. It was told it was not financially “viable or resilient” and had “weak solvency” in its post-16 area review report from 2017, but that it should remain a standalone college.

It received £4.5 million emergency funding in 2016-17 and £3.5 million in 2017-18 to keep running.

A follow-up review of further education in Cornwall was launched in late 2018 at the request of Cornwall Council, which put pressure on the group to work more closely with its rival, Truro & Penwith College, and that a merger may be in learners’ best interests.

The merger didn’t come to fruition, but Cornwall launched a “fresh start” last year after landing a £30 million handout from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

When the FE Commissioner reported on post-16 provision in Cornwall in March 2019, he noted that one of the “main concerns” for the ESFA was around the “viability of maintaining” its various sites.

Elaine McMahon, the college group’s interim chief executive at the time, then said that “elements of the group’s estate would be restructured”.

John Evans took the reins from McMahon in September 2019.

 

Take-up of bursaries that support young parents while they study has tumbled by over three-fifths in five years – a drop which one union has blamed on a “complex” claiming process.

According to Education and Skills Funding Agency data published yesterday, 64 per cent fewer people are using Care to Learn, which is intended to help parents aged under 20 attend school, college or children’s centres, since 2013/14.

There has been a 14 per cent drop alone between 2017/18 and 2018/19, the latest year for which figures are available.

Parents on Care to Learn can receive up to £175 per child per week to pay for childcare and transport costs, but the figures show a fall from 5,674 people in 2013/14 to 2,003 in 2018/19.

Total payments in that time fell from £24,509,846 to £8,096,905.

The government said payments and take-up of Care to Learn have dropped due to a decrease in demand, caused largely by a reduction in teenage pregnancy rates, which are now at an all-time low, as well as demographic changes.

But National Union of Students vice president for FE, Juliana Mohamad Noor, has blamed the drop on the complexity of claiming Care to Learn, calling it “striking” that the number of claimants has dropped so “dramatically”.

While recognising a declining birth rate is partly to blame, she said the union had previously expressed concern it was too hard for parents to get their hands on this “essential form of support”, which she says is “absolutely vital” for parents and those with childcare responsibilities “to be able to engage in education”.

Claiming Care to Learn is complex because the money is paid to a parent’s education and childcare provider, both of which need to be eligible for payment, and there is an abundance of online checks and references to complete, according to the NUS.

“We cannot discount that, for some, other barriers are too great, and we would urge the Department for Education to conduct further research and take action where required,” Noor added.

The NUS is also calling for the funding to be extended to apprentices, who are currently excluded from the scheme if they earn a salary.

In 2018, the education select committee highlighted the impact apprentices felt from being excluded from the like of Care to Learn and child benefit, saying: “No apprentice should suffer any financial disadvantage as a result of taking up an apprenticeship.”

Dr Carole Easton, from the Young Women’s Trust, suggested to the committee that Care to Learn should be extended until the age of 25 so women with children receive “a bit extra”.

Former skills minister Anne Milton told the committee that “wherever I perceive that there is a barrier, I will do everything within my power—including lobbying the minister—to see if we can remove those barriers”.

The Department for Education is to develop its own “alternative arrangements” for international education exchanges in case the UK drops out of Erasmus+, Gavin Williamson has said.

Speaking in the House of Commons, the education secretary said his department was “open” to future participation in the programme, but that arrangements for after Brexit would be subject to negotiations.

Last week, the government was forced to affirm its commitment to the programme, after most of its MPs having voted against a call to make future membership an “objective” of negotiations.

Erasmus+ is an EU scheme that currently offers opportunities for UK citizens to study, work, volunteer, teach and train abroad in Europe.

According to research by the Association of Colleges (AoC), 100 colleges have taken part in the most recent cycle of the scheme – from 2014 to 2020 – which has awarded them around €77 million to fund over 30,000 placements.

The AoC study, published in October, also showed that 94 per cent of the colleges could not offer their students the chance to complete a placement abroad without Erasmus+ or a post-Brexit replacement programme.

The decision of the UK to leave the EU has brought the country’s future participation in the scheme into question.

Speaking in the commons today, Williamson said: “The United Kingdom is open to participation in the next Erasmus+ programme, and this will be a question for further negotiations with the European Union.

“But we do truly understand the value that such exchange programmes bring all students right across the United Kingdom. To ensure that we are able to continue to offer that, we will also develop our own alternative arrangements should they be needed.”

Today’s debate was on the education elements of last month’s Queen’s speech.

Former Conservative Party researcher and policy chief Innes Taylor has been appointed as a special adviser at the Department for Education.

FE Week’s sister paper FE Week understands that Taylor has replaced Katharine Howell, Gavin Williamson’s former policy SpAd, who moved to Downing Street last month following the election.

According to her LinkedIn, Taylor was head of policy at Conservative Central Headquarters from June last year until earlier this month, and previously served the party as a political adviser.

She was previously a researcher for the Scottish Conservatives, and also worked for Scottish not-for-profit Carr Gomm and law firm Brodies LLP.

The DfE is yet to confirm who will replace Williamson’s former media SpAd, Richard Holden, who is now a Conservative MP.

Almost a fifth of level 2 and 3 apprentices are being paid below the national minimum wage – as the new Apprenticeship Pay Survey has revealed a 1 per cent rise in “non-compliance”.

Published this afternoon, the survey for 2018/19 says 19 per cent have reported being paid below that level; which is a slight increase on the 18 per cent rate from the last survey in 2017.

But the report notes that the lowest minimum wage rate for apprentices increased from £3.30 from the time of the last survey, October 2015, to £3.70 by the time of this most recent survey.

Non-compliance at levels 2 and 3 was higher than average in hairdressing, 48 per cent, and lowest on management apprenticeships, seven per cent.

But the problem does show signs of improving: the survey reports those nearer the beginning of their apprenticeship were less likely to receive non-compliant pay as only 12 per cent were paid less than the appropriate minimum wage; compared to 25 per cent of those who had been on their course for more than a year.

The problem was felt less at the higher levels: 91 per cent of level 4 apprentices had compliant pay, compared to 81 per cent of level 2 and 3 apprentices.

Among level 2 and Level 3 apprentices in England, the median basic pay was £6.95 an hour, and the mean £7.64.

The national apprentice minimum wage is currently set at £3.90 per hour, but it will shoot up by 6.4 per cent to £4.15 from 1 April.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief policy officer Simon Ashworth said: “We encourage providers to make sure that employers are aware of the yearly increases in the NMW for apprentices and these latest figures show that a renewed effort is required to lessen the level of non-compliance especially for apprentices over 19 where with standards and end point assessment, the programme length is now longer than just a year.

“Overall employers show that they really value what their apprentices bring to a business, including at the lower levels, by paying them just about double the legal minimum. If migratory controls come in after Brexit, we anticipate that a tightening labour market might drive apprentice wages still higher.”

A government spokesperson said: “Everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage, including apprentices, should receive it.

“All businesses, irrespective of size or sector, must pay the correct minimum wage to their staff, so we won’t hesitate to take action against those who fail to do so.

“That’s why we’ve more than doubled the budget for enforcement and compliance of the National Minimum Wage for this year, with HMRC having identified over a record £24 million in unpaid wages for 220,000 workers last year.”

The full survey can be found here.

Loans for nearly 300 learners worth more than half a million pounds will be written off by the Student Loans Company, FE Week can reveal.

A further 423 students could also be in scope for a loan cancellation, which would bring the total value of the debt write-off to more than £1.3 million, according to a Department for Education response to a freedom of information request.

The education secretary has been able to write-off advanced learner loans for learners left in debt when their provider goes bust since July 1 2019, following a change in legislation prompted by FE Week’s Save Our Adult Education campaign.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) started writing to the 268 students identified by the Department for Education as being in scope for loan cancellation after this newspaper reported last month that no learners had been contacted or had their loans cancelled since the policy was introduced.

Asim Shaheen, who was studying for a QCF in hospitality at John Frank Training and could not complete his training after the firm went into liquidation in 2016, is one of the learners who received a letter.

The correspondence, which was shared with FE Week, said: “The Department for Education has considered the specific circumstances relating to your loan liability.

“They’ve come to the decision that we can now confirm the loan you received for the course you were unable to finish is eligible to be cancelled.”

Shaheen will have £7,867.75 written off by the government. All added interest is also eligible for cancellation.

According to the letter, recipients need to complete and return a signed form to process the cancellation otherwise their loans will be eligible to be repaid from 6 April 2020.

“It’s a relief, I think justice has been done,” said Shaheen, who travelled to Westminster to help launch FE Week’s Save Our Adult Education campaign in February 2017.

He continued: “With me going all the way to the Parliament, it is a great achievement and a great win against the system.

“Thanks to FE Week and thanks to the government and government bodies for taking note. For once the public has actually won instead of lost.”

Mussarrat Bashir, another former hospitality student at John Frank Training, is also in scope of the policy.

She was forced to make loan repayments despite a policy of deferment being introduced for students left with no qualifications when their providers went bust.

The government first asked the SLC to defer loan repayments for affected learners during the April 2017 to March 2018 tax year, and extended deferrals in subsequent tax years.

Bashir had previously called the loan a “restriction” and said it was “stressful when you’ve got other pressures like family”.

She added it had been “dragging on for a very long time now. We should have the assurance it is done and dusted”.

A spokesperson for SLC confirmed Bashir “was placed in deferment in 2017” and said “we apologise that repayments were taken from the customer during the tax year 18/19 and we will ensure that these are refunded”.

Bashir described the update as “great news” and thanked FE Week for the help in her case.

Last year West London College agreed to pay off almost £250,000 in loans debt for 59 victims of a subcontracting scandal after FE Week revealed learners were being forced to repay thousands of pounds each for courses they did not complete through private provider Edudo, which went into voluntary liquidation in 2017.