Employers used 22 per cent of their apprenticeship levy funds in the 12 months to the end of January 2019 – a huge fourfold increase from the 5 per cent drawn down in the first nine months of the policy.

The skills minister Anne Milton revealed in a parliamentary answer yesterday that between May 2017 and the end of January 2019, levy-paying employers “utilised £601 million of the funds available to them to pay for apprenticeship training in England”.

This amounts to 15 per cent of the £3.9 billion total funds entering employers’ accounts in the same period.

In a separate parliamentary answer from last week, Milton revealed that in the 12 months from February 2018 to January 2019, £523 million, or 22 per cent, of the £2.36 billion received into employers’ apprenticeship service accounts had been drawn down.

FE Week analysis of the figures used by the minister shows that in the first nine months of the levy, from May 2017 to January 2018, £78 million of the £1.54 billion (5 per cent) paid into employers’ accounts was used to cover training costs (see table below).

Levy funds usage has therefore increased fourfold, but apprenticeship starts have only increased by one fifth (21 per cent).

Funding is automatically drawn down every month for the duration of the apprenticeship so as new starts are taken on the monthly usage, percentage rises much faster than the starts as it is includes some of the cost of the starts in previous months.

This monthly funding and the fact that on average apprenticeships are now costing more than double the forecast, goes some way to explain why the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and the National Audit Office warned of a budget overspend in the future.

Milton explains in the parliamentary answers that the figures do not include other costs that the levy pays for, such as funding apprenticeships for small, non-levy paying employers, for English and maths qualifications and for extra support for apprentices who are care leavers or have special needs.

Large employers have been made to pay the apprenticeship levy since it was launched in April 2017. After a deduction for non-English employees and a 10 per cent top-up the monthly levy value appears in the employer apprenticeship system account, which they have two years to use.

In March, Keith Smith, the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s director of Apprenticeships, told the public accounts committee that employers are expected to lose around £12 million in May, or 9 per cent of what they paid in April 2017, when the first ‘sunset period’ arrives.

And in a webinar with FE Week during the Easter break, the government admitted for the first time the vast majority of the £400 million underspend from the Department for Education’s apprenticeship budget was taken back by the Treasury.

Asked how much cash the Treasury clawed back in the financial year to April 2018, Milton replied she “can’t give exact figures”, and referred the question to Smith, who said it was “just over £300 million”.

There’ve been many concerns raised that employers are not spending their funds quickly enough. The NHS, for example, told FE Week in March that it expects to lose a fortune when unspent apprenticeship levy funds begin to expire from May.

Recent policy changes have aimed to increase levy spending. From this month, levy-paying employers will be able to share more of their annual funds with smaller organisations, when the levy transfer facility rises from 10 to 25 per cent.

The 10 per cent fee small businesses have to pay when they take on apprentices has also been halved this month.

The government had hoped the apprenticeship levy would encourage more employers to invest in training and help it hit its manifesto target of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020. However, starts have fallen dramatically since its launch.

The latest figures, released on March 28, revealed that apprenticeship starts for January were down 21 per cent on the same month in 2017 before the levy was introduced.

FE Week analysis shows that an average of 85,246 starts are needed every month over the next 15 months to reach the three million starts target. Since May 2015, the average has been 38,251.

A college in financial crisis has announced plans to shed another 55 jobs in a move that is expected to save it £2.2 million annually.

West Nottinghamshire College has undergone a major restructure over recent years to try and find savings, with its staffing numbers falling from a high of 967 in 2013 to 744 last year – a 23 per cent drop.

At the end of February the college axed a further 75 jobs, and it told staff yesterday of a new consultation to make a further 55 redundant.

Crucially, it will ensure that we are sustainable moving forwards

“Unfortunately, 72 colleagues have been placed at risk of redundancy as part of proposals to lose 55 staff,” a spokesperson said.

“These are mainly in management and support roles, with very few direct teaching posts affected.

“This final phase has been informed by the curriculum-planning process for the 2019/20 academic year and will see the current breadth of provision retained at our campuses in Mansfield and Ashfield.”

However, the spokesperson added that the plans include the closure of the West Nottinghamshire College’s construction and employability training centre in Sheffield, which is “under-utilised and no longer viable”.

The college is in dire financial constraints. As FE Week revealed in March, the college’s government bailouts rocketed to more than £10 million in just six months.

Its main monetary issue was related to subcontracting rule changes that meant it had to drastically scale back on this provision and lose out on millions in management fees.

The financial strain surfaced in July 2018 when the college received an initial £2.1 million in exceptional financial support from the Education and Skills Funding Agency following the failed sale of its eLearning business bksb, which FE Week later revealed was requested just 48 hours before it was due to run out of cash.

West Notts’ 2017/18 accounts show that the college generated a £9.54 million deficit before gains and losses, up from £2.57 million the year before.

The turbulent year at West Notts has led to major leadership and governor changes. This included 14 new appointments to its board including a new chair, and a new interim principal after its former high-profile leader, Dame Asha Khemka, resigned in October.

We have worked hard to minimise the impact on students

The college ended the use of corporate credit cards for senior staff earlier this year, after FE Week revealed Asha had claimed more than £40,000 in expenses over five years.

The West Notts spokesperson said the proposed job losses are designed to bring “financial stability and ensure we are the right size to serve our communities”.

“In developing these proposals we have worked hard to minimise the impact on students, in particular on their teaching and learning, although some non-essential student-facing services will be delivered slightly differently,” he added.

“These changes are no reflection on our hard-working and dedicated staff, who have remained extremely professional during this difficult time. We are committed to supporting all those affected and will seek to place people into other roles wherever possible or help them find employment elsewhere.

“Although highly regrettable, the measures are expected to save £2.2m on our annual pay bill and are another crucial step towards our financial recovery.”

An end-point assessment organisation is facing a potential fine of £50,000 after “technical issues” affected its delivery of apprenticeship assessments.

The notice of intention to impose a monetary penalty on the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx), published today, is the first such fine floated by Ofqual.

CILEx, an EPAO for two apprenticeship standards, admitted in March to a series of delivery failings in the end-point assessment for the level 3 paralegal apprenticeship in June 2018.

The failings “occurred during both the timed assessment and Interview components of the assessment and affected the entire cohort of 73 Learners,” today’s notice said.

Ofqual, which is CILEx’s external quality assurer, was informed at the time that “technical issues” were to blame.

This included apprentices receiving “error messages, experiencing delays and difficulties accessing the assessment, and being unable to upload their work onto the e-platform”. Some assessments were lost “entirely”.

In July 2018, CILEx reported that “further technical difficulties” had been encountered with the Skype connections for the interview component of the EPA, including difficulties establishing a connection between the assessor and the apprentice, poor connectivity and poor sound quality.

Only four of the interviews were fully conducted by Skype video, allowing the assessors to see the apprentice for the duration of the Interview, as required by CILEx’s assessment plan.

Complaints were received “regarding the disruption and anxiety”.

All 73 affected learners were given “special consideration” by offering them a free resit opportunity which would not cap the outcome at a pass.

CILEx wrote to Ofqual in January to explain that it “conducted a thorough investigation into both the technical and wider issues, submitting its findings to Ofqual voluntarily, together with an action plan”, which it has made “significant progress against”.

It said that CILEx is a “chartered body, not a commercial organisation, and as such has public interest duties, obligations and considerations as well as its responsibilities as an awarding body” while the absence of “key members of staff was a result of unprecedented and unpredictable circumstances”.

“CILEx genuinely believed that it could deliver the EPA in June 2018 to the required standard and in compliance with the Conditions, despite having to deliver under time pressure as a result of the late publication of the Assessment Plan,” it added.

“CILEx agreed to become the EPA Organisation for the Paralegal Apprenticeship in order to support the Government’s desire for legal apprenticeships despite it being a loss-making activity for CILEx. CILEx is the only body able to deliver the EPA.”

However, CILEx admitted to failing to comply with 17 conditions set by Ofqual.

The regulator formally issued the EPAO with a notice explaining its intention to fine it £50,000 on April 18, 2019.

However, the fine will be reduced to a nominal sum of £1,000 if the organisation submits a “Statement of Assurance” confirming that it has “successfully implemented all of the recommendations and actions set out in its Technical Action Plan” and “has successfully delivered the level 3 paralegal end-point assessment to the cohort of apprenticeship Learners sitting the EPA in June 2019, in full compliance with the Conditions” by September 30, 2019.

“Or, in the event that representations are received from interested parties or another relevant intervening factor occurs, such other amount between £1,000 and £50,000 as the Enforcement Committee considers appropriate,” today’s notice said.

“Ofqual has taken this approach to enforcement action in order to prioritise a focus on future improvements and to reflect the unusual circumstances of this case, including that CILEx operated the EPA at a financial loss in 2018 and expects to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”

It added that CILEx has “agreed to pay a monetary penalty to Ofqual and to submit a Statement of Assurance in the terms specified above”.

Linda Ford, chief executive of CILEx, said: “We have apologised for the inconvenience caused to the students last year and provided free resits to a small number of students where needed.  

“I would like to personally reassure this year’s cohort that we are ready and fully confident in our ability to deliver the EPA successfully.”

A spokesperson added that CILEx “expects to pay the reduced fine amount of £1,000”.

 

A new apprenticeship provider has been heavily criticised for not monitoring its subcontracted provision in what was otherwise a strong show in this week’s run of Ofsted reports.

Piper Training Ltd, the training arm of the Building Engineering Services Association, received three ‘insufficient progress’ ratings from the watchdog in its first monitoring visit since it was formed in January 2018.

Inspectors criticised the provider as its leaders have not observed any teaching in the subcontracted colleges where most of its 123 apprentices learn, and for not checking whether subcontractors’ plans for learning are clear and logical.

Leaders, and those in the role of governance, were also criticised for “concentrating too much on contractual compliance and financial and business developments”.

Training director Tony Howard said they had had ongoing issues with subcontractors not submitting enough information so Piper Training could monitor progression.

“We are working with our sub-contractors to drastically improve on their capability to report at the frequency we are requiring,” Howard added.

Inspectors did report Piper Training’s leaders understand the needs of heating and ventilation labour market, and work closely with employers to develop apprenticeship standards that are specific to the needs of the profession.

Mitre Group Ltd, which previously received two ‘insufficient progress’ ratings in its early monitoring visit and was subsequently suspended from taking on new starters in August 2018, this week received a ‘good’ full inspection.

Ofsted found that achievement rates for adults in 2017/18 were well above the rate of similar providers and tutors are well-qualified and experienced in the sports-related industries for which Mitre provides apprenticeships.

“Apprentices develop a wide range of sports coaching and training skills that they apply proficiently in schools and community settings,” inspectors added.

As the provider has now scored a grade 2, it should soon be allowed to take on new apprentices.

Birmingham City Council also fared well: moving up from a grade 3 to a grade 2.

Leaders and managers have a “clear vision” for adult learning in Birmingham, the inspectors wrote.

They paid particular praise to the provision of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses, where learners make good progress and quickly learn the correct phrases to use with doctors and at their children’s school.

Nearly half of learners moved onto another course in the service to develop their skills and most of those who left the service continued into sustained employment or learning.

The Buckinghamshire College Group, which formed out of a merger between Aylesbury College and Amersham and Wycombe College in October 2017, scored three ‘significant’ and one ‘reasonable’ progress ratings in its first monitoring visit since its creation.

A new senior leadership team have implemented processes to monitor and improve progress and outcomes for students, meaning a greater proportion of students achieved their qualifications in 2017/18.

The college was found to deal effectively with poor staff performance. “If teachers are not able to improve, then they leave,” the report said.

Leaders and managers have a “very clear understanding of the quality of teaching and learning in all curriculum programmes”.

“They know where they need to target support and improvement initiatives when teaching practices are not in line with expectations,” the report added.

Dunbia, which offers a level 2 apprenticeship in butchery, earned three ‘reasonable progress’ ratings from its first monitoring visit since becoming an apprenticeship provider.

Apprentices, who were new to the butchery and meat processing environment, gain a “wide range of practical skills and understanding through the apprenticeship”.

Functional skills provision is subcontracted and the inspectors reported the majority of apprentices have achieved functional skills qualifications at level 1 in English and mathematics.

Technical Professionals Limited (TPL) achieved the same result as Dunbia from its early monitoring visit of its apprenticeship provision.

TPL was found to have prepared apprentices well for their end-point assessment, and their recruitment process is rigorous: leaders and managers ensure both apprentices and employers fully understand the apprenticeship programme.

TPL has no governing board however, and directors received insufficient information on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.

Independent Learning Providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Piper Training Limited	15/03/2019	16/04/2019	M	N/A
Technical Professionals Limited	14/03/2019	18/04/2019	M	N/A
Mitre Group Limited	19/03/2019	18/04/2019	2	M

 

Adult and Community Learning	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Birmingham City Council	15/03/2019	15/04/2019	2	3

 

Employer providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Dunbia	08/03/2019	15/03/2019	M	M

 

GFE Colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Buckinghamshire College Group	27/03/2019	18/04/2019	M	2

Thousands of nursing apprentices who have less than a year before they finish their training can breathe a sigh of relief as an organisation has finally been found to assess them.

However, there is likely to be concern over whether enough assessors will be recruited to meet demand seeing as there will be close to 4,500 of the apprentices taking their final exams throughout 2020 alone.

NOCN, an end-point assessment organisation (EPAO) approved to assess the second most standards in the country, was given the green light to assess level 5 nursing associate apprentices yesterday.

The objective is to achieve the demand levels required whilst ensuring quality of EPA results

As previously revealed by FE Week, there was concern that apprentices on the standard would finish their programme and then not be able to sit the EPA and graduate.

The apprenticeship has proven popular since its launch: it had 1,417 starts in 2017/18 and 820 in the first quarter of 2018/19.

The typical duration for the programme is 24 months. The first cohort due to go through EPA are expected to do so in January 2020.

“When we heard that apprentices might be in a position where they cannot complete the nursing associate standard we decided to discuss, with the NHS, what we might be able to do to support these apprenticeships,” said Graham Hasting-Evans, group managing director of NOCN, which is approved to assess 47 other standards.

“As a result of understanding their full requirements we decided that this was something we could carry out and applied for approval to undertake EPA. We are delighted that we have now been informed that we have been successful.”

Denise Baker, head of school allied health and social care at the University of Derby, which had 130 starts on the nursing associate standard in 2017, said she was “relieved” to hear an EPAO had been put in place as “this is an essential part of the apprenticeship”.

“We want to ensure that our nursing associates have the opportunity to finish their apprenticeship,” she added.

But there will be concerns regarding the capacity that one EPAO has to meet demand.

Hasting-Evans admitted that a “large” number of nursing associate apprentices will need to go through EPA, each of which requires discussion and observation by an assessor, over the next 12 months.

He said there’ll likely be around 200 doing their assessment in January, which will require up to 80 assessors. Around 4,300 EPAs on the standard are expected to take place throughout 2020, which will require up to 150 assessors “at peak”.

He added that if NOCN is the only EPAO for the standard then “we will obviously gear up to meet the challenge”.

“To ensure that these have a fair, robust, and consistent EPA experience we are working very closely with the NHS to identify sufficient EPA assessors,” Hasting-Evans explained.

“NOCN will then be training these people to meet the demands. It is early days, but clearly the objective of the NHS and ourselves is to achieve the demand levels required, whilst ensuring quality of EPA results.”

Asked if he knew of any other EPAOs in the pipeline to assess this standard, he said there “may be” but “at this stage we are only aware of our application being accepted”.

A spokesperson for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education said it was “very welcome news” that an EPAO has been appointed on the nursing associate standard, which will “make a huge contribution to a skilled workforce in healthcare”.

She added that it would be for the Education and Skills Funding Agency to comment on whether there were any more EPAOs preparing to help with assessment of the standard.

The ESFA, which approves EPAOs for standards, confirmed that NOCN has been approved to assess the “first cohorts of nursing apprentices”, but would not comment on whether more organisations were in discussions to follow them.

There are sector wide concerns about end-point assessment capacity. By 2020, when the apprenticeship reforms will have taken full effect, there are likely to be around 500,000 EPAs carried out every year.

The Greater London Authority is planning to provide free English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses up to the level required for British citizenship.

As part of a new consultation on its Skills for Londoners Framework, which was launched today and outlines how the GLA intends to spend its adult education budget (AEB) from 2020/21, there is a proposal to fully-fund ESOL provision up to entry level 3 from that year.

The GLA is due to take control of London’s £306 million adult education budget from the Education and Skills Funding Agency on August 1, 2019. In that year, London’s Mayor will conduct a review into the quality and delivery of ESOL provision in the capital before offering the free courses.

“ESOL is a vital part of the Mayor’s social inclusion strategy”

According to today’s consultation document, over 50 per cent of the country’s ESOL provision takes place in the capital, but around 210,000 working age adults in London report that they “cannot speak English very well”.

It said the government has “reduced funding for ESOL by 60 per cent over the last decade,” which has had a “devastating effect on provision in London”.

The GLA added that by creating an entitlement for ESOL to entry level 3 shows that London is “open to talent and will support Londoners to get the skills they need to succeed”.

The authority told FE Week that the cost of the proposal is “currently being finalised” but confirmed it will be paid for through its devolved AEB.

“The Mayor believes all Londoners should be able to participate fully in London’s dynamic economy and integrate in their local communities,” a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said.

“Good English language skills are a crucial part of this, and these ESOL proposals, which are currently being consulted on, will help Londoners reach the level of proficiency necessary for British citizenship.”

Mary Vine-Morris, area director for London at the Association of Colleges, said: “ESOL is a vital part of the Mayor’s social inclusion strategy for London so the plans to prioritise this important provision are welcome.

“Colleges are the largest provider of ESOL classes in England, with 96,000 post-16 students enrolled on ESOL programmes. As such, they will be pivotal to successful delivery and therefore central to any planning.”

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief policy officer Simon Ashworth said: “One of the advantages of devolved AEB is the flexibility to respond to local priorities such as ESOL in the capital.

“We are therefore happy to support the mayor’s priorities while at the same time hoping the GLA moves forward on its aim to tie these courses to measurable outcomes.”

The ESOL proposal follows an announcement in June last year that revealed the GLA plans to fully-fund training for adults in the capital earning under the London living wage, currently set at £20,572.50, from 2019/20.

This move alone is expected to enable 40,000 more Londoners to access ESOL provision, according to today’s consultation document.

It also explained how the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is investing an additional £4.5 million in the capital’s ESOL sector, by using the European Social Fund to fill gaps in provision for those with the lowest level of literacy, and helping ESOL practitioners to develop their teaching skills.

The mayor is also running ESOL “Plus pilots”, where the GLA is inviting employers and providers to bid for funding to improve ESOL provision for employers and learners with childcare responsibilities.

Central funding for ESOL has yo-yoed over the past decade.

Up until August 2007, ESOL courses were free due to a system of automatic fee remission. This was then scrapped and fees were introduced for the programmes.

Under current rules, the ESFA only fully-funds ESOL learning delivered in the classroom up to level 2 for eligible learners aged 19 and over who are unemployed and in receipt of certain means-tested benefits.

All other classroom-based adult ESOL learning is co-funded by the ESFA, meaning that the ESFA pays half of the course costs and the provider may pass on the remainder to the learner.

The 2016 Casey Review into social integration found funding for ESOL courses had been slashed by 50 per cent between 2008 and 2015.

In March 2018, the government said it would develop a new national strategy to teach ESOL, which is aimed at improving integration.

The GLA’s consultation will close at 10am on Monday 20 May 2019.

A major retailer is scrapping all of its level 2 provision in a move that will see a huge fall in apprenticeship sign-ups across the business and nearly 50 job losses.

Halfords, a large employer that sells motoring and cycling products and has over 8,250 staff across the UK, began delivering its own apprenticeship programme in February 2015 and currently has over 1,100 apprentices on its books.

The vast majority – around 750 – are level 2 retailer apprentices. FE Week has today learned that Halfords has immediately ceased starts on this provision, and the delivery of it will fully end in 24 months when existing trainees finish their course.

This decision is by no means a result of the content of the programme

It is understood that the employer’s apprenticeship staff numbers will be reduced from around 60 to 16 as a result.

The move will come as a big blow to the national apprenticeships programme, which has seen starts at level 2 plummet by more than a third since the introduction of the levy – from 260,700 in 2016/17 to 161,400 in 2017/18. The fall has prompted the government to undertake an urgent review into the issue.

“Against the backdrop of planned changes to the way in which the national apprenticeship scheme is administered, we are shifting our longer-term focus in order to continue delivering the highest quality training,” a spokesperson for Halfords said.

“We will continue to identify methods of leveraging our levy commitments in ways which support our strategic aspirations.”

Halfords was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted last month in a report that lauded its apprenticeship programme for being “clear and incisive”.

A staff email, seen by FE Week, shows that the reduction in the funding band for the level 2 retailer standard, which was cut by 20 per cent from £5,000 to £4,000 in December, was a key reason for scrapping the provision.

“The reduction in funding at level 2 has provided a number of challenges around the cost of delivering a quality programme which meets the needs of the business and our colleagues,” it said.

“In order to design a revised model in-line with the reduced funding bands, we believe this will adversely impact on the quality of programme Halfords can offer, impacting the current curriculum which received praise during our recent inspection.”

The email also revealed that Halfords conducted a “review of our apprenticeship provision in Q3” which highlighted a “number of risks to the current delivery model which if not addressed will negatively impact on Halfords future as an employer provider”.

FE Week asked what these “risks” were but the employer would not say.

We are shifting our longer-term focus in order to continue delivering the highest quality training

Increased staff turnover as a result of “uncertainty” in the retail sector, which is having a “detrimental impact on our outcomes and future success rates for our level 2 programme”, was another reason given for the decision to get rid of the provision.

The email continued: “With the focus on quality gaining further momentum under the new common inspection framework and the impact retail colleague attrition is having on success rates, we have made the decision to cease sign ups on level 2.

“Level 3 and 4 which are linked to our Aspire succession programme will continue to be delivered and new starts of these programmes remain unaffected. We will also look for further synergies and opportunities to deliver similar apprenticeship programmes across the group talent programme.”

Halfords said its existing level 2 team will reduce over the next 24 months to a “permanent team of 16 with the remaining roles being offered over a number of fixed term contracts between now and March 2021 when the final level 2 learners complete their end point assessment”.

Its email to staff concluded: “This decision is by no means a result of the content of the programme or the excellent development our colleagues receive on a daily basis. It is the consequence of delivering a quality level 2 retail apprenticeship within the governing frameworks of the ESFA and Ofsted within which Halfords operate as an employer provider.”