A college has announced plans to cut its staff numbers by 10 per cent, months after the FE Commissioner reported it was in a “cash crisis”.

Fifty one full-time jobs out of a total of 466 are expected to go at Northumberland College, which was graded as ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted before merging with Sunderland College and Hartlepool Sixth Form College to form the Education Partnership North East in March.

Principal Nigel Harrett (pictured) said that at the point of the merger, Northumberland was in an “unsustainable financial position”.

“Regrettably an inevitable part of our transformation includes reducing unusually high management and staffing cost,” he added. “We will be doing all that we can to mitigate unnecessary job losses.”

All affected staff have been informed and the college said it has consulted trade unions about its proposals.

It comes after an FE Commissioner report in October found Northumberland College faced a substantial shortfall in 2017/18, which had not been detected until January 2018 and meant it had to hurriedly renegotiate deferring contractual repayments with its local authority.

The report said previous leaders were guilty of “major failing in financial management and oversight” and had set “wholly unrealistic targets” for new levy apprenticeships, “over-optimistic” income targets, and lacked oversight of new educational and commercial initiatives.

These included a career college, recruitment agency, MOT and service centre and leisure learning courses, which “compounded an already declining financial position”.

Last July, the the Newcastle Chronicle reported over 40 staff had taken voluntary redundancy after the college slashed its course offering.

The ESFA handed the college a notice to improve in November, which has now been closed, after assessing it as having ‘inadequate’ financial health.

The college’s 2017/18 accounts show it generated a deficit of £2.3 million and had spent £730,000 on restructuring alone.

Harrett was appointed principal of Northumberland when it merged into the Education Partnership North East in March. He was previously deputy principal at Sunderland College.

Commenting further on the job losses, Harrett said: “At Northumberland College we are looking to put in place three-year curriculum growth plans, and in doing so anticipate a number of new courses, and possible discontinuation of any courses that do not result in positive progress for students.

“In order to achieve our new vision for excellence and ensure the sustainability of high quality further and higher education within Northumberland, we will be moving away from being a minimum wage employer to a real living wage employer.

“We are also investing in new posts to improve quality, and embarking on an investment programme across our estates to improve resources for students to provide them with the best possible education and training.”

The consultation on Northumberland College’s job losses started on 6 June.

The race to decide the next Association of Colleges president has taken another turn, after the challenger candidate pulled out – on the last day of voting.

Trafford College Group principal Lesley Davies had been the only challenger to incumbent AoC president Steve Frampton.

However, owing to “personal reasons”, she has withdrawn.

“Due to personal reasons I am withdrawing my application to become president of the AoC for 2019/20,” she told FE Week.

“The AoC continues to play a vital role in, and for the sector and I would like to take this opportunity to wish the new president every success for the upcoming term where I will continue to offer my full support as principal and chief executive of The Trafford College Group.”

The AoC has since confirmed that Frampton will continue as president into 2019/20.

“I really do #LoveOurColleges,” he said today. “I have loved being your AoC President this last year and I am thrilled to have the honour for another year.

“I would like to personally thank Lesley for a great contest and wish her all the best. She is a great champion for our sector, and I know that she will continue be so.

“This has been one of the privileges of my life.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the AoC, said: “This is a really exciting time for AoC and for the sector so I am delighted that Steve will be onboard as president for another year. It was a shame that Lesley had to pull out, for personal reasons, and I want to thank her for putting herself forward.

“Steve has made a big impact over this last year, bringing with him enormous amounts of energy, enthusiasm and dedication, not least to the Love Our Colleges campaign. I know that he’s got lots he wants to achieve over his final year as president and I look forward to working with him on it.”

Frampton, the former principal of Portsmouth College, reapplied for the role after having completed one year of his two-year term, under rules introduced after Ian Ashman served the previous maximum one-year term in 2017.

Every college which is an AoC member got one vote in the election; which must run over a two-week period.

Davies was the first person to challenge an incumbent president of the association under the new rules.

Ashman’s immediate successor, Alison Birkinshaw, served only one year as president before retiring. Frampton was elected, unopposed, to replace her in May 2018.

The principal of Trafford College since 2016, Davies oversaw its merger with Stockport College in April last year, which created the Trafford College Group.

She had intended to stay on as principal if she was elected AoC president.

In her election pitch, Davies promised to work on behalf of association colleges to “ensure government puts the long-term sustainability of colleges at the heart of its policymaking”.

During Frampton’s tenure, the association has helped shape the new Ofsted inspection framework, worked with the DfE on teacher recruitment and retention strategies, and launched the #LoveOurColleges campaign.

In his re-election pitch, he said serving as president was “great privilege” and he was “excited for the task ahead”, referring to making sure colleges were in the strongest possible position for this year’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

A troubled land-based college has officially been rated ‘inadequate’ for the second time in a row, with Ofsted criticising leaders and governors for failing to improve its performance.

FE Week revealed last month that Moulton College, which is attempting to avoid a merger, was heading for another grade four after the education watchdog found it delivering “unsafe” training in 2018.

Its latest Ofsted report, published today, said the health and safety concerns previously identified have now been rectified, but other areas have seen a drop in performance.

The quality of teaching, learning and assessment has declined

“The quality of teaching, learning and assessment has declined since the previous inspection,” inspectors said.

Self-assessment is “often too generous in terms of grading and does not reflect accurately weaknesses that need to be rectified”.

Teachers’ expectations of students “are too low and, as a result, too many students make insufficient progress”, and attendance levels for learners “is poor across most programmes and is particularly low in sport, English and math lessons”.

Ofsted continued: “Managers do not use data well enough to judge accurately the impact of actions that they have taken, or to inform future actions for improvement.

“Students on vocational programmes, for whom the college receives high needs funding, do not benefit from teaching that meets their specific learning and support needs.”

Moulton College had just over 2,000 learners at the time of inspection, 1,350 were on study programmes, mainly on land-based, sport and construction courses.

Ofsted found that managers and teachers “do not know how many students on 16 to 19 study programmes have completed external work placements”.

However, the inspectorate did point out that a “recently enhanced” board of governors and new leadership team have “changed the culture of the college so that it focuses on the student and staff experience; as a result, staff turnover has decreased, and staff morale has improved”.

Leaders and managers have also rectified “poor behaviour” identified at the previous inspection.

Following the college’s first grade four, its principal Stephen Davies resigned and was replaced by interim Ann Turner.

A permanent principal has since been appointed. Corrie Harris, the current vice-principal at the Bedford College Group, will take the reins from next month.

Reacting to today’s Ofsted report, a spokesperson said: “Moulton College was disappointed with the outcome of the recent Ofsted inspection, which does not reflect the significant progress made in the last 12 months.

“The college is pleased to see that the enhanced board of governors, new leadership team, the change in culture, the high priority placed on ensuring students are safe with very effective, strengthened safeguarding practices, good student behaviour and improved staff morale are all acknowledged.

Governors are confident that we have a stable, passionate committed workforce

“The work on improving teaching and learning has still to have the impact desired, but improvements are ongoing to ensure that every Moulton student receives the best possible student experience.”

Moulton College has been in FE Commissioner intervention since February 2017 due to its poor finances, particularly high levels of commercial loans and falling cash balances, and was recommended to merge.

But with a new chair of governors and an interim principal making improvements to the finances, the college was permitted to follow a standalone strategy and recruit a full-time principal.

Despite the clear financial and quality-of-provision concerns, FE Week understands that Moulton, under the leadership of its new chair David McVean, who started in February 2019, is continuing to pursue a standalone strategy.

The college’s spokesperson said the college has “radically overhauled” its workforce in the past year and governors are “confident that we have a stable, passionate committed workforce”.

The skills minister has hailed the success of traineeships after research revealed 75 per cent of learners move on to work or further study within a year of completing their programme.

It will be a boon for the pre-employment programme, which has been plagued by falling learner numbers and a lack of investment that has frustrated sector bodies.

The policy, which was only launched in 2013, appears to have fallen off the political radar, evidenced by FE Week failing to find any reference to traineeships in any of Anne Milton’s public speeches since she became skills minister two years ago.

Following today’s research report, Milton said she was “thrilled” to see how traineeships are “supporting young people to start their apprenticeship journey, get their first job or go to further study”.

The government also announced today it will introduce a new traineeships achievement rate measure for the academic year 2019/20, which will help the government monitor the programme’s effectiveness.

This is in addition to providing £20 million through the adult education budget for training providers, to encourage more young people aged 19-24 to start a traineeship.

Milton said the achievement rate measure will provide “greater transparency and help young people make informed decisions about their next steps”.

Traineeships are six-month programmes, which were introduced to provide 16 to 24-year-olds with English and maths tuition, work experience and work preparation training.

Today’s report focuses on the cohort of trainees from 2013/14 and draws on surveys with learners, providers and employers; case studies; and analysis of national administrative data.

It did find a marked divide between 16 to 18 and 19 to 23-year-old trainees, with the younger group less likely to begin employment within 12 months of a traineeship – 19 per cent compared with 53 per cent.

And while traineeships increased the probability of both age groups going on to further learning, evidence suggested traineeships reduced the likelihood of a learner progressing to vocational courses above level 2, compared to if they had not participated in a traineeship.

But employers, including global professional services firm Aon, reported how traineeships have helped them to “recruit people from a range of backgrounds leading to more diverse workforces”.

Adrian Johnson, UK Apprenticeship Lead for Aon, told FE Week that since the inception of its “Step Up traineeship scheme” in 2018, the firm has offered 15 traineeships, with nine trainees going on to permanent positions.

“The recruitment of a more diverse group of professionals is key to the future success of Aon and our market as a whole, and we are proud to support these young people in their career development,” he added.

Mark Dawe, the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said today’s report will help “reinvigorate” traineeships by encouraging young people to take advantage of the programme.

Traineeships are in need to reinvigoration, having seen their starts numbers fall from 24,100 to 17,700 (26 per cent) between 2015/16, before reforms to the apprenticeship system came into force, and 2017/18.

Dawe said last year the government is “so consumed” by apprenticeships and T-levels, there was a danger that traineeships “don’t get a look-in”.

His colleague, AELP policy officer Ceara Roopchand said in May the ESFA’s Qualification Achievement Rates and the negative publicity around companies offering unpaid work experience to trainees had meant “public support for the programme have dwindled dramatically”, to the hindrance of NEET learners, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

An FE Week investigation in 2018 found colleges had delivered fewer than a quarter of traineeships in 2016/17, which was blamed by the Association of Colleges on rigid duration rules.

David Hughes, chief executive of the AoC, today stressed the importance of “stepping stone programmes” like traineeships which allow people to progress to the levels of competence that employers are seeking.

He added that there were many positive outcomes from traineeships, that colleges were helping to deliver.

The names of the 64 colleges chosen to deliver T-levels in the second wave of their roll out have been announced.

They’ll deliver the new post-16 technical education qualifications from 2021, in four routes: digital, construction, education and childcare, and health and science.

An initial 50 providers will deliver the first T-levels from 2020.

Unveiling those selected for wave two today, education secretary Damian Hinds said: “Everyone agrees that a radical shake-up of technical and vocational education in this country is long overdue. T-levels are our chance to do that – offering young people high-quality alternatives to our world-class A-levels from September 2020.

“The second wave of post-16 providers we have announced today demonstrates our commitment to making this happen. They will play an important role in ensuring more young people across the country can access these courses and help develop the skilled workforce the country needs for the future.”

An additional £3.75 million boost for the first T-level providers, which includes one-off payments to help them recruit learners from 2020, has also been announced today (click here for full story).

Of the providers in wave two, 14 have never been inspected by Ofsted. The rest are rated ‘good’, with the exception of grade one Burnley College.

The DfE said if a T-level provider’s status changes against any of its published criteria, including holding a grade one or two Ofsted rating, between when it considered their expression of interest and delivery, then the department reserves the right to review their continued participation.

The second wave of T-level providers

College	Digital route	Construction route	Education and Childcare route	Health and Science route	Ofsted grade
Abingdon and Witney College	X		X	X	2
Activate Learning	X			X	N/A
Barking & Dagenham College	X	X			2
Bath College	X		X	X	2
Bedford College	X	X	X	X	2
Bexhill College	X		X	X	2
Bolton College	X	X	X	X	2
Buckinghamshire College Group	X		X	X	2
Burnley College				X	1
Bury College	X	X	X	X	2
Calderdale College	X			X	2
Cambridge Regional College	X		X		2
Cheshire College South and West	X	X	X	X	2
City of Sunderland College	X	X		X	N/A
DN College Group	X	X	X	X	N/A
East Norfolk Sixth Form College	X			X	N/A
EKC Group	X	X	X	X	N/A
Furness College	X		X	X	2
Gloucestershire College	X	X		X	2
Halesowen College			X	X	2
Harlow College	X	X	X	X	2
Heart of Worcestershire College	X		X		2
Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College		X		X	N/A
Hopwood Hall College	X	X	X	X	2
Hugh Baird College	X	X		X	2
Kendal College		X		X	2
Lakes College – West Cumbria	X	X	X	X	2
Leeds City College	X		X	X	2
Leicester College	X	X	X	X	2
Loughborough College	X	X	X	X	2
LTE Group	X	X	X	X	2
Middlesbrough College	X	X	X	X	2
MidKent College				X	2
Milton Keynes College	X	X	X	X	2
Mulberry UTC				X	N/A
New City College			X		N/A
New College Swindon	X		X	X	2
Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group (NSCG)			X		2
Newham College of Further Education	X			X	2
Newham Sixth Form College		X	X		2
Nottingham College	X		X	X	2
Oldham College	X	X	X	X	2
Petroc	X	X	X	X	2
Preston College		X		X	2
Reigate College	X			X	N/A
Richmond Upon Thames College	X	X	X	X	2
Sandwell College	X	X	X	X	N/A
SCC Group	X			X	2
Solihull College & University Centre	X				N/A
South Devon	X	X	X	X	2
South Essex College	X	X	X		N/A
Stanmore College			X	X	2
The College of West Anglia			X	X	2
The WKCIC Group	X		X	X	N/A
The Trafford College Group	X	X	X	X	N/A
United Colleges Group	X	X			2
Wakefield College	X	X	X		2
Warwickshire College Group	X				2
West Midlands UTC		X			2
West Suffolk College	X		X	X	2
Wigan & Leigh College		X	X	X	2
Wilberforce College				X	2
Wyke Sixth Form College	X			X	2
Yeovil College	X		X	X	2