How to stick it to the DfE on 16-19 disadvantage

As each day of the first half-term passes, I hear the knell of a ship’s bell.

It marks the students dropping out of their college study programmes. 30,000 won’t make it to day 43.

Needless to say, they are more likely to be from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds.

This is thanks to incoherent policy and regulation that seems unable to remember that compulsory education in England does not end at 16, and which systematically pushes older teenagers overboard.

Education Policy Institute has done some excellent work charting the plight of disadvantaged students in 16-19 education, arbitrarily stripped of their Pupil Premium support two years before the end of childhood.

They highlight the mismatch between what every teacher, leader, policy wonk, and Treasury official knows to be the definition of 16-19 disadvantage (having been eligible for free school meals in the six years prior to finishing secondary school) versus the jokers within the Department for Education who keep making up different definitions.

And yet, when it comes to college accountability measures, disadvantage is still based on the ‘proper’ definition of FSM6, perfectly illustrating the disconnect within DfE.

Meanwhile, 16-19 bursaries are very narrowly linked to benefits, for Tuition Fund (RIP) it was being “from the 27 per cent most economically deprived areas of the country”, and for the core blocks of 16-19 disadvantage funding it’s either postcodes or prior English and maths attainment.

Amid such chaos and confusion, it’s little surprise that EPI has also found that only 36 per cent of colleges are using the government’s data tool to identify who their FSM6 disadvantaged students are.

But I’m a ‘glass 78% full’ kind of guy (that’s a resits joke, teehee) so I think that 36 per cent represents a good-news story, driven by FE wanting to do the right thing in spite of any  incentives or support to do so.

Let’s smash last year’s 36 per cent

You see, in 2021 it was 25 per cent, then 30 per cent in 2022, and 36 per cent in 2023.

I’m pretty confident DfE has done little, perhaps nothing at all, to promote the tool or train colleges in how to use it. (Although there is an urban myth about a rogue civil servant who kept trying to write it into grant agreements.)

In fact, in some years DfE’s tool for colleges to identify their new disadvantaged learners has not actually been up and running before day 42.

And it’s certainly not Ofsted driving improvement either. Its FE inspection framework explicitly and frequently mentions disadvantage in its ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ criteria, but they have been merrily handing out those grades to providers whether they had any idea which learners it referred to or not.

Wouldn’t it be poetic if there could be an unannounced inspection of Ofsted offices tomorrow to check how many FE inspectors actually know how to identify disadvantaged students?

No, this is a story of individuals within FE guided by their own moral compass and then sharing good practice with peers. Others have talked at length about FE as a self-improving system, but while they were busy navel gazing, these visionaries on the ground have been pro-actively doing something for their learners and for social justice that really matters.

Assuming DfE has the ‘Get Information About Pupils’ tool working before census day this year (it should be within your DfE provider portal), and we smash last year’s 36 per cent of colleges using it, then it could be life-changing for our otherwise-lost 30,000 young people.

And if you are about to withdraw a student and see they are flagged as disadvantaged, don’t cut them loose just yet. Try one more thing first.

Whether it’s one last phone call, one more one-to-one, or one more timetable adjustment to fit around whatever burden they are carrying, that disadvantage data empowers us to target our interventions on those who most need a helping hand to day 43.

Yes, they will almost certainly still need that help on day 44, and probably on day 144 too, but they will be safely in the lifeboat of FE, with a brighter future on the horizon.

Let’s be ambitious – not apologetic – about wanting more people qualified to level 4+

As a new government elected on a promise of change, a focus on growth and a close eye on the skills sector settles into the realities of decision-making, now is the time for colleagues across the further and higher education sectors to find common ground on which to campaign and work together.

Our co-authored chapter for this week’s UUK report, Opportunity, Growth and Partnership: a blueprint for change from the UK’s universities makes the case for “a whole-of-tertiary sector participation target of 70 per cent of the population aged 25 studying at level 4 or above by 2040, with a particular focus on increasing access in low-participation neighbourhoods”.

To deliver this, colleges, universities and employers, along with local leaders – whether mayors or council leaders – must seize this moment to create and build on the strong regional and civic partnerships we need to deliver economic growth and widen participation in skills training and technical qualifications.

This proposal is not about universities making a landgrab to significantly increase the number of graduates they produce each year. On the contrary, it is an acknowledgement that the old dichotomy of school leavers vs graduates is no longer relevant to the needs of today’s employers and tomorrow’s economy.

The competitive edge

What is required is an approach that brings together universities, colleges and employers to increase educational attainment and improve skills levels across the country and meet the needs of current and emerging industries.

This means not only producing more graduates but also creating an employable, home-grown workforce trained to sub-degree levels, with an embedded appetite for lifelong learning.

International evidence supports this approach. Advanced economies such as South Korea, Japan and Canada have increased higher education participation rates to between 60 and 70 per cent. The Australian government has set a target of 80 per cent participation in tertiary education.

Meanwhile, the UK remains stubbornly divided by educational attainment, as recorded in the 2021 census; 33.8 per cent hold a level 4+ qualification and 18.2 per cent have no qualifications. This clearly demonstrates the scale of the challenge our economy faces.

A sustainable pipeline

While UUK’s target highlights those aged 25, the reality is that we need investment to bring up the educational attainment of large sections of the adult population too.

All could benefit from a collective ambition for their future, made possible through the flexible and accessible funding approach to the Lifelong Learning Entitlement which we argue for in the report.

While the ‘graduate premium’ has been reducing in recent years, the demand for sub-degree qualifications remains high, particularly in technical areas. As much as 36 per cent of job vacancies were described as hard to fill due to skills shortages in 2022.

Colleges already play a critical part in this. They have an even more important role in creating the pipeline of part-time and adult learners who study for level 4 qualifications, particularly learners from non-traditional and disadvantaged backgrounds.

What’s needed

To do this, however, they must be supported by a whole-system approach. This will require changes to funding and regulatory systems as well as changes to the way FE-HE works.

Additional financial support must be provided for gateway provision. Arbitrary funding cliffs at ages 19 and 24 must be removed and additional funding for catch-up learners provided.

We will also need to streamline the regulatory process to remove requirements for duplicate reporting to different regulators for those institutions that collaborate on delivery or offer a mix of provision.

To underpin this, UUK is also calling for a tertiary education opportunity fund to support collaborative programmes to respond to the needs of learners in low-participation areas. Ideally, this would extend to the co-development of new level 3 and 4 provision.

We encourage colleagues across the FE sector to join with universities and employers in pressing the government for such reforms. Rather than holding individuals back through dysfunction, together we can create a skills system that works for everyone, delivering a qualified workforce equipped to support a growing, productive and innovative economy.

Tugendhat pledges millions for FE in Tory leadership bid

A contender for the Conservative party leadership has pledged to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in further education if they win the contest and win back the keys to Downing Street. 

Tom Tugendhat, the shadow security minister, is one of four candidates campaigning at this week’s Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

In his mainstage speech this afternoon, he claimed he would reduce demand for migrant workers by spending the money raised from the immigration skills charge on training UK workers and would “end the cap on apprenticeships”.

Reducing immigration featured in each of today’s mainstage speeches by the four candidates hoping to replace Rishi Sunak as Leader of the Conservative Party, though Tugendhat was the only one to make a commitment on skills spending. 

“I’ll set a legal cap on net migration at 100,000. Not a target, not an ambition, a cap. But a cap alone won’t work,” he said.

“We issued the visas because businesses need the staff for our care homes and our hospitals to look after our families.

“We need to fix migration by fixing the gaps in education and skills, in transport and in housing so that we can recruit at home and not abroad. I will end the cap on apprenticeships and use the immigration skills charge to invest in further education and train our own people.”

The other candidates are former education minister Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and the former education secretary, James Cleverly.

Home Office data shows the immigration skills charge, a tax paid by employers hiring migrant workers, raised over half a billion pounds in 2022/23 and nearly £1.5 billion since it was introduced in 2017.

An FE Week investigation last year revealed the government could provide no evidence that funds raised from the charge were being spent on programmes to upskill UK workers. According to the Migration Advisory Committee, revenue generated from the tax was “not ringfenced or linked directly to any fund for training to reduce the reliance on migrant workers and is simply a tax on the use of migrant labour which goes to the Treasury.

This time next week, Conservative MPs will vote to reduce the number of candidates to 2. Party members then get to vote and the new Leader will be announced on November 2.

Young offenders denied legal right to education

Young people in young offender institutions (YOI) are being denied access to the education they have a legal right to, regulators have found.

The joint report from Ofsted and the HM Inspectorate of Prisons, released today, found that education in YOIs is “bleak” and has been steadily declining in the last decade.

It comes amid a stark picture of education in custody for both children and adults, with Ofsted grading the majority of prisons as ‘inadequate’ for their education and training, largely due to acute staffing and overcrowding crises.

A survey of adult prisoners, released last week, found “limited opportunities” with most of those lucky enough to spend more than two hours a day outside their cells feeling “disappointed” at a lack of training opportunities.

Young offenders

In today’s report on YOIs, titled ‘A decade of declining quality of education in young offender institutions: the systemic shortcomings that fail children,’ Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver said young people spend “far too long locked up in their cell”.

Based on inspections of England’s four YOIs and surveys of young offenders, the report found 15- to 18-year-olds have “only 10 to 13” hours education per week, despite having a legal right to at least 15 hours.

Many lessons are cancelled due to “severe” shortages of staff to teach or escort young people to classrooms.

In addition, time out of cells has “sharply reduced” in recent years and staff rely on “complicated regimes” to manage potential violence between students, instead of focusing on their educational and career goals.

In one case, young offenders studying construction were placed on a barbering course “with no educational rationale”.

Sir Martyn said: “Many of the children in these institutions are extremely vulnerable.

“They are in urgent need of high-quality education: at present, the system has already failed them and continues to do so at this most urgent and crucial point in their life.”

Chief executive of Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET) Jon Collins said:  “All this adds up to a total failure to provide a good quality education to these young people, at a time when positive, effective interventions could be transformative.

“This report demands urgent action from the prison service and the government.

“More funding is needed, but so is a greater focus on what needs to be done to secure much-needed improvements.

“More of the same is simply unacceptable if we want to give these young people the skills and qualifications they need to have a chance in life.”

Lack of purposeful activity

This comes as more than two-thirds of adult prisoners spend most of their days in their cells “with little to occupy them”, a report published last week revealed.

The HMI Prisons report ‘purposeful prisons: time out of cell’ is based on responses from 5,000 prisoners surveyed during inspections between 2023 and 2024.

A quarter of prisoners said they have less than two hours outside their cell on a typical weekday and 44 per cent had less than six hours unlocked, leaving limited time for education and training.

Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, said the lack of purposeful activity leaves prisoners feeling more likely to reoffend on release.

Only 34 per cent of prisoners felt it was easy to access education and 18 per cent felt they had access to work opportunities, including vocational or skills training.

The report said: “For these prisoners, we repeatedly heard a sense of hopelessness and a pervasive feeling of boredom from long hours spent in their cells.”

‘Inadequate‘

The bleak picture painted by adult prisoners is reflected in repeated poor gradings by Ofsted during prison inspections.

In September, all five full prison inspections resulted in ‘inadequate’ gradings.

The most recent inspection of HMP Hull found many prisoners locked up for up to 22.5 hours per day in “particularly cramped cells”, with many telling inspectors they felt “bored” with little access to activities and “poor” attendance at education.

Taylor said: “Despite having so little to do, prisoners’ attendance at education was poor, partly because some of the teaching was not good enough, and it was disappointing to see workshops closed because there were no staff available.

“The governor was trying to improve the performance of the education provider, but progress had been much too slow.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson did not respond when asked about the comment on the prisoners’ survey or recent low Ofsted grades.

However, minister for youth justice, and former sixth form college principal, Nic Dakin said: “This government has inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, and these damning reports highlight the unacceptable strain that has been placed on the youth estate for too many years.

“We are determined to tackle these challenges head-on – giving staff the support they need to reduce violence, increase access to education and help these children turn their lives around. “This includes working towards a clear strategy for youth custody reform and stepping up efforts to stop more young people from getting caught up in crime in the first place.”

An FE Week investigation earlier this year highlighted concerns about declining prisoner participation in education, contracts that prioritise value for money over quality, and a focus on English and maths over more interesting or advanced courses.

Pupil premium plus post-16 pilot reduces ‘cliff edge’ of support, report finds

Local authorities involved in a pilot supporting looked-after teenagers and care leavers have told the government the programme has reduced “the potential cliff edge” of support when they leave school, strengthening calls for funding beyond March 2025.

An evaluation of the first year of the pupil premium plus post-16 scheme, published on Friday, showed councils were spotting “signs” of increased engagement and more awareness of education, employment or training (EET) options amongst disadvantaged over-16s.

Funding for the programme, which was extended to 153 local authorities this May in receipt of nearly £14 million, ends at the end of next March.

Local council representatives have called for “certainty” over future funding after the report outlined positive outcomes in young people in the long-term such as improved attendance, retention in post-16 settings and an increase in young people choosing EET options.

The research evaluated and surveyed three cohorts of local authorities which obtained access to the funding when the government expanded.

Cohort one comprised of 30 local authorities that received the pilot funding in 2021/22, the second group entailed 28 councils receiving funding in 2022/23, and a subsequent 94 local authorities funded in 2023/24. 

Call for certainty

The post-16 pupil premium plus trial was launched in 2021, calling for local authorities to appoint “virtual school heads”, to work with colleges, training providers and social workers to improve outcomes for looked-after children and care leavers aged between 16 and 18.

The original £3 million pilot ran from October 2021 to March 2022 with an allocation of £900 per pupil – less than half the £2,345 per pupil for those on the pre-16 scheme. Under 16s are currently funded £2,570 per child in care.

A report last year evaluating the six-month pilot – phase one – called for a long-term evaluation of the scheme, an extension to apply to all local authorities and an extension of funding to over 18s and provision beyond FE colleges.

The Department for Education subsequently expanded funding to a further 28 councils in autumn 2022 and to all English local authorities the year after. The scope of the programme was also extended to all looked-after children and care leavers in 2023/24, not just those in general FE colleges.

A further extension was announced this May, awarding a total of 153 authorities with allocations for 2024/25. The extension provided £13.84 million for the period running from April 2024 to March 2025. Per child funding for this financial year is not detailed.

Last year, DfE applied a 15 per cap to 58 local authorities already in receipt of funding, meaning their funding would not drop by more than 15 per cent compared to the last year. For 2024/25, DfE removed the cap and “all allocations will be calculated using the same formula.”

The Local Government Association, representing local authorities, urged the government in its Autumn budget for more certainty on funding.

In its budget submission to the Treasury, it called for “certainty over children’s and young people’s funding streams due to end in March 2025 to protect services ahead of the Spending Review.”

Perceived barriers

Following a survey of 120 “virtual school heads” (81 per cent response rate), 85 per cent across all three cohorts had used, or planned to use the funding to “enhance or expand” on an existing offer for disadvantaged teens.

In the early days of the pilot, the report found most virtual school heads had prioritised money to increase staffing capacity “particularly in post-16 settings”.

After the first year, most councils had delivered or planned to deliver training for college staff and then social workers. This included educating on trauma and attachment, role specific training, and information about the post-16 education landscape and transitions.

They also used the money for careers guidance, course equipment, workwear and also theatre trips and sports to bridge the “opportunity gap” between vulnerable teens and their peers.

Participants praised the scheme for creating good engagement with post-16 providers but found the main perceived barriers to be the turnover of social workers, not receiving student data from education providers and low engagement from the students.

Some virtual school heads added that they saw an increase in engagement from students since receiving funding, which the report suggested may become “less of a barrier over time”.

Pupil premium ‘massive help’ to FE

The report concluded that the programme was viewed “very positively” by virtual school heads and is seen as “as reducing the potential cliff edge in terms of support for young people when they reach 16”.

One post-16 lead from the first cohort to receive pilot funding said: “Obviously in a secondary school, they get the pupil premium plus as a matter of course, plus any other funding, and then suddenly it all just goes. So, I think it’s been a massive, massive help to FE, to have that allocation of money to support the learner in whichever direction they want to go to.”

The report outlined a table of short-term, interim and long-term outcomes for each of the three cohorts allowing for the lag in funding for each group of councils.

It found that by now, all three cohorts have an “improved understanding of the post-16 landscape by virtual schools/children’s social care.”

In the interim, by the end of the 2024/25 year, all participating councils would have “tailored interventions in place to support attendance”.

Long-term outcomes for young people – expected by the end of 2025/26 for the first two groups of funding recipients and the end of 2026/27 for cohort three – included improved attendance, increased engagement, retention in post-16 and more agency and voice in the decisions made.

172 college leaders make collective investment plea to chancellor

More than 170 college leaders have urged the chancellor to stump up the cash to tackle the FE teacher recruitment crisis ahead of this month’s budget.

The leaders, who represent an estimated 1.6 million students across England, have made three pleas in a new letter to Rachel Reeves.

They highlight the injustice of schools being offered £1.2 billion to help fund a 5.5 per cent pay rise for their teachers while colleges received nothing, the rapid growth in 16 to 18 students that is further stretching their resources, and repeat their request of government to offer colleges the VAT reimbursement that schools benefit from.

The letter said: “The staffing challenge facing colleges is stark. After a decade of cuts under the previous government, college lecturer pay lags far behind school teacher pay – over £9,000 on average – and even further to industry. This directly hampers the supply of new workers in key skills shortage sectors, including construction, engineering and health and social care, and stifles economic growth. 

“The decision to award school teaching staff a 5.5 per cent pay award for 2024-25 and not make funding available for colleges to be able to do the same will sadly see this challenge only deepen, unless action is taken.”

The Association of Colleges estimates that it would cost the government £250 million to match the school pay award.

Leaders who signed the letter assert that without more lecturers, skill shortages “will remain, making it unlikely that the government will be able to fully deliver a number of manifesto commitments, including the 1.5 million new homes, the transition to net zero, a reformed NHS and the productivity gains needed to secure strong economic growth”.

Andrew Green, chief executive of Chichester College Group, said: “Year on year, colleges are finding it harder to fill vacancies in teaching roles. The decision to award school teaching staff a 5.5 per cent pay award, without making funding available to colleges to do the same, has made that worse.

“The FE sector has suffered neglect for more than a decade and we need the new government to turn that tide.”

Today’s letter also asked the chancellor to recognise that the “growing cohort of 16-year-olds means that colleges are educating and training ever greater numbers”. 

While predicted school pupil numbers are forecast to fall over the next four years, the number of 16- to- 18-year-olds is set to rise by 118,000. 

In the 2023/24 academic year, 39 per cent of college leaders told their membership body they had seen a growth of 10 per cent or more in young people coming to their college. And while enrolment is still underway for 2024/25, leaders are reporting larger numbers than ever, according to the AoC.

The letter said the growth “requires both a commitment to fund in-year growth to meet demographic growth for 2025-26, as well as capital investment to deliver the extra space and equipment needed”. 

On VAT, the signatories said the imminent extension of VAT to independent schools offers the “perfect opportunity to put right the injustice of colleges having no VAT relief despite their strong social inclusion and public service roles”.

Colleges spend an estimated £210 million a year on VAT – around 3 per cent of income – that they cannot reclaim, unlike schools and academies where VAT is reimbursed. This is despite colleges being reclassified as public sector bodies in 2022.

Sam Parrett, chief executive of London South East Colleges, said the decision to grant the FE sector a VAT exemption is “long-overdue and very much needed”. 

She added: “For our college alone, this exemption would have been worth around £3 million last year – funds that would enable us to continue investing in our estate and capital programmes. This is essential as we strive to ensure our high-quality provision can meet local, regional and national skills needs and support people of all ages into successful careers.”

Reeves will deliver her first budget on October 30.

WorldSkills UK national finals will move to Wales in 2025

The WorldSkills UK national finals will be hosted in South Wales next year.

Venues across South Wales will run the annual competition from November 25 to 28, 2025.

WorldSkills UK has partnered with its Welsh counterpart, Inspiring Skills Excellence in Wales, to make the move happen for the first time.

Young skilled professionals and apprentices from Wales have been a big part of the champions sent to compete internationally. In the most recent Team UK cohort, three WorldSkills competitors hailed from the nation.

Plumber Ruben Duggan, from Caerphilly, won silver at WorldSkills Lyon last month and Ruby Pile, a student at Cardiff and Vale College, won ‘Best in Nation’ for restaurant service. Oscar McNaughton from University of Wales Trinity St David competed in additive manufacturing.

The Greater Manchester Colleges Group, which hosted the national finals in 2023 and 2024, will hand over the baton at a medal ceremony this November celebrating this year’s national champions.

The 2024 WorldSkills national finals take place from November 19 to 22 in venues across Greater Manchester.

Ben Blackledge, chief executive of WorldSkills UK, said: “It will be fantastic to bring the WorldSkills UK National Finals to South Wales next year.

“Our skills competitions programmes are central to driving excellence in technical education, helping learners demonstrate their readiness for high skilled jobs in sectors vital for the UK economy.  Working with our partners in Wales we will celebrate the UK’s best young technicians and draw attention to the role that world-class skills play in our economy.”   

Mike James, WorldSkills UK trustee and chief executive of Cardiff and Vale College Group, said hosting the national finals is a “brilliant opportunity not only for Wales, but for the whole of the UK to come together and shine a spotlight on skills excellence”.

He added: “We look forward to showcasing the excellent facilities we have here in Wales and welcoming students and apprentices from across the UK.”

Paul Evans, skills ambassador for Wales and project director of inspiring skills excellence said: “We are beyond delighted to bring the WorldSkills UK national finals to Wales in 2025.

“We know from our strong participation in Wales that competition activity offers life changing opportunities to young people. It brings a competitive edge to employers and broadens knowledge and expertise across the education and training sector.  We’re looking forward to celebrating technical skills and welcoming the best from across the UK to an exceptional event.”

40 extra hours policy ‘helpful’ for 3 in 5 colleges, report suggests

Sixty-one per cent of colleges found providing students with 40 additional learning hours “helpful” with education recovery following Covid – but researchers say there is no way of accurately measuring compliance with the policy.

An evaluation, published late last week, also revealed the biggest constraints to the scheme included a lack of staff resource and physical space.

Commissioned by the government, the Institute for Employment Studies and BMG Research surveyed 308 college and sixth form educators as well as almost 800 students between May and July 2023 on their perceptions of the extra 40 hours of learning policy.

A feasibility for impact study was also released on Friday which used data from the National Pupil Database (NPD) and the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) to further analyse its impact.

Here’s what you need to know.

Recap: Minimum planned hours rose to 580

In 2022, the Department for Education committed £800 million across the next three academic years to fund 40 additional learning hours to 16- to 19-year-olds as part of a post-Covid recovery plan to compensate for lost time in education.

This typically meant that minimum hour requirements for funding was increased from 540 to 580 for students in funding bands 5 to 9 (and lower bandings on a pro-rata basis). 

In its guidance, the government suggested institutions prioritise maths and English for struggling learners as well as supporting them with mental health, wellbeing or study skills.

The funding rate per 16 to 19 student in 2022 was £4,188 and has risen each year, partly to reflect the 40 additional hours policy. The rate currently sits at £4,843.

How the funding was used

Out of the total 308 institutions that replied to the survey, 73 were from post-16 colleges.

More than four in five (82 per cent) of FE providers used funding for activities related to qualifications, compared to 59 per cent of schools.

Instead, nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of schools used the funding for support with study skills, while 55 per cent of post-16 institutions had provision for teaching learning techniques.

Additionally, only 31 per cent out of all responders provided maths teaching and over a quarter (26 per cent) used the additional hours for English teaching.

Nearly a third (32 per cent) said they used the funding to provide study skills for support learners with high needs, a further 29 per cent provided wellbeing/mental health support and a quarter supported them for employability skills/work placements and personal and social development time.

‘Often constrained’ by staff resources

The report found providers were “often constrained” by timetabling and staff resources to carry out academic activities.

Nearly half of respondents (45 per cent) said internal availability and financial pressures had made additional hours delivery more challenging. 

Over four in ten (42 per cent) said finding space for delivery was an issue and some providers complained that the funding did not take this into account.

Meanwhile, 31 per cent said they struggled with student engagement. “Many faced initial challenges including student resistance to additions to their timetable, but these were usually resolved over time as learners became used to the change and saw the value of the provision,” the report added. For those using the additional hours for maths and English teaching, 37 per cent said recruiting additional staff was a problem.

‘Not possible’ to attribute policy to outcomes

Three in five (61 per cent) of all institutions surveyed said additional hours were helpful with education recovery following the disruption of the pandemic, while a third (33 per cent) said the policy was unhelpful.

FE learners were more likely (24 per cent) than those in school sixth forms (9 per cent) to say that the support had made no difference.

Most education providers claimed the additional hours had a positive impact on student outcomes. Sixty-eight per cent said they recorded positive outcomes in progress, attainment (61 per cent), engagement (59 per cent) and mental health/wellbeing (55 per cent).

Almost nine in 10 (89 per cent) providing English teaching with additional hours said it was positive on student outcomes. Eighty-eight per cent said as such for maths teaching.

However, the feasibility study said it was “problematic” to conclude that there was a causal effect of the changed funding and additional hours on outcomes.

“It will not be possible to attribute the effect specifically to the policy so is a step down from assigning causality,” the report said.

Compliance unknown

When the policy was announced in 2022 the government said it would “monitor” providers’ implementation of the 40 additional hours.

Friday’s report noted how the additional hours feasibility for impact study suggested that “many institutions were not delivering an average of 40 additional hours per student at an institution level”.

According to data from the NPD and ILR on provider level average planned hours provided by the Department for Education, there was a “mean increase of 43 hours across band 5 students from 2020/21 to 2022/23, with 55 per cent of providers seeing average planned hours increase by at least 40, and 79 per cent seeing some increase in hours”.

However, 1 per cent saw no change in average planned hours and 20 per cent saw planned hours fall.

The report claimed this does not necessarily indicate non-compliance with the policy, as the “policy allowed for flexibilities which enabled institutions to be compliant without reaching an average increase of 40 additional hours”.

For example, some colleges and sixth forms used the funding to “enhance their general provision, rather than delivering discrete activities”, which made it “difficult to record how they were using the hours”.

In addition, those institutions already delivering more than 580 hours prior to the extra hours policy “found it difficult to deliver an additional 40 hours due to constraints around timetabling, space and internal resources”.

The diversity of delivery methods and contexts “makes it hard to identify compliance with the policy, and an impact evaluation has not been recommended for this reason”, the report said.

Future funding questions

Most institutions that were case studied said they wanted to continue the 40 extra hours as they felt “the activities met the essential needs of learners”.

But “most” said that without the current level of funding, provision would cease.

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “There won’t be information on any part of government funding until the budget but it’s not surprising that colleges assume this money will continue in 2025-26 because they are already providing information and advice to the current cohort of year 11 students about next year’s options.”

Funding for 16 to 19 education from April 2025 onwards is being currently considered as part of the government’s spending review.

OfS dishes out further £14m for level 6 degree apprenticeships expansion

Thirty-three universities and colleges will share the final tranche of a £40 million pot to grow level 6 degree apprenticeships in England.

The Office for Students has announced the results of the third wave of funding from the scheme.

Today’s 33 winners will share £14 million, the same amount that was handed to 32 recipients in wave two. There were 51 winners in wave one, who shared £12 million.

The funding is used to expand level 6 apprenticeships in providers already delivering the provision, as well as providers looking to add the offer to their roster for the first time.

Projects funded through the scheme have to increase the number of students on level 6 degree apprenticeships and “increase equality of opportunity for students into and during” the programme, the OfS said.

Most (18) recipients in today’s announcements did not win funding in previous rounds.

Click here to view the full list of successful providers

Of the newly announced £14 million, £3,381,000 has been awarded to a collaborative bid from Middlesex University, Birmingham City University, Oxford Brookes University, University of Hertfordshire, Kingston University, University of Brighton and University of Greenwich to form the “healthcare education consortium”.

The consortium plans to increase apprentice starts, reduce duplication, and pool resources to create a coordinated strategy for local, regional, and national apprenticeship provision, working in partnership with NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Boards.

Elsewhere, Bournemouth University has been awarded £465,501 to support the development and introduction of five new degree apprenticeship programmes for delivery in September 2025: accounting finance manager, biomedical scientist, digital marketer, midwife and social worker.

Nottingham College will use £157,697 to launch two new degree apprenticeship programmes: product design and development engineer, and manufacturing engineer. 

The OfS said the college’s funding proposal “builds on current provision to create clear progression pathways and a comprehensive skills ladder in engineering”, adding that it will also “contribute to developing an outreach programme targeting disadvantaged areas of Nottingham, with a focus on engaging young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnic minorities, and women”.

John Blake, director for fair access and participation at the OfS, said: “Since we launched this degree apprenticeships fund last year, I have been continually impressed with the range, scope and ambition of the bids we have received – and this round of bids has been no different. I have been particularly pleased to see how universities and colleges have prioritised recruiting and supporting students from all backgrounds, and the successful bids have all demonstrated real commitment to addressing and removing barriers for students to succeed.”

Skills minister Jacqui Smith said: “This government’s mission is to break down barriers to opportunity, which is why we are funding the expansion of level 6 degree apprenticeships so people who might not otherwise get a university degree have a route into rewarding careers.

“We will work closely with Skills England and the OfS to ensure these level 6 apprenticeships provide good value for money and drive economic growth.”

Today’s announcement comes a week after the government revealed plans to restrict employers’ ability to use their apprenticeship levy contributions on level 7 apprenticeships due to affordability concerns.