A college has come under heavy criticism for significantly enhancing the employment conditions of its senior staff ahead of entering a merger consultation.

After a whistleblower approached FE Week with concerns, the chair of Stephenson College confirmed that the board approved pay rises and notice period extensions to 12 months in 2015 for all executives, including the long-serving principal and Association of Colleges board member Nigel Leigh.

The college denied that this had anything to do with the plans to merge with a larger college which were being explored “at the time”.

It could be argued the improved employment terms was an appropriate way to maintain stability

A spokesperson for the UCU described the enhancements as “a tone-deaf move which flies in the face of widespread calls for senior pay restraint in colleges and shows that, when it comes to pay and conditions, it’s one rule for those at the top and another for the rest of the staff”.

She added that there had been a “concerning” lack of transparency around the pay rise.

According to the college’s accounts, Leigh’s pay has risen 15 per cent in the past three years, from £125,653 to £145,000, during which time the post-16 area review recommended that Stephenson College be taken over by North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College.

The plans for merger were progressed to an advanced stage, but it is understood that by March 2018 discussions had ended and according to NWSLC’s audit committee minutes the college had agreed to collaborate with Stephenson, but Stephenson had not accepted the offer that had been made.

The chair of governors for Stephenson College, Chris Brown, became chair in December 2018 and was on the college remuneration committee at the time the enhancements were approved for senior staff.

He defended the decision, telling FE Week: “In 2015, the board at Stephenson College took the decision to secure the retention of a high-performing senior management team, to safeguard student outcomes through increasingly turbulent times for the sector.

“This had nothing to do with merger explorations happening at the time. 

“The number one priority was, and is always, ensuring a thriving further education offer for our local community.

“Since the board took that decision, the college has maintained a ‘good’ Ofsted grade and is in outstanding financial health.”

FE Week spoke to a consultant with experience of mergers, who didn’t want to be named but said extending the notice period could be seen as “a cynical move from the college to look after their own”.

They also said they had not come across this situation before, and theorised the board may have concluded that asking the senior team to implement a merger in which they may be made redundant was “like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas”. 

“So, it could be argued the improved employment terms was an appropriate way to maintain stability,” the consultant said.

Stephenson began exploring a merger with Loughborough last year, and a £100,000 transition grant that had been made available was used by Loughborough to carry out due diligence.

A spokesperson for Loughborough College said the merger is currently paused while the two colleges explore unrelated matters.

“There has never, at any time, been a discussion between Loughborough College and Stephenson College regarding the executive contracts of either organisation,” the spokesperson continued.

“Further, as all HR matters are part of the due diligence process, they are, and will remain, subject to a non-disclosure agreement.”

It is understood that Stephenson College has since begun merger talks with Brooksby Melton College, which did not provide a comment for this story.

NWSLC also did not provide a comment.

The criticism of the senior pay decision at Stephenson College comes shortly after the Association of Colleges said it wanted to make the process of deciding senior pay at colleges fairer and more transparent.

Last September it published a senior pay code, which “draws on the good practice in colleges and from other sectors and will help colleges show that they are acting responsibly, fairly and openly”.

The guidance states that senior staff shouldn’t get a pay rise unless all staff do, principals cannot be involved in deciding their own pay, and colleges should publish principal salaries publicly and separately.

Although the move appears to be rare, FE Week reported in April 2017 (following contact from a whistle blower) that the principal of City of Liverpool College, Elaine Bowker, had her employment notice period extended to 12 months at the same time as FE Commissioner intervention.

Health secretary and former skills minister Matt Hancock has awarded a permanent role in his office to his apprentice.

Chloe Osborne-Wilson, aged 21, has been the “eyes and ears” for Hancock as a caseworker within his constituency of West Suffolk while making “tremendous progress” completing a level 3 business administrator apprenticeship over the past 18 months.

Hancock, who was the skills minister from 2013 to 2014 and became health secretary in July last year, has now hired Chloe on a full-time basis.

While the number of MPs hiring apprentices has been growing in recent years, with former skills minister and current education select committee chair Robert Halfon thought to have been the first in 2010, Hancock is likely to be one of only a few or even the first to then hire the apprentice permanently.

“I’m so proud of Chloe,” Hancock said. “It’s a massive tribute to her hard work and also an excellent example of the success of apprenticeships in this country.

“I am so pleased and proud to offer her a full-time position in my West Suffolk constituency office as my caseworker. Chloe made tremendous progress in her apprenticeship, and her success is thoroughly deserved.”

During Chloe’s apprenticeship she arranged and attended Hancock’s surgeries, answered calls from venerable members of the constituency, attended meetings with, or on behalf of the MP, and handled post.

“The apprenticeship has helped me to understand how a real working environment works, whilst still learning and developing my skills,” Chloe said.

“The support from my tutor Rebecca has been amazing, I could not have completed my apprenticeship without her and the support of the college.”

Rebecca Mann, programme tutor in business administration and customer service at West Suffolk College, said: “Chloe has undergone a significant learning journey as one of the first apprentices to go through the new end-point assessment process. She has shown huge resilience and optimism throughout her course having to adapt to a very challenging yet unique role. We are very proud of her.”

Chloe said she has high ambitions for the future and is hoping to progress to a senior caseworker or office manager.

Photo: Left to right – Laraine Moody, West Suffolk College vice principal employer engagement, Matt Hancock, Chloe Osborne-Wilson and Nikos Savvas, principal at West Suffolk College

Providers will be forced to log apprentices’ off-the-job training hours from September, following high-profile concern about non-compliance with the unpopular rule going unchallenged.

A new data field for individual learner records (ILR) is being introduced for 2019/20 to “provide information about the quantum of off-the-job training delivered” and “help demonstrate compliance with the funding rules”, the Education and Skills Funding Agency revealed today.

It replaces the “optional” field for recording how many off-the-job training hours had been completed on a monthly basis, which was introduced to the ILR in 2018/19. The new field is “mandatory” and requires providers to record “planned” hours.

In March the National Audit Office said in its apprenticeships progress report that the ESFA, in summer 2018, had just one “red risk” associated with delivery of the programme – that apprentices do not spend at least 20 per cent of their time doing off-the-job training.

The government’s spending watchdog warned that the agency has “limited assurance” in knowing whether the policy is being abided by, as even though audits may identify problems, there is “scope for providers to under-deliver for some time without this being picked up”.

“This is an important gap in oversight, because the provider continues to be paid as long as the apprentice remains on the programme,” its report said.

Meg Hillier, the chair of the influential Public Accounts Committee, added that it was “concerning that the ESFA can’t be sure that apprentices are spending enough time on off-the-job training”.

The new mandatory ILR field has been introduced to mitigate the problem.

“For apprenticeships this field collects the planned off-the-job training hours (as defined in the funding rules) for the individual apprentice in the academic year by the training provider, sub-contracted training providers and the employer,” the rules now state.

Guidance on the new field explains that it should record the “planned off-the-job training hours for the individual apprentice over the full apprenticeship (excluding the end point assessment period) by the training provider, sub-contracted training providers and the employer”.

The information in the ILR may be “subject to compliance checks during the academic year and must therefore be supported by the evidence requirements set out in the funding rules for off the job training”.

“It is important that this field should accurately reflect the planned amount of off-the-job training undertaken by the apprentice,” the guidance adds.

“Any changes to the values entered in this field during the apprenticeship may be subject to further compliance checks.”

The policy, which requires apprentices to spend a fifth of their week on activities related to their course that are different to their normal working duties, has split the FE sector since its introduction in 2015.

Many have complained that the rule is the single biggest barrier to apprenticeship recruitment, but others view it as a vital part of the apprentices’ development.

The new mandatory ILR field has not been welcomed by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, whose chief executive Mark Dawe said: “The job is hard enough at the moment without ladling on more meaningless bureaucracy which puts a lot of employers off.

“Simply recording the number of hours will tell you absolutely nothing about the quality of the apprentice’s learning experience. Instead the matter should be left in Ofsted’s domain with inspectors read to look at what is being gained both on and off the job in terms of knowledge, skills and behaviours.”

He added: “Once again the ESFA are ignoring MPs’ recommendations by blurring the lines on responsibilities when Ofsted should be the sole custodians of quality.”

 

Funding bands for 10 of the 30 apprenticeship standards under review by the Institute for Apprenticeships since last December have been approved by the education secretary Damian Hinds.

Changes for those that have had their funding reduced will come into effect for apprenticeship starts from August 5, 2019, while those that have increased will have their new funding band implemented for starts from May 7, 2019.

Of the 10, two have had their funding cut: the level 3 engineering design and draughtsperson standard (from £27,000 to £24,000) and the level 2 financial services customer adviser standard (from £4,000 to £3,500).

Meanwhile, seven funding bands have remained the same and one, for the level 4 aviation operations manager standard, has increased from £5,000 to £7,000 (see full table below).

In May 2018, the apprenticeships minister Anne Milton asked the institute to conduct its first ever review of funding bands, which included 31 existing apprenticeship standards.

This led to several standards having their funding cut, including the popular chartered manager degree apprenticeship by £5,000. This was followed by another review of the funding bands for 30 standards in December 2018.

Today’s release of updated funding bands includes the final remaining one from the May review: the level 3 motor vehicle service and maintenance technician (light vehicle) standard, which has been cut from £18,000 to £15,000.

A spokesperson for the institute stated: “The aim of the reviews is to ensure these standards have the most appropriate funding band to support high quality delivery, and provide value for money for employers and taxpayers.

“They will also ensure consistency in the way older and newer standards are funded.”

Twenty funding band recommendations still have to be approved from the December 2018 reviews.

Standard name	Pre-review funding band	Reviewed funding band	Implementation date
Adult Care Worker	£3,000	Band 4 (£3,000)	No change
Lead Adult Care Worker	£3,000	Band 4 (£3,000)	No change
Healthcare Support Worker	£3,000	Band 4 (£3,000)	No change
Financial Services Customer Adviser	£4,000	Band 5 (£3,500)	05-Aug-19
Aviation Operations Manager	£5,000	Band 10 (£7,000)	07-May-19
Investment Operations Administrator	£5,000	Band 8 (£5,000)	No change
Large Goods Vehicle Driver	£5,000	Band 8 (£5,000)	No change
Butcher	£9,000	Band 12 (£9,000)	No change
Engineering Design and Draughtsperson	£27,000	Band 27 (£24,000)	05-Aug-19
Gas Engineering	£27,000	TBC
Supply Chain Warehouse Operative	£3,000	TBC
Public Service Operational Delivery Officer	£3,000	TBC
Hospitality Supervisor	£5,000	TBC
Senior Production Chef	£5,000	TBC
HR Support	£5,000	TBC
Retail Team Leader	£5,000	TBC
Retail Manager	£6,000	TBC
Highway Electrician / Service Operative	£9,000	TBC
Senior Financial Services Customer Adviser	£9,000	TBC
Chef De Partie	£9,000	TBC
Housing/Property Management	£9,000	TBC
HR Consultant / Partner	£9,000	TBC
Travel Consultant	£9,000	TBC
IT Technical Salesperson	£12,000	TBC
Water Process Technician	£12,000	TBC
Rail Engineering Operative	£12,000	TBC
Associate Ambulance Practitioner	£15,000	TBC
Bus and Coach Engineering Technician	£18,000	TBC
Heavy Vehicle Service and Maintenance Technician	£18,000	TBC