Former apprenticeship provider Aspire Achieve Advance has been placed into compulsory liquidation, after a High Court Judge accepted a winding up petition brought before the court earlier today.

The directors of the company, better known as 3aaa, submitted a winding up petition against itself last week. It follows the training provider closing its doors earlier this month and saying it was going into administration.

Over 500 staff from 34 sites across England lost their jobs and around 4,500 apprentices had their training programmes affected.

The Derby Telegraph has reported that the official receiver, Anthony Hannon, has been appointed as liquidator. He now has the responsibility to establish what the company owes, and what assets 3aaa has to enable it to pay creditors.

The government’s Redundancy Payment Service has started to engage with affected staff regarding redundancy payments, according to the Derby Telegraph.

3aaa will aim to be wound up in the quickest time possible so that further costs can be avoided.

The training provider received over £31 million in government funding last year and had the largest allocation for non-levy apprenticeships – standing at nearly £22 million.

The Department for Education launched a second investigation into the company earlier this year following claims by a whistle-blower which prompted Ofsted to declare its inspection of the formerly ‘outstanding’ 3aaa in June “incomplete”.

The first ESFA investigation, carried out by auditing firm KPMG in 2016, found dozens of success rate “overclaims”.

Following a meeting with the ESFA on October 10 this month, the agency decided not to provide any more public money to the company and withdrew its contracts.

The findings of the new investigation, which have so far not been shared, have been passed on to the police through Action Fraud.

Derbyshire Constabulary is leading on enquiries.

3aaa was co-founded by Peter Marples and Di McEvoy-Robinson in 2008. They both resigned from the company in early September.

Mr Marples has since taken down his LinkedIn and Facebook pages last week. He has also resigned from his position as chair of the Spencer Academies Trust.

Despite withdrawing 3aaa’s funding, the DfE has agreed to pay the wages of around 40 affected staff until the end of October, to help with the transfer of the company’s apprentices to new training providers.

A studio school in Bath that has struggled to meet costs as a result of severely low student numbers is likely to shut in August 2020, after the government agreed to close it “in principle”.

The Wellsway Multi Academy Trust, which has run The Bath Studio School since it opened in 2014, “regretfully” announced the news today and launched a five week consultation to gather views on the proposal.

Nearly half of all studio schools, which offer a vocational curriculum for 14- to 19-year-olds, have now announced their intention to close. Twenty seven have shut or announced plans to do so since their inception, leaving just 28 with no plans at present to wind-up.

We have made this request to the Department for Education with a heavy heart and considerable sadness

The Wellsway Multi Academy Trust said that despite considerable effort, The Bath Studio School – which has a creative and digital specialism – has never been able to recruit enough students to make it financially viable.

Its capacity is for 300 students but it currently educates just 126 students and has never recruited more than 140 in any one of its five academic years of existence.

As a result, leaders have struggled to meet its costs and have required “considerable subsidy and financial support” from its academy sponsor, a position that is “not sustainable going forward”.

The studio school was rated ‘requires improvement’ in its first ever Ofsted report in June 2017. Six months later, the education watchdog criticised leaders and the governing body for being “slow to react to the situation at the school”, in a follow up monitoring visit.

If the closure request is given formal approval following consultation, The Bath Studio School will close with effect from the end of the school year 2019/2020.

This will allow all current students to complete their courses they have enrolled on. No further students are to be admitted from September 2019.

The Wellsway Multi Academy Trust said it will work individually with students to support their transition, and will also provide advisory support for the studio school’s staff, and will look to the “possibility of their redeployment to another trust school”.

Aspire Academy, a special school for children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties, which shares a site with the studio school, will remain within the academy trust and plans are already underway to expand that school.

Andrea Arlidge, the chief executive of WMAT, said: “We have made this request to the Department for Education with a heavy heart and considerable sadness.

Ultimately, there is simply not enough demand in the Bath area for the type of education

“Our decision to seek the closure of TBSS does not reflect on the commitment and dedication of its staff and we will continue to do our utmost to support our current pupils through to the completion of their courses. We will also seek to respond quickly to parent concerns.

“Ultimately, there is simply not enough demand in the Bath area for the type of education that TBSS provides. As a consequence, the school is not meeting its costs, has had to be heavily subsidised by the WMAT and is not financially viable.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “At the request of Wellsway Academy Trust, we have agreed, in-principle, to the closure of Bath Studio School, which we will consider before any final decision is made on its future.

“We will continue to work with the trust and local authority to support pupils at the school and minimise disruption to their education.”

The consultation runs from October 23 to November 27, 2018.

Studio schools have struggled to survive due to poor Ofsted ratings and low pupil numbers, with now 27 closing or planning to close since the scheme was introduced in 2010 – despite millions of pounds of government investment.

The rate of closure has apparently caused unease at the DfE. Meeting records from 2017 show the former academies minister Lord Nash had met with officials from the programme to discuss a review of the model’s concept.

The department is however denying it ever conducted a formal review – despite FE Week discovering an attempt to cover-up internal emails which openly discussed the existence and timescale of the review.

No studio schools opened in 2018.

Staff are likely to strike at four colleges this term, but union members are in uproar as ballots at 103 others did not pass new “pernicious” thresholds.

The University and Colleges union has been balloting staff in colleges across the country since August on whether they want to take industrial action in a battle over pay.

Results were released today and show that 85 per cent of members in the 107 colleges that voted said they would strike.  

However, “restrictive” trade union laws mean that, except in Northern Ireland, only those institutions with a 50 per cent turnout can act on the results.

Just four colleges – Bath College, Bradford College, New College Swindon and Petroc – met the required threshold for action.

A full breakdown of results by institution can be found here.

The union said members of FE committees would be meeting in the coming days to consider the results and next steps.

The UCU said today that it was “frustrated” with the law, and pointed out that college staff have seen their pay “decline by 25 per cent over the last decade”.

Meanwhile, the employers’ representatives, the Association of Colleges, “have yet to make a concrete offer to staff but have said they are seeking extra government funding to support a pay rise”.   

UCU head of policy and campaigns Matt Waddup said: “The national ballot results show clear support amongst members for action over pay.

“However, pernicious ballot restrictions which single out trade unions for special treatment mean this can only be taken forward in some institutions. UCU members will be meeting in the coming days to discuss the outcome of the ballot and the next steps in our campaign for a better deal for staff.”

College staff were left bitterly disappointed in July when the AoC said it was unable to recommend a salary increase of five per cent, and was instead only able to propose a “substantial pay package” over two years dependent on government funding.

The UCU described the proposal as “bizarre” at the time and warned that an immediate solution was needed if colleges wanted to avoid strikes in the autumn.

No such action has since been forthcoming and the government has outright refused to provide the funds needed to increase staff pay – even though it was able to increase school teacher pay by 3.5 per cent.

The AoC’s chief executive, David Hughes, was furious about this and launched a new louder strategy by holding a “week of action” where students, staff, parents, employers, and stakeholders were asked to “advocate for colleges”, including a march on parliament to demand more funding.

Twelve school and college associations have written to the chancellor to urge him to increase funding for sixth form education by an initial £200 per student in next week’s budget.

The letter marks the launch of the ‘Raise the Rate’ campaign, calling for an increase to the base rate for all 16-18-year-old students, which has been cut twice since 2010 and frozen at £4,000 per student, per year since 2013.

The rate for 18-year-olds specifically was reduced even further to £3,300 in 2014.

The ‘Raise the Rate’ campaign, led by the Sixth Form Colleges Association, wants funding to eventually increase to £4,760 per student in the next spending review. For 16 and 17-year-olds, this would be a rise of 14 per cent on the current £4,000 base rate. For 18-year-olds – taking a third year of sixth form – it would be a jump of 44 per cent.

A report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies last month found government funding for 16-to 18-year-olds has been cut “much more sharply” than funding for pupils in pre-school, primary, secondary or higher education.

Schools minister Nick Gibb also admitted in January last year that sixth forms were facing “tight” resources. “I recognise that there is more to do to continue improving our post-16 education system,” he said at the time.

The letter sent to chancellor Philip Hammond today claims that a combination of funding cuts and cost increases have left colleges stretched, at a time when “the needs of young people have become increasingly complex”, with more students reporting that they are experiencing mental health problems, for example.

The associations pointed to research from policy and economics consultancy London Economics, commissioned by the Sixth Form Colleges Association, which found an increase in funding of “at least £760 per student” is required to continue providing “a high quality education to young people”.

The letter also requested that this figure is then increased in line with inflation each year.

“Only a significant increase in the national funding rate for 16-to-18-year-olds will make it possible for the government to meet its objectives for a strong post-Brexit economy and a socially mobile, highly educated workforce,” the associations said.

They claim the money is needed to boost student support services to the minimum required level; support minority subjects, such as languages, that are at risk of being dropped; and increase extra-curricular activities, work experience opportunities and university visits.

As major funding decisions are not likely to be taken until next year’s spending review, and would not take effect until 2020-21, the letter also requested that the chancellor introduce a “modest increase” to the funding rate of at least £200 per student in next week’s budget.

This would “provide some much needed financial stability and ensure that schools and colleges can continue to deliver the high class education our young people deserve”.

The budget will take place on October 29.

“Sixth form education is not just about exam results, it includes a host of essential wrap-around experiences,” said Bill Watkin, the chief executive of the SFCA.

“If we don’t fund it properly, something must give and young people won’t get the high-quality education they deserve. Every year, colleges are being asked to do more with less, and we must not sit idly by while young people are short-changed.”

The twelve associations supporting the campaign are:

Association of Colleges

Association of School and College Leaders

Collab Group

Confederation of School Trusts

Grammar School Heads Association

National Association of Head Teachers

National Education Union

National Governance Association

National Union of Students, Sixth Form Colleges Association

SSAT: the Schools, Students and Teachers network

The Sixth Form Colleges Association

Unison

Five training providers have been stripped of more than £100,000 due to the controversial English and maths condition-of-funding rule, according to new government figures.

However, one of them – Plumpton College – claims the Education and Skills Funding Agency has made a mistake and it has not actually lost out on the near £350,000 detailed in the today’s data.

Under original ESFA rules, any 16- to 18-year-old student who does not have at least a C (now 4) in their English and maths GCSEs, and who fails to enrol in the subjects, will be removed in full from funding allocations for the next-but-one academic year.

But the condition was relaxed from 2016/17, with the penalty halved and only applied to providers at which more than five per cent of students did not meet the standard.

FE Week analysis of 16-to-19 allocation data for 2018/19 revealed that in total, 13 general FE colleges were deducted £1,137,091.

Four of them, and one private training provider, had over £100,000 deducted each, totalling £1,008,614.

On the face of it, Plumpton College was hit the hardest, with £348,414 wiped after it failed to meet funding conditions for 237 students in 2016/17.

However, a spokesperson claimed the figure was “incorrect”, and it has not in fact lost that amount.

She said there were “complex and detailed reasons” behind this, partly linked to the college and partly to the ESFA.

The spokesperson did not, however, explain the reasons, other than to say the issue has now been “resolved” by the agency, and therefore there is “no condition of funding fail”.

The Department for Education has been approached for comment.

Barnfield College had the second highest deduction, with £268,126 removed from its allocation for 209 non-compliant learners.

London South East Colleges had the most learners who didn’t meet the condition, having £186,635 wiped for 334 students.

Job Wise Training, based in London, was the only private provider to have over £100,000 deducted because of the rule. It lost £102,826 for 87 learners.

A fifth provider, The Manchester College, was deducted £102,613 for 312 non-compliant learners.

In total, 36 independent training providers shared losses of £625,196, and 31 local authorities were deducted £208,950.

There were 22 university technical colleges and studio schools that incurred fines, with the combined total sitting at £341,198.

No sixth-form colleges were penalised.

This year’s figures for general FE colleges are an improvement on last year, when 19 were deducted £1,211,930.

In December 2016, colleges hit out at the notorious condition-of-funding rule after FE Week revealed a huge flaw which makes it impossible to achieve 100 per cent compliance, even when all learners are enrolled on English and maths courses.

If a learner drops out of a course after the qualifying period of 42 days, they are counted as “funded”, but if they record fewer days studying English and maths during the same period they count as not complying with the rule – even if their last day of attendance on each course is just a few days apart.

Despite this, the DfE decided last year to extend this five-per-cent tolerance indefinitely “in recognition of the continued efforts of institutions” to achieve the targets.

Concerns have been raised about a loophole in the government’s apprenticeships register after a broker advertised how companies can buy their way on to it.

FE Week discovered the apparent short cut on Wednesday when Yorkshire-based Education & Skills Consultancy put out an advert to sell a provider for between £50,000 and £60,000.

Its heading reads: “Great chance to purchase a provider on the RoATP & RoTO. Better than waiting for the window to open!”

The purchase is likely to be the same as buying an off-the-shelf company with no staff or assets, and its value would simply have been derived from successfully applying to the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers.

The forthcoming register refresh should close the loopholes

Mark Dawe, the boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, is troubled by the loophole but blamed the Education and Skills Funding Agency for its delay in reopening the register for creating this buying and selling market.

“In its zeal to open up the apprenticeship market, the government played far too loose with the requirements to get on to the register, to the extent that over 700 providers on it aren’t delivering and we’re seeing opportunistic examples like this of trying to cash in,” he said.

“The forthcoming register refresh should close the loopholes and in the meantime ESFA has to maximise the use of its existing powers to terminate agreements where abuses are taking place.”

The Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers has been closed ever since the government shut it for review in October 2017, even though it was originally meant to open every quarter.

The government states that organisations listed on the register have been through an application process that “considers due diligence, capability, quality and financial health to assess their capability to deliver high-quality apprenticeship training”.

FE Week has however reported extensively on the problems with the application process, and discovered, for example, one-man bands with no delivery experience being given access to millions of pounds of apprenticeships funding.

The register was meant to finally reopen last month with a more robust application process but there is still no sign of it. The ESFA remained tight-lipped when FE Week asked for an update this week.

It is this delay in reopening the register that has “created this sort of market where smaller providers who aren’t doing much delivery can be sold off”, according to James Hart, the managing director of Education & Skills Consultancy.

“I would much prefer an open and transparent system where it is more regular for providers to get on there,” he told FE Week.

Mr Hart said selling providers on the register to companies that are not does not break any ESFA rules.

He added that providers must notify the ESFA when there is a change in ownership, at which point it is up to the agency to carry out due diligence on the people taking it over.

The Education and Skills Consultancy advert states: “A great and simple opportunity to purchase a training provider listed as a main provider on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers and on the Register of Training Organisations.

“Awarding bodies already in place.

“Offers in the region of £50,000 to £60,000.”

I would much prefer an open and transparent system

The value of this provider is bound to only go up the longer RoATP stays shut.

Mr Hart claimed to have received over 30 enquiries just 24 hours after putting the advert out.

FE Week asked how much the cut would be that his firm would take for handling such a deal, but he refused to say.

He did however describe their role as “very much like an estate agent”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The ESFA hold an apprenticeship agreement with training providers. In the agreement it is clear that they have a requirement to notify the ESFA if there is a change of provider.

“If providers do not do this then the ESFA may terminate an agreement.”

When the register was first launched the DfE described those listed as “top-quality” and the then skills minister, Robert Halfon, said: “We are giving employers the confidence to do business with high-quality training providers.”

Dame Asha Khemka has left her role as an Institute for Apprenticeships board member, following her resignation from West Nottinghamshire College earlier this month.

The high-profile former principal had the backing of the institute just two weeks ago when a spokesperson said she “remains a valued member” of its board just days after she departed the financially troubled WNC.

But today, she stood down from the role.

“It has been an honour and privilege to serve on the IfA board,” Dame Asha said.

“However, considering I am no longer a serving principal, I have decided to step down from the board. I convey my best wishes to the institute.”

Antony Jenkins, chair of the IfA board, thanked her for her service.

“Dame Asha has been a highly valued member of our board. I would also like to thank her for the time and effort she has dedicated to chairing the quality assurance committee,” he said.

“We wish her all the best for the future.”

Dame Asha, who led WNC from 2006, stepped down from the top job on October 1 following a “special meeting of the board of governors” held “in light of the current challenges faced by the college”.

It was forced to go to the Education and Skills Funding Agency in July for a £2.1 million bailout, just 48 hours before it would have run out of cash, as revealed by FE Week.

Dame Asha was one of two college principals appointed to the IfA’s board in January 2017.

She was one of the most highly-paid principals in the FE sector, with a remuneration package worth £262,000 in 2016/17.

She received £15,000 a year for her role on the IfA board. Following her appointment last year, a spokesperson for WNC refused to say whether Dame Asha would keep the money herself or give it to the college.

London’s mayor will host a party to celebrate taking control of the capital’s adult education budget next year – where he’ll lay out ambitions for making his skills system the “envy of the world”.

From September 2019, the Greater London Authority will have its annual £311 million AEB devolved.

Mayor Sadiq Khan has big plans for how to control the fund, including shifting its payment model away from funding qualifications towards wider outcomes such as progression into work.

Making London’s skills system the envy of the world

He’s also hoping the government will later devolve further skills funding into his hands, including apprenticeships.

To kick devolution off Mr Khan wants to hold a launch event to “set out London’s vision for future skills”.

The party will coincide with the centenary of adult education at the City Literary Institute in autumn 2019, according to minutes from the latest Skills for Londoners Board meeting, held on September 21.

“The event would celebrate the wider history of adult education in London and provide an opportunity for the board to set its vision for the future,” the minutes state.

“It would also be used to mark the launch of the commencement of the AEB in London.”

The event “presents a great opportunity to support and convene collaboration within the sector and support the mayor’s priority for creating a more strategic city-wide approach to skills” and his “ambition for making London’s skills system the envy of the world”.

There are, however, questions over whether the funding for the party will come from the capital’s AEB revenue budget, which would take more money away from frontline learning.

“The project budget required to support delivery of this proposal is yet to be fully scoped out,” the minutes state.

“It should be noted that while there is no specific budget provision for this initiative within the GLA budget, it is expected that officers will seek to contain any associated project costs within the existing revenue budgets available to the Development, Enterprise and Environment Directorate.”

If this is not possible, a “growth bid will have to be submitted for consideration as part of the 2019-20 budget process currently underway”.

FE Week asked the GLA if it was planning to use a chunk of the AEB to pay for the event, but the authority stayed tight-lipped other than to say: “No funds [are] committed to this event, which is being organised by City Lit.”

City Lit said it has asked Mr Khan to take part in its centenary celebrations, but is still waiting for his response. It would not comment on how the event would be paid for.

Mr Khan came under fire earlier this year when FE Week revealed his plan to top-slice over £3 million of the annual AEB to pay for an army of nearly 100 new bureaucrats to manage the fund.

The event would celebrate the wider history of adult education in London

It did however emerge last month that the idea of top-slicing from the budget was a recommendation from the Department for Education, after the GLA complained it needed extra cash to cover operational costs.

The SfL minutes also reveal that the GLA is proposing to follow the celebration event with an annual “skills summit”, which would “provide an ongoing opportunity to share best practice and to promote collaboration amongst networks”.

“While members commented that these networks already existed on a more localised level, this could provide an opportunity to bring together representatives from across the sector each year to discuss the opportunities and challenges they face,” the minutes said.

“While the proposals were welcomed, it was suggested that the skills summit be supplemented with smaller local events, in order to reach out to as much of the adult learning community as possible.”

The GLA will be launching its tendering process to award £130 million of London’s devolved AEB to independent training providers the week beginning October 22, 2018.

The remainder of the budget will be awarded in the form of grants to colleges and other institutions that currently receive AEB via a grant from the government.