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What does a good college mental health strategy look like?

To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week, Sarah-Louise Neesam explains how West Suffolk College has developed and implements a student welfare strategy

I have been a student welfare manager for 17 years, a long period with which to watch changes in the demands made on the welfare service at West Suffolk College.

Ten years ago, after seeing an increase in students presenting with poor mental health and a number of attempted suicides, we began to develop the mental health policies that we use today.

Mental health support is now central to our student welfare strategy – which is based upon the principle of understanding students in a holistic way. For example, we ask them about their lives, what they enjoy, who they live with, and what their hopes and dreams are. We have had a food bank for about 10 years and more recently, have made links with the food redistribution charity Fare Share. We work closely with students’ external support teams and were the first college in Suffolk to gain the gold award from Suffolk Young Adult Carers.

Here are some aspects of our strategy.

How we identify mental health support needs

Students indicate if they have a mental health condition when they start at the college. These students are invited for a welfare assessment, which was developed with an NHS primary mental health worker around 10 years ago. The welfare assessment asks questions about the student’s mental health history and determines whether their mental health needs are low, medium or high risk.

How we support students

Following the welfare assessment, we liaise with external services such as GPs and drug counselling services, which helps to inform internal support needs. Students are fully involved, and remain firmly in control of what happens to them.

Given the high demand on welfare services, students who are at a low risk are monitored and looked after by personal support tutors, and those who are medium or high risk are supported by the student welfare team.

How our mental health strategy has improved outcomes

Our student welfare strategy and other policies have enabled us to successfully identify and respond to students’ mental health needs, and the data speaks to our strategy. Of the 1,517 learners seen by welfare advisers in the 2016-17 academic year, 94 per cent remained in learning at the end of the academic year. Of those who received counselling, 99.5 per cent remained in learning. Ninety per cent of our children in care remain in learning.

How we support our staff

Mental health provision is built into staff training and professional development strategies, and is targeted based on data. To this end, mental health first aid training has been delivered not only to personal support tutors and the welfare team, but also to those teaching staff delivering courses to high numbers of pupils with mental health problems.

How other colleges can implement these learnings

1) Develop expertise: Our student welfare staff include individuals former social workers and police officers, who bring a wealth of knowledge to the team. We also currently have two young apprentices who are able to support the advisers in conducting welfare assessments. We think that investing in young people and training the next generation of support workers is important.

2) Use resources efficiently: The college has reduced costs by asking external organisations to deliver training en masse, instead of sending staff to external courses.

3) Communicate: Collaborative working, increasing staff members’ understanding of students’ needs and improving the support available for students.

4) Adapt: Ensure that policies are flexible and evolve. The team have adapted their welfare strategy in light of emerging needs, as well as on the basis of new information and training.

I wouldn’t have stayed in this role if I didn’t enjoy it. Each day is different: exciting, challenging and rewarding. You get the opportunity to meet the most amazing young people, their families and support workers and plot a way forward for the individual. What more could anyone want from their work?

Sarah-Louise Neesam is the student welfare manager at West Suffolk College

Cap on subcontracting management fees being considered, ESFA director reveals

Caps on subcontracting management fees will be introduced if the government deems it “right and proper”.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s director of apprenticeships was questioned on the unscrupulous top-slices that many prime providers now charge during an education committee hearing on apprenticeships this morning.

Keith Smith pointed out that stricter rules have recently been enforced on subcontracting, leading to “a reduction”.

He told MPs that the government would not hesitate to actually cap the amount that can be charged as a management fee.

“Subcontracting is an element of a provider-led model and we are doing some work to think about the future of that from next year,” he said.

If it is right and proper that we introduce capping

“We have already seen a reduction in the amount of subcontracting that is happening because of the changes and controls we’ve introduced.

“In terms of fees and charges that is something we are keeping under constant review. If it is right and proper that we introduce capping and controls around management fees then that is something we will obviously do.”

Skills minister Anne Milton appeared later in the session and agreed with the committee that huge top-slices in subcontracting concerns her and that it amounts to “wasted money” in some cases.

However, she claimed it was “too soon” for the government to take action in specific cases.

“I would always like less, because it’s money that is going to the main provider that could be spent on training,” she told the committee.

“I think the transparency of the management fees is important. To me taking excessive management fees is gaming.”

She currently has three cases of unjust top-slices which have been brought to her by other MPs.

“I can take action,” she said, adding: “I think it’s too early to take action at this stage.”

Major sector bodies, excluding the Association of Colleges, published best practice guidance in March stating that management fees levied by prime providers on subcontractors should not be more than 20 per cent of the programme funding.

This was signed by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, the adult community education and learning organisation Holex , and provider group Collab.

FE Week has exposed many situations in which cash meant for learning has been diverted as primes levy what are widely considered to be excessive management fees of up to 40 per cent.

To make the process more transparent, from 2016/17, new rules dictated that individual providers had to inform the ESFA of their management fee figures, which should then be published centrally.

I think it’s too early to take action at this stage

But the agency has delayed and delayed this, and only announced last month that these fees and charges will finally be published in June.

The ESFA also revealed last month that subcontracting fees and charges will be reviewed to ensure government funding is being used for “recognised costs”.

Any subsequent changes to subcontracting rules will come into force from August.

It follows new rules for contracting and subcontracting, which came into force last May, which say lead contractors can no longer subcontract entire apprenticeship programmes.

Instead they must “directly deliver” at least some of each programme.

And all subcontracting arrangements must be agreed with the employer before the start of an apprenticeship programme.

However, as revealed by FE Week earlier this month, colleges still appear to be breaking the rules.

Stephenson College was exposed earlier this month for apparently charging up to 57 per cent in management fees and attempting to use up £100,000 of skills funding within less than three months, through a frowned up process known as “tactical subcontracting”.

Yet funding rules state that providers “must not subcontract to meet short-term funding objectives”.

The college’s policy was actually updated on May 1, following FE Week enquiries, and now says that the subcontracting charge is “typically” 20 per cent.

Careers and Enterprise Company slammed for multimillion-pound research spending

The Careers and Enterprise Company has been heavily criticised for spending almost £1 million on research and not on frontline guidance for learners.

During a bruising appearance before the Commons education select committee, where CEC was called an “overbloated quango”, its chair Christine Hodgson admitted that £900,000 had been spent on research since it was set up in July 2015.

Nine research reports were pushed out in the last few months of 2017 alone.

Ms Hodgson and chief executive Claudia Harris provoked further bemused reaction when they added that another £1,000,000 was likely to be spent on research over the next three years.

“So that is money not going to the front line?” asked Mr Halfon.

“Why do you spend money on that when you could have think-tanks, or universities, or the Department for Education doing that? Why do you need to spend £900,000 which could go to frontline careers advice, on being a think tank, which is not your role?”

Ms Harris countered that much of their research “underpins where we focus our spending – like the cold spot reports; we have got a few other reports that do same thing”. CEC also has to “evaluate our work”.

She was referring to a series of reports from 2015 and more recently this February, which identified and updated on key “cold spots” across the nation, where the CEC believes careers advice is most needed and has invested as a result.

FE Week has persistently pressed the company, which was designed to connect young people with the world of work, for details of the colleges that it works with, and how it is engaging them.

We revealed in December 2016 a postcode lottery for FE coverage, with 15 local enterprise partnerships not covered in its “enterprise adviser network” – and no London FE and sixth-form colleges at all.

Ms Harris insisted that the CEC is now working with 40 per cent of FE colleges, which works out at around 140.

She conceded that the Gatsby benchmarks for careers guidance were built for schools, so the CEC is “working with the Association of Colleges and others to develop Gatsby benchmarks for colleges which will come online from September”.

Colleges were warned earlier this year that they could be stripped of funding if they do not comply with the government’s new careers guidelines.

Updated guidance published in February by the Department for Education, following the unveiling of the government’s long-overdue careers strategy in December, said colleges need to meet eight “Gatsby benchmarks”.

Colleges were expected to begin to work towards these standards, which have been designed over the past three years to ensure they succeed in a post-16 setting, and meet them by the end of 2020.

The guidance warned that colleges risk losing their grant funding if the demands are not met in that timescale.

Kirsty Lord, deputy chief executive of the AoC, confirmed that it was working with CEC on the benchmarks and other aspects of the careers strategy.

She said the organisation had “welcomed the opportunity to feedback to the CEC on both the Guidance on Careers Leaders in Colleges document, due to be available for colleges by the beginning of the 2018/19 academic year, and on the Gatsby Benchmarks and self-assessment tool for colleges. We are working with CEC to engage members in consultation on the benchmarks to ensure these are fit for purpose for colleges”.

The eight existing benchmarks were described by skills minister Anne Milton as the “bedrock of our careers strategy” around Christmas.

Committee member Lucy Powell MP complained that CEC doesn’t seem certain of its purpose. There is “sense it has become an overbloated quango,” she added.

CEC was also criticised over high salaries it pays staff and a lack of transparency during today’s education committee hearing.

“We don’t publish board minutes,” said Ms Hodgson. “We are an independent organisation, but all of our activity is transparent.”

But Mr Halfon countered: “Given that you get money from the government, shouldn’t you publish them?”

The CEC representatives agreed to “take that away” as a point worth investigating.

They were also probed on a claim from their 2017 annual report, which claimed to have “surpassed our target of supporting more than 250,000 young people through our first investment fund, six months ahead of schedule”.

“We were expecting to help 250,000 but have actually helped 380,000 people which we’re really pleased about,” said Ms Harris.

But the MPs criticised the CEC for focusing on “encounters” between CEC-backed employers who provided some sort of careers advice, and not on outcomes – such as how many went on to a job or relevant training, which the panel members could not provide information about.

Institute for Apprenticeships appoints new board members

The Institute for Apprenticeships has appointed two new members to join its board, six months after one former member, Sir Gerry Berragan, was promoted to become its chief executive.

Jessica Leigh Jones and Professor Malcolm Press will join the board from June 1, according to an announcement from the Department for Education today.

Ms Jones is an award-winning engineer and astrophysicist who works for Sony UK, while Professor Press is vice-chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Ms Jones said she was “thrilled” to be joining the board.

Jessica Leigh Jones

“Technical education is very close to my heart having originally trained as an electrician, so I look forward to supporting the Institute as it takes responsibility for technical education in England,” she said.

“I look forward to playing a role in driving up the knowledge and skills base for the benefit of individuals, the economy and society,” said Professor Press.

Each will be paid £15,000 a year for a commitment of two days a month.

Anthony Jenkins, the IfA’s chair, said he was delighted to welcome the two new board members “at what is a critical juncture for the Institute as it prepares to take on responsibility for the delivery of technical education”.

Ms Jones and Professor Press “will bring an impressive blend of business, technical and higher education experience and expertise to the board, playing a key role in supporting the Institute during the next phase of its growth”.

The original eight board members were announced in January last year.

According to adverts posted by the IfA in December, the institute aimed to recruit up to three new members.

It sought senior figures with a background in technical education, as well as a proven track record of leadership and analytical skills, and an ability to command respect from employers.

The majority of board members represent employers, while two are serving college principals.

There is still no apprentice representation on the board, although former skills minister Robert Halfon announced in December 2016 that the IfA would set up an apprentice panel.

But it was revealed earlier this month that Mr Halfon’s successor, Anne Milton, had not met the panel more than 12 months after its first meeting.

Struggling Epping Forest College racks up another financial notice

An Essex college has received a second financial notice to improve in under six months by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

The notice for Epping Forest College, for financial control, was published today alongside an inspection notice to improve for Moulton College, which Ofsted rated ‘inadequate’ last month.

EFC’s notice, dated March 23, was issued after it asked for exceptional financial support.

It joins the notice for financial health issued in December, to go with notices for both inspection and apprenticeship minimum standards from earlier in 2017.

The college must now “update and strengthen” its financial recovery plan “to address financial and management control issues identified by the college’s internal audit committee”.

That plan must “demonstrate that the college has an informed route to significant and sustained improvements” with “appropriate measures and milestones that support the college and ESFA in assessing progress being made”.

Meanwhile, it must “continue to submit management accounts” including “confirmation of spend above £20,000” on a monthly basis.

And evidence of an improvement in its financial management and control must be shown in its 2017/18 audited financial statements, to be submitted in December.

Consultation recently opened on plans for EFC to join forces with New City College, in the capital.

A merger by August this year was one of the conditions of the college’s notice to improve for financial health, issued in December.

The letter issued to Moulton College, dated April 5, makes it clear that the college is “in scope for referral to the FE commissioner”.

It was slammed for delivering “unsafe” training in “highly dangerous vocational areas” such as construction and equine studies in a damning Ofsted report published on April 3.

Today’s notice states that the college must improve “at reinspection to at least an overall effectiveness of grade three” in order to keep getting ESFA funding.

“If, on reinspection, Ofsted judges Moulton College to be overall ‘inadequate’ in whole or in part for a second time, the college will have failed to comply with the additional conditions”.

Such a failure would mean the ESFA would “pursue one or more of a range options” in its funding agreement with the college – although it “reserves the right to take further action”.

In addition, any recommendations made by the FE commissioner could be added to the notice following his intervention at the college.

Richard Atkins’ recommendations to Cadbury College were included in an updated notice to improve for financial health, reissued today but originally published December 15.

His report, published in March, reported a “series of financial items” that “could result in the college being at immediate risk”.

According to today’s notice, an FE commissioner-led structure and prospects appraisal should be undertaken “to examine if there is a sustainable future for Cadbury Sixth-Form College through the identification of an appropriate merger partner”.

Any merger should be completed by the end of December, the notice stated.

Sussex Downs College’s notice of concern for financial health, originally handed out on November 13, was lifted on March 29 due to the college’s merger with Sussex Coast College, according to a letter to the college published today.

“However, we expect that you will continue to take necessary action to address the reasons why the notice originally issued,” it said.

London Mayor plans £3m FE funding cut to pay for over 50 new bureaucrats

The mayor of London plans to top-slice £3 million from the adult education budget to pay for over 50 new bureaucrats from next year, instead of using it for frontline learning.

The money will cover the annual wage costs of a new administration to handle the AEB for the capital when devolution kicks in, including a £140,000-a-year assistant director.

The 53-strong team will form a skills and employment unit to dish out the budget from 2019/20, which will amount to around £311 million per year for London.

However, many of the tasks this unit will carry out will simply duplicate the work that the Education and Skills Funding Agency already does.

The GLA told FE Week that the ESFA has refused to give a “service offer”, which includes procurement, audit, contract management, direct access to data and changes to the Individual learner record systems.

These costs will be top-sliced from the devolved annual budget

London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan (pictured above), is asking the ESFA to reconsider, according to the GLA.

The Department for Education has been asked for comment.

Using AEB funding to pay for extra officials instead of learning will concern many in the sector.

However, a spokesperson for Mr Khan pointed out that “staff costs associated with this are less than one per cent of the budget being devolved to the mayor”.

The GLA is one of eight mayoral combined authorities with deals to take control of AEB spending in their regions from 2019/20.

In a document entitled ‘Proposed changes to the GLA establishment’ and released in March, the GLA explains how it will top-slice the AEB.

“The total annual gross cost of the creations is £3.245 million, for which £3.028 million is attributable to AEB and the balance of £0.217 million relating specifically to the core skills team,” it says.

“Going forward from 2019-20, once the programme has been devolved, these costs will be top-sliced from the devolved annual budget of circa £400 million per year.”

Among the staff will be one assistant director, whose annual pay packet will be £139,000. Four senior managers will be paid around £87,000 a year , while one other will be a senior project manager on £73,000.

The unit will also employ 16 principal policy officers, who will take home around £66,000 each, as well as 12 other principal project officers earning £61,000.

Ten officials will be senior policy and project officers with annual pay packets of £54,000, and eight people will hold support officer roles, paid £40,000.

READ MORE: Mayors raise concerns over weak adult education budget devolution powers

The last person on the team will be an assistant administrator, who will earn £37,000 a year.

The GLA told FE Week this team will be focussed on implementing the mayor’s skills strategy, which includes a “digital talent programme” to find and develop the next generation of home-grown tech talent, and developing the mayor’s construction academy so Londoners can access jobs in the construction industry.

“The Mayor is determined that all Londoners have the opportunity to fulfil their potential and are able to enjoy the capital’s economic prosperity,” a spokesperson said.

Devolution for the AEB has been on the cards for many years but plans have not gone smoothly.

The mayors from the eight regions with deals in place recently voiced concerns with the government over the impracticality of the process.

The seven other areas of the country to have devolution deals in place are the West Midlands, Liverpool City region, Greater Manchester, the West of England, Tees Valley, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and the Sheffield City region.

Skills minister under pressure on 16-to-19 funding

The skills minister has admitted to being “very aware of the funding pressures” that 16-to-19 providers are under, even though the government has today confirmed the rate will not change in 2018/19.

“We are looking at the resilience of the FE sector which includes sixth-form colleges,” Anne Milton told MPs at education questions in Parliament today. “I am very aware of the funding pressures, and I have to praise all those teaching in the sector because they’re doing an excellent job.”

She was replying to a question from shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, who asked her to confirm that the “real-terms” cut to the base rate for 18-year-olds amounted to more than £1,000 since 2013.

Ms Milton said she had “heard the points she makes”, and added that she was “very aware of the excellent job” that 16 to 19 providers do with “quite constrained finances”.

Gordon Marsden, her Labour shadow as skills minister, accused the government of “hiding behind reviews” while Ms Rayner highlighted “continuing lack of adequate funding for 16- to 19-year-olds”, in a tweet sent after today’s questions.

Funding for full-time learners aged 16 or 17 stands at £4,000 a year, while for 18-year-olds it’s just £3,300.

These rates were set in 2013 and have remained unchanged since –a real-terms cut for providers over that time.

Guidance setting out the funding formula for 2018/19 was published by the Department for Education this morning, although the actual rates were confirmed by letter in January.

In December last year Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, warned that the “sector will continue to struggle” without an increase in the base rate funding for 16- to 19-year-olds.

The Support our Sixth Formers campaign, backed by major players including the Association of Colleges and SFCA as well as FE Week, wants a £200 “SOS uplift” in 16-to-18 per-pupil funding rates.

The SFCA claimed in November that sixth-form colleges were at “tipping point” after their overall Ofsted ratings fell for a third year running, largely as a result of funding pressures.

Earlier this year Ms Milton prompted confusion by appearing to announce a government review into how the current system of funding for FE meets the cost of high-quality provision.

But just two days later, on March 21, Damian Hinds denied that such a review had been announced – and the DfE itself later confirmed it was an internal review within the department.

Other topics raised during today’s questions included the government’s promise, made in last year’s Conservative party election manifesto, to introduce significantly reduced bus and train for apprentices.

Robert Halfon asked Mr Hinds to “confirm that this is still a commitment and when will it happen?”

Mr Hinds’ response did not give any details.

“My right honourable friend rightly identifies the importance of making sure that apprenticeships are fully inclusive, and we do continue to look at making sure that such facilitation is available,” he said.

It’s up to colleges and providers to sell apprenticeships to parents

Parents are still sceptical about high-quality technical education. The entire FE sector has a duty to change their minds, writes Anne Milton

As exam time approaches and lots of young people will be thinking about their futures, I want to talk directly to colleges and providers about what they should be letting parents know about apprenticeships.

I’ve spoken to lots of fantastic and talented apprentices who said the support from their parents was really important in helping them make the decision to do an apprenticeship.

For lots of parents, a university education is still seen as the Holy Grail for their children, and apprenticeships as the second-class option to a traditional academic qualification. Perhaps that’s down to the fact that apprenticeships suffer from a long-held PR problem; if you ask most people about an apprenticeship they still think of plumbers and electricians.

This is exactly what needs to change.

Many parents don’t know that apprenticeships can lead to lots of different jobs in a wide range of industries – from cybersecurity, to banking, fashion and more. You can also now do an apprenticeship to become a teacher or even a solicitor.

Parents need to know that an apprenticeship is a real, paid job

So I want to change the way apprenticeships are seen in the eyes of parents for good. And to do that I need your help, because as providers and colleges you play a fundamental role in letting parents know about the various options and routes that are out there for their children.

Parents need to know that an apprenticeship is a real, paid job, and a young person on an apprenticeship will receive at least the national apprentice wage of £3.70 per hour.

Most employers pay more than the minimum – the latest pay survey estimates the average gross hourly pay received by apprentices in England was £6.70 an hour at level two and three, and £9.83 for higher level apprentices.

We are also rolling out more and more degree apprenticeships, combining a high-quality degree with an apprenticeship.

These degree apprenticeships are a great way to earn while you learn at some of the UK’s top universities and get a head start in long-term careers. And with the training completely paid for, no student loan is needed. Degree-level apprenticeships are available in a variety of sectors, such as engineering, digital, aerospace and nuclear.

They are also available across England, with universities including Newcastle, Salford, Derby, Birmingham, Bristol, Plymouth, London and Bournemouth offering them.

The lifetime benefits associated with gaining an apprenticeship at levels two and three are very significant, standing at between £48,000 and £74,000 for level two and between £77,000 and £117,000 for level three.

Those who gain a higher-level apprenticeship could earn £150,000 more on average over their lifetime compared to those with level three vocational qualifications.

These are really important messages that we need to get across to parents, so I’m calling on you as providers and colleges to reach out to them to help them navigate and understand the options available to their children.

To help with this the Education and Skills Funding Agency is investing £2m in the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge in Schools programme which provides schools and colleges with material on apprenticeships.

Providers and colleges can also point parents towards the National Careers Service’s job profiles, which can help their child consider what sort of career they’d like to pursue. There’s also the ‘Find an apprenticeship’ service on gov.uk, where up to 28,000 apprenticeship vacancies from employers across England are advertised. And there’s also the ‘Amazing apprenticeships vacancy snapshot’, where they can find out when applications open for apprenticeships at top companies and view employer profiles. The National Apprenticeship Service has also produced a guide: ‘How to write an award-winning apprenticeship application’.

It’s so important that we all do everything we can to make parents aware of the amazing opportunities that apprenticeships can bring their children, and encourage them to see apprenticeships as a first class option.

If you have any questions then do get in touch with the National Apprenticeship Service by clicking here and here.

Anne Milton is Minister for skills and apprenticeships

Rapid increase in providers forces expansion of ESFA audit team

The Education and Skills Funding Agency is beefing up its audit team amid mounting concerns about new providers entering the sector.

It has launched a recruitment drive for a “newly created market oversight unit”, including an advert for four auditor vacancies posted on the civil service jobs website.

They will operate directly under the leadership of Matt Atkinson, the ESFA’s director of provider market oversight.

The newcomers will not be replacing departing staff, and the recruitment drive is part of wider plans to plough more resources into audit and oversight.

Considerable numbers of untried and untested providers have hit the market recently, for example through the register of apprenticeship training providers.

“Matt Atkinson is leading a newly created market oversight unit,” a Department for Education spokesperson said.

“This highlights the critical role the agency plays in oversight of the education and skills landscape.”

I am worried about the number of providers that we may have to inspect

The advert for “assurance officers” states that the agency is looking for candidates with a “background in audit and financial assurance – to support the delivery of assurance activity at providers of education and training”.

Their team is expected to review “financial statements and management reports to ensure funds are used for the proper purposes and potential areas of irregular expenditure is identified”.

RoATP has been controversial since its launch just over a year ago.

Amongst the initially accepted providers, FE Week reported on three new companies with no track record on government apprenticeships, all run by one man from a rented office in Cheshire.

The proliferation of new providers has been criticised by Ofsted’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman, who spoke to FE Week about the impact that this would have on the inspection service.

“It is clear there are a lot of would be new entrants, a lot of people with very limited experience and potentially quite a lot of fragmentation,” she said.

She and Paul Joyce, Ofsted’s deputy director for FE and skills, both admitted to being concerned about how they would keep tabs on everyone.

“I am worried about the number of providers that we may have to inspect,” admitted Mr Joyce. “I’ve had conversations with the DfE about our resource.”

Ofsted subsequently embarked on a drive to keep more careful tabs on such newcomers to the apprenticeships market, through a series of early-monitoring visit reports.

The first of these published in March was brutally critical of training that is “not fit for purpose” at Key 6 Group.

The National Audit Office also expressed concern at the potential for abuse of the apprenticeship system back in 2016.

“DfE and the SFA are yet to establish what information they will need to monitor key behavioural risks and spot signals that these risks may be maturing,” its report said.

“While they might reasonably expect the vast majority of employers, training providers and assessment bodies to act properly in response to apprenticeship reforms, a small minority may behave in unintended ways”.