Movers and Shakers: Edition 240

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving

Kelvin Nash, Principal and CEO, Kendal College

Start date: May 2018
Previous job: Vice-principal, Heart of Worcestershire College
Interesting fact: Kelvin has worked in the further education sector for 19 years.

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Jane Downes, Chair, FDQ awarding organisation

Start date: March 2018
Previous job: Independent veterinary consultant (ongoing)
Interesting fact: Jane also currently chairs the Pig Health and Welfare Council.

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Tom Bewick, Chief executive, the Federation of Awarding Bodies

Start date: May 2018
Previous job: President, Transatlantic Apprenticeship Exchange Forum (ongoing)
Interesting fact: Tom has been a council member for Brighton and Hove city council since May 2015.

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Robert Nitsch CBE, Chief operating officer, Institute for Apprenticeships

Start date: TBC
Previous job: Personnel director, British Army
Interesting fact: Robert joined the army in 1983, and worked his way up to roles including director of manning and chief employment officer, and chief of staff to the adjutant-general.

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Louise Sui, Managing director, CPL Training

Start date: April 2018
Previous job: Commercial director, CPL Training
Interesting fact: Louise has judged a number of hospitality awards, including ‘BII licensee of the year’.

 

If you want to let us know of any new faces at the top of your college, training provider or awarding organisation please let us know by emailing news@feweek.co.uk

Barnfield College placed in administered status following ‘serious decline’ in financial health

The skills minister has imposed administered status on a cash-strapped college in Luton, due to the “significant” financial challenges it faces.

Anne Milton wrote to Barnfield College on March 26, following a recent investigation by the FE commissioner, Richard Atkins.

He found that its finances were a “major cause for concern”, with “significant” operating losses in 2015/16 and 2016/17, which is likely to be repeated in 2017/18.

“This has weakened the college’s balance sheet and eroded cash balances to the point where the college will need to sell land or secure commercial loans,” Mr Atkins wrote.

He recommended the college should be placed in administered status until “there is sufficient evidence of a significant improvement in financial management and forecasting”, an action Ms Milton has now implemented.

The college’s financial performance is a major cause for concern

Barnfield suspended its recruitment of new apprentices last month, after it received an ‘inadequate’ rating for this provision from Ofsted in an overall grade three report.

The college taught around 3,700 learners last year. It was issued with a financial notice to improve by the ESFA in January.

Its turnover has fallen between 2013/14 and 2016/17 whilst also experiencing a year on year decline in income, The FE Commissioner said in his report.

And despite the reductions in turnover, pay costs have not reduced which has resulted in “exceptionally high pay costs as a percentage of turnover and significant operating losses”.

The college also has “ambitious” plans for relocation of its two main campuses on a 1.8 acre site which it has acquired in the centre of Luton, Mr Atkins noted.

He said this scheme costs up to £57 million, which is to be financed through a combination of asset sales, local enterprise partnership grant and bridging loans.

A target date of project completion has been set for September 2021.

The FE Commissioner said this capital project is “arguably a distraction to getting the college back on track”.

He added that a step change is “urgently required, both in the quality and reliability of financial information coupled with decisive leadership to right-size the college and deliver a realistic and credible financial recovery plan”.

In addition to fears about the college’s financial health, there were also concerns about its progress made following area review recommendations.

READ MORE: Another college merger in doubt following ‘regrettable’ TV comments

It was supposed to merge with Central Bedfordshire College but a spokesperson for Barnfield told FE Week in September last year that the partnership was taken off the table the previous April, after comments made on the local ITV news by Central Bedfordshire’s chair Professor James Crabbe in March, which were taken as a power grab.

Mr Atkins said Barnfield does not currently have a “clear enough picture of its forward financial position to be confident it has a sustainable future as a standalone institution”.

He added that his team’s assessment considered the pace of improvement as a standalone college “too slow” and that the finances demand a “faster move to a new structure, alongside merger sooner than later whilst there is potential for access to the restructuring fund”.

“Whilst the opportunity to request restructuring funds remains open, there is a compelling case to progress with the FE Commissioner-led structure and prospects appraisal recommended by the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership area review,” he added.

The FE Commissioner will undertake a full “stocktake” of the college in October 2018.

Administered status means that a member of the ESFA’s local team will now observe all of the college’s board meetings, and that the college will be required to consult the ESFA about any significant changes to its operations or finances.

A spokesperson for Barnfield College said: “We accept and acknowledge the findings of the FE Commissioner’s recent report.

“We are working closely with the FE Commissioner’s Office and the ESFA to ensure we move forward swiftly and continue to provide the learners and communities of Luton with a high-quality learning provision.”

Providers told to declare subcontracting fees by late April

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has finally sent providers long-delayed templates to let them declare their subcontracting fees.

Individual lead providers previously had to publish their annual figures by the end of every November every year. But the rules changed for 2016/17, and providers are now expected to inform the ESFA of their figures, which are then meant to be published centrally.

The agency came in for criticism as November passed last year, without any indication of when the templates would be sent out, or when the full figures would be revealed.

It has finally provided an update on the situation.

“All providers that ‘provision subcontracted’ last year have been contacted by email,” it said in its weekly bulletin.

“If you provision subcontracted for adult education last year, you need to submit the template that we sent to you to the ESFA fees and charges mailbox by 5pm on Friday, April 27.”

FE Week reported in January that the education select committee chair Robert Halfon had demanded action on what he described as “deeply worrying” delays.

He told the ESFA to collect the data “immediately” so it “can be collated and we can see them”, shortly after government admitted it would not publish the subcontracting fees in time for parliamentary inquiry hearings into concerns about the system, by both the Commons education and public accounts committees.

“The taxpayer should have the exact information readily available as soon as possible, as to how much money is being creamed off,” Mr Halfon insisted.

Subcontracting management fees have been a source of mounting controversy, reaching as much as 40 per cent, as was infamously levied in some cases by Learndirect.

Lead providers often claim the fees are needed to cover administrative costs, but many in the sector believe that too much money is being diverted from frontline learning. 

The ESFA said last night that subcontracting fees and charges would be reviewed to ensure government funding is being used for “recognised costs”.

 

Revealed: The colleges and local authorities allowed to keep £5m for courses that did not take place

Over £5 million in adult education budget funding was paid to 86 colleges and local authorities last year for courses that didn’t take place, according exclusive FE Week analysis of Education and Skills Funding Agency figures out today.

The £5,059,522 windfall was the result of a funding rule in which a three per cent tolerance is applied to grant-funded AEB under-delivery.

Twelve colleges and one LA provider each received more than £100,000 for provision they didn’t deliver over the year as a result of this rule, according to the ESFA’s 2016/17 final funding year values, published this afternoon.

The largest payment went to Birmingham Metropolitan College, which delivered adult education worth £13,798,372 against an allocation of £14,189,878 – meaning it was overpaid by £391,506.

The rule states that “where your delivery of the overall AEB is at least 97 per cent of your funding allocation, we will not make a year-end adjustment to your funding allocation and you will not have to pay back any unspent funds”, according to the ESFA’s 2016/17 AEB funding and performance management rules.

However, it doesn’t apply to independent training providers, who will be subject to a “year-end adjustment” to their funding allocations for any under-delivery and “must pay back any unspent funds”.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, 74 providers over-delivered provision that was not paid for, worth a combined total of £2.6 million.

However, this is set to change: the ESFA recently announced it was “committing to fund 3 per cent over-delivery at the end of the 2018 to 2019 funding year for all providers”, to “ensure providers can deliver adult education budget provision with confidence”.

The funding and performance management rules for 2018/19 have yet to be published, so it’s not yet known if the three per cent tolerance for under-delivery will remain after 2017/18.

 

Principal resigns after Ofsted brands Moulton College ‘unsafe’

The principal of a Northamptonshire college has resigned after it was labelled “unsafe” by Ofsted in a damning grade four report.

Stephen Davies stepped down from Moulton College yesterday following last week’s shocking report, which said learners, including those with high needs, were in danger.

He took on the job in 2011 when the specialist land-based college was rated ‘outstanding’, but it has since seen a gradual decline in standards to the bottom.

The FE commissioner Richard Atkins is understood to have been urgently summoned in to ensure the college is a safe place to learn.

“Following its disappointing recent Ofsted inspection, Moulton College’s principal Stephen Davies has offered his resignation, which has been accepted by the board of governors,” the college told FE Week today.

Time is now right for the college to look towards a different leadership approach

“Both parties have reached an amicable settlement which allows an orderly separation at the end of April, and the board wishes Stephen well.”

Despite the situation, Mr Davies said he was “proud” of his time at the college and the “foundations that have put in place for recovery are being evidenced by improved outcomes for our students”.

“However, the time is now right for the college to look towards a different leadership approach, so I will relinquish my post with effect from April 30,” he added.

“I feel honoured and privileged to have worked with such a brilliant group of staff whose hard work and commitment has helped to change the lives of many thousands of young people and adults.”

Moulton College has onsite accommodation and delivers programmes in “highly dangerous vocational areas” such as construction, equine studies animal management, sport, and food and drink manufacturing.

Inspectors found a “number of serious breaches” to health and safety regulations and a number of instances where practice was “unsafe or sloppy”.

“For example, brickwork learners do not wear appropriate eyewear when cutting bricks, and staff do not adequately supervise students with complex needs during water-based activities in the swimming pool,” the report stated.

In equine yards, gates were “left open” and a teacher “demonstrated unsafe practice” when tacking up a horse.

Mr Davies said in a statement last week that his team had moved quickly ensure effective safeguards were being put in place to protect learners.

But the mounting pressure against him following a turbulent seven years in charge appears to have left him with no option but to resign.

In the short term, Moulton’s deputy principal Gerald Davies will step up as acting principal, and the board will “seek to appoint an experienced interim principal as soon as practicable”.

Both parties have reached an amicable settlement

Moulton College fell to a grade three in 2016 from grade one.

It also ran into financial difficulties during his time in post. It has a turnover of around £25 million but got a financial notice of concern from the ESFA in January 2017.

At the time its bank loans totalled nearly £20 million after it made significant investment to improve the college estate.

Moulton was subsequently subject to intervention from the FE commissioner – whose report found leaders had been “too slow” to address poor financial performance.

However, its financial health went back to ‘satisfactory’ at the end of July.

In the college’s Ofsted report Moulton was branded ‘inadequate’ overall, and in four of the eight headline fields, including for its large apprenticeships provision – meaning it will become the second college to lose the right to offer them under updated government rules.

ESFA to ‘review’ rules on subcontracting fees and charges

Subcontracting fees and charges will be reviewed to ensure government funding is being used for “recognised costs”, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has revealed.

“In the coming months, we will be reviewing… aspects of the subcontracting funding rules,” it said in its announcement, published online last night.

This includes “subcontracting fees and charges, so that we can be assured that our funding is being used for recognised costs”.

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

The ESFA also “believes it’s important that government funds are not diverted away from training and assessment in the form of fees and other charges”.

The priority is to “make sure that the main and subcontracted providers both add value to the employer’s apprenticeship programme”.

FE Week has exposed many situations in which cash meant for learning has been diverted to third-party brokers who fix deals between prime providers and subcontractors, and examples of primes levying excessive management fees of up to 40 per cent.

The government had already promised to crack down on brokering, which can see subcontractors charged up to five per cent of total their contract funding in commission.

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers has also demanded reforms to “ensure the need for brokerage is eliminated”.

The apprenticeship training provider funding rules for 2017/18 is now on its sixth version, yet it still includes no direct references to subcontracting fees or charges.

Paragraph P91.16 does however rule out using apprenticeship funding for “managing agents”, “brokerage” and “procurement registers or opportunities to secure business”.

But as reported by FE Week in January, there is a loophole that permits charges that aren’t included in the negotiated levy price.

Even the civil service has launched a brokerage charge to recoup millions of pounds in apprenticeship levy payments.

Providers who want to train government apprentices were told to register with the Crown Commercial Service, which is a government agency representing the Cabinet Office.

But a group of 16 given access to at least £360 million funding learned last month that CCS will retain a one-per-cent “management fee” on any apprenticeships that they deliver.

We also found two examples last year in which the NHS attempted to charge providers around one per cent of the value of their contracts in brokerage schemes. Such one-per-cent brokerage charges could reach up to £2 million across the country.

Nottingham city council was found attempting a scheme on similar lines last summer.

Subcontracting management fees have caused added controversy by reaching as much as 40 per cent, a figure infamously levied in some cases by Learndirect.

Lead providers often claim the fees are needed to cover administrative costs, but many in the sector, including MPs on the education committee led by chair and former skills minister Robert Halfon, believe that too much money is being diverted from frontline learning. 

The AELP, Holex, and provider group Collab signed-up last month to new best-practice guidance on relationships between primes and subcontractors.

These state that management fees should not be more than 20 per cent of the programme funding. However, it was quickly undermined when the Association of Colleges confirmed it would not commit to any recommended limit.

It claimed it was developing other guidance “properly” with the ESFA and University Vocational Awards Council.

Repayments deferred to next April for loans scandal victims

Debt repayments from hundreds of victims of an FE loans scandal have been deferred for another 12 months.

FE Week has been coordinating a campaign to have the advanced learning loan debt written off for blameless former learners whose training providers folded unexpectedly and who have been unable to finish their courses – often leaving them owing thousands of pounds.

The government still refuses to cancel the loans outright, but the Student Loans Company has now deferred repayments until April next year.

Political and sector leaders at the #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign launch

“Following instruction from Department for Education, we have written to those students affected advising that their repayments have been deferred for the tax year 2018/19,” said a spokesperson.

Repayments had already been delayed for 12 months until the end of March 2018, under the pressure exerted by our #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign.

FE Week reported last September that just 112 of the 344 students affected by the collapse in 2016 and 2017 of John Frank Training, Edudo, and Focus Training, had been transferred to other providers.

As of February this year, just 17 more had been found alternative providers.

This means that the rest still have loans debt, some of which have topped £8,000, but no prospect of completing their qualifications.

A further 10 learners were left in the lurch when a fourth provider went bust in the summer of 2016, FE Week has learned.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency said it has “no record” of learners from Pursuit Training Ltd transferring to other training providers to complete their course.

The letters confirming the latest 12-month deferment were only sent to former learners last month.

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden has been lobbying the government to write the loans off through Parliament, and insisted this must still happen.

“Whilst this action is a start, it is not acceptable as a proper solution to what has happened to these learners,” he said.

Asim Shaheen and another aggrieved former learner Mussarrat Bashir

“It still leaves them with uncertainty and worries over what happens with their loans, which the DfE has still failed to address or write off.”

FE Week has been demanding action since January last year. Asim Shaheen, 50, is one of the former John Frank Training learners who was unable to complete his qualification but who still owes £8,000.

The ESFA offered to send him to South Cheshire College to complete his training at the time, but this wasn’t viable because it is over 20 miles from where he lives.

He still feels that he has been “left completely in the lurch” and thinks the ESFA and SLC should have updated him and other former learners much earlier on what was happening with their loans for the upcoming financial year. “There’s no way that we should not be left with loans if there’s nothing to show for it,” he added.

Anne Milton: The restructuring facility won’t be used to prop up colleges

The government has put up £300m to keep struggling colleges on their feet, but it’s not a hand-out for failures, writes Anne Milton

FE Week readers will know that a strong further education sector can change the lives of both young and older people. I want to do what I can to make the sector more resilient, which means helping providers prepare for future changes and rise to the new challenges ahead.

We need colleges to be financially secure and able to reinvest in learning and improving quality. The structural changes that have followed area reviews are the foundation for improvement – through greater efficiency and stronger leadership. The expanded remit for the FE commissioner, the introduction of the Strategic College Improvement Fund and National Leaders of Further Education will now bring a broader focus and greater support to raising standards – working with some of the most outstanding current college leaders.

The area review programme, and the structural changes that followed are proving to have a big impact. Our programme has identified places where FE providers would benefit from long-term structural change – and thanks to the hard work of colleges and local partners during reviews, many recommendations have already been implemented, including 42 mergers to date.

Throughout this process our priority has been making sure colleges have good leadership, manage their finances well, and are on a firm financial footing for the future. This is essential if we want to deliver high quality FE provision for all.

I know that any change can be challenging and where colleges have needed to make major changes as the result of a review, which they cannot fund themselves, we have been providing extra funds. What’s important is that young and older people are able to get the high-quality provision they need to get on. The restructuring facility is there to help colleges become financially sustainable, often through a process of structural change. To date we have approved over £300 million of funding and spent over £150 million, supporting 19 significant applications, as well as providing compensatory VAT funding and transition grants for a wider group of colleges.

“Where colleges have needed to make major changes which they cannot fund themselves, we have been providing extra funds”

The facility has made the merger between South Cheshire College and West Cheshire College possible. WCC had experienced serious financial issues, having required exceptional financial support from the government for day-to-day spending and quality issues, not to mention a previous Ofsted rating of ‘inadequate’. The merger in March 2017 meant the combined 13,000 learners are now under one leadership team which has been recently judged ‘good’. This merger is providing a solid foundation for sustainable and high-quality provision across this region.

This funding is not about propping up failing colleges. Funding from the restructuring facility is only available after a rigorous assessment to help implement changes which will result in sustainable, effective institutions. Successful applicants have to show that they have developed a clear plan, with a realistic schedule for making this happen. This must include financial plans for the next three years, with realistic forecasts for student numbers and planned income, a clear curriculum plan which meets the needs of local employers and students, a staffing plan which reflects actual need, and a strategy for making best use of their buildings and facilities.

The window for applications remains open until September 28, and so we are not yet publishing detailed information about the previous allocations. By putting the FE sector on a sustainable footing we are making sure that people can benefit from a wide range of choice and quality education, wherever they live and whatever stage of life they are at. I look forward to sharing with you how the restructuring facility is helping to achieve this later this year.

We want to provide the right framework and targeted support to help colleges become resilient, well governed and high-quality providers. We are looking at the resilience and sustainability of the FE sector at the moment because we do understand the challenges colleges face. I want to make sure that we do all we can to help them thrive and succeed.

Carole Stott to step down as WorldSkills UK chair

Carole Stott will step down as chair of WorldSkills UK in the autumn, after more than five years in the role.

The former teacher, who was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to adult education, has led the board through a period of “extraordinary change” ever since she took on the position in April 2013.

Team UK has placed consistently in the top 10 at international competitions during her tenure, and the Skills Show has grown from a legacy project of WorldSkills London to become the “largest and highest-profile fixture in the skills and apprenticeships calendar”, a spokesperson for WorldSkills UK said. 

“Along with merging two organisations to become a more effective and cost efficient single organisation unified under a coherent brand, with Carole’s guidance, WSUK has developed an ambitious long-term strategy to increase its impact for young people and the UK economy.”

With Carole’s guidance WSUK has developed an ambitious long-term strategy to increase its impact for young people

Ms Stott (pictured above) said it has been a “privilege” to serve as chair of the organisation.

As she enters her sixth year as chair, WorldSkills UK has decided to start planning for her succession now, aiming to make an appointment in the summer.

The spokesperson said the board will be looking for a chair with “strong business sector connections and influence” to “ensure that WSUK’s voice is relevant and heard by UK employers”.

She added that the new chair will take a leading role in the organisation’s plans for the next five years, as it looks to “change the national conversation, so that more young people enter vocational and apprenticeship career routes”.

“A crucial part of this will be ensuring more young people are inspired about the benefits of apprenticeships and technical careers which in turn will help us create a home-grown, productive and highly-skilled workforce that will continue to position the UK as a world-class destination for trade and investment,” she said.

Ms Stott added: “We have now set an ambition of helping 1,000,000 young people by 2022. As part of our new strategy, we want to change the balance of the board to strengthen representation from business stakeholders alongside leaders from the education and skills sector.

“This is why we want the new chair to come from a business background to lead the next stage of our development.”

Ms Stott is also stepping down from her role as chair of the Association of Colleges – a position she has held since January 2013. Alongside her other jobs, she is currently chair of City of Bath College.

WorldSkills UK runs regional and national skills competitions, including the annual Skills Show. It takes a selection of the winners from these competitions to compete internationally against others from all around the world in WorldSkills.

The most recent one was held in Abu Dhabi last year, where Team UK retained its top-10 position, with competitors bagging one gold, three silvers, three bronzes and 13 medallions of excellence.