People 1st collapses, stunning the FE sector

People 1st, once a major sector skills council and a key player in the apprenticeship reforms, has entered administration, FE Week can reveal.

This is a stunning blow for the retail, hospitality and travel industries in the apprenticeship system.

The employment and learning consultancy charity confirmed this morning that it has been placed into the hands of administrator FRP Advisory.

FE Week further confirmed the news with a heartbroken senior member of staff, who asked to remain anonymous.

“I have been made redundant and have had to go to the Job Centre today,” they said.

People 1st was once the employer-led sector skills council for hospitality, passenger transport, travel and tourism in the UK, responsible for developing and managing apprenticeship standards.

Amongst its other duties the organisation acted as the external quality-assurance body for the following popular standards:

The body developed the content and assessment plans for many of these standards, and its logo appears prominently on the assessment plans (see an example below).

But government funding for every SSC ended six years ago, which meant they all had to find ways of surviving alone. This factor is believed to have been the biggest single cause of its downfall.

Comments made to FE Week in February 2017 indicated high hopes that plans to manage external quality-assurance for apprenticeship end-point assessment in the retail, hospitality and travel industries would help the body survive financially.

“The retail, hospitality and travel industries have elected to use an employer process for external quality-assurance of apprenticeship end-point assessment,” a spokesperson said at the time.

“The cost of external-quality assurance is currently being finalised, but we have advised organisations that are on, or aspiring to be on, the register of apprenticeship assessment organisations, that we do not envisage the price exceeding £40 per apprentice at end-point assessment.”

When employer Trailblazer groups submit their assessment plans for new apprenticeship standards, they must choose one external quality assurance organisation out of four options: an employer-led approach, a professional body, Ofqual (the Quality Assurance Agency performs this role for higher education qualifications), or the Institute for Apprenticeships.

It had also been operating a provider network – a “stamp of approval” a “People 1st gold standard apprenticeship provider status”.

In its most recent accounts up to March 2017, it recorded revenue of £4.3 million, with a deficit for the year (pre-depreciation) of £465,000 and reserves of £1.46 million.

It had emplaced a three-year strategic plan to earn back the losses, which started in April last year.

The accounts also show the charity was acting on behalf of 18 trailblazer employer groups to develop standards, and was employing 56 people at the time.

People 1st was also the issuing authority for the following frameworks:

No statement had been prepared from People 1st at the time FE Week published.

Apprenticeship payments system breakdown finally ‘resolved’

The government claims to have finally fixed its malfunctioning apprenticeship payments reporting system, more than two weeks after it was first reported.

FE Week reported last week that the ESFA had missed its own deadline to repair the IT issues, which had prompted numerous exasperated complaints on the FE Connect site from April 10.

We ran a story on the issue six days later, at which point the ESFA promised a fix by April 18. That deadline was missed.

But an encouraging message appeared on FE Connect yesterday.

“We resolved the issues with reporting on Friday, April 20,” a spokesperson said.

“Some providers have raised queries and we are following these up with individuals where necessary and we will use this feedback to improve future reporting. We welcome user feedback and will continue to work with providers on our reporting.”

This was followed by a comment from user Casper Varney, who asked for more specific confirmation that certain technical issues including with data returns for 2017 to 2018 had been fixed.

No response from the ESFA itself followed, but a Department for Education was unequivocal on the situation today, informing FE Week that “the issues have been resolved”.

It comes after the agency launched an “urgent investigation” last week into the problems.

This wasn’t the first time the service had gone down; there were other issues with the payment system last December.

“The people behind the apprenticeship payments system have decided to add a second row of data now in the period and payments report for the erroneous ones made last month,” said the original complaint on FE Connect.

“The first row appears to take the full period seven amount back and the second row what looks like the correct year to date payment however I have yet to go through in fine detail. Just a warning for anyone else interested.

“I have actually found one apprentice with 27 programme aim rows!!! What the hell is going on??????????”

On April 17 another said that providers were “badly in need of some serious reassurance”, adding “please help”.

“We are currently in the final testing stage of an updated report that will fix the issue of duplicate rows and also fix many of the known outstanding issues we have been working behind the scenes to improve,” said an agency spokesperson on April 17.

Minister supports FE representation at Office for Students

The universities minister has backed FE representation on the board of the new regulatory body for higher education.

Sam Gyimah’s remarks to the Commons education select committee this morning followed a heated debate in parliament last night, in which senior MPs from both sides of the political divide made renewed demands for the sector to be represented on the Office for Students.

“It’s an idea that I’m supportive of, yes,” Mr Gyimah (pictured above) said in response to committee chair Robert Halfon.

Mr Gyimah said the government “had the message loud and clear”, and that OfS chair Michael Barber was “supportive” too.

Sam Gyimah and Philippa Lloyd

And Philippa Lloyd, the director general for HE and FE at the Department for Education, answered Mr Halfon’s question with a resounding “yes, yes”.

The OfS was launched on April 1 as the new regulator for HE providers, but complaints have been mounting throughout 2018 about the lack of FE representation on its board – despite the large number of people studying HE at FE institutions.

During last night’s debate on the OfS, which was called by the Labour party, Mr Halfon said he was “concerned” about this omission.

“Further education and apprenticeships play a vital role in access to HE for the most disadvantaged and are crucial to building the skills base and productivity of our country, but they are so often excluded from bodies of this kind,” he said.

He urged the government to “make it a priority to recruit a serious representative” from the FE sector.

Tottenham MP David Lammy, who backed FE Week’s #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign last year, said it would be a “mistake” for FE not to be represented in “such an important body, which is regulator, funder and has important levers in relation to the provider”.

“I do hope that the minister will look again at the important role of FE,” he said.

David Lammy

Speaking on behalf of the government, Mr Gyimah noted the “points that have been made about the composition of the board” – but made no commitments.

“The secretary of state’s first set of strategic guidance to the OfS set a very clear expectation that apprenticeships must be taken into account whenever the OfS exercises its functions, and that apprentices must be represented within its widening access and participation activity,” he added. 

During an earlier education committee hearing on March 27, Mr Barber said he would “welcome good applications from the FE sector” to replace Toby Young, who resigned in disgrace from the board in January.

In a follow-up letter to Mr Halfon, dated April 5, Mr Barber wrote that the OfS would “welcome high-quality applications from candidates from the further education sector during all recruitment exercises to the board”.

The first of these is set for this month when the DfE “launches a new campaign for the student experience board member this month”.

However, recruitment has yet to begin, and will be launched in due course, the DfE admitted today.

Mr Barber also said he had appointed “another member of the student panel with experience of both further education and apprenticeships”.

That person would sit on the panel alongside NUS president Shakira Martin who “plays an important role as a graduate of, and advocate for, the FE sector”.

“We expect to be held to account by all of our student panel members and value the full range of their experiences and expertise,” Mr Barber wrote.

Emily Chapman, NUS vice president for FE, said the union had “been saying for a long time that the government must show its understanding of the central role colleges play”, and Mr Gyimah’s comments showed “the government is beginning to recognise students like the ones studying for a HE course in an FE environment.”

Traineeships expose the need for T-level collaboration

In 2015 the government criticised colleges for losing out to training providers by only making up a third of the apprenticeship market.

And the figure is even lower for traineeships, at just 24 per cent and falling, as FE Week discovered with a Freedom of Information request to the Department for Education.

What connects these two programmes is the need for employer buy-in, and the fact they mostly happen in the workplace, a delivery model that many colleges with classrooms to fill seem to have little appetite for or ability to expand.

Colleges should focus on and grow what they are good at, so it would wrong to simply criticise them for disengagement.

But this should still concern the DfE, which is relying on colleges to deliver T-levels – which also include mandatory work placements of up to three months.

The T-level workplace capacity building funds and lessons learnt from pilots will help colleges, but in truth the independent sector holds most of the employer engagement cards.

So these latest figures would suggest the DfE should be developing a collaborative delivery model to make a success of T-levels.

The hard truth is that colleges too often have the only access to classrooms and workshops, so independent training providers focus their energies on access to the employers.

T-level students will need both, so a policy of collaboration between colleges and independent training providers is to be encouraged.

Subcontracting fees will finally be published in June

The government will publish subcontracting fees for providers across the country in June, the education minister Nadhim Zahawi has revealed at long last.

Individual lead providers were previously required to publish their annual figures by the end of November every year.

This changed from 2016/17, when new rules dictated that providers had to inform the ESFA of their figures, which should then be published centrally.

But the agency came in for heavy criticism as November passed without any indication of when the full figures would be revealed for last academic year.

Gordon Marsden

The sector finally got its answer today, after Gordon Marsden, the shadow skills minister asked, through a written parliamentary question lodged last week, when the government planned to publish the fees.

“The Education and Skills Funding Agency will publish the level of funding paid and retained by providers for each of their subcontractors that delivered full programmes or frameworks during the academic year 2016 to 2017 in June 2018,” Mr Zahawi has said in response.

Criticism of the delay has been led by education select committee chair Robert Halfon, who has demanded action on what he has described as a “deeply worrying” situation.

He urged the ESFA in January to collect the data immediately, after it was confirmed that subcontracting fees would not be made public in time for parliamentary inquiry hearings into concerns about the system, by both the Commons education and public accounts committees.

The ESFA finally announced on April 11 that “all providers who ‘provision subcontracted’ last year have been contacted by email” about the issue. They were sent a template to fill in their fees on and return.

“You need to submit the template that we sent to you to the ESFA fees and charges mailbox by 5pm on Friday, April 27,” it added.

Subcontracting management fees have become 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. 

Mr Marsden has previously criticised the ESFA over its “double standards” on the figures. 

“The continuing failure of ministers and the ESFA to provide this data, after they had trumpeted loudly taking responsibility for it, risks hampering hugely the work of public bodies such as the education select committee’s current enquiries on the concerns around subcontracting,” he said.

“It seems to be double standards, a case from this government of ‘do as I say, not as I do’.”

The DfE’s apparent delaying tactics indicated “defensiveness”, Mr Marsden claimed “not least in terms of its decisions in the Learndirect funding controversy”.

Only Ofqual should be allowed to regulate apprenticeship standards

Trailblazers can choose the body that regulates their apprenticeship standard. Only one of these is actually qualified to do so, argues Rob May

Every major skills policy at some point promises to “put employers in the driving seat”. For a department labouring under policy amnesia this has been the rhetoric of reform for at least 15 years.

The principle is sound enough, creating a supply of demand-led human capital through learning which reflects actual industrial realities and usually incorporates practical work experience.

But at some point, employers are inevitably called upon to step in and actually design the new qualifications, as Anne Milton, the current skills minister did recently in the latest rallying call from the Department for Education.

Advisory panels will be used to create the new T-levels that will be delivered from 2022. Panels are already in place across six routes, including childcare, construction and health. These panels of employers have the remit to design and develop new qualifications which will define a whole generation of learners.

Just as I wouldn’t expect a panel committee of a non-departmental, educational public body to design a jet engine, I also wouldn’t ask Rolls-Royce to design a regulated qualification

Awarding bodies are then faced with the Sisyphean task of translating plans and standards into practical, replicable assessments and taking on the accountabilities and financial burden (as this is not normally considered during the panel’s design phase).

But just as I wouldn’t expect a panel committee of a non-departmental, educational public body to design a jet engine, I also wouldn’t ask Rolls-Royce to design a regulated qualification. No offence to Rolls-Royce.

This approach continues to fundamentally misunderstand or ignore the role that Ofqual-accredited awarding organisations are already required to carry out, and which they do so diligently and successfully, despite government’s attempts to marginalise the accumulated expertise and efforts of a whole sector.

Specifically, regulated qualifications should already prepare learners for employment. Awarding organisations must already consult the users of qualifications on the content and assessment method. This is done through close, regular consultation with employers and providers during a regular cycle of design, review, focus testing and ultimately market forces. The process demonstrates to the regulator, and to the public that the qualification is fit for purpose and fit for industry.

Two problems emerge with panels of employers designing qualifications for a whole system. Firstly, the government is attracted to the big-brand corporations to confer credibility on the initiative, so a narrow and disproportionately persuasive voice emerges. These large players have very different working practices and skills needs to SMEs even though small businesses account for 99 per cent of all private-sector businesses.

Secondly, any reform of education for 14- to 19-year-olds must focus on improving vocational and technical pathways, whereas these reforms focus on changing the structure and content of qualifications, rather than on the wider system, for example stronger technical and vocational provision in schools.

What have policy makers learnt from previous reforms? To quote the late, great David Bowie, it’s how to always crash in the same car.

Rob May is CEO of the Association of Business Executives

Hull College Group backs embattled chief executive in bitter redundancy row

UPDATE: UCU members at the Hull College Group will walk out on strike tomorrow (May 9) over plans to slash jobs.

Hull College Group has “absolute confidence” in its under-fire chief executive and will not bow to staff and union pressure to fire her, it has announced.

Staff who are members of the University and College Union, representing nearly 400 of HCG’s 1,200 workers, are up in arms over plans to balance the college’s books, by cutting up to 231 full-time jobs.

The group’s leader, Michelle Swithenbank, has come under intense criticism over the proposal, but the group released a statement this morning which reaffirmed its backing for her ability to lead it through its current financial difficulties.

Of the college’s 378 UCU members, 214 submitted a vote in a ballot on April 18 in which 170 opted to strike before unanimously backing a vote of no-confidence in their boss the next day.

Union leaders announced today that members will walk out for an initial three days on May 9, 17, and 18. The strikes to hit all three sites at Hull, Harrogate and Goole.

The UCU has insisted that Ms Swithenbank’s position is untenable after her failure to defend jobs at the college and a “bizarre” 24 hours which saw the management team allegedly attempt to “bully and then bribe” staff first with legal action and then ice-creams to deter them from a protest on April 18.

READ MORE: Hull College staff want their CEO sacked after ice-cream ‘bribe’

Hitting back at the resignation calls, the corporation of HCG said today: “The corporation has absolute confidence in Michelle and the leadership team to deliver this plan to build a strong, viable, effective college for the future to offer the best outcomes for students who choose to study at the college.”

Ms Swithenbank was appointed chief executive of Hull College Group less than a year ago to lead the recovery of the college following a period of significant financial and operational issues.

She has been tasked with delivering an agreed five-year “fresh start” plan, which includes severe job losses.

“The corporation recognises that the level and depth of change proposed through our restructure and recovery plans will be something that the college and its staff and students have not experienced before,” today’s statement said.

“As a corporation, we understand the emerging effects of our current plans, and want to assure all people affected, that no decision has been taken lightly and that we are committed to working with Michelle and the leadership team to secure the future of Hull College Group.”

The tactics allegedly employed by Ms Swithenbank to deter staff from a protest on April 18 started with an email to all staff claiming saying that anyone who joined the rally risked doing so illegally.

The college’s employment solicitors “identified participating in an unofficial protest during staffing hours (11am) could result in a breach of contract”, a spokesperson said last week.

The UCU claimed this was “clearly was not the case” and asked whether the college had been “deliberately misinforming staff or did not understand employment law”. 

HCG soon tried a different approach, inviting staff to purchase discounted ice-creams at a venue at the opposite end of the college to the protest.

The corporation has absolute confidence in Michelle

The college is understood to have hired the ice cream van from 11am to 1pm, coinciding with the protest.

“Staff have made it quite clear that they have no confidence in Michelle Swithenbank’s leadership and want her to resign immediately,” said UCU’s regional official, Julie Kelley, last week. “To go from bullying to bribery in less than 24 hours highlights the chaotic shambles at the heart of Hull College leadership.”

UCU is expected to announce strike dates imminently.

HCG has been under severe financial pressure for the past few years.

The FE commissioner reported in February last year that its finances remained precarious after the then-Skills Funding Agency had issued a notice of concern in November 2016.

Richard Atkins warned that HCG’s “operating performance, as measured by surplus/deficit after interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation costs has amounted to a cumulative deficit of around £10 million over the past four years”, while “a further deficit in excess of £1 million is forecast for the current year”.

Isle of Wight studio school on the brink of closure

Another studio school that has severely struggled with recruitment has agreed to close “in principle”.

Plans to shut the Isle of Wight Studio School in August 2019 were announced today, but the final decision will be subject to a four-week consultation.

The school said in a statement that the decision has come about because “too few students choosing to study at the studio school in years 12 and 13, which has meant that the school has not developed in the way originally planned”.

As it is no longer financially viable, ministers at the Department of Education have agreed its termination in principle and once this listening period concludes, they will decide to close it in conjunction with the Inspire Academy Trust which operates the school.

Studio schools are an alternative to mainstream education for 14- to 19-year-olds, taking on cohorts of up to 300 pupils.

They provide a work-related curriculum with pupils receiving vocational and academic qualifications, as well as work experience, and like the similarly troubled university technical colleges, are seen by many in FE as unwelcome competition.

Unfortunately the school has not been able to recruit sufficient students

The Isle of Wight Studio School only opened in September 2014 and is yet to have a visit from Ofsted. Latest data on the school shows it only had 146 students on roll against a capacity of 300.

If it does shut, it will become the 19th studio school to close since the project began.

“The IoW Studio School has provided an excellent learning experience for many children on the Island, however unfortunately the school has not been able to recruit sufficient students to its sixth-form, and it is a sad reality that such a small school cannot continue long-term,” said the finance officer of the Inspire Academy Trust, Richard Bryant.

“Student recruitment is a problem which has affected many studio schools across the country.”

If it does close, students intending to start in September 2018 will be able to continue at their existing school or explore a transfer to another school.

“We are very focused on honouring our commitment to pupils who are currently studying at the school, and the department’s decision to keep the school open until summer 2019 ensures that the 120 pupils currently in year 10 and year 11 will all be able to complete their GCSEs here as planned,” Mr Bryant said.

A Department for Education spokesperson added: “We have agreed, in principle, to the closure of Isle of Wight Studio School following a request from the Inspire Academy Trust.  A number of options have been explored but ministers have decided that the school, which is operating at 40-per-cent capacity, should close in August 2019.”

Richard White, the school’s head said it was with “great regret” that the school finds itself in this position.

“Despite all the efforts of its governing body and dedicated staff, who have all done an excellent job, the school’s sixth-form has never been fully utilised,” he added.

“This is because our students have progressed at 16 to further study or apprenticeships elsewhere – and our view has always been to support the decision which is in the best interests of our pupils.”

During the listening period, which starts today and runs until 5pm on May 22, interested persons should submit their comments to the DfE through this email address: DFE.IOWSS@education.gov.uk.

Principal departs cash-strapped Barnfield College

The principal of a cash-strapped college recently forced to seek government bailouts has stepped down just a month after it was placed in administered status.

Tim Eyton-Jones is understood to have left his position at grade three Barnfield College after three years in charge.

An official statement from the college confirming the news is expected on Wednesday.

The college was visited by the FE commissioner earlier this year after it received a financial notice to improve from the Education and Skills Funding Agency in January.

Richard Atkins’ report, published earlier this month, found that finances were a “major cause for concern” with “significant” operating losses over the past two years, which were likely to be repeated in 2017/18.

His report, which recommended the college be placed in administered status, was heavily critical of Mr Eyton-Jones, who “should have been aware” of the college’s financial problems, and “should have” done more to address weaknesses in its apprenticeship provision.

The college had recently applied for exceptional financial support, which resulted in the financial notice.

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

“We accept and acknowledge the findings of the FE commissioner’s report,” said a spokesperson for the college at the time.

“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.”

The college was forced to stop recruiting apprentices in March, after an Ofsted report branded it ‘inadequate’ for this provision.

That report, which graded the college ‘requires improvement overall’, found that “leaders have not done enough to secure good provision and good achievement”. 

“Leaders do not effectively monitor learners’ progress, particularly those on study programmes,” the report said.

The college’s leadership was criticised for failing to properly address two problem areas that had been identified in the previous inspection: weaknesses in teaching and low attendance.

The overall grade for the inspection was three, including a ‘requires improvement’ rating for the effectiveness of leadership and management.  

“Leaders have not done enough to secure good provision and good achievement,” it said. “Although improvements have been made, teaching is not good across all areas of the college.”

Barnfield has had turbulent time under Mr Eyton-Jones’ leadership.

He took up the reins in March 2015, shortly after the college had been rated grade four across the board with no key strengths in January 2015.

The college was already in FE commissioner intervention at the time, having been assessed as ‘inadequate’ for financial control by the SFA the year before.

That process ended in October 2015, when Mr Atkins’ predecessor David Collins wrote to the college to say it had addressed all of his recommendations.

Ofsted inspectors were back at the college the following March, and their report, published the following month, rated it ‘requires improvement’ across the board. The college retained this rating in March this year.

At the time Mr Eyton-Jones vowed to FE Week that the college would be ‘outstanding’ within two years.

UPDATE April 25 2018: The college has appointed Martin Sim as interim principal and chief executive. Mr Sim was most recently interim principal at Gateway College, and prior to that was principal and chief executive of Salford City College.

“I am delighted to join the college and look forward to working with the dedicated and skilled teams at Barnfield College,” he said.