The five-per-cent tolerance on the notorious English and maths condition of funding rule will apply “until further notice”, the Department for Education has said today – but exasperated sector leaders want the policy to be scrapped altogether.

The rule states that any 16- to 18-year-old student who does not have at least a C, or a 4 or above,  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.

The tolerance was first introduced for the September 2016/17 allocations, based on enrolments for 2014/15.

The government said the penalty would be halved, and would only apply to providers where more than five per cent of their students (by value) did not meet the funding condition.

This tolerance was then added to the 2017/18 allocations, and the DfE has now extended it “until further notice, in recognition of the continued efforts of post-16 providers to deliver the 16-to-19 maths and English policy”.

“We expect that the clarity over the level of tolerance in future years will provide providers with increased certainty on which to plan,” it said in its announcement.

But Mark Dawe, the AELP’s chief executive, said that instead of extending the tolerance “it would be much better to simply drop the compulsory resits policy”.

“Let’s do an upfront assessment of learners to determine whether they should do GCSEs or functional skills,” he urged.

David Hughes, chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, said it was “good news that the government has extended the tolerance”.

But he added: “We still need a proper strategy from DfE about English and maths.

More discretion  is needed, he said “about the best qualification for each student, curriculum changes, new qualifications, designing a new transition year, investment in teachers, realistic success measures for colleges, and building understanding of what works”.

Meanwhile, James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “GCSEs are important for many of our students that have aspirations to progress to higher education and certain occupations, but they are not right for all young people and we would welcome the flexibility to offer alternative qualifications where appropriate.” 

And Gordon Marsden, shadow skills minister, said today’s announcement did not “address the real issue” and was “simply tinkering at the edges and leaving continuing uncertainty for providers, adding to the ordeal for  thousands of learners that the flawed resits procedure has become”.

He urged his government counterpart, apprenticeships and skills minister Anne Milton, to “have the courage of her convictions and finally order a fundamental review to see if a move to functional skills would address the negative and pressurised endless resits which are damaging outcomes for both providers and FE learners”.

Since 2013, all 16- to 19-year-olds without at least a grade C in GCSE maths or English have had to enrol in courses in these subjects alongside their main programme of study.

This requirement was tightened in 2015 to require all of those with a grade D – now a 3 –  in those subjects to sit a GCSE course, rather than an equivalent stepping-stone course such as functional skills.

But after last year’s GCSE results showed huge numbers of learners aged 17 and older failed to improve their grades in resits, many in the sector demanded the government to scrap the policy.

FE Week reported in December 2016 that colleges had lost almost £3 million in funding through failure to comply with the condition of funding rule.

The Education Funding Agency’s 2016/17 allocations, published in November 2016, revealed that £2,842,016 had been deducted across 26 general FE colleges, the first year deductions were in force.

And in December FE Week highlighted what was described as an “incredibly unfair” flaw in the rule, which made it impossible for colleges to achieve 100-per-cent compliance.

The Association of Colleges has previously called for the condition of funding tolerance to be made permanent.

A health and social care training provider has been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in a report that warns of “weak” management of apprenticeships.

The report out today on First City Training said it was not doing enough to improve the learning and training experience of students, and its apprenticeship provision came in for heavy criticism.

The ‘inadequate’-overall verdict was a fall from the grade three-overall rating it received after its previous inspection in January last year.

FCT said it was “disappointed” with the overall rating but added it was “reflective of endemic pressures felt across the sector.”

“The management of the apprenticeship programme is weak,” the report said of the provider, which has centres in Swindon, Salisbury and Bournemouth, and which was allocated almost £400,000 by the Education and Skills Funding Agency for 2016/17.

“Leaders and managers do not provide sufficient oversight of the programme, and do not have high enough expectations.

“Apprentices do not receive sufficient training away from their workplace and as a result they make slow progress towards completing their apprenticeships and improving their skills.”

Managers do not provide “sufficient oversight” of the apprenticeships programme, nor high enough expectations of their staff or learners.

And leaders’ actions to increase learners’ progress had meanwhile been “largely unsuccessful”.

Other concerns included poor support for learners trying to improve their English or mathematical skills, and a general failure to “ensure that the risks to learners of radicalisation and extremism are properly considered and combatted”.

First City Training was rated ‘inadequate’ for leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for learners and apprenticeships. It received a grade three for its adult learning and personal development, behaviour and welfare.

However, Ofsted described the level five higher apprenticeships in management of health and social care as “well managed”, saying they help apprentices “develop valuable skills and knowledge”, while the training materials provided for adult learners were praised for being clear, easily understood and capturing the “important principles of working in the care sector”.

A spokesman for FCT said: “We are disappointed to have received this overall rating, but feel that this is reflective of endemic pressures felt across the sector with regards apprenticeship training and in particular the continual cuts to the funding.

“We are pleased, however, at the strengths highlighted in the report including the skills, commitment and enthusiasm our learners have for the health and care sector and the people they look after.”

FCT is part of the larger First City Group and had 217 learners on funded programmes at the time of the inspection in September.

Ofsted has recommended that FCT implement a system to provide information to senior management on the achievements of learners, sets up systems for self-assessment, provides better teaching for professional, English and mathematical skills, undertakes reviews of learner progress and immediately implement the Prevent duty.

Apprenticeship starts in one of England’s largest cities have shown a “notable and significant decline” since the introduction of the levy, according to local training providers.

A total of 50 “established and reputable apprenticeship providers with a strong track record of apprenticeship delivery” completed the Greater Manchester Learning Provider Network apprenticeship impact survey, which compared starts between June 1 and August 31 this year with the same period last year.

The drop has emerged just a day before the government publishes its own figures on the overall number of apprenticeship starts for the final quarter of 2016/17.

It is feared this will also show a dramatic drop, as anecdotal reports abound that starts have tumbled since the apprenticeship levy came into force in May.

The Manchester providers between them recorded 4,366 starts across all ages and all levels over the three-month period this year – a drop of 36 per cent, or 2,477, from the 2016 figure of 6,843.

The most dramatic fall was among apprentices aged 25 and older, with starts down 50 per cent across all levels – from 3,217 in 2016 to 1,594 this year.

At the same time, the “overwhelming majority” of providers reported a drop in demand from both levy and non-levy-paying employers – some are even reporting a full 100-per-cent decline in demand.

Mark Dawe, the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said the survey findings were “particularly alarming” as “Greater Manchester is a mature apprenticeship market populated with many good-quality providers, so it’s really worrying to think what it will be like elsewhere”.

Andy Fawcett, the network’s executive director, described the fall as “dramatic”.

“Having surveyed our members who deliver over 85 per cent of apprenticeships in Greater Manchester, it is clear that the reforms have led to a significant and dramatic reduction in starts. The funding reductions, off-the-job training requirements and mandatory employer contributions have depressed employer demand,” he said.

“Of great concern is the drop in level two apprenticeship opportunities. At a time when government is prioritising social mobility here we have an example where their policy in action is taking us in completely the wrong direction.”

The government will publish its latest statistical first release tomorrow, which will include figures on the overall number of apprenticeship starts for the final quarter of 2016/17.

Figures published last week revealed that barely half of eligible employers were registered with the apprenticeships service, which is currently only open to large, levy-paying companies.

And the apprenticeships minister Anne Milton admitted at last week’s Conservative Party conference that she was “flabbergasted” that many large companies were unaware of the levy – even though they were paying it.

Lack of understanding and awareness of the apprenticeship reforms was among the reasons cited by respondents to the Manchester survey for why starts had fallen.

Other issues included the 20-per-cent off-the-job training requirement and the 10-per-cent employer contribution, both seen as barriers by some companies.

Meanwhile, roadblocks introduced by the government, including the introduction of a minimum turnover of £200,000 in the recent non-levy tender, have also added to the decline.

Mr Dawe claimed the results were further evidence that “ministers need to take an urgent look at the co-investment and 20-per-cent off-the-job training requirements”.