Search Results for

The following 5539 results have been found to match your search query:

‘apprenticeships’

FE Week launches 2015 survey — prizes on offer for your opinions

Visit here to take part in the 2015 survey. It’s that time again! The second annual FE Week survey launches today with the aim of taking the sector’s pulse and delivering the results just in time for the general election on May 7. And just like last year you could win an iPad Air and an […]

News

Exclusive: SFA chief Peter Lauener warns providers of adult funding cut of up to 24 per cent

Colleges and independent learning providers are set for a national funding cut of up to 24 per cent next academic year, FE Week can exclusively reveal. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) this morning released details of its 2015-16 (financial year) adult FE and skills funding budget, which will fall 5 per cent overall […]

News

Almost 100 providers to repay funding while hundreds more escape shock clawback

Nearly 100 providers issued with a shock clawback warning that caused “sleepless nights” for their staff over Christmas will be asked to repay 2013/14 funding. The remaining 601 providers contacted by Una Bennett (pictured inset above), deputy director for funding systems for the SFA, late last year telling them they might have to repay against “provision that has […]

News

Apprentices set for 7p rise in minimum wage as Low Pay Commission says rise in line with 16 and 17-year-old ‘normal’ workers is ‘too expensive’ for businesses

Apprentices look set for a 7p rise in their national minimum wage of £2.73 an-hour while proposals to shift them up onto a par with 16 and 17-year-olds have been rejected as too expensive for businesses by the Low Pay Commission (LPC). The call to increase the minimum wage by 2.6 per cent to £2.80 […]

News

Wolf review: 20 of 27 recommendations implemented, government claims

Most of Professor Alison Wolf’s recommendations for reform of 14 to 19 vocational education have been implemented, the government has claimed. The Department for Education has issued its final progress report on Professor Wolf’s 27 recommendations, which were initially outlined in her landmark 2011 Review of Vocational Education, claiming 20 of the points have become […]

News

Edition 128: Denis Hird, Jon Graham, Chris Bilsland & John Landeryou

A decade’s career in the chief executive hotseat has come to an end for Denis Hird at Kent-based independent learning provider JTL. He has stepped down and is due to be replaced at the end of next month by former Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) managing director Jon Graham. Ian Livsey, JTL […]

Movers and Shakers

NUS report paints bleak picture of ‘exploited’ apprentices

The National Union of Students (NUS) has issued a damning report on the issue of apprentice pay, branding the minimum wage of £2.73 an-hour “exploitative”. The 21-page Forget Me Not (pictured above inset) report paints a bleak picture of apprentice finances backed by the evidence of several case studies, including a 17-year-old named Sam who earns £95.55 […]

News

‘More resources’ defence to digital criticism

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has defended its members’ efforts to meet business needs for a digitally skilled workforce after a group of Peers said provision was “patchy, unresponsive and not meeting employer needs”. Matt Dean, AoC technology policy manager, hit back at the House of Lords digital skills committee’s latest report, Make or Break: […]

News

Politicians coming off the fence

As the countdown to the general election approaches the two-month mark, Mick Fletcher assesses the early FE and skills sector battleground of ringfencing. For some time now it has seemed that there is little difference between the main political parties in respect of FE policy. They are all in favour of apprenticeships, keen on English […]

Opinion