ESFA | FE Week

Tight deadline for ESFA survey on non-levy transition period for providers

Providers are being asked for their views on the expansion of the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s apprenticeships service– but they only have four days to respond. The agency emailed all those currently on the register of apprenticeship training providers today, inviting them to complete a survey asking for their views on the “best way […]

DfE orders independent investigation into ESFA over 3aaa contract management

An independent auditor has been called in to investigate the Education and Skills Funding Agency over their contract management of apprenticeships giant Aspire Achieve Advance (3aaa), FE Week can reveal. Alyson Gerner is carrying out the independent investigation on behalf of the Department for Education. She is finance director of DfE-owned LocatED, which is responsible for buying […]

Massive subcontracting top-slices finally revealed

Subcontracting top-slices exceeded £100 million last year, and 28 per cent of prime providers were charging more than 20 percent, FE Week can reveal. The long-overdue subcontracting figures for 2016/17 have finally been published by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. FE Week’s analysis of the data has shown that just under a third of […]

Eileen Milner, Chief Executive, ESFA

The new head of the Education and Skills Funding Agency is a very busy woman. And I’ve been offered just 30 minutes to find out all about her life and do a photoshoot. Simples. Poised on the edge of a hexagonal table in a small conference room, Eileen Milner sits in the eye of the […]

Demands for fairness after ESFA sets aside £2.6m in Somerset tender

The launch of a £2.6 million tender by the Education and Skills Funding Agency to deliver community learning services in Somerset has prompted demands for fairness and reform to the procurement process over the apparent special treatment. The invitation to tender, published May 31, follows a campaign by community learning provider Somerset Skills and Learning […]

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 […]

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 […]

ESFA misses own deadline to update providers on T-levels

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has missed its own deadline to let providers know if they will be among the first to deliver T-levels. Providers who wanted to deliver the prestigious planned new qualifications in 2020/21 were invited to submit an expression of interest to the agency in January. According to that invitation, all […]

Leicester city council in row over ‘brokerage-style’ levy deal

Leicester city council is the latest public body accused of diverting apprenticeship levy funding away from frontline learning via a brokerage-style deal with a third party. It awarded a contract to a firm known as Salad Skills last October, to operate as a “quality-assurance partner”. This role involves identifying suitable providers to train the council’s […]