funding cuts | FE Week

The grim reality of adult education on life support

After 30 years in FE, I’ve never seen morale so low. Cuts to the adult skills fund are ripping the heart out of local skills ecosystems – and communities are paying the price

DfE snatches £1.5m from popular FE leadership and governance scheme

Government slimming down two-year leadership and governance training amid cuts

BTEC funding to be debated in parliament after petition hits 100k signatures

Over 20,000 people signed the petition in just two days

Layoffs loom at RNN Group as DfE cuts off bailouts

One of the biggest college groups in the country has said it has “no alternative” than to cut staff numbers as it battles to cut its deficit, knowing it will “no longer be ‘bailed out’ by the government”. The RNN Group, which has around 1,200 staff and nearly 15,000 students, has put 130 jobs at […]

Bailouts for failing colleges reach £140 million says Halfon

College bailouts have cost the UK a whopping £140 million, the apprenticeships minister has admitted. Robert Halfon confessed to the House of Commons that by March the government expects to have dropped “a total of about £140 million on propping up colleges facing extreme financial difficulties”. That money, he added during a debate on the […]

Parliamentary debate approved on ‘totally unacceptable’ apprenticeship cuts

A parliamentary debate on the drastic funding cuts to apprenticeships proposed by the government and exposed by FE Week has been approved by the Backbench Business Committee. David Lammy MP put his case for the debate to the committee on October 11, in a move that gives a significant boost to FE Week’s #SaveOurApprenticeships campaign against the cuts. He called for […]

London mayor Sadiq Khan calls for government rethink on apprenticeship funding rates

London mayor Sadiq Khan has added his voice to those calling on the government to rethink proposed apprenticeship funding rates that would see cuts of up to 50 per cent for young people in the most deprived areas. His concerns about the effect of such drastic cuts on social mobility and on young people in […]

FE Week campaign against apprenticeship funding cuts raised in Commons

Major cuts exposed by FE Week to apprenticeships funding for 16- to 18-year-olds in some of the most deprived areas of the country has been raised during education questions, with our #SaveOurApprenticeships campaign repeatedly name-checked on the floor of the House of Commons. Mary Glindon, Labour MP for North Tyneside (pictured above), asked during education questions what […]

MP renews spat with college over planned job cuts

A senior MP has vowed to fight Hull College all the way over a string of job losses it wants to make. Karl Turner, former shadow attorney general and MP for Kingston upon Hull, has previously joined striking staff on the picket line, and has promised to meet with the University and College Union again, […]