Issue 136 | March 2023

THE SPRING BUDGET 2023 AND THE FE SECTOR

On 23 February, David Hughes CBE, the Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC) wrote to Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education in England, pleading for an increase in core revenue funding for FE. In his letter, Mr Hughes said that without this, colleges were left facing ‘unpalatable choices’ including large-scale redundancies, increased class sizes, campus closures and insolvencies.

On 13 March a group of senior Conservative backbench MPs led by Peter Aldous (who is chair of the All-party Group on Further Education and Lifelong Learning) wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, in support of the AoC, calling on him to use the Spring Budget to allocate £400 million in emergency funding for FE colleges. Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Education Select Committee chair Robin Walker and former environment secretary George Eustice were amongst the 12 MPs that signed the letter.

On 15 March, the Chancellor delivered his 2023 Spring Budget to parliament. A copy of the Budget Statement can be found here. There was no mention of any additional core funding for FE in it. However, there were elements announced by Mr Hunt that could be of relevance to FE, these are as follows:

• ‘Returnerships’ will be introduced: ‘Returnerships’, said Mr Hunt, are intended to help re-skill over 50s wishing to return to work or to make a career change. In its ‘Educationhub’ blog published on 17 March, the Department for Education (DfE) explained that ‘returnerships’ are intended to be a type of adult apprenticeship that will sit alongside Skills Bootcamps and Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). For information, SWAPs are intended to ‘help jobseekers, who are claiming either Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to build their confidence, learn new skills and obtain experience of working in a particular industry’. The Budget Statement does not give any specific information on how, or when, ‘returnerships’ will be made available, or on the duration of a ‘returnership’ programme, or on how much funding will be made available. A person at the DfE is alleged to have said that ‘returnerships’ are not a new programme at all, but are simply a term used by the government in its ‘Skills for Life’ marketing campaign to encourage over-50s to take up existing courses. The Budget Statement says that ‘returnerships’ will be supported by £63.2 million, but then goes on to say that this is to fund 8,000 additional Skills Bootcamps training places and 40,000 additional starts on SWAPs schemes during 2023/24 and 2024/25. This would seem to support the view that ‘returnerships’ are not a new training programme.
• Extension to universal credit claimants’ eligibility to study full-time: The amount of time universal credit claimants can study full-time on work-related courses while still in receipt of benefits was initially increased as a pilot, from 8 weeks to 12 weeks (or 16 weeks for those attending a Skills Boot Camp programme). This has been extended (again) to April 2025. Further details can be found in section 4 of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) FE update published on 16 March.
• Supported internships will be doubled: Supported internships are defined as ‘structured, work-based study programmes for 16 to 24-year-olds withspecial educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Supported interns are enrolled with a learning provider, for example a college, but spend most of their time (typically around 70%) in a workplace supported by a job coach. £18 million will be provided to double the number of supported internships by 2025, with a further £3 million to pilot an extension of the programme to young people who have SEND, but who do not have an EHCP. An organisation called  ‘Internships Work’, which is funded by the DfE, has been appointed as the main delivery partner for this and has been tasked with working with colleges and other providers to ‘level up the quality of supported internships across the country’.
• Extra funding for intensive English language courses and employment support for Ukrainian refugees: An extra £11.5 million will be provided to help a further 10,000 Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in the UK under the Ukraine visa scheme. This is intended to help them get jobs in the UK labour market and to help those who are already employed to get better paid, more highly-skilled jobs.
• 12 new Investment Zones will be created: The new Investment Zones will be located within 8 Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) in the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, the North East, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Midlands, and West Yorkshire. The Investment Zones will receive £80 million between them over a 5-year period to help fund economic development and infrastructure improvements (see section 1.11 of the above policy document). Part of the funding can be used to ‘incentivise’ skills development and apprenticeships.

In terms of the impact of the budget on the FE sector, many observers described it as ‘a complete non-event’. One observer said that the budget seems to confirm the view of the former Education Secretary, Sir Gavin Williamson, that although the ‘FE’ acronym stands for ‘Further Education’, it might just as well stand for ‘Forgotten Education’.  Other individual and institutional comments and observations include the following:

• Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of the Learning and Work Institute (LWI), said that government spending on skills in England will still be £1 billion lower in real terms by 2025 than it was in 2010.
• The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfS) produced data showing that 2024/25 government spending on college students aged 16-18 will be around 5% below 2010/11 levels in real terms, and that funding for adults on classroom based courses will remain around 40% below 2009/10 levels. The IfS also says that spending on the FE sector part now represents just £5.8 billion of the DfE’s total £114.5 billion spend.
• David Hughes, the AoC Chief Executive said, ‘Once again, college leaders will be rightly dismayed that the sector has been overlooked and wondering why the Chancellor continues to ignore the central role colleges play in delivering the highly skilled, high-growth economy he wants to see’.

‘DEEPER’ DEVOLUTION DEALS SIGNED

Two Trailblazer ‘deeper’ devolution deals have been signed with the Greater Manchester  and West Midlands MCAs. These deeper deals were announced in the budget and are intended to be a ‘template’ for future devolution deals with other MCAs.  Amongst many other things (such as greater controls over transport facilities), the deeper deals involve the devolution of virtually all 19+ adult skills funding to the MCAs. Although there is no major change to the level of skills funding, the MCAs will have more flexibility on how funding for such things as Free Courses for Jobs and Skills Bootcamps will be used.

As an example of this flexibility, on 16 March the WMCA launched a consultation on improving the Level 3 skills offer for adults in the region. The main proposal is that adults in full-time jobs in the region earning up to £30,000 a year should be eligible for free Level 3 education and training courses. The cost would be met through existing WMCA AEB and Free Courses for Jobs budgets. Providers contracted by the WMCA to deliver their AEB provision would be asked to ensure at least 20% of their offer is at Level 3.

However, on page 8 of the consultation document there is also a proposal to help colleges in the region with staff recruitment. The document says, ‘economic growth requires a strong and well-trained FE workforce’. It goes on to say, ‘We recognise that while Colleges and training providers have access to support for their own staff development…. we would like to support the sector to “grow their own” and to develop talent in the region, for the region and we are exploring how we might fully fund a suite of qualifications to support their delivery capacity’. The suite of qualifications proposed includes the following:

• Level 3 Teaching/Higher Level Teaching Assistant
• Level 4 Diploma in Advice and Guidance
• Level 5 Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
• Level 5 Aspiring Leaders. (This course to be developed with university partners and focused on curriculum innovation and skills)
• Level 5 Leadership and Management.

The consultation closes on 24 April.

INCREASE NON-DEVOLVED ADULT EDUCATION FUNDING IN SIX SUBJECT AREAS

On 9 January, the DfE announced that funding for full-time 16-19-year-old students in 2023/24 will be increased by 2.2%. Against this, the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS data) shows that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation increased from 10.1% in January to 10.4% in February.

Meanwhile, in Section 4 of its 1 March update, the ESFA announced that in both 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 there will also be a 2.2% increase in Adult Education Budget (AEB) formula-funding rates. In the same section of the update, the ESFA went on to announce that in 2022/23 and 2023/24 a further 20% uplift would be applied to non-devolved AEB funded provision in six subject areas to ‘help ease financial and delivery challenges faced by the sector’. The six subject areas are Engineering, Manufacturing Technologies, Transport Operations and Maintenance, Building and Construction, ICT for Practitioners, and Mathematics and Statistics. These were apparently chosen to mirror the subjects eligible for the 16-19 high value course premium. Although the uplift has been welcomed by sector leaders, many have expressed disappointment that other skills shortage areas, such as health and social care, hospitality, retail and agriculture have been excluded (although health and social care will receive the funding uplift in 2024/25). The uplifts have been in advance of the introduction of new funding rates that will be in the ESFA’s new skills fund from 2024/25. The uplift announcement came in the middle of the 2023/24 national non-devolved AEB tender process, the deadline for which was 6 March, and providers were told to use pre-uplift rates when submitting their bids. The ESFA also announced that colleges and training providers will be paid for any over-delivery of their contracts up to 110% of the contract value in 2022/23 and 2023/24, up from 103% in 2021/22. The ESFA says that this 110% payment threshold for over delivery is likely to be made permanent in the future.

ESFA CONFIRMS A DFE LOANS SCHEME FOR COLLEGE CAPITAL PROJECTS

There has been a ban on colleges taking out commercial loans since last November when the Office for National Statistics declared the redesignation of colleges as public sector bodies (i.e. part of the government). The ban has meant that colleges that were relying on commercial loans for their building projects have faced the prospect of placing them on hold or abandoning them altogether. In Section 1 of the 1 March update above, the ESFA confirmed that a DfE loans scheme will be made available for approved FE capital schemes that are either under way or at an advanced stage of planning, and that further details of the scheme (including terms and conditions, and eligibility criteria for colleges wanting to borrow) will be made available shortly. However, the ESFA also warned that it will be several months before the funds will actually become available.

Colleges have been told that they must obtain permission from the DfE prior to taking out any further commercial loans and that the granting of such permission is likely to be limited. As evidence of this, since the ban on private sector borrowing came into effect, the DfE has received 55 applications for permission to take out commercial loans. Of these 22 were refused outright and 10 are still pending. The remaining 23 applications that did receive DfE approval were all for short-term loans. The ESFA has also asked colleges to provide details of any undeclared commercial borrowing colleges they had in place last November, along with the associated outstanding contractual financial commitments.

On 1 March the DfE published updated details of an additional £150 million of capital grant funding to be shared amongst all colleges from this April based on their 2020/21 ESFA revenue funding allocations. The funding is intended to help colleges upgrade their estates and training facilities, purchase specialist equipment and create extra capacity to accommodate increases in the number of 16-18-year-old students. However, the ESFA, says that the funding could be used help ameliorate the consequences of the delay in colleges being able to access funds from the forthcoming DfE capital loans scheme.

DFE PUBLISHES RESPONSE TO CONSULTATION ON THE LIFELONG LEARNING ENTITLEMENT

On 7 March, the DfE published its response to the consultation (which closed last May) on the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). The LLE is intended to provide adult learners up to the age of 60 studying part-time and on modular courses at Levels 4 to 6, including degrees at Level 6 and Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) at Levels 4 and 5, with access to loans for tuition fees. The loan entitlement, which will be rolled out from 2025/26, will be for a maximum of £37,000, which is the current equivalent of four years of full-time undergraduate tuition fees. The DfE also confirmed that the current rule that prevents an adult learner accessing loan funding for a course at or below the level at which they already hold a qualification, will be scrapped. This will enable people with qualifications in one area to undertake retraining in another vocational area by taking a course which may be at the same or lower level. The LLE legislation was discussed by MPs in the Committee Stage meetings held between 21 and 28 March.

DFE PUBLISHES HIGHER TECHNICAL EDUCATION SKILLS INJECTION FUND ALLOCATIONS

On 7 March, the DfE published details of the FE colleges, independent training providers and Institutes of Technology that were successful in submitting bids for a share of the DfE £32 million Higher Technical Education (HTE) Skills Injection Fund. The funding is intended to help deliver the HTQs that will begin to be rolled out from September this year. £22 million of the £32 million will be used for such things as equipment and premises refurbishment (but not new build), with the remaining £10 million used for such things as curriculum development and staff upskilling.

HE PROVIDERS GIVEN A SHARE OF £8 MILLION FUND TO EXPAND DEGREE APPRENTICESHIPS

Last year the DfE announced that £8 million from the Strategic Priorities Grant would be given to the Office for Students (OfS) to help them ‘incentivise’ HE providers to expand their degree apprenticeships. On 9 March, the OfS announced that the money would be allocated to universities and colleges to ‘encourage the provision of Level 4 and 5 HTQs and to help accelerate the growth of Level 6 degree apprenticeship programmes’. However, only providers that already deliver these programmes (a list of which can be found here) will receive a share of the £8 million. Providers that are still developing these courses, but are not yet delivering them, will not receive any funding.

The funding is intended to help providers:

• Develop new degree apprenticeships beyond their current offer.
• Refresh their existing programmes.
• Form employer partnerships to help ensure the alignment of degree apprenticeships with the needs of the local labour market.
• Upskill staff in delivering the courses.

NEW REPORT PUBLISHED ON THE TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION CRISIS IN FURTHER EDUCATION

At the end of last month (February) a report entitled Developing Industry-Expert Teaching for Higher Skills was published. The report was produced by the Lifelong Education Commission, in partnership with the Chartered Institution for Further Education. The report says that the FE and Skills sector is facing a crisis in recruiting and retaining industry expert staff with the ability to teach young and adult students to a high standard. This, says the report, has led to low student attainment, especially in technical qualifications, and has damaged the UK’s commercial prospects and wider economy. The report goes on to say that although there is an urgent need to improve the teaching of technical skills, current low levels of FE funding is preventing the recruitment of industry expert staff. The report highlights that the average FE teacher’s salary is currently around £10,000 lower than that of an average school teacher, and that existing and prospective technical and vocational lecturers are likely to be able to earn much more in their industry.

The report’s recommendations include the following:

• Funding: The DfE should recognise the importance of FE and support the sector in attracting and retaining industry expert teaching staff. Funding for colleges delivering technical courses (particularly in skills shortage areas) should be increased to a sufficient level to enable industry expert teaching staff to be recruited and paid at rates comparable to those in industry and other education sectors.
• Workforce data: FE workforce data collected by the DfE should be used to analyse the numbers of industry expert teachers needed and to help develop strategies for the recruitment and retention of these teachers. Workforce development strategies for the delivery of Level 4 and 5 provision should be extended across the whole post-18 sector, including FE as well as HE.
• Initial Teacher Training (ITE): Initial teacher training for FE lecturers should be reviewed and modified to better reflect the expertise of industry professionals and support their transition into teaching. The evaluation of new teacher training initiatives should be speeded up to enable the most promising new practices to be identified and disseminated across the FE and Skills sector more quickly.
• Employer involvement and support: The DfE should build on the ideas being developed by the Chartered Institution for FE to mobilise direct employer support and resources to improve higher technical skills training. The Treasury should provide incentives, such as tax breaks for companies and individuals, to encourage the part-time release of members of staff to deliver higher skills teaching.

INCREASE IN FE INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION (ITE) BURSARIES

On 7 March the DfE published details of an increase in bursaries for FE ITE in 2023/24. The increase, says the DfE, is to help encourage more industry experts to teach in FE. However, the bursaries are only available in certain high priority areas. Bursaries for those taking ITE programmes in maths, science, engineering and computing will be increased from £26,000 to £29,000. Bursaries for those undertaking ITE programmes in English will be increased from £12,000 to £15,000. Another DfE high priority area is SEND, but the bursary for those undertaking ITE programmes in this area has not been increased and remains at the same level of £15,000. In addition, stricter eligibility criteria and caps on those taking up priority ITE programmes have been introduced for 2023/24 which could actually make it more difficult for some applicants to access the grants. For example:

• Bursary funding will not be available to those undertaking ITE programmes delivered by providers with an Ofsted judgement of ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ for ITE at their most recent inspection.
• Places on English ITE programmes have been capped at a maximum of 100.
• Applicants must have achieved a minimum standard in maths and English equivalent to GCSE grade 4 (or C) and must hold at least a Level 3 qualification in the subject they will be teaching.
• Applicants must be taking, or have taken, a qualifying pre-service ITE course and are required to confirm that they intend to seek an FE teaching post after qualification.

An applicant will not be eligible for a bursary if they:

• Already have a Diploma in Education and Training (DET), Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS), Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills Status (QTLS) or Advanced Teacher Status (ATS).
• Receive a salary, or other any other payment, for teaching work associated with an ITE programme.
• Are on an apprenticeship programme.

In the guidance, the DfE warns that not all applicants eligible for a bursary will necessarily receive a bursary. This is because the budget for bursaries in 2023/24 is capped at £8.25 million. The number of bursaries granted will therefore depend on the number of eligible applications received. The DfE says that it welcomes all applications irrespective of the applicant’s background, but because ethnic minority groups are currently under-represented in the FE teaching workforce, applications from members of these minority groups are particularly encouraged.

The increase in bursaries has been welcomed by sector leaders. However, they say that although they might help with staff recruitment, they will not help with staff retention because salaries for industry experts in the private sector and in other education sectors are much higher than the salaries currently on offer in FE. They also draw attention to sectors that are a priority for colleges, but which do not attract the bursary, such as engineering and construction where colleges are particularly struggling to fill vacancies.

TEACHING APPRENTICESHIPS

The DfE has confirmed that it is working with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to develop a new teaching apprenticeship that will simultaneously lead to both a degree and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The new teaching apprenticeship is intended help to boost teacher recruitment, partly aided by participants not having to incur any student loan debt for their training. At present it is unclear whether the new teaching apprenticeship will be Level 6 or Level 7. A degree is Level 6, but a post graduate teaching qualifications could be Level 6 or Level 7. (For example, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education is at level 7. See here for more information on this). In addition, 12-month post graduate teaching apprentices (PGTAs) are already available and the DfE will need to decide how these will sit alongside the proposed new degree level teaching apprenticeship. The DfE will also need to consider the issue of specialist degree subjects for those apprentices wishing to teach at a higher level.

ETF WINS SECOND CONTRACT TO RUN FE LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE PROGRAMMES

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF), which is jointly owned by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), HOLEX and the AoC, won a 3-year DfE contract to run various FE Leadership and Governance programmes over the period from 2019/20 to 2022/23. Last year the DfE imposed a cut of around 15% in the ETF’s grant funding leading to expectations of a shortfall in funding. However, pressure on funding was eased when the DfE that announced the award of a second contract worth £9.55 million to ETF to continue to run its FE Leadership and Governance programmes.

CONCERN EXPRESSED AT THE USE OF THE APPRENTICESHIP LEVY TO FUND MBA POST-GRADUATE DEGREES

DfE data shows that the number of young people aged under 25 starting apprenticeships has fallen by 36% from 285,280 in 2015/16 (when the apprenticeship levy was first introduced) to 183,850 in 2021/22. Over the same period, the numbers taking Level 2 apprenticeships fell by 53%. Meanwhile, the number of universities and other HE providers (including FE colleges) offering higher and degree level apprenticeships has grown substantially and DfE data shows that in 2021/22 more than 12% of apprentices were on Level 6 and 7 programmes.

Eight HE providers are also offering Level 7 Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes that have been reclassified as apprenticeships to enable them to access to around £100 million in funding from the apprenticeship levy. For example, the University of Birmingham advertises a part-time executive MBA level 7 apprenticeship for ‘leaders with global ambitions’. Participants incur no costs for the first part of the programme which is fully funded through the apprenticeship levy, but there is a charge of £7,000 for the final MBA credits, to be funded by the participant or their employer. However, the University website says that the full cost of a part-time MBA programme is normally £32,580. And an analysis carried out by the Independent newspaper says that most of those on MBA apprenticeship programmes are executives in full-time employment in large (sometimes multi-national) firms earning six-figure salaries.

By way of justification for using the levy in this way, the HE providers involved say that they have legitimately adapted their programmes to fit government degree apprenticeship regulations. However, providers at the other end of the apprenticeship spectrum have accused them of ‘gaming the system’. The AELP, which represents the majority of these providers, has called on the government to do more to encourage the take-up of young people on apprenticeship programmes at Level 2 and below and for more small employers to be encouraged to offer apprenticeships by giving them easier access to levy funding.

UCAS TARIFF POINTS TO BE ALLOCATED TO APPRENTICESHIPS

University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) tariff points are allocated to post-16 level 3 qualifications such as A-Levels, T-Levels, BTECs and Cambridge Technicals to help determine eligibility of applicants for entry to university courses. To date apprenticeships have not been allocated any UCAS tariff points and order to address this, the DfE and IfATE are working with UCAS to develop a single portal that will enable people to apply for all education and training options in addition to degrees, including apprenticeships at all levels and HTQs. It is not yet clear how and when UCAS tariff points will be allocated to apprenticeships, however the UCAS Chief Executive, Claire Marchant, has said that it is expected that tariff points will be allocated this summer and that students will be able to apply for apprenticeships and other post-16/post-18 options on via the UCAS portal from autumn 2024.

APPRENTICESHIP EPA OUTCOMES TO BE PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SUMMER

Catherine Large OBE, Ofqual’s Executive Director for Vocational and Technical Qualifications (VTQs) has announced that Ofqual has now completed the process of assuming responsibility for the external quality assurance (EQA) of Apprenticeship Standards from other EQA providers. Ms Large also said that where an Apprenticeship Standard has five or more End Point Assessment Organisations (EPAOs), and returns 500 or more total End Point Assessments (EPAs) in one year, EPA outcomes will be published from this summer onwards in official DfE quarterly VTQ statistics. The DfE statistical release is expected to be published sometime in June or July. The responsibility for the EQA for integrated higher level (Level 4 and 5), degree (level 6) and post graduate apprenticeships (Level 7) now rests with the OFS.

T-LEVEL DEVELOPMENTS

Enrolments:

T-Level enrolment figures published on 9 March in the latest 2022/23 T-Level Action Plan show that:

• There were 10,200 new student enrolments (i.e. excluding second year enrolments) across 16 T-Level programmes in September 2022. This compares with 5,210 new student enrolments across 10 T-Level programmes in September 2021 and just over 1,000 new student enrolments across 3 T-Level programmes in September 2020, which was the first year that T-Levels were offered.
• There were 164 T-Level providers in September 2022, compared with 102 T-Level providers in September 2021 and 43 T-Level providers in September 2020.
• The T-Level Transition Programme is a one-year course for 16-19-year-olds who are not yet ready to start a full T-Level. In September 2022 there were 5,600 enrolments on T-Level Transition programmes across all routes. This compares with 3,348 enrolments in September 2021 and 847 enrolments in September 2020. Only one in seven (14%) of the students who took the first T-Level Transition Programme last year chose to progress to a full T-Level.
• T-Levels were initially intended to be only for learners aged 16-19, and those aged up to 25 with an EHCP. However, 71% of respondents to a question in the DfE consultation on the Review of Post-16 Level 3 qualifications agreed that T-Levels should be made available to adult learners. In response to this, last September the DfE announced that T-Level courses for adults aged 19+ would be piloted at 11 colleges to provide the DfE with an analysis that would inform a potential general roll-out of T-Level courses for adults from September 2025. The colleges were given a collective target of recruiting 150 adults to T-Level courses in one or more of the Digital, Construction, Education and Childcare, and Health and Science T-Level pathways. However, it seems that just 2 of the colleges were only able to recruit 14 adult T-Level students between them, with 13 enrolments on a Digital pathway course and one enrolment on an Education and Childcare pathway course.

Secretary of State for Education defers the rollout of four Wave 4 T-Level courses

On 9 March, the Secretary of State for Education in England, Gillian Keegan, announced in a written ministerial statement that the Wave 4 T-Levels in Hairdressing, Barbering and Beauty Therapy; Craft and Design; and Media, Broadcast and Production that were all due to be launched in September 2023 would be deferred by one year to September 2024 because of ‘quality concerns’. She also announced that the T-Level in Catering would be deferred by two years to September 2025, ‘to allow more time for consultation with employers’. The decision to defer these courses was taken jointly by the DfE and the IfATE. However, the T-Level in Legal Services and the T-Level in Agriculture, Land Management and Production will be launched as planned in September 2023, and also as planned, the T-Level in Animal Care and Management will be offered in September 2024 and the T-Level in Marketing in September 2025.

The DfE also issued updated guidance that confirmed that funds due to be paid to providers by the end of March from the T-Level Specialist Equipment Allocation (SEA) for the Wave 4 courses that have now been delayed to 2024 will still be paid on condition that they commit to deliver those courses in 2024 and that planned student numbers remain the same. The DfE has also given providers until the end of December 2024 to spend their allocation. For those providers due to receive an allocation for the T-Level in Catering, the DfE has said it will be contacting them to reclaim any funding they may have received but not yet spent.

Some providers defer or cancel their own T-Level courses

Last month, the DfE published an evaluation report on the T-Level Professional Development (TLDP) programme delivered by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF). The report also revealed that since September 2021, 14 schools, colleges and private providers that were due to commence the delivery of T-Level courses, deferred doing so or cancelled altogether. The reasons for this include:

• Being unable to recruit enough students.
• Applicants unable to meet the entry requirements.
• A shortage of staff with the required subject knowledge and industrial experience.
• A lack of awareness by potential students of T-Level courses and progression pathways from them.
• Uncertainty over the willingness of universities to accept T-Levels for entry to degree programmes.
• The impact of the Covid pandemic.
• Failure to find a sufficient number of industrial
• Student preference for other Level 3 vocational courses (particularly BTECs).

DfE confirms that each T-Level will have only one awarding organisation

The DfE and IfATE have confirmed the decision to use just one single awarding organisation (AO) for each T-Level. This was a recommendation initially made in the Sainsbury Review of Technical Education, which the DfE agreed to. However, both the DfE’s own researchers and Ofqual have warned that with no alternative to step in if problems arise with a contracted AO, there is a risk of serious ‘system failure’.

Ofqual consults on changes to the timing of assessments for T-Level Technical Qualifications

On 9 March the DfE published an update of its policy paper on the introduction of T-Levels which explains what they are, how they are structured and how they are assessed.  A key part of the T-Level assessment is the Technical Qualification (TQ), which is designed against the same employer-led occupational standards as those used in apprenticeships. The purpose of the TQ is to ensure students have the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to progress into skilled employment or higher-level technical education and training. The TQ assessment involved is made up of three components. These are:

• A core exam set and marked by the awarding organisation (AO).
• A core project set by employers, with an input from the AO.
• One or more assessments in occupational specialisms.

On 20 March, Ofqual published proposals for a change in how students take core exams and the core project. From September 2023, instead of having to take both of these in the same assessment series, students will be able to take them in separate assessment series. For example, a student could choose to take the core exam in the summer series of one year, and the core project in the autumn series of the following year. The change is intended to offer more flexibility for providers delivering TQs and for the students taking them. More detailed information on the proposed change can be found here. The change will also require Ofqual to update its requirements for the timing of assessments as set out in its Qualification Level Conditions for Technical Qualifications. Ofqual has launched an online consultation on the proposed change, with responses required by 15 May.

New incentive to encourage employers to provide industry placements

Last month (February) the DfE launched a £12 million T-Level Employer Support Fund. On 28 March the DfE published guidance for employers which says that they are eligible receive up to £25,000 in the period between 1 April this year and 31 March next year towards the eligible costs of providing industry placements for T-Level students. This is the DfE’s latest incentive to encourage employers to increase the quality and quantity of industry placements for T Level students. T-Level providers will be allocated an amount of funding that reflects the number of T-Level students they have enrolled, and they will be responsible for making payments to employers. On 28 March the DfE also published updated guidance for T-Level providers on the operation of the fund. The amount paid to employers is not dependent on the number of placements they offer, nor does it need to be paid back if a placement unexpectedly ends. However, any funds not paid to employers by providers will be clawed back in August next year.

OFSTED ADVERTISES FOR A NEW CHIEF INSPECTOR

Ofsted has advertised for a new Chief Inspector to replace Amanda Spielman, who will leave her post at the end of the year after seven years in post. (She becomes the longest serving Chief Inspector after her initial 5-year contract with Ofsted was extended by 2 years because of lockdowns during the Covid pandemic). Ofsted says that the successful applicant must have significant experience at a senior level in

schools and experience in at least one of the other areas within Ofsted’s inspection remit, such as FE, early years or children’s social care. This requirement is a policy change since Ms Spielman has never been a teacher. She previously worked in the finance sector before taking up a senior administrative position in the Ark Schools Trust, and later becoming the Chair of Ofqual. The deadline for applications is 6 April and the successful candidate will take up post on 1 January 2024.

LABOUR SAYS IT WILL REFORM OFSTED IF IT WINS THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION

The advert for the new Ofsted Chief Inspector states that the successful applicant ‘will need to respond proactively to the direction of government policy and strategy’. This will be significant if the Labour Party win the next general election. Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education in England, has said that that, if elected Labour will review the way Ofsted operates, as follows:

• The current Ofsted grading system will see the current four grades replaced by a new ‘report card’ which will enable interested parties to get a better understanding of where a school or college is performing well and where they could do better. There are no details as yet of what this will entail.
• The current inspection framework is now ‘more subjective’ than it was previously, and there have been ‘significant inconsistencies’ in the grades Ofsted inspectors have been awarding.
• The length and frequency of inspections will be reviewed, as will safeguarding arrangements, because ‘the safety of children is too important to be left to infrequent inspections’.

Ms Phillipson said that proposals for change will be subject to prior consultation with key stakeholders.

OTHER LIKELY LABOUR PARTY FE AND SKILLS CHANGES

• Functional Skills: Labour Shadow Skills Minister Toby Perkins said that an incoming Labour government will review Functional Skills requirements in apprenticeships. DfE rules currently say that apprentices without a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and maths must achieve a Level 2 standard in these subjects in order to complete their apprenticeship. However, training providers say that the curriculum content, the exam-based assessment and the under-funding of English and maths functional skills courses have disproportionately contributed to apprenticeship low achievement rates.
• T-Levels: Mr Perkins said that Labour was not hostile to T-Levels and would not reverse the Conservative government’s proposals to rationalise Level 3 qualifications. However, Labour was in favour of giving young people a choice of Level 3 vocational qualifications and would therefore not necessarily be defunding qualifications such as BTECs that duplicate or overlap with T-Levels.
• Skills and growth levy: In September last year, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer announced that, if elected, Labour would replace the apprenticeship levy with a ‘skills and growth levy’, and would ring-fence up to half of funds raised through the levy to enable employers to choose to spend the money on other forms of skills training if they thought this was necessary.
• SMEs and apprenticeships: At present small and medium size employers (SMEs) have to rely on the transfer of the levy underspends of larger employers to be able to offer apprenticeships, but as yet no mention has been made of helping SMEs to offer apprenticeships through direct access to levy funds.

START DATE FOR PROJECTS FUNDED THROUGH THE UKSPF BROUGHT FORWARD TO APRIL 2023

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was launched in April 2022, with the funding period running until March 2025. The UKSPF is intended to replace the European Social Fund (ESF), which allocates matched funded grants to member states, subject to approval by the European Union (EU). ESF funding comes from the member states that are net contributors to the EU central budget of which, prior to Brexit in 2020, the UK was the third largest. Each UK country has received an allocation from the UKSPF. £1.58 billion has been allocated for the 3-year period to the ten MCAs and Greater London, along with 50 unitary authorities, 165 district and borough councils and 23 upper tier authorities in England, but the authorities were not allowed to start to spend the cash until April 2024. However, on 23 March, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) announced that this restriction has been removed and authorities will be able to spend their allocation from this April. The move has been generally welcomed although there are some concerns about the timing. The main aims of the UKSPF within the ‘People and Skills’ element include developing skills capability and supporting economically inactive individuals into employment.

DFE PUBLISHES SEND PROVISION IMPROVEMENT PLAN: ‘RIGHT SUPPORT, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME’

In September 2019, the DfE launched a review of education provision for children and young people with SEND. In May last year, the DfE published a Green Paper containing the main findings of the review, along with proposals for improvement. On 2 March, the DfE finally published its SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Policy entitled ‘Right support, right place, right time’. Proposals in the document include the introduction of standardised and digitised EHCPs for those with SEND. New national standards will also be introduced that will be used to hold local authorities and education settings to account. These will specify the provision that children and young people with SEND and their families can expect to be made available for them, from early years through to further education. They will also clarify who is responsible for making provision available and which budgets should be used to pay for the required support. The new national standards will be underpinned by legislation that will facilitate intervention in education settings if the standards are not met.

Observers in the FE sector say that the plan has very little new to say about post-16 education and training, and that the problems caused by complex bureaucracy, under-funding and the inconsistencies that currently exist, go largely unaddressed. For example, local authorities are expected to specify and commission the post-16 provision they require for students with EHCPs by March 31 each year. However, local authorities regularly miss this deadline and because the information about a SEND student’s needs isn’t shared early enough, their transition to a post-16 setting is often hampered by late decisions and poor planning. With reference to FE:

• The new national standards will set out how colleges must adapt their physical and sensory environments to enable students with SEND to learn alongside their peers, as well as the local authority’s role in supporting colleges to deliver this.
• There will be a national system of funding bands and tariffs. Funding bands will reflect specific types of SEND provision required and the prices that commissioners of provision will be expected to pay colleges. Colleges should also have more clarity on how much funding they can expect to receive for delivering support or a service to students with SEND.
• The number of supported internships will be doubled by 2025. These are structured, work-based study programmes for 16 to 24-year-olds withSEND and who have an EHCP. Students with SEND will be enrolled at a college (or other provider) but they will spend most of their time in a work placement.
• English and maths flexibilities within apprenticeships for those with SEND will be retained. This will allow an apprentice with SEND and an EHCP to complete their apprenticeship with a level of English and maths that reflects their inherent capabilities. See here for more information on this.
• 33 new specialist free schools will be built in 30 local authority areas with the largest high needs SEND deficits. However, there are no plans for any additional capital investment in post-16 specialist SEND colleges. Neither are specialist SEND colleges eligible for funding under the government’s existing capital programmes for colleges (such as the Further Education Capital Transformation Fund).
• Unlike in schools, there are no new workforce development proposals for SEND staff in post-16 settings. Instead, the DfE says it will introduce three new ‘practice guides’ to help equip staff with the skills and expertise required, and to help them identify students with SEND early and accurately.

DFE CONFIRMS THAT OFFICIAL TRANSGENDER GUIDANCE FOR SCHOOLS WILL ALSO APPLY IN COLLEGES

The DfE has confirmed that the official guidance being developed on provision for transgender and non-binary pupils in schools will be extended to include students under the age of 18 in FE colleges. The DfE says that the guidance will be based on safeguarding and will not be an attempt to balance contested views. College leaders have welcomed the decision, with many of them currently unsure how to accommodate transgender and non-binary students in areas such as sport and toilet facilities.

PRINCE’S TRUST PUBLISHES FINDINGS OF RESEARCH INTO THE LONG-TERM IMPACT OF COVID ON YOUNG PEOPLE

A study of 2,106 young people aged 16-24 on the impact of the Covid pandemic carried by YouGov on behalf the Prince’s Trust which was published last month, found that:

• Nearly one in four (23%) said they will ‘never recover’ from the emotional effects of the pandemic.
• More than a third (36%) said there has been a long-term negative impact on their stress levels.
• Nearly half of (48%) said they experienced a mental health problem during lockdowns.
• One in five (22%) said they feel they will fail in life, rising to a third (34%) of those who are NEET.

The study may partly corroborate City & Guilds research published last December, which found that 30% of young people aged 18-24 felt they would never be able to achieve their career ambitions, and that 9% (equivalent to 227,000 young people) said they never intend to start working at all.

NEW REPORT SHOWS DRAMATIC INCREASE IN SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM

A report published earlier this month (March) based on research conducted by the Centre for Social Justice and entitled ‘Lost and not found’ reveals that:

• The number of ‘severely absent’ children (defined as those absent from school for more than 50% of the time) has significantly increased from 93,000 in the autumn of 2020 to 140,000 in the summer of 2022, and is now at an all-time high. More than 110,000 of these severely absent children (78%) are from state-funded secondary schools.
• Nearly 2 million children are ‘persistently absent’ (defined as those absent from school for more than 10% of the time). The rate of persistent absence has doubled over the period from the autumn of 2020 to the summer of 2022.
• More than a quarter of all children are regularly absent from school and many children have disengaged with education entirely. Absenteeism rates are highest in the most disadvantaged areas.
• The dramatic rise in absenteeism cannot be entirely explained by the impact of the Covid pandemic. Researchers found that evidence of increased anxiety, mental health problems, unmet special educational needs and disabilities, and issues at home also contributed to high levels of absenteeism.

Recommendations made in the report say that the DfE should:

• Roll out a national programme of 2,000 extra attendance mentors to work with families and help them to improve their children’s school attendance. This would cost an estimated £80 million per year and could be funded through the Supporting Families programme.
• Take steps to integrate Family Hubs with existing school services and co-locate them within schools.
• Develop new metrics to track school attendance and examine patterns at an individual and school level.
• Ensure that fines for School Attendance Orders and attendance prosecution do not create perverse incentives that push children out of the education system.
• Fast track its commitment to roll out designated mental health leads for all schools.
• Follow through on the commitment to invest £500 million in new youth clubs and services.
• Enlist the support of major businesses, charities and third sector organisations to help young people who have been absent for long periods to return to school.

ONS PUBLISHES LATEST UK LABOUR MARKET FIGURES DATA

On 14 March the ONS published its latest Labour Market Overview. The main points include the following:

• The UK employment rate was 75.7% in the period from November 2022 to January 2023. This was 0.1% higher than the previous quarter. The numbers in jobs rose by 211,000 on the previous quarter to a new record high of 36.4 million.
• The number of payrolled employees in February 2023 increased by 98,000 to 30.0 million.
• The unemployment rate for the period from November 2022 to January 2023 was largely unchanged on the previous quarter at 3.7%, but remains at a record low level. By way of comparison, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, and the Euro area collectively, all have higher levels of unemployment.
• The economic inactivity rate decreased by 0.2% on the quarter to 21.3%. The quarterly decrease in economic inactivity was mainly driven by a small number of older people coming out of retirement and a small increase in number of young people aged 16 to 24 years who became economically active.
• The estimated number of vacancies fell by 51,000 on the quarter to 1,124,000. Vacancies fell for the eighth consecutive quarter. Economic pressures and uncertainty were cited as the main reasons holding back on recruitment.
• Growth in average total pay (including bonuses) was 5.7%, and growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 6.5% for all employees on the year to January 2023. Average regular pay growth over the period was 7.0% in the private sector and 4.8% in the public sector. In real terms (adjusted for inflation) pay fell on the year to January 2023, by 3.2% for total pay and by 2.4% for regular pay.

AND FINALLY…

A newly appointed college principal was a fitness fanatic. He came from a sports background and on arriving at the college was dismayed at what he perceived to be the low levels of health and fitness of college staff. At his first staff meeting he told those present that ‘efficient and effective college staff were healthy and fit college staff’ – like him. He went on to say that he had instructed the college canteen staff to bin ‘junk food’ and replace it with healthy plant-based options such as tofu, whole grains and lentils. He also said that he had instructed the Head of HR to procure an exercise programme that staff could engage in during their spare time. He said that participation in the programme would be voluntary but hinted that he would be keeping a close eye on those who chose not to. The Head of HR who, fortunately for him was about to retire, procured the exercise programme outlined below.

• Begin by standing on a comfortable surface where you have plenty of room at each side.
• With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute and then relax. Each day you will find that you can hold this position for a bit longer.
• After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags.
• Then attempt using 50-lb potato bags until you eventually try to get to a point where you can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.
• When you feel sufficiently confident at this level, put a potato in each bag and repeat.

Alan Birks – March 2023

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