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The real cost of underspending

By Esme Winch, Managing Director, Wednesday 18 October 2017

esme blog.jpg

We welcome the announcement from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) indicating that they have issued letters to providers affected by the ongoing Adult Education Budget tender fallout. They state their new modified run-down extension contract value and the arrangements that will apply for the period 1 November 2017 to 31 July 2018. It’s our understating that the ESFA will now bring funding up to the value of 75% of last year’s amount. Whilst not the best outcome we could have hoped for, at least it provides some level of market continuation, as well as assurance for learners that their courses will go ahead as planned.

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Apprenticeship figures reveal 16-19 year could be missing out

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Wednesday 18 October 2017

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

The government has published its experimental apprenticeship service statistics to August 2017, showing apprenticeship service account registrations, and ‘commitments’ to apprenticeship starts by age, level and academic year. The data itself is striking in its insight into the new world of apprenticeships, following the launch of the Levy. It reveals that only 55% of employers have signed up to use their Levy account. This means just under half of Levy paying employers are currently writing this off as a tax, without signing up to see how much their Levy payments will get them.

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Learning Curve Group raise thousands for charity at ball

By , Tuesday 10 October 2017

NCFE partner, Learning Curve Group (LCG) raised a fantastic £9,523 for 2017 their charity of the year, Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) by hosting a Vegas-themed charity ball. Heart FM DJ, Justin Lockwood, hosted the charity ball at Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield on Friday 15 September. Over 160 guests enjoyed fabulous entertainment from glamorous dance group Encore, saxophone player Daniel Johnson, rising singing star Abi Garrido and live band Audio Cover.

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How not to manage a market

By Mick Fletcher, FE Policy Analyst, Friday 06 October 2017

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The core problem with government skills policy is that it is ultimately founded on a deceit.  The claim is that employers are in the driving seat.  In practice however all it means is that government has chosen to manage a pseudo-market by manipulating employers rather than manipulating providers.  I’ve made this point before (see FE Week 22/04/14) but now some of the perverse consequences of this shift are becoming more apparent. Manipulation, or as ESFA would prefer to say ‘adjusting the incentives to employers’ is necessary because not every outcome of an unfettered market would be acceptable to government.  Since we are talking about public money (remember even the apprenticeship levy is a tax) this is right and proper.  It underlines the point however that, like bus drivers, employers may turn the wheel but they are not free to fix the destination.

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Non-levy tendering, still non-moving

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Thursday 21 September 2017

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

As Nick Linford is right to point out in his recent blog , the non-levy tendering process has been fraught with own goals and confusion in setting out how a large amount of apprenticeship provision could be delivered. If the government is serious about its manifesto commitment to grow apprenticeships, then it’s going the right way to significantly damage the provider base that will deliver these. As the (revised) deadline for tender submissions has passed, we now enter a nervous waiting period as we see who has been successful in receiving their allocations, and indeed, if the allocations received meet the amounts tendered for.

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