Blog posts for tag:SFA funding

The Further Education sector may have avoided additional cuts in the Budget 2016 announcements, but we’re not out of the woods yet. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) could end full funding for 524 qualifications – around 20% of the total qualifications currently fundable. The SFA held a consultation between 10 and 29 February on removing full funding from a number of qualifications for 19-23 year olds; this was met with criticism from the sector, including the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) because 5 of those working days fell during half term. FAB has complained directly to the SFA, as the timescale made it difficult to garner the required support from colleges and training providers. 

This month saw the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) set out its qualification eligibility principles for the new Adult Education Budget (AEB), set to replace the Adult Skills Budget (ASB) from August 2016. This year, in line with the previously published Simplified Funding Rules for 2016-2017, the SFA is changing the way in which it creates an approved, publicly funded qualifications offer for learners. For 2016-2017 it’s introducing a new process that reflects both their policy to simplify the Further Education funding system and to place more of the decision making into the hands of learners, employers and localities.

Every year, the Skills Minister writes to the Chief Executive of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), setting out the government's vision for skills funding priorities for the forthcoming funding year. It sets out in headline terms how 19+ funding will work from August 2016. One of the major changes to previous years is the appearance of a new budget line; the Adult Education Budget (or, because we love our Three Letter Acronyms, the AEB).

Government say less is more as qualifications fall (47) – the overall number of qualifications being awarded has fallen by 7%, linked to cuts to funding for qualifications that the government said did not offer ‘quality education.’ 654,100 fewer vocational qualifications were awarded in 2013-14 than in 2012-13, and there was a drop of 10.7% of adults undertaking Further Education, with the government stating that "we feel the rigour and relevance of vocational qualifications is more important than numbers [achieved] alone." The government wish to focus on those qualifications 'which deliver most benefit to learners and are of the most value to employers.’

Welcome back from what I hope was a great Easter for you. On 10 April, I blogged about the funding relating to NCFE’s 13 credit qualifications recently exempted by the SFA. I’ve had a query about funding relating to these qualifications for the next academic year. The issue is linked to the change in classification from full to non-full for the 13 and 14 credit qualifications that have recently been confirmed as funded in 2014/15 despite the fact they are below the 15 credit threshold for full level 2.

As we continue to update you on the latest developments with the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and the new funding rules for 2014-15, I have further news to share. Over 5,000 adult vocational courses are set to be cut in order to simplify and streamline the adult skills system in England; with approximately £200m of the department’s adult skills budget now be re-directed towards what the Government considers to be the `most relevant` qualifications.

As you’re aware, the SFA recently announced changes to its funding rules meaning that a number of adult qualifications may no longer be publicly funded. This story has hit the wider press this month with reports stating that around 5,000 adult vocational courses will be cut in order to "simplify and streamline" the adult skills system in England. Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock took to Twitter to announce that the current system is ‘hard to understand’ and the Government will be binning ‘low-value’ courses such as self-tanning, balloon artistry and instructing pole fitness in order to focus on qualifications that employers value. Nearly £200m of the department's adult skills budget will now be redirected towards what the Government considers to be the ‘most relevant’ qualifications.