Over the summer, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) set out how they would fund workplace learning. In an example of how a seemingly minor piece of wording can alter delivery throughout the sector, they initially set out how they wouldn’t fund any workplace learning, relevant to a learner’s job and/or their employers business.
The Funding Rules for 16/17 stated that:
What we will not fund
E21. We will not fund any learning aim delivered at an employee’s workplace and relevant to either their job or their employers business, unless:
E21.1. the learner has an entitlement to full funding under paragraphs E24 or E28 to E30, or
E21.2. we have agreed a concession that responds to a significant negative economy impact for a specific industry
Whereas, the original draft stated from 17/18:
What we will not fund
157. We will not fund any learning aim delivered at an employee’s workplace, or is relevant to their job and/or is relevant to their employer’s business, unless
157.1. the learner has an entitlement to full funding for English and/or maths (paragraph 161), and/or a first full Level 2 or first full Level 3 qualification (paragraph 168), or
157.2. we have confirmed a national level concession that responds to a significant negative economic impact for a specific industry.
This tiny change would have a great impact on workplace. We need to safeguard the ability of employers to access level two qualifications, which are essential to training of their workforce and filling skills gaps. In addition to this, the erroneous conjunction also highlighted that if the adult education budget couldn’t be used to deliver this support to adult learners in the workplace, it would have put over a million learning opportunities at risk in crucial, growing sectors of the economy such as Health and Social Care.
We questioned the wisdom of this move, especially in light of the need for employers to up and reskill their workforce to face the forthcoming economic challenges that we’re likely to face. The rationale behind the change, as originally outlined, was to drive employers to use the apprenticeship levy to upskill their workforce, but this would be at the expense of the shorter courses that help adults progress or move in their careers.
Having identified this potentially catastrophic change, we worked with our customers and the Association of Employment, AoC and Learning Providers to raise awareness with the ESFA. Having seen the potential impact of this change, alongside pressure from providers, we’ve secured an amendment that now reads “we will not fund any learning aim delivered at an employee’s workplace and relevant to either their job or their employer’s business”.
This is a great example of NCFE and the sector working together to get the best outcome for our customers and learners, and the best decision for the sector overall.
