AoC responds to the Prime Minister's plans to devolve 16-19 funding

David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said: “The Prime Minister came into power with a clear vision for giving more powers to elected mayors and this announcement shows that he means it. For colleges, which sit at the heart of their communities, this could be a very positive step, giving them the investment, support and priority positioning to carry out their role in local economic growth and helping people develop the skills and learning they need to find good jobs. Colleges do an amazing job already in supporting education and training that is best for their students and local employers. They do that in a national system which has many constraints and high levels of bureaucracy, and with funding that has still not recovered from a decade of severe cuts from 2010. 

"This announcement proposes to tear up that national system and replace it with one where colleges and schools (for their sixth forms) are accountable to elected mayors locally. Where that is done well, colleges will flourish because they deliver, despite the poor funding and restrictions, what local mayors want. With more local control, colleges should see more investment to scale up what they do for more young people to help them progress and succeed.

"There are many risks though with the shift, because it is a complex national system spending £9.5billion on 1,275,000 students in over 2,500 colleges, schools and other organisations. I will be urging the government to tread very carefully, work through the details with us and other partners, and to pilot the change before rolling it out more fully. I look forward to sharing our experience in the discussions with government officials and ministers that have already started this week.

"At the headline level, there are five key issues which we will press for. The first is that there is a strong national framework for 16-19 devolution which put in place some 'guide-rails' to help reduce the risks of the change. 

"Second, we will be looking for early movement to remove the existing national regulatory rules and restrictions which colleges are subject to in order to be able to be accountable for meeting local priorities.

"Third, colleges will need long-term capital and revenue investment to scale up, including more funding to pay staff in line with schools and industry. 

"Fourth, we will need to see mayors convene and engage employers much more to support the delivery of technical and vocational training, education and skills from the age of 14.

"And finally, we will need to see mayors step in much more with powers over schools to ensure that they collaborate with colleges to develop the new pathways.

"None of these things are straightforward, and this devolution will take significant time to work through the system and best serve students. At AoC, alongside our member colleges, we are ready with the expertise and insight to support the roll-out of the Prime Minister’s plans."