Funding betrayal will see colleges turn away learners, says AoC

A broken promise on college funding will see thousands of students turned away, and staff without pay rises, the Association of Colleges (AoC) has warned.

In a letter to the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, David Hughes, Chief Executive of AoC, expressed his “anger and deep disappointment” on a funding announcement made last week.

Despite a public pledge from the Prime Minister that further education would be “a defining mission of the Labour government”, and a promise in the FE white paper that funding for 16 to 19-year-olds would be maintained in real terms, the government announced a derisory 0.55% increase in the baseline course and student rates.

In contrast, early years funding rates were increase by 4%, schools by 2.5% and the higher education fee cap by 2.5%. This has led to colleges concluding that 16-18 education is the department's fourth and lowest priority when it to comes to budget decisions, said Hughes.

The consequences are severe: without adequate funding, colleges won’t be able to deliver on the government’s priorities, won’t be able to offer pay rises to staff and will have to turn away tens of thousands of learners, offer fewer priority subjects and offer less support in the government’s priorities.

“Colleges have a key role across a range of government priorities, including reducing NEET numbers, supporting job plans in key sectors, delivering on the Prime Minister's target for more people to achieve Level 4 by age 25 and ensuring an effective transition at 16 for young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND). All have been jeopardised by the funding decision,” said Hughes.

The funding decision also came as the Department for Work and Pensions announced a “new deal” for young people, which sees employers receive incentives to take on young people who are NEET.

While AoC welcomes any investment on supporting young people into the workplace, Hughes stressed that without proper funding for colleges, NEET numbers will continue to rise.

"Funding decisions made in the last few weeks mean the government is failing to invest in colleges who can prevent young people from becoming NEET in the first place,” he said.

“Ultimately, colleges could help tens of thousands more NEET young people if they were given full funding for every student they enrol. It is not much to ask for: simply fund NEET young people in colleges so that they can gain the skills the labour market is crying out for, and support economic growth.”

Jerry White, Chief Executive of City College Norwich and Chair of the Association of Colleges Workforce Strategy group, said: “The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper was only published 18 weeks ago but in that time that the government appears to have forgotten the promises it made to the college sector. College principals like me had responded positively to the white paper’s unequivocal link between adequate real terms increases in funding and the ability of colleges to recruit and retain the staff colleges needed to deliver the governments agendas.

“In proposing real term cuts to 2026/27 funding levels, the government has broken its commitment to our sector. This has fundamentally damaged the trust that we have that it is truly committed to addressing the longstanding and deeply impactful challenges that exist in recruiting and retaining the college workforce that our country requires. Our colleges and our staff were promised, and deserve, better.”