Policy paper

Skills for jobs: implementing a new further education funding and accountability system consultation response summary

Published 13 July 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Applies to England

The formal government response to our Implementing a new FE funding and accountability system consultation is the next milestone in our funding and accountability reforms.

Our milestones

Date Milestone
January 2021 Published the Skills for Jobs White Paper
July 2021 Launched the Reforms to further education (FE) funding and accountability consultation
July 2022 Published our response to Reforms to further education (FE) funding and accountability and launched Implementing a new FE funding and accountability system consultation
July 2023 Responded to Implementing a new FE funding and accountability system consultation

What we asked

We asked 26 questions, covering 14 topics including:

  • funding
  • accountability
  • equality impact assessment

Who responded

We received 249 responses to the consultation, of which:

  • 240 were made online
  • 100 were from local authorities (or other local government)

Responses by organisation type

Organisation type Number of responses
Local authority (or other local government) 100
Learner 49
General further education college 22
Independent training provider 13
Designated institution 10
Mayoral combined authority 9
Representative body 9
Specialist post-16 institution 1
Other 46

Results

We’ve summarised the responses to the consultation. You can read all of the responses in the Implementing a new FE funding and accountability system response.

Respondents liked So we are
Our overall approach to our reforms and the aim to make Further Education funding and accountability more effective and outcome focused Introducing the Adult Skills Fund, introducing accountability agreements and setting national skills priorities
Our proposal to increase funding rates for courses in high priority skills Introducing 5 adult skills funding bands for qualifications that reflect the relative economic benefit of courses as well as their relative cost
Our proposal to encourage innovation by allowing providers to use a proportion of their allocations to develop new innovative provision Allowing eligible providers to earn up to 3% of the adult skills funding allocation for the development of new innovative provision
Respondents agreed with So we are
Our proposed approach to multi-year funding - 68% agreed with this proposal Moving to a multi-year funding approach within each spending review period
A dashboard that holds providers to account for the outcomes they deliver Measuring and sharing high-level outcomes for FE providers through a performance dashboard
Respondents were concerned about So we are
The proposed objectives for non-qualification provision and the loss of wider benefits such as improved mental health and well-being Ensuring the Adult Skills Fund is primarily focused on progression into employment, but it can also support wider outcomes such as social-well-being and improved mental health
That our proposal to allocate a fixed sum to grant funded providers for learner and learning support wouldn’t simplify the system - 85% disagreed or were not sure about this proposal Maintaining the existing system of funding for disadvantage, learner and learning support
That the reforms were being introduced too quickly without sufficient lead-in time Updating the implementation timeline of our reforms to give providers sufficient lead in times
Respondents wanted to hear more about So we are
How our reforms impact areas with devolved responsibilities for adult skills Clarifying that for all our reforms, authorities with devolution deals will continue to be responsible for both what they fund and how they fund it and can use our reforms as a basis for their funding if they wish. We are also introducing a national model for funding and strengthening accountability for devolved skills funding through new annual skill stocktakes, improved data transparency and a new non-statutory diagnostic review
Which types of providers are in scope for our accountability reforms Articulating that all statutory FE providers are in scope for our accountability reforms and local authority providers will be in scope for some elements, on a proportionate basis
How we assessed the equality impacts of our reforms Publishing our Equality Impact Assessment

Timeline of our reforms

Accountability reforms

Academic year 2022 to 2023 Academic year 2023 to 2024 Academic year 2024 to 2025
Enhanced Ofsted inspections Implemented Implemented Implemented
Single improvement plans Implemented Implemented Implemented
Accountability agreements Developing Implemented Implemented
Performance dashboard Developing Implemented Implemented

Funding reforms

Academic year 2022 to 2023 Academic year 2023 to 2024 Academic year 2024 to 2025
Innovative provision Developing Implemented Implemented
Funding framework Consulting Developing Implemented
Adult Skills Fund Consulting Developing Implemented
New funding rates Consulting Developing Implemented
Reforming non-qualification provision Consulting Developing Implemented

Next steps

We recognise that we still have further to go to simplify the system, in the next phase of our reforms we will:

  • continue to review the Individualised Learner Record to test how we can ease the reporting burden on providers by reducing the number of fields
  • simplify enrolments and reduce administrative burdens by introducing a digital wallet for learners, supporting learner identification and enabling data sharing between learners and providers
  • reduce administrative burdens on the sector by reviewing opportunities to simplify current financial and non-financial oversight
  • use a Single Development Fund to deliver funding for improvement and new investment purposes, rather than multiple separate funds
  • develop and consult on a needs-based formula to distribute funding between authorities with devolution deals and ensure public funding is distributed fairly and effectively