College heads warn that further education funding is in disarray

More than 170 college heads have written to the prime minister warning that they will be forced to turn away thousands of students next year because of a “dysfunctional” funding system.

The CEOs and principals of further education (FE) colleges, which between them educate 1.5 million people, say the budget squeeze will damage the government’s own targets on house building and youth unemployment.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) estimates that 20,000 students, including 15,000 who have signed up for construction courses, may be denied places this year.

In their letter, the leaders accuse Keir Starmer of breaking the promise he made in his last party conference speech to make further education a “defining cause” of his government. The prime minister scrapped a target for 50 per cent of young people to go to university and pledged to put a greater focus on technical skills.

However, the college heads say their attempt to deliver on the ambition is being hampered by the government’s own policies. “The reality is that we want to and can do more but we are being thwarted by a dysfunctional funding system,” they write.

The prime minister has not done enough “to overcome the longstanding lack of respect our colleges have had to endure,” the leaders add.

Last year, FE colleges recruited 32,000 more 16- to 19-year-old students than they had funding for and the government allocated only a third of the cost of these courses. The AoC estimates that a similar number of young people are likely to be seeking college places above what is funded this year.

A recent survey found that colleges expect to turn away around two-thirds of applicants, even if they have the qualifications required to do the courses. The majority plan to study construction, which is an expensive course to teach. “Turning those potential students away risks your own target to build 1.5 million homes within five years of the Labour government, and suggests that construction is not a priority area after all,” the letter says. “It’s a choice we should not have to be making, given the importance you have placed on helping more people get the skills they need and that the country needs.”

Almost a million young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET). In his conference speech, the prime minister pledged to rebalance the education system and put a greater emphasis on vocational training.

The government has promised to create 29 technical excellence colleges and put further education institutions at the heart of its housebuilding plans and net zero strategy.

However, there is a cap on the number of students further education colleges can accept. Although universities can recruit as many people as they want – paid for through tuition fees and taxpayer-subsidised loans – colleges are forced to either turn learners away or deliver programmes without any budget.

David Hughes, the chief executive of the AoC, said the rules were “hypocritical and illogical” and urged Starmer to change them. “I am pretty sure he does not know that colleges will have to turn away tens of thousands of young people wanting education and skills to help them get on in life. Those same people are the ones who are best-placed, if they can access those skills, to fill vacancies in key sectors like construction, health, care and advanced manufacturing.”

He said college lecturers earn around £10,500 less than school teachers on average, making it hard to recruit and retain staff. “It’s a national scandal that we’ve got around a million young people who are not in education, employment or training. Large numbers of them need to go to college to learn the skills that are relevant in the labour market locally but colleges have no funding for that because the numbers are capped. We’ve ended up with a system that benefits more advantaged students because there are more people from advantaged households getting good qualifications that can take them onto higher education. If you’ve not done well in GCSEs and you want to go to college to do construction, you might not be able to because the budget is capped.”

Photograph by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images