Burnham’s Big Week Of Announcements… But Is There the Local Infrastructure to Deliver It? FE Soundbite 858

August 1, 2026

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 858: 1st August 2026. Burnham's Big Week Of Announcements... But Is There the Local Infrastructure to Deliver It?

This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here's a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles from sector influencers and thought leaders across FE and Skills this week on FE News.

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Gavin’s Reflective Perspective

Wow, you'd think ... summer holidays, it'll be quiet... erm no! So a bunch of massive announcements this week (again).

So from 2028, Year 10 will be a bit different... with more work experience, access to employers and skills. Which is great. This is all to reduce the amount of NEETs... now, in Gov speak... 'more to follow' (eg more detail to be announced).... but in fairness, this is not a new concept. UTCs have been delivering work experience and links with employers to raise 'work readiness' in young people... for 16+ years. So we had a cracking exclusive from Kate Ambrosi on the lessons learnt from UTCs.

What is going to be interesting, for me, is how the closer links to employers will be facilitated in schools? As School Teachers, being honest... they usually don't have links to industry, or local business... most work experience in schools is arranged through the parents, family, friends... how can we break the cycles and give opportunities and experience to all?

Equally, to make this happen, how can we remove the red tape, health and safety, safeguarding etc for employers... and make it worth it for the employer? No doubt... 'More to follow', great plan... more detail needed and announcing in literally the first few weeks of the school holidays... to be honest, felt a bit more headline grabbing than thinking of effective delivery... making a difference to young people!

Burnham Benefit Bursaries

Same day, another big batch of announcements. New PM Andy Burnham announced that there will be Bursaries to help families on benefits not be penalised or lose out if a young person starts an apprenticeship. I think this is brilliant. £4500 isn't to be sniffed at and something like this has been long called for! Brilliant!

However, scrap away a bit... and the bursary actually targets the small number of Universal Credit families for whom the current system disincentivises apprenticeships. A Social Security Advisory Committee report found single parents with a disabled child could lose up to £340 per week in benefits when a young person started an apprenticeship, exceeding the expected apprenticeship salary of £258 per week. So this is great... but the reality is that this is for a small number of UC families!

Fully funded Apprenticeships... for all eligible under-25s from 1 August 2026. So again.. a result! A reversal, to be honest, so this is great for employers.

Up to £8k Employer incentives for taking on an Apprentice

When I heard about the £8k employer incentive, I got really excited... again, looking a bit deeper (and I clarified with DWP)... this is in reality going to be for very few Apprentices and Employers, as the incentives are calculated as follows:

£3,000 Youth Jobs Grant: Available for any employer hiring an 18 to 24-year-old who has claimed Universal Credit for six months or longer (launched June 2026; paid directly to the employer).
£2,000 Non-Levy Hiring Grant: Available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) recruiting an additional apprentice aged 16 to 24 (launching October 2026).
£2,000 Foundation Apprenticeship Incentive: Extra support for employers taking on young people who need preparation before a full apprenticeship.
£1,000 Young Apprentice Payment: For taking on an apprentice aged 16–18, or aged 19–24 if they have an Education, Health and Care (EHCP) plan or are a care leaver (paid in two instalments at 90 days and one year via the training provider).

eg: £3+ £2 + £2 + £1 = £8000.

Just 160 Foundation Apprenticeship Starts for 25/26 year

However... the £2,000 Foundation Apprenticeship Incentive... erm... According to the latest DfE and DWP stats from 16th July 2026 (eg 2 weeks ago), out of the 308,770 apprenticeship starts for the 2025/26 academic year so far (August 2025 to April 2026), there were just 160 Foundation Apprenticeship starts from 2025/26!

So Foundation Apprenticeships are just 0.052% of the 300,000 overall Apprenticeship starts. That isn't many! So not many employers will receive the £8k incentives in reality; let's be clear and open on that!

So again... sounds great... the reality is... hardly any employers will receive this amount of incentive as it is cut and calculated at the moment! Again... great showmanship, but will this make a difference? All of this, to me, is steps in the right direction; yes, there is some showmanship, no lectern, speaking to the people, as one of the people... but... will it also be 'More to Follow'?

To be fair, Burnham was busy this week... and skills were mentioned in... health and social care announcements, in Defence... maybe we will see that centralised Government thinking on Apprenticeships across departments that we asked for as well in the Breaking Barriers Colle c tive coming into fruition?

Local First Principle

We all knew Andy Burnham was going to really push devolution... everything he says is... we did this in Manchester, blah blah... but he has genuinely flipped the model on its head with the 'Local First' Principle.

From next spring, mayors will begin retaining a greater share of locally generated revenues, starting with business rates... in fact English mayors (important to distinguish this is for England), will receive a share of income tax revenues for the first time... Further details on this and on income tax retention will be set out in a roadmap at the Budget ('More to Follow') ... but what we know is that mayors will control over 16-19 funding and employment support, so young people can train for the jobs local employers need and people out of work can get tailored support back into employment.

So 16-19 funding and employment support will be devolved

As AoC commented, this is great... but the centralised system is complex... As AoC's David Hughes comments: "There are many risks though with the shift, because it is a complex national system spending £ 9.5 billion 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."

The Civil Service Will Become Smaller and More Strategic

Particularly... as this isn't just more money to Mayors or areas that don't have a Mayor... but also a significant shift in the Civil Service... This is a significant line in the announcement: "As powers move out of Westminster, the Civil Service will become smaller and more strategic"... "The reforms will be driven by a strengthened No10 North operation"... interesting... and "The plan for devolution will form a major part of the Civil Service’s future operating model, being developed as part of the Cabinet Secretary’s wider Review into the Organisation, Performance, and Transformation of the permanent Civil Service."

It goes further... Rewiring the State

On Friday the Cabinet Office released a statement / policy paper and it is SIGNIFICANT.. called: Rewiring the State – Cabinet Statement. Within in it the policy states:

The New Model of Government and particularly point 2: Implications for Central Government, The Civil Service, and Arm’s Length Bodies states:

We agreed that this agenda will be about devolution, not delegation. Central government must become smaller and more strategic, releasing savings and enabling resources to be transferred to local areas alongside policy responsibilities. Where powers and functions are transferred, we will not duplicate them. We also agreed to adopt an operating principle of devolving by default – meaning that where policies or services are being designed or altered, Secretaries of State will need to justify holding them at the level of central government.

We agreed to replace the current model of consultation by default with new and modern forms of public participation. This includes considering where performative statutory duties to consult can be revoked and how we can more actively bring the public into the policy-making process instead. This recognises that local leaders are better equipped to link public opinion and civil society to policy making.

Quietly.... a new model for Government has been rolled out... this is massively significant! Significant for everyone, for skills, for employability, for jobs... for everything that Government and local Government delivers, this is massively important.

This is significant system-wide change... so... the concern is... if the Civil Service is to become smaller and more strategic... will the knowledge base be retained, or dissolved? The Rewiring the State statement explains: we will actively build new career paths between central government and the wider public sector.

Is this redistribution of authority and revenue... but also a cost-saving on the centralised (but already spread across the country) civil service? Watch this space for more... as there are more significant potential shifts than building planning, housing, business rates and bus fares!

The Cabinet Office statement continues with: Civil Service to adapt and learn through greater interchange with regional and local government, becoming more porous and working together to deliver better outcomes for the citizens we serve. This is a total rewiring... mainstream media, the person in the street, doesn't seem to have picked this up as yet!

One thing that has stuck in my head... will we be moving back to a similar 47 Local Skills Council model that we had 20+ years ago, with the proposed devolution changes? Or will it be something new?

My Concern

My concern... is do we actually have the infrastructure and expertise to deliver this well locally, it also sounds like the Civil Service could be shrinking, but is actually already spread across the nation... but could roles be moving into local from national... could we have expertise gaps... we need to roll this out well, as AoC highlighted, there is a risk here! ... no doubt we will have 'More to Follow'! To get the finer details in place... as I get the timing, Burnham is just in post... but is now, when it is the school holidays, the best timing for these announcements? ... Will there be potential expertise gaps? With the move from central to local.. will roles need to be duplicated from national to many in local?... we need to roll this out well, as AoC highlighted, there is a risk here! ... no doubt we will have 'More to Follow'! To get the finer details in place... as I get the timing, Burnham is just in post... but is now, when it is the school holidays, the best timing for these announcements?

How are you celebrating Vocational Celebration Day?

.... and thank you to Enginuity for sponsoring FE Soundbite this week. How are you celebrating Vocational Celebration Day on the 6th August?

Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles

Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week

Burnham’s Big Education Idea Is Already Working In UTCs By Kate Ambrosi, Chief Executive of Baker Dearing Educational Trust

Staff MOTs: The Early Intervention Tool Young Workers Need By Paula Allen, Global Leader, Research and Insights at TELUS Health

Government Commitment To Remove Barriers To Social Mobility Welcome, But There Is Still More To Do By Baroness Manningham-Buller

This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!

Ready for Ofsted’s Autumn Changes? By Kerry Boffey, CEO at Fellowship of Inspection Nominees

Neuro-inclusion Article Two: What the NSS Is and Why It Exists By Stuart Martin, the Founder of George Angus Consulting and of the Neurodiversity-Supportive Standard

Now Is The Moment To Rebuild Access To Professional Careers Guidance By Associate Professor Deirdre Hughes, University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research, CiCi and founder of DMH Associates

The Summer Adjustment Gap: A Sensory Lens for Supporting Neurodivergent Staff Through the Hottest Months By Nathan Whitbread, the Neurodivergent Coach

The Skills Challenge Facing Young People Today By Claire Bennison, Executive Director of Customer, Partnerships and Innovation, AAT

Why Hybrid Assessment Models are Becoming Essential for Modern Learners By Dr James Gupta, CEO and Founder of Synap