Phil Smith on the Skills England Annual Report and Skills Compass

Phil Smith, Chair of Skills England Gavin from FE News sit down to discuss the Skills England Annual report. Exploring everything from data, skills systems…

Colleges included in the £1.8bn Experts at Hand offer, but year 1 steers support to the early years

Mainstream 16 to 19 providers are named among eligible settings, but an early years steer and a warning over years 2 and 3 mean the…

Unite Union Threaten City & Guilds With Potential Legal and Industrial Action On Redundancy Plans

City & Guilds is facing potential legal and industrial action over its ‘dishonest’ redundancy plans, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. The training and…

A Million NEETs Costs £125Bn A Year; How Do We Respond? Soundbite Edition 849

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 849: 30th May 2026. A Million NEETs Costs £125Bn a year; How do we Respond? This is the weekly e-newsletter…

Social Work Degree Apprenticeship Working as a ‘Grow Your Own’ Route, first major study finds

The first large scale study of the Social Work Degree Apprenticeship, published today by the Department for Education, finds the route is widely valued and…

Milburn Interim Review Deep Dive: What it means for FE

Alan Milburn’s interim findings into young people not in education, employment or training publish at 11am on 28 May 2026. The 217 page diagnostic is…

May 2026 ONS: NEETs Pass One Million as Inactivity Climbs Again

The latest figures released today by the Office for National Statistics show 1,012,000 young people aged 16 to 24 were not in education, employment or…

Student loans: More than 52,000 responses to Treasury Committee call for evidence

The Treasury Committee has published a summary of the results of its public survey on student loans and the taxation of graduates.  On Thursday 12 March, MPs invited anyone over the age of 16 to contribute…

More NEETs Than Vacancies: Can We Fix It in Four Years? | FE Soundbite 848

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 848: 23rd May 2026. More NEETs Than Vacancies: Can We Fix It in Four Years? This is the weekly e-newsletter…

Rewriting the Rules: Ep3 Apprenticeships the Skills Engine

The future of apprenticeships and their role in driving productivity, social mobility and employer led learning was the focus of the final episode in FE…

Post-16 Pathways Implementation Plan: 2028 V Levels Confirmed and 153 Qualifications Lose Funding

The Department for Education has today published its Post 16 pathways implementation plan, alongside an updated list of qualifications losing 16 to 19 funding approval,…

HMRC Supported Internship Programme Expands Across the Civil Service

For the first time, young people with special educational needs (SEND) on HMRC’s Supported Internship programme will experience workplace opportunities across the civil service thanks…

King's Speech 2026: Education for All Bill

The King’s Speech delivered on 13 May set out an Education for All Bill that pairs school standards with what the Government called “generational reforms”…

City & Guilds opens formal consultation, around 75 roles at risk

City & Guilds has today launched a formal consultation on a series of proposed organisational changes, with approximately 75 roles (6% of the workforce) likely…

DWP sets out how Apprenticeship Units will be funded under the Growth and Skills Levy

The Department for Work and Pensions has published the technical funding guide for apprenticeship units, the new short course offer that launched for new starts…

Rewriting the Rules: Ep1 What V Levels can learn from T Levels

The future of England’s technical qualifications was the focus of the first episode in FE News’ new live series with NCFE, Rewriting the rules: The…

If FE Teaching is a Profession, Why is Training Optional? | FE Soundbite 845

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 845: 2nd May 2026. If FE Teaching is a Profession, Why is Training Optional? This is the weekly e-newsletter and…

Skills England backs Level 7 apprenticeship defunding despite sector pushback

Skills England has concluded there is no strong enough economic rationale to exempt any Level 7 apprenticeships from defunding, in evidence published this week that…

One in five FE teachers would have left without retention payment, DfE finds

A first year evaluation of the Further Education Targeted Retention Incentive (FE TRI) has found that 21% of teachers receiving the payment said they would…

Defunded, Not Derailed: Mixed Study Programmes for 2026 | Episode Five

After five episodes tracking one of the most significant periods of reform Level 3 has seen in a generation, the Cambridge OCR x FE News…

V Levels Confirmed at 360 GLH and T Level Resit Flexibility Proposed in Letter to Ofqual

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has written to Ofqual Chief Regulator Sir Ian Bauckham today, setting out policy steers for the new suite of post-16 vocational and technical…

957,000 NEETs vs 50,000 Apprenticeships: Is the Maths Adding Up? | FE Soundbite 843

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 842 & 843: 18th April 2026. 957,000 NEETs vs 50,000 Apprenticeships: Is the Maths Adding Up? This is the weekly…

Government Unveils £429m 'Experts at Hand' Offer to Get SEND Support Into Mainstream Settings Without an EHCP

The Department for Education has today published funding guidance for the Experts at Hand and Local Authority SEND Transformation Fund, confirming £429 million in allocations…

Is £307 Million Enough for 175 College Estates? Or is it the £2.61 Student Meal Deal Problem?| FE Soundbite Edition 841

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 841: 4th April 2026. Is £307 Million Enough to Maintain 175 College Estates? Or is it like the £2.61 per…

Apprenticeship Achievements Are Up, But Who Is The Skills System Serving? FE Soundbite 840

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 839: 28th March 2026. Apprenticeship Achievements Are Up, But Who Is the Skills System Serving? This is the weekly e-newsletter…

QAR Reaches 65.4% with 25+ Starts Growing by 25.4%

More apprentices are completing their programmes than at any point in the last seven years. The national achievement rate rose to 65.4% in 2024/25, up…

Government commits to introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers

Minority ethnic groups and disabled people are to benefit as the government commits to introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay‑gap reporting for large employers. Firms…

DWP Giveth ... And Taketh Away. Will The Level 4 AI Apprenticeship Replace Management Apprenticeships? FE Soundbite 839

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 839: 21st March 2026. DWP Giveth and DWP Taketh Away. Will the Level 4 AI and Automation Apprenticeship Replace Management…

Defunded, Not Derailed: Mixed Study Programmes for 2026 | Episode Two

If Episode One of Defunded, Not Derailed set the scene and explored the shifting post-16 landscape, the defunding of certain Level 3 qualifications, the rise…

ONS Labour Market Data March 2026: Pay Growth Hits Five-Year Low

Unemployment holds at 5.2%. Regular pay growth hits a five-year low. Vacancies slip further below pre-pandemic levels. And in April, it gets more expensive to…

16 Apprenticeship Standards Axed as Government Unveils £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant

Sixteen apprenticeship standards are to be defunded as part of the Government’s biggest transformation of apprenticeships in a decade, with some of the sector’s most…

Are Entry-Level Jobs the First Casualty of AI? Are V Levels Going to Meet Employers' Needs? FE Soundbite 838

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 838: 14th March 2026. Are Entry-Level Jobs the First Casualty of AI? What Three Sectors Are Telling Us on the…

Ofsted announces new pilot to use more serving school and college leaders as inspectors

Ofsted today announced that it is piloting a new way of involving more serving education leaders in the inspections of schools and further education providers.…

Did The Spring Statement Reveal A 'System Story' Interconnecting NEETs and Unemployment? FE Soundbite 837

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 837: 7th March 2026 | What is the interconnected ‘System Story’ on NEETs, Unemployment, SEND and Neurodiversity? This is the…

Deep Dive: What the Schools White Paper and SEND Reforms Really Mean for FE

The Schools White Paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, alongside the SEND consultation Putting Children and Young People First, represents the most ambitious overhaul of…