On Thursday 26 November, @AoC_info met with the trade unions of the National Joint Forum (NJF) (@UCU, @unisontheunion, @NEUnion, @GMB_union and @Unitetheunion) to consult with them formally on the 2020/21 Pay Claim. The formal response to the trade unions is noted in full below:

@AoC_info: Government’s ambition for getting people back into jobs won’t work without immediate boost to adult funding  Colleges have today (24 Nov) said that its flagship National Skills Fund is at risk unless funding rates are improved. The National Skills Fund supports the government’s ambition to get people retrained quickly and to help them avoid falling into poverty. 

The @AoC_info FE Summit and the launch of the England report of the Independent Commission on the College of the Future dominated my week and left me feeling excited and hopeful. 

@AoC_info are calling for apprentice funds to be reallocated to colleges to offer students a ‘plan B’  Colleges are calling for unused apprenticeship funds to be reallocated to support the increased number of students who have enrolled in colleges, helping them develop skills which will help them find jobs when the economy picks up again.

Chief Executive of @AoC_info, David Hughes (@AoCDavidH) comments on colleges grapple with exam costs This week, tens of thousands of college students have been sitting GCSE English and maths exams in the hope of improving on the grade they obtained in the summer. Considerably more students are resitting this year including those with grade 3, and external candidates without a centre-assessed grade from the summer exams fiasco. Organising this month’s exams has incurred substantial additional costs through hiring extra staff and space, which cannot be claimed from the government’s exam support service because the support excludes candidates aiming to improve their grade from below a grade 4.