Partnership, Collaboration and Specialisation: The Pathway to Realising the Post-16 Vision

The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper sends a clear message that players in the education and skills ecosystem must work together more seamlessly and more humbly, celebrating what we each do well to give millions of young people the right knowledge, skills and behaviours to build meaningful and enjoyable careers.

For Independent Training Providers (ITPs) this collaborative model is already well established. First Intuition, an accountancy training provider, for example, works closely at national level with awarding organisations and government departments, while maintaining a strong local presence through training centres across the country, developing deep partnerships with employers, and active engagement with FE colleges, Chambers of Commerce, and Strategic Authorities.

A system built on collaboration

The White Paper signals a strong expectation that education and skills providers across the country, FE colleges, ITPs, and universities, will need to specialise, collaborate and even consolidate. This reflects an understanding that no single type of provider can meet the full range of learner and employer needs across every region or sector.

FE colleges are rightly recognised as ‘anchor institutions’ within their communities, providing essential local access to skills, opportunity, and inclusion. But ITPs bring complementary strengths, deep specialisation and close employer engagement across high-skill professional sectors. The two together can form a powerful partnership capable of translating national ambitions into regional economic growth.

Partnership in practice

ITPs can achieve this by building working relationships with local FE colleges, delivering joint initiatives that align employer demand with learner opportunity. Or even taking over delivery of programmes that local FE colleges are finding it hard to resource themselves.

In addition to this, ITPs can actively engage with Strategic Authorities and Employer Representative Bodies (ERBs) and encourage the employers it works with to do the same. Because ITPs client base can often span small and large firms, from industry to public sector, local to national, ITPs are uniquely positioned to convene the needs of a representative cross-section of local economies.

Supporting a new skills architecture

The White Paper proposes a new skills architecture that has the potential to make partnership working more coherent if the details are implemented with collaboration in mind.

• Growth and Skills Offer: Clarifies that employers are expected to fund much of their workforce training. ITPs and colleges can co-design provision that builds on their respective strengths to meet local business needs while aligning with national Industrial Strategy priorities.
• Apprenticeship units: The new short, Levy-funded modular courses could give employers more responsive options for targeted skills gaps.
• Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE): Will open new opportunities for flexible, modular training. The LLE will allow individuals to study modules of Level 4–6 qualifications, supporting lifelong upskilling and reskilling.
• V Levels: Designed to simplify vocational routes at Level 3 for 16–19-year-olds who want to keep their options open while developing core employability skills.

These reforms reinforce the need for partnership. For example, FE colleges may deliver the early stages of a learner’s journey (A Levels, T Levels or V Levels) while ITPs specialise in the apprenticeships and other technical programmes those learners progress onto. Employers, as co-designers and co-funders, should sit at the centre of this.

Building effective pathways for young people

The government’s focus on Levels 4 and 5 is a positive step towards closing the long-acknowledged ‘missing middle’ in technical education. However, these levels cannot be seen in isolation.

In professions such as accountancy, the majority of the huge numbers of school leaver entrants start at Levels 2 or 3, and many use Level 4 as a stepping-stone in their journey toward higher-level qualifications up to Level 7. V Levels, illustrated in the White Paper with an example of finance and accounting, could play a pivotal role in preparing 16-year-olds for these pathways.

Many school-leavers want to keep their options open, developing employability and numeracy skills without committing too early to a single specialism. V Levels could therefore bridge the gap between academic and technical study, feeding directly into entry-level apprenticeships at Levels 2, 3 and 4.

Delivering these pathways effectively will require colleges and ITPs to work hand-in-hand. Colleges can provide broad foundational education, while ITPs bring professional context, up-to-date industry practice, and links to employers who recruit apprentices. The learner benefits most when all elements align.

Lifelong learning through collaboration

The White Paper’s commitment to the Lifelong Learning Entitlement is one of its most transformative features. It acknowledges that learning is not confined to the start of a career but must continue throughout it.

I strongly support this direction. The ability to study shorter, modular courses will help professionals maintain their skills as technology evolves, particularly in areas relevant to accountancy such as digital, AI and sustainability reporting. These flexible upskilling models will depend on collaborative delivery, combining the reach, facilities and regulatory status of FE colleges with the technical expertise, innovation and employer networks of ITPs.

However, for this ambition to translate into real opportunities, employers and providers need greater clarity, and fast. Stakeholders need to know how apprenticeship units and LLE-funded modules will be structured, funded and quality-assured if they are to invest confidently in developing new programmes.

A shared mission

If implemented with true partnership in mind, the Post-16 reforms could create a more coherent, flexible and responsive system, one that genuinely supports both economic growth and social mobility.

But achieving this will require equal recognition of all contributors to the skills ecosystem. ITPs deliver around 70% of apprenticeships nationally, often in tight collaboration with employers and awarding bodies. Their experience in tailoring training to employer demand and adapting quickly to emerging skill needs makes ITPs indispensable partners to FE colleges, ERBs and local authorities.

At First Intuition, this spirit of partnership is already central to how we work, and we see daily the benefits of aligning expertise across providers, employers and policymakers. Together, ITPs, employers, awarding bodies and local authorities can create clear, high-quality pathways from education to the workplace, and onward through lifelong learning.

Moving forward

The Post-16 White Paper is ambitious and, in many ways, inspiring. Its emphasis on higher-level learning, flexibility and lifelong opportunity sets the right tone for the future. Yet the difference between ambition and achievement will be made in how well partnerships function across the system.

Collaboration between FE colleges and ITPs, supported by engaged employers and coordinated local skills systems, is not an optional extra; it will be the engine of delivery.

If government, providers and employers can align around shared goals and mutual respect for each partner’s strengths, the result will be a genuinely joined-up post-16 system, one capable of meeting the UK’s future skills needs and giving every learner a pathway to success.

By Gareth John, Policy Director at accountancy training provider First Intuition