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Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 815: 20th September 2025. How Can We Tackle Youth Employment With 'One Stop Shops', SEND Funding And Skills Gladiators?
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.
Gavin’s Reflective Perspective
Another busy week in the World of FE and Skills.
Skills England was finally announced to be a part of DWP, 11 days after the initial Cabinet Reshuffle and DWP taking over responsibility for skills.
We have had several interesting reports and announcements this week:
Post-16 SEND ‘Cliff Edge’ Crisis.
First up SEND: The Education Select Committee Report Exposes Post-16 SEND ‘Cliff Edge’ Crisis. The House of Commons Education Select Committee delivered a damning assessment of post-16 SEND provision, calling for urgent reform of funding mechanisms and qualification pathways that are failing tens of thousands of young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
SEND Lessons From Ontario
Education Committee Chair Helen Hayes MP highlights a cracking model for SEND provision from the Canadian state of Ontario.
Should There Be a Dedicated SEND FE Budget?
The committee’s investigation reveals that despite 26.3% of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan holders being aged 16-25, less than 10% of the high needs budget reaches this age group. Most critically for FE providers, there is currently no dedicated funding stream for SEN support in further education.
The committee were pretty damning about GCSE Retakes in English and Maths as well!
Less Vacancies, But More People Looking. The Vacancy Numbers Have Dropped For The 38th Consecutive Quarter!!
ONS released their latest labour market stats... not great reading to be honest. The job vacancy numbers have dropped for the 38th consecutive quarter!! Job vacancies fell by 10,000 (1.4%) over the quarter to 728,000 between June and August 2025. This is 67,000 less job vacancies (or 8.4%) below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) January to March 2020 levels! With job openings decreasing across 9 of the 18 industry sectors.
This is coupled with the number of payrolled employees for August 2025 decreased by 127,000 (0.4%) on the year, and by 8,000 (0.0%) on the month, to 30.3 million. Biggest falls in payrolled employees was accommodation and food service activities sector, with a fall of 90,000 employees, in a 3 month period.
This means, more people looking for work, but with fewer vacancies. With 2.3 Job seekers per each vacancy.
Interesting stats. What I think is missing with ONS, is also maybe adding in Apprenticeship starts and numbers, maybe in what areas? This could give a bit of a future talent / skills pipeline to the current employment market. Could this help with careers advice and guidance moving forward. As if we have vacancy drops in 9 of the 18 industry sectors that ONS tracks, how to we make sure we are training and developing people in the right area? Could this also potentially help with lifelong learning and career changers... and the other end of the employment market, could it help young people with entry level into sectors? As the NEET numbers are still growing.
NEETS And The Youth Voice Census
Youth Employment UK released the 2025 Youth Voice Census results. Now there has been a really interesting bunch of reports released in quick succession... I really liked Learning and Works 'Off The Grid' report last week that found 1 in 4 NEETs literally receiving zero support!
The Youth Employment Census came up with some interesting solutions, and importantly from the perspective of young people. With A national digital hub, Secure a Young Person’s Entitlement (which sounds like a Youth Guarantee), Support employers to deliver (particularly support for SMEs) and for young people to Lead a national culture shift: A Campaign of Opportunity... to restore confidence and cement leadership's committment to the next generation.
Is there a way to use Skills Competitions to Capture the attention of the general public, to see the importance and excellence in Skills?
I think it is interesting to think about a national cultural shift mentioned in the Youth Employment UK census, but not sure on how this could be delivered.
We have just had EuroSkills. WorldSkills is coming up.. and we have the local skills competitions, could this be a part of a wider 'hearts and minds' communications strategy to showcase the importance (and excellence) in skills... and the potential of our young people in people's minds and raise the Skills Media profile?
People love the Olympics.. as a Kid, my favourite show was 'Junior Kickstart'... people love The Great British Bake Off.. that competition approach, Is there a way to utilise the Skills Competitions to capture the attention of the nation? Jacqui Smith and Stef McGovern in their podcast below talk about why doesn't the mainstream media 'catch the vision' of skills competitions?... maybe they need a bit of help to 'catch the vision'? Maybe we need more Skills Gladiators... are you not entertained? Could this be a cool mechanism to raise the profile of skills and young people... switch the inspiration from being a social media influencer to an epic Gardener, Make Up Artist, Plasterer or Welder?
SME's and Apprenticeships
Youth Employment UK also mentioned SMEs and young people... This week Edge Foundation, released, not just one report.. but two reports in a week! I loved the video breakdowns from Sorah (who set the scene and broke down the findings for each report in literally 1 min.. love that)! Sorah is also going to be one of our facilitators at the upcoming Green Mindset Collective on the 30th October.
In Edge's Agents Of Change (which is about Apprenticeships and SMEs).. which are a natural match, lets be honest... Sorah's cool video highlights that since 2016 there has been a drop of 150,000 Apprentices and SMEs account for 84% of these missing Apprenticeships!? Yep... if you incentivised SMEs and made it less hard work to navigate the system... you would have about 130,000 more Apprenticeship starts!
Do We Need A 'One Stop Shop' For Apprenticeship Recruitment?
When I am thinking of One Stop Shop.. I am not thinking of a handy convenience store... but what Edge are recommending is really sensible and makes a lot of sense.. why hasn't it happened already? Basically Edge are calling for a 'one stop shop' for Apprenticeships, building on the Government’s Find an Apprenticeship platform, with improved usability, integration with careers resources, and wraparound support for young people entering work.
Edge highlight some interesting data: for every young person who secures an apprenticeship, three apply unsuccessfully, with many discouraged by a fragmented, duplicative and technically flawed application system.
What do you think about a One Stop Shop for Apprenticeships, something to make life easier to navigate and apply? Would this help increase Apprenticeship numbers are reduce the amount of NEETs?
Steph on Skills
Now, if ever there was a celebrity champion for Skills... we have an Olympian in Steph McGovern, here is a link to Steph chatting with Skills Minister Jacqui Smith at EuroSkills, from everything from the skills reshuffle, why Skills has moved into DWP, her split role... Jacqui Smith the welder?... to educator recruitment in FE and Skills... and the importance of both vocational and academic routes. I really enjoyed it. I hope you do too.
I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
Firstly, Skills and Growth: What the Recent Government Changes Could Mean for Employer Engagement By Alison Morris, Director of Policy, Skills Federation
Secondly, Unlocking Wales’ Learning Potential: Why Adult Education Matters More than Ever By Joshua Miles, Learning and Work Institute Director for Wales.
Finally, The Cost of Opportunity: The Case for Virtual Work Experience By Sarah Beale, CEO at AAT
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
How to Design CPD That People Actually Complete (and Enjoy) By Jono Petrohilos, Co Co-Founder and Director at Fitness Education Online
Are Our Assessment Systems Failing Neurodiverse Learners? By Imran Mir SFHEA, FSET, CMgr MCMI, FRSA
What’s New in the World of FE?
Connecting The Dots
Connecting The Dots After Keir Starmer Confirms That Skills England Is Now A Part Of DWP By Gavin O'Meara
Announcements
Education Select Committee Report Exposes Post-16 SEND ‘Cliff Edge’ Crisis By the House of Commons
ONS Labour Market Data: More People Looking For Fewer Available Jobs: With 2.3 Jobseekers Per Vacancy By Office for National Statistics (ONS)
The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026 By The Times
A Million Young People on the Sidelines: Why Fixing NEET Is an Economic Necessity By Youth Employment UK
OfS Announces it’s Proposed Revised Teaching Excellence Framework By the Office for Students (OfS)
Reports
New Reports from Edge Reveal Urgent Need to Reform Apprenticeships System for SMEs and Young People By The Edge Foundation
Interviews
Skills Minister Exclusive – Steph on Skills: Powered by Enginuity By Enginuity
Voices
So you’re replacing your junior hires with AI. Who will replace your seniors? By Wouter Durville, CEO and co-founder of TestGorilla
In The Know
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Will you be joining us on the 30th of October in Manchester for the Green Mindset Micro Collective? This is in partnership with our friends at the Education and Training Foundation.
We hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Stay curious, keep innovating, and let's shake up the world of FE together, and catch you next week!
By Danny O’Meara, Digital Project Manager, FE News
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