COVID-19 remains
the headline for the moment
We have had several
announcements from the government and the adult education sector representatives
thus far and I’m sure more will come. The month of April will clearly bring many
further announcements as we go further into the crisis but one of the key announcements
happened a few weeks now and was welcomed by the sector. That is that the monitoring
of delivery processes has been put on hold in this difficult period, including halting
Ofsted inspections and ESFA Audits for now.
Despite the uncertainty
there has been some assurances from the powers that be, and in this respect for
some skills providers there is some positive news with the release of the
Procurement Policy Note 02/20 Supplier relief. This document is the guidance from
government which will result in on-programme payments for AEB, ESF and apprenticeships
for all providers based on recent performance. For providers delivering Adult
Learner Loans there has been no announcements (yet) about the approach that will
be adopted here, but that Is expected to hopefully come soon.
With these updates
most providers have a certain level of security for their next few months, albeit
the funds will be reconciled with a reconciliation processes that’s likely to take
place in the new academic year and will be accounted for then.
In other news
that may have been overlooked in the last few weeks Apprenticeship achievement
rates have fallen although not as much as was expected! The National
Achievement Rates showing 66.9% 2017/18 to 64.7% 2018/19 and many people in the
sector were celebrating the less than expected reduction. From what we can gather
from the data is that the sector is still generally struggling with the
introduction of standards with the achievement rate for framework
apprenticeships in 2018/19 at 68.7%, in comparison to 46.6% for standards.
Prior to the recent
turmoil – the official unemployment rates were low by historical standards and the
main issue was “under-employment”, particularly amongst graduates as this was at
an all-time high. The focus as identified in the Budget 2020 and again for most people this seems like a
distant past, this budget had a focus to support people to improve
their skills to level up opportunity across the country and thereby Increasing
productivity, and this depends on
improving the skills levels of this generation and the next.
The plans for the
government where to facilitate two culture changes: for individuals to be able
to train and retrain over the course of their lifetimes; and for employers and
the government to increase investment and fill the skills gaps that hold back
productivity at a local, regional and national level.
In practical
terms the ‘skills progression ladder’ is a focus to be rebalanced towards
higher technical qualifications at Levels 4 and 5 as well as ensuring the qualifications
at Level 3 and below are there to climb up.
When
the facts change then our plan and priorities need to change, we hope the
skills ladder ambition hasn’t completely out of the window but certainly there will be some adjustment of priorities as
the Department for Work and Pensions revealed last week an alarming record number of people had
applied for universal credit benefits. The figures stated we that they were
950,000 applications between 16 March, when people were encouraged to work from
home, and the end of the month. The department said it would normally expect
around 100,000 claims in a two-week period. Some of the more detrimental predictions
go far as to say unemployment could rapidly rise to more than 6 million people,
around 21 per cent of the entire workforce.
In addition, with the business
closures predicted to be as much as 1 in 5 in some cases and the falling levels
of confidence, many are already predicting a bleak outlook, young people and
those in lower paid roles working in leisure, retail and hospitality sectors are
likely to be impacted the most and will need government focus and priority and in
this respect they will reach out to welfare to work and adult education sector for
a substantive amount of the work.
In terms of present issues from a
sector perspective there is the concern where employed learners including
Apprentices are furloughed which in effect is a leave of absence or placed on
unpaid leave, or where the nature of their employment changes and no longer
supports their course or apprenticeship. The general guidance from Association
of Employment & Learning Providers (AELP) is for learning providers to continue to support
furloughed workers and only resort to using an official break in
learning if the learner doesn’t want to undertake any training whilst they are
temporarily stood down from work. Hopefully most people will be keen to carry
on and make use of this time and see it as an opportunity for them.
For Guidance and
information, the Department for Education has launched a new helpline to answer
questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people,
more information can be found here:
In addition, guidance
for employees, employers and businesses on Coronavirus (COVID-19) is as below:
Moving on, the
Department of Education has issued the latest advice pertaining to apprenticeship
training providers and End point Assessment organisations (EPAOs). It states that in order to support the
sector during any disruption, the initial recommendations is that there is a
need for everyone (employer, provider, EPAO, Apprentice) to take a reasonable
and balanced approach in these situations and to recognise that the health and
wellbeing of individuals is a higher priority than performance measures. Good
communications between each of these parties is important to the successful
delivery of EPA anyway. So, in these circumstances that communication becomes
even more important.
Learning providers
wherever possible should continue to deliver especially where remote and other
such methods is allowable. This includes completing and signing learners as
complete where activities can be conducted remotely, with the agreement of the
apprentice, employer and provider.
Where there is a
will there's a way, the sector as a whole has stepped up in the last few weeks and
there has been impressive stories on LinkedIn and other mediums about providers
across the country and how they have reacted and adapted to this “unprecedented
“ change.
This period is an opportunity
to implement and adjust to new approaches and continue to inspire and engage
adults in learning. I can say that first-hand from our organisation that we
have looked at practical and pragmatic solutions whilst remaining positive. The
digital transformation journey that we were on, like many other providers has
been fast tracked – including where needed delivering learner responsive and learner
specific resources to continue with the aim to deliver programmes for all
learners.
In addition to offering
support for the community and stepping up communication flow with all stakeholders,
there has been a concerted effort from many to work together as one and support
each other across the sector to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19 on our team
members, learners, employers and our business itself. The words every cloud has
a silver lining come to mind.
Safaraz Ali
