I think back to when I was 17, and my first work experience was working for Halfords, whilst studying at College. Training was on the job and a manual was given to us to read and we were trying to help with car bits and bobs, that I didn’t have a clue about, just like the funding rules and all the bits and bobs we have to learn very quickly.
When I look back, my two most proud moments in the industry were achieving the prime contract status for Skills Funding Agency and also becoming a subcontractor for the work programme. Looking back, both seemed impossible when I started off.
Just like the Apprenticeship Levy and the Trailblazers it looks like a big challenge! This includes changes from the Adult Skills Budget and planned changes to the New Adult Education Budget (AEB).
These new moves will see funds go over to Local Enterprise partnerships for the priority local area needs and with further education colleges taking the lead. Also the councils will also play a very large role in this area, in the initial stages it appears to ignore the special place local Independent training providers and community Interest provision can play.
This will help those furthest from learning or the workplace. For learners with a legal entitlement, the Government thinks it is right that government specify the qualification offer that will be available. They expect providers to work with a range of local partners and stakeholders to ensure that the local learning offer meets local needs.
As the head of an independent training provider I look at several things around funding and I have learned it’s not just all about the money. Although of course it is very important.
The first is of course the quality of learning for the learner’s journey, I think we need to look at how we can both improve partnership working and share resources to both add value but cut down costs and improve quality of the learning experience.
We need to look at flexibility within our own staff and look for additional training to equip the staff to move from one project to another, both quickly and effectively. We need to do this in a much more formulated way to give more security to the staff, in this ever changing landscape.
With the trailblazers changes in funding, this will probably mean staff having to be brought in with specialist knowledge where they have very much more focus on specialist industry knowledge. Along with this is managing frameworks with very little structure in terms of the old criteria format. Also I feel that many items we use need to be looked at for price reduction by buying in a collaborative way.
Additionally, the uncertainty of the costs of the end assessment’s is going to mean to some very interesting items, like the effect on cash flows as self-certification will disappear. This is an item I am sure you will need to know more about, as will I.
We have been informed early about the changes underway for 2016 to 2017, which is much better for planning than waiting until July which is the case on previous occasions.
The overall situation is one which we will all have to look at with a plan A and a plan B, I am even thinking of a plan C.
