Adult FE cuts ‘beggar belief’ Thursday, February 4, 2010 - 15:40

Responding to the news that colleges face a £200million cut in funding for adult students and that ‘adult learner responsive' budgets will shrink by between 10 and 25%, Alan Tuckett, Chief Executive of NIACE, said:

"Last week's announcement of the reductions in FE funding for adults in England come on top of year after year of cuts. The overall effect of this has been devastating, as government has shifted funding from provision responsive to local and individual needs towards employer focused provision."

"In the week when the negative consequences of inequality have been laid bare, these latest cuts will mean fewer classes for adults with profound and multiple learning difficulties. They will mean the loss of a flexibility to offer customised responses to employers' needs which are not met by the Train to Gain Programme. It will mean fewer language classes; larger groups in adult literacy programmes and fewer courses preparing people for higher education."

"In a society facing the challenge of an ageing demography, when we need to create a knowledge-based economy where the capacity to learn is critical, and given the government's ambitions for further and higher education, these short-sighted cuts beggar belief."

According to the Association of Colleges, the courses affected are:

• bricklaying, joinery, plastering, plumbing, painting and tiling;
• electrical installation;
• catering and care - including professional hospitality awards and safe handling of medicines for care workers;
• A-levels and GCSEs for adults;
• qualifications for youth workers;
• security, hospitality and licensing;
• qualifications in paralegal administration;
• IT help desk/junior technician courses;
• aeronautical engineering; and
• certificate in British Sign Language

Martin Doel, Association of Colleges Chief Executive, said:

"At a time when Colleges are helping Britain beat the recession, they are facing the prospect of having to cut courses for adults. They understand how tough public finances are, but they don't want to lose high quality courses that are essential to our economic recovery and make a great deal of difference to people and business across Britain."

"We are calling on Government to allow colleges to be more flexible with their funding so that they can help support these courses where possible by transferring money between budgets - something they are not allowed to do currently. Government and its agencies also need to be transparent about the consequences of this decision; if you cut budgets then you must accept that, even with the best will in the world, colleges won't be able to enrol and teach the same number of students."

"Unlike the current debate about university funding cuts - which will take place in the future - these changes are real and are happening now. They will affect students trying to enrol this September."