High-earners with fat pension pots will benefit from a multi-billion-pound tax giveaway from this week’s budget, as calls for cash to tackle FE teacher shortages were ignored.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer, delivered the blow on Wednesday in his first Spring budget. It is also the first since FE and sixth form colleges were reclassified as part of the public sector.
David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “Once again college leaders will be rightly dismayed that the sector has been overlooked by the chancellor and are wondering why Jeremy Hunt continues to ignore the central role colleges play in delivering the enterprising, highly skilled, high-growth country he wants to see.”
Hunt told the House of Commons that his economic growth plan would tackle labour shortages. However apart from small boosts to promote bootcamps and work academies to lure the over-50s back to employment, he provided no extra funding for skills budgets.
