Colleges and training providers face fines of around £45 million annually, if current trends continue, under the government’s bombshell English and maths resit funding reforms, FE Week analysis suggests.
Enraged leaders have warned of the “significant” financial damage this will inflict on their budgets as they slam ministers for blindsiding the sector without consultation.
Demands for the “out-of-the-blue” changes, described as a “sledgehammer to crack a nut”, also appear to have fallen on deaf ears with ministers expected to reject calls for a suspension.
The Department for Education announced plans last week, during half term, for post-16 providers to teach students a minimum of three hours a week of English and four hours of maths if they failed the subjects at GCSE, or risk losing funding. Teaching must be in person.
