The former head of a government post-18 education review is “apprehensive” about the future of England’s lifelong loan entitlement but encouraged by the appointment of a “great brain” to oversee implementation, while the Open University’s vice-chancellor sees “big design challenges” to overcome.
The Westminster government’s recent Autumn Statement announced that Sir Michael Barber, the former Office for Students chair who set up the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit under Tony Blair, had been appointed as adviser to the government on implementation of skills reforms, including the LLE, which it reiterated would be introduced by 2025.
A plan for the LLE was first announced by Boris Johnson in 2020, since when there has been limited progress. After two changes in government and the new Sunak government looking to plug a fiscal hole in part caused by the Truss government’s disastrous unfunded tax and spending plans, the future of the LLE had come under question, but the Autumn Statement offered some renewed backing.
