Further education and skills cut by over £3 billion under the Tories - Rayner

Funding for further education and skills has been cut by over £3 billion in real terms since the Tories came to power, according to an analysis by an independent think tank. 

A Labour calculation, based on an analysis by the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies, has found that spending on further education and skills has fallen by £3.3 billion in real terms between 2010-11 and 2017-18. 

The cuts have been most severe in adult education, which has seen a real terms cut of nearly £1.7 billion, around 50% of its budget, and further education, which has faced a £1 billion cut that amounts to around 25% of its total budget. 

The cuts to further education come as employers have reported another rise in the number of vacancies they are facing as a result of skills shortages. The Government’s own survey of employers found that there was an increase in the number of skill shortage vacancies of around 20,000, up 8% since 2015.

Labour has committed to making further and adult education free at the point of use for all those who need it. 

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, said:

“Tory austerity has decimated Further Education. The Tories are overseeing a crisis in our skills and technical education system, their flagship apprenticeships policy lies in tatters and there are well over a million fewer adult learners today than in 2010. 

“These huge cuts mean that learners of all ages are denied the opportunities they deserve, and when our education system is cut by billions our society and economy suffers too.

“That is why the next Labour government will invest in every part of our education system, making further and adult education free, as part of a transformative National Education Service that provides free learning from cradle to grave.”

Ends

Notes to editors 

• The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) recently published an annual report on education spending in England, which analysed real terms changes in education spending. In the case of further education and skills the analysis covers the period of 2002-3 to 2017-18: https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/13306 
  
  The underlying data can be found here: https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/images/graphs/r150_data_tables.xlsx
• Alongside the report, the IFS published underlying data that shows the real terms changes by different forms of further and adult education. A Labour calculation using these figures found that the total real terms cut to spending was £3.8 billion. 

• The figures given in table 4.4 are held constant in real terms, in 2018-19 prices. 
  See Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2018 Annual Report on Education Spending in England, Appendix B, Table B.1, p80
  https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/comms/R150.pdf
• Employers have reported an increase in skill shortage vacancies of nearly 20,000 between 2015 and 2017, from 209,000 to 226,000 (an increase of 8%)
  Department for Education, Employer skills survey 2017: Research report, p13
  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/746493/ESS_2017_UK_Report_Controlled_v06.00.pdf
• Research published last week by the Sixth Form Colleges Association, produced by London Economics, found that sixth forms are currently facing a shortfall of £760 per student. 
  https://www.sixthformcolleges.org/sites/default/files/LE%20Funding%20shortfall%20in%20sixth%20form%20education_1.pdf

• ·       On Wednesday 17th October the Love Our Colleges campaign, a partnership between AoC, NUS, UCU, GMB, TUC, NEU, Unison and ASCL, are holding a rally and lobbying day to make the case for increased investment in the FE sector. This is with an eye to the Budget, the spending review and to the specific grant that DfE have awarded schools to support a pay rise for school staff, which has not been extended to FE.