Thursday 26 February 2015

2015 adult skills budget cut

The adult skills budget will be cut by 11 per cent in the next financial year, it was revealed this morning.

in a letter, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), said funding through the Skills Funding Agency for adult skills in 2015-16 will be reduced by more than £249 million, an 11 per cent cut on 2014-15.
the total budget from BIS for adult FE and skills funding will fall by 5 per cent to £3.91 billion.
however, the SFA has set an apprenticeships budget of £770 million, and in its own letter published this morning, has estimated that funds available for other non-apprenticeship adult skills will be reduced by almost a quarter (24 per cent) as a result.
by 2020, if the next government continue to cut at this rate, adult further education will be effectively a thing of the past. The situation is now urgent. This could be the end of adult education in every city, town and community in England and the consequences will be felt by individuals and the UK economy for years to come.
at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. It's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!