Sixth form and college cash fears

There are warnings that funding will not meet increasing demand

Sixth forms and further education colleges in England face funding cuts of up to 4% from September, say heads.

The Association of School and College Leaders and the Association of Colleges said the allocated funds would not cover the students currently on roll.

They said this made little sense in a recession and when the government wanted more young people to stay on in education and training after age 16.

Ministers said they were "considering options" for meeting funding pressures.

Funding letters received by school and colleges this week show sixth forms face shortfalls of up to 4% and colleges face shortfalls of up to 2% for the next academic year.

ASCL said a sixth form of 250 pupils would be £50,000 to £55,000 worse off next year, while a sixth form college of 3,000 would lose around £350,000.

The association said schools and colleges did not have enough money to fund the levels of students currently in the system, let alone an expected rise in numbers in September.

'Anger and disappointment'

ASCL has written to Chancellor Alistair Darling to complain about the situation, believing the Treasury has not made the necessary funds available to the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

In his letter, general secretary Dr John Dunford said there was "widespread disappointment and considerable anger" that funding allocations had been limited.

In these challenging economic times, it is vital that we build a skilled, talented workforce for the future Schools Minister Jim Knight

"Schools and colleges have responded magnificently to the government's policy to increase participation post-16," he said.

"They have an even more critical part to play during the recession, when more young people are likely to stay in full-time education.

"They now find that they are not even being funded for the actual number of students they currently have enrolled.

"There will be considerable anger among schools and colleges, which are effectively being financially penalised for increasing participation.

"This surely cannot be right and sends a very bad signal to schools and colleges in relation to their role in raising participation to 100% by 2013."

'Little sense'

Chief executive of the Association of Colleges, Martin Doel, said colleges would struggle to maintain the quality of service that students deserved.

"This development makes little sense given government's September guarantee to all prospective students of a place in a college or a school sixth form and even less in the face of plans to raise the leaving age to 18.

"The increase in student numbers is hardly surprising given the state of the job market - means must be found to enable funding to keep pace with the growth in numbers unless government wants to exacerbate youth unemployment."

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said ministers were working with the Learning and Skills Council, which allocates funding, to assess the extent of demand for funding and was "considering options for meeting funding pressures".

"We have promised to update all providers as soon as possibly once this process is completed - this is happening fast now," said the spokesman.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said: "In these challenging economic times, it is vital that we build a skilled, talented workforce for the future.

"There will be record numbers of young people continuing education until they are 18 this September - 160,000 more than in 2003 - and this is testament to the hard work that sixth forms and further education colleges have done to recruit students during the current downturn."

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