A letter sent last night from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to its adult education budget providers (see links below) said monthly profile payments will be made to providers based on an average of their monthly earnings over the previous three months.
The announcement appears to be the first of its kind based on Cabinet Office supplier relief support due to COVID-19 and comes ahead of any news of support from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
Last Friday, the chief secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay said in answer to a parliamentary question that “both the Treasury and Department for Education are exploring the impact of the current disruption with training providers” but that they are still working on “detailed operational guidance, which will be circulated as soon as possible”.
“As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds it is leading to significant fluctuations in demand for various skills sets across the region. The WMCA’s model gives us the flexibility we need to be nimble in responding to those variances. More fundamentally, the model vindicates the decision to devolve adult education funding provision.” Lawrence Barton
A spokesperson for BCTG, another private provider contracted with the WMCA, said: “BCTG really welcome this commitment from WMCA to provide stability and clarity in terms of funding in the medium term.
The Department for Education said last week it would only continue to pay grant-funded colleges during the COVID-19 crisis, and that government policy “does not allow payment for services in advance of delivery”.
Six mayoral combined authority areas and the Greater London Authority had millions in adult education budget funding devolved to them in August 2019. The West Midlands Combined Authority’s annual budget totals £125.6 million.
