About us
Who we are
We are a partner organisation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and our job is to fund and regulate adult further education and skills training in England.
Our mission is to ensure that people and businesses can access the skills training they need to succeed in playing their part in society and in growing England’s economy. We do this in the context of policy set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and informed by the needs of businesses, communities and sector and industry bodies.
What we do
We invest £4 billion per year of public spending in colleges and training organisations, to fund training for adults in England. The skills training we fund enables people to do their jobs better, get new jobs, or progress in their careers.
We work to an annual budget, targets and priorities set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. We work at a ‘short arm’s length’ from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, allowing a fast and effective response to policy, while reinforcing the autonomy of the Further Education sector.
We allocate funding to colleges and other skills and training organisations who have discretion over expenditure to meet the needs of local businesses and communities.
We house the National Apprenticeship Service, with a field force located across the country, working to develop the relationship with business to drive forward the government’s ambition for increasing apprenticeships.
We champion high standards of training and development through the running of vocational skills competitions and awards. Skills competitions support the government’s ambition of raising aspirations and attainment in workplace learning, and awards, such as the National Training Awards, identify best practice in workplace learning. This year, we will also host WorldSkills in London, the world’s largest vocational skills competition, with young people from across the globe competing to be the best of the best in their chosen skill.
The ‘new’ Agency
The Chief Executive of the Skills Funding Agency has a duty to ensure the further education and skills sector is capable of offering adequate provision to meet the demands of learners and employers across England. The function of the Skills Funding Agency will be structured to facilitate the delivery of this duty and maximise resources available for teaching and learning for learners and employers.
The changes being made to the structure and operations of the Skills Funding Agency are driven primarily by the role and purpose as set out in the Government’s Skills for Sustainable Growth and Investing in Skills for Sustainable Growth, together with its Funding Letter dated 31 March 2011 from Vince Cable, informing the Skills Funding Agency of the funding and core priorities for 2011-12 and indicative funding for 2012-13.
The ‘new’ Skills Funding Agency (Published 12 July 2011)
We welcome your feedback on the changes, please contact us.
Success for us is when…
Further Education efficiently meets the current and future needs of learners and employers; we offer comprehensive advice to learners, enabling them to make more informed choices; we improve access for employers to skills ensuring it is simplified, efficient and effective; we ensure that more people have the right skills that England needs to stay globally competitive.
Our Annual Report
The first year for the Skills Funding Agency has been one of transition, yet also tremendous progress alongside the beginning of transformation for the further education sector. It has also been a year where the pivotal contribution of skills to driving economic growth has become more evident and valued. It has been an exciting year for the Agency and we can face the challenges ahead with confidence that the direction of travel for the whole sector will be of tangible and valuable benefit to learners, employers, the economy and society as a whole. To read our first Annual Report, follow the link below.
The maintenance and integrity of the Agency’s website is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer, the work carried out by the auditors does not involve consideration of these matters and accordingly the auditors accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the financial statements since they were initially presented on the website.
Skills Funding Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11
More about us
Our people
Working with us
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Frequently asked questions
