Frequently asked questions
What is the Skills Funding Agency and what does it do?
When and why was it established?
How is it different from the Learning and Skills Council?
Who is in charge of the Skills Funding Agency?
What is the budget?
Where are we based?
What is our relationship with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the organisations we fund?
What is our part in the skills family?
How do we form part of government?
What do we do?
Who are our partner organisations and / or stakeholders?
How will the Skills Funding Agency liaise with employers generally, and with public sector employers in particular, to develop policy and priorities?
What will be the main focuses of the Skills Funding Agency’s spending?
How do we help colleges and providers?
How do we help adult learners?
How do we help employers?
Where can I access key statistics on National Post-16 Education and Skills, learner participation, outcomes etc?
How will we identify success?
Writing about the Skills Funding Agency
What is the Skills Funding Agency and what does it do?
The Skills Funding Agency is a partner organisation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. We fund and regulate adult further education and skills training in England. Our funding strategy is informed by policy set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and by the needs of businesses, communities and regions, and sector and industry bodies. 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 the economy.
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When and why was it established?
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009 for the dissolution of the Learning and Skills Council by 2010 and the transfer of its functions on 1 April 2010 to local authorities and two new agencies; the Young People's Learning Agency and the Skills Funding Agency.
The Skills Funding Agency is designed to build the skills this country needs for both the economic recovery and to enhance our competitiveness in the future. It provides the basic skills that are needed for today’s economy, as well as providing skills to take advantage of new growth sectors and new industries that will secure our future. The Skills Funding Agency will strive to ensure that the economy is not just supported, but taken to higher levels by increasing skills and creativity.
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How is it different from the Learning and Skills Council?
When the Learning and Skills Council disbanded on 31 March 2010, its work was split between the newly created Skills Funding Agency, the newly created Young People’s Learning Agency and the local authorities.
The Skills Funding Agency funds and regulates the adult learning and skills sector; it is a funding body intended to facilitate the sector delivering the services that meet the needs of business and individuals and the government’s ambitions. We are national, not regional, and act as an implementation agency rather than a planning body. We are:
Operational - we inform and implement policy by establishing and maintaining the mechanisms for efficient and effective learning sector.
Customer focused - we provide the information, tools and funding to support customer choice and learning sector responsiveness to those choices.
High performing - we apply funding policy fairly, consistently and professionally throughout England to meet government and customer needs in a cost effective way.
Accountable - we demonstrate our accountability by regularly communicating with our stakeholders in a clear way about how we operate, what decisions we have taken and why, what our performance is against our objectives and how much we spend.
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Who is in charge of the Skills Funding Agency?
The Chief Executive is Geoff Russell and he is supported by a senior management team.
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What is the budget?
The Skills Funding Agency invests more than £4 billion each year to fund training in colleges and learning providers. We work to an annual budget, targets and priorities set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills through the Skills Investment Strategy, published each autumn.
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Where are we based?
Our main office is in Coventry. We have other offices across England. We employ around 1,400 staff who are civil servants. We house the National Apprenticeship Service which employs around 400 staff across the country, working to develop the relationships with employers needed to drive forward the government’s ambition for increasing Apprenticeships.
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What is our relationship with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the organisations we fund?
We work at a ‘short arm’s length’ from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which allows a fast and effective response to policy, while reinforcing the autonomy of the further education sector. We allocate funding to colleges and providers who have discretion over expenditure to meet the needs of local businesses and communities.
We apply funding policy fairly, consistently and professionally on a national basis. The Skills Funding Agency is open and accountable and communicates regularly with stakeholders about the decisions we have taken, about our performance against objectives and about how we spend.
We are part of a new skills family with the Young People’s Learning Agency, the National Apprenticeship Service, the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, with shared services. This partnership is designed to ensure that training is funded and promoted in order to meet the needs of employers, employees and learners, and to develop a workforce willing and able to play its part in the country’s economic recovery, growth and success.
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What is our part in the skills family?
We are part of a new skills family working with other organisations to operate the new skills system. We work together to ensure that needs are met, gaps closed, training is funded and promoted in order to meet the needs of employers, employees and learners and to develop a workforce willing and able to play its part in the UK’s economic recovery, growth and success. This works as follows:
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills is a social partnership, led by Commissioners from large and small employers, trade unions and the voluntary sector. Its mission is to raise skill levels to help drive enterprise, create more and better jobs and economic growth.
From 2011, its strategic objectives include the provision of world-class labour market intelligence which helps businesses and people make the best choices for them; working with sectors (including Sector Skills Councils) and business leaders to develop and deliver the best solutions to generate greater employer investment in skills; and maximising the impact of changed employment and skills policies and employer behaviour to help drive jobs, growth and an internationally competitive skills base.
The Regional Development Agencies work with local authorities, statutory Employment and Skills Boards, colleges and providers, to identify skills gaps and the investment in skills needed to develop the economy and jobs of the future in each region. The Regional Development Agencies plans for skills are incorporated into Single Integrated Regional Strategies.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills uses the information from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and from the Regional Development Agencies to produce a national strategy and targets, working closely with the Department for Education to ensure progression routes for learners and coherence across pre- and post-19 for colleges and providers, and in collaboration with Department for Work and Pensions.
In order to deliver the work set out by this strategy, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills issues an annual budget and a set of targets to the Skills Funding Agency. Colleges and providers are allocated funding based on their track record and against these priorities. They have flexibility to decide what mix of provision they will deliver to best meet the needs of their businesses and communities.
Local authorities and the Young People’s Learning Agency have responsibility for securing education and training provision for young people up to age 19. The Young People’s Learning Agency is a non-departmental public body supporting local authorities to carry out their planning and commissioning functions and to oversee budgetary control.
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How do we form part of government?
The Skills Funding Agency is partner organsiation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Skills Funding Agency staff are civil servants, and the Chief Executive is a statutory post holder reporting directly to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Permanent Secretary.
The work of the Skills Funding Agency is central to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ plans for economic recovery and future success. It will contribute to growth by ensuring that the economy is supported by high levels of skills and educated, entrepreneurial and talented people.
The Agency funds and regulates adult further education and skills training in England in the context of policy set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and informed by the needs of businesses, communities and regions, and sector and industry bodies.
We work to an annual budget, targets and priorities set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills through the Skills Investment Strategy, published each autumn.
We work with the Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus to develop and deliver an employment and skills service to individuals and employers, increasing people’s chances of gaining and sustaining employment through continued skills development both before and after recruitment.
We also work with the Department for Education, whose purpose is to provide the best opportunities for children and young people as they grow up. Our link to the Department for Education is via the Young People’s Learning Agency, who have a role in 16-19 provision, working with the government and local authorities to help develop and deliver their vision and plans for 16-19 learning.
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What do we do?
We direct learners and employers to the right training for them or their workforce:
The National Apprenticeship Service.
Next Step offers careers and skills advice to help adults get on in work and life
My Next Step accounts offer learners a personalised careers service
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Who are our partner organisations and / or stakeholders?
We work in partnership with the Young People’s Learning Agency, the government, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, colleges and learning providers, training organisations, employers, Jobcentre Plus, local government, Regional Development Agencies, Sector Skills Councils, and others.
Our other main stakeholders are:
Association of Colleges, Association of Learning Providers, Institute of Directors, Confederation of Business Industry, Federation of Small Businesses, Further Education Reputation Strategy Group, 157 Group, Association of School and College Leaders, Learning Skills Network, Next Step and Careers Advice Service.
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How does the Skills Funding Agency liaise with employers generally, and with public sector employers in particular, to develop policy and priorities?
The Skills Funding Agency operates with an employer voice at its heart. The Agency’s Employer Reference Group is designed to ensure that employers and their representative organisations have the opportunity to contribute their expertise, and offers them a route into shaping and implementing skills policy. The Group’s membership includes senior management from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Skills Funding Agency management and representatives from both large and small businesses, Chambers of Commerce and Regional Development Agencies.
Employers from all sectors are directly involved in developing and determining which qualifications are appropriate for their sector, and there are specific initiatives involving public sector employers. There are sector agreements which are driving demand for skills and aligning provision with employer demand. These include the Skills for Justice Compact and the Joint Investment Framework with the National Health Service. National Skills Academies with public sector board members are also influencing delivery and improving training quality through accredited specialist provider networks, such as the National Skills Academy for Care.
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What are the main focuses of the Skills Funding Agency’s spending?
In light of the inevitable constraints on the public finances over the coming years, skills policy will focus resources even more closely on skills that underwrite our economic growth and support high value-added employment. We will invest £4billion in colleges and providers and other training organisations to provide the education and training needed by employers, employees and future employees to progress and improve what they do - increasing the chances of success for all.
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How do we help colleges and providers?
Through Account Managers, colleges and providers can access financial guidance for all their adult and Apprenticeship skills business. Colleges and providers will receive an individual funding ‘envelope’ based on their track record. They will have autonomy over allocating this budget to deliver local skills training that best meets the needs of business and community.
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How do we help adult learners?
The Skills Funding Agency is dedicated to helping people get on through learning. We do not fund learners directly but are committed to providing more information to inform learner choice.
The Next Step service provides access to information, careers and skills advice. It is available free to all adults in England and is accessible online, or with a careers adviser over the phone or face-to-face. Next Step can also help people to register for a Skills Account which is a new way for an individual to take control of their learning and working life, through a variety of tools available online.
The aim is to help learners make more informed choices, providing all the options so they can develop their skills in order to get work, start a new career or progress in their current work.
The Skills Funding Agency is also working to strengthen quality assurance by introducing more transparent information to help inform learner choice, including publishing Framework for Excellence results on further education success.
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How do we help employers?
We help employers develop their businesses by ensuring they can improve the skills of their workforces through relevant training programmes. We have dedicated advisers for specialist services such as Apprenticeships, and Skills Funding Agency managers and Business Link advisors work closely with employers to help them find the training they need.
Employers are also critical to influencing skills training policy in this country. We work with them and trade associations, employer organisations and professional institutions to help communicate the findings of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills audits to individual employers so they can use the information to help identify which skills will have the greatest impact on their businesses.
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Where can I access key statistics on National Post-16 Education and Skills, learner participation, outcomes?
Government departments publish statistical research on their websites at regular intervals.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills publishes theirs at: http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/higher-education/research-analysis/statistical-releases.
For data and statistics on Post-16 Education and Skills: learner participation, outcomes and level of highest qualification held: http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/sfrmar10/.
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How will we identify success?
Enabling success - this is what the Skills Funding Agency is dedicated to doing. We see success as when the further education sector efficiently meets the current and future needs of learners and employers; when we offer comprehensive advice to learners, enabling them to make more informed choices; when we have improved access for employers to skills and access to skills training is simplified, efficient and effective; and when more people have the skills that England needs to stay globally competitive.
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Writing about the Skills Funding Agency
We are the Skills Funding Agency or ‘the Agency’ this shouldn’t be abbreviated any further in writing or in speech.
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