- Conference
- 2025 Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 20 February 2025
- Decision
- Carried
This conference notes that according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, sixth form college funding was cut by around 17% between 2013 and 2019, with real terms funding in 2024 set to be below the level it was in 2010. The IFS also states that that funding for students in sixth form colleges is 22% lower than funding for students in secondary schools.
The needs of students have become increasingly complex since then (e.g. the sharp rise in demand for mental health support), more young people are living in poverty, and the cost of delivering sixth form education has risen significantly. This significant resource gap is further widened by the policy of ending pupil premium funding at the age of 16.
As well as providing Level 2 and level 3 qualifications to ready young people for the world of higher education and work, our colleges administer and provide bursaries, mental health support, careers advice, support for students in vulnerable housing, and all manner of specialist services.
Whilst we applaud the fact that the Secretary of State has agreed to fund to match the funding for a 5.5% pay offer to teachers, she has only done so for sixth form colleges that have become academies. This additional funding also includes funding for the pay award for support staff pay in sixth form colleges.
This currently means that many sixth form colleges that are not academies do not have the either the necessary funding from the DfE or the reserves to implement a decent national pay award.
The knock-on effects of this is likely to involve; difficulty with retention in non-academised Sixth Form Colleges affecting the quality and consistency of education for pupils. It could also force some colleges into unmanageable debt, mean that some colleges will leave national pay scales, and force other colleges into Multi Academy Trusts they would not have otherwise joined, losing the independence they have. All of this will inhibit quality, consistency and opportunity for staff and pupils.
This disparity must be corrected by the Department for Education. This motion calls for a level playing field between schools and FE and Sixth Form Colleges with regards to funding.
While average per-pupil annual funding in schools in England for 2023-24 is £7,460, the average funding for 16-19 pupils is just £4,753.
Currently, pupils have a barrier to opportunity if they have enrolled into the wrong sort of college as they will not have the funding that other learners enjoy.
This conference believes that:
1) Only awarding a 5.5% funding increase to Sixth Form Academies and not to non-academised Sixth Form and FE Colleges is unfair in principle;
2) This disparity in funding risks ending the national pay agreement all sixth form colleges are part of and undermines collective bargaining.
We call on the LGSGE to:
a) Write to the Secretary of State to ask her to reverse her decision to withhold the additional 5.5% funding increase from non-academised sixth form colleges;
b) Campaign for a pay award for support staff in sixth form colleges that is the same in all colleges, regardless of whether the college is an academy or not;
c) Campaign for a fair funding settlement for all 16-19 pupils whether they are in schools, further education, or sixth form colleges.
