This article covers public funding for education for adults aged 19+ and for apprenticeships, which are available for young people from the age of 16. The funding of education for 16- to 19-year-olds in schools and colleges is covered in the article on ‘Early Childhood and School Education Funding’.
Public funding is made available for adults to:
Further education (FE) colleges (non-profit private corporations) are at the centre of provision, but funded programmes are also delivered by employers, training providers, higher education institutions and community venues.
Depending on the learner and type of programme, adult learners may be entitled to full government funding, which means that no tuition fees are charged. Some programmes and learners are part-funded by government. Other learners, or their employers, have to meet the full cost of their programmes/studies.
Financial support for adult learners is provided through grants and loans including the Welsh Government Learning Grant (WGLG) FE, which is income-assessed.
Welsh Ministers have a statutory duty, under Section 32 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, to secure the reasonable provision of education and training for persons aged 19 and over.
Funding for formal and informal adult learning is provided by the Welsh Government in accordance with policy objectives and priorities for adult and community learning, and for the development of employability and skills.
Policy priorities for the funding of adult and community learning (ACL) are set out in the 2017 policy statement, Adult Learning in Wales, which determines that ACL should support individuals to develop their skills to enable them to move in to work or further education, to enhance their social integration, or to improve their health and wellbeing. The policy statement confirms also that funding for ACL should focus on those in greatest need. It guides providers’ priorities for adult and community learning, emphasising that ACL should address the needs of local communities at the same time as supporting key areas of national importance. These areas are:
In July 2019, following consideration of responses to a three-month consultation on proposals to restructure the delivery and funding of community-based adult learning, the Education Minister announced the next steps.
Developments will take place in two stages. Stage one will focus on the planning and funding of existing provision across Wales. It will:
Stage two will focus on developing a national strategic body for community-based adult learning in Wales. In doing this, the Welsh Government will:
For further, general information, see the National Assembly for Wales’ overview of adult learning in Wales (June 2019).
The 2014 Policy Statement on Skills outlined the priorities for adult skills development and employability in Wales, reflecting the need to up-skill and re-skill the workforce in light of economic and industrial change. The linked Framework for Co-investment in Skills (2014), which aims to shift the emphasis for adults skills investment from a government-led to an employer-led approach, details how government, employers and individuals will jointly fund investment in adult employability skills. The Framework highlights the priority areas for Welsh Government funding as:
In March 2018, the Welsh Government published its cross-departmental Employability Plan, aimed at tackling unemployment and economic activity. The plan identifies four main themes:
Actions under ‘an individualised approach to employability support’ include:
Actions under underlining ‘the responsibility of employers to up-skill and support their staff’ include:
Priorities under ‘responding to current and projected skills gaps’ aim to:
‘Preparing for a radical shift in the world of work’ includes actions to:
A new employment advice service, ‘Working Wales’ (referred to in the Employability Plan as the Employment Advice Gateway) began to operate in May 2019. Delivered by Careers Wales, it provides an all-Wales entry point to employability support, and aims to reduce the number of people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). It also looks to support the unemployed, economically inactive and those at risk of redundancy, into work.
The youth strands of Working Wales align with the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework (YEPF), and the Welsh Government continues to look to strengthen systematic approaches to supporting young people back into education, employment or training through mechanisms that better identify, support, and track those at risk of dropping out of the system.
Each year, the Welsh Government provides funds for adult and community learning (ACL) provision to further education (FE) and higher education institutions (HEIs), training providers and local authorities. Local authorities receive a ring-fenced grant, the Community Learning Grant. The Welsh Government also provides funds to Adult Learning Wales, formed from a merger of organisations offering community and workplace education in Wales.
Adult and community learning covers a diverse range of provision. In line with the 2017 policy statement, Adult Learning in Wales, the Welsh Government funds providers to enable them to target local needs for adult learning. At the same time, in utilising this funding, it expects providers to prioritise adult and community learning which focuses on:
Once demand for these priorities has been met, the Welsh Government leaves it to providers’ discretion to utilise the remaining funding to offer fully-funded or part-funded programmes to adult learners. It expects that providers will work in formal or informal partnerships, including as part of Regional Skills Partnerships, to ensure that local needs are identified and addressed and that duplication of provision is eradicated. It expects also that learners themselves will part-fund leisure and recreational courses through the payment of fees, and that employers will (at least) part-fund employees engaged in courses of adult learning outside the priority areas for Welsh Government funding.
All learners participating in adult and community learning courses which are fully or partially funded by Welsh Government are expected to have clear outcomes for their learning, which will enable them to progress towards employability, further learning or improved social integration.
The Welsh Government also provides ring-fenced funding for Welsh for Adults courses through its funding of the National Centre for Learning Welsh.
Changes to the funding of ACL
In July 2019, following consideration of responses to a three-month consultation on proposals to restructure the delivery and funding of community-based adult learning, the Education Minister announced the next steps.
Developments will take place in two stages. Stage one will focus on the planning and funding of existing provision across Wales. It will:
Stage two will focus on developing a national strategic body for community-based adult learning in Wales. In doing this, the Welsh Government will:
For further, general information, see the National Assembly for Wales’ overview of adult learning in Wales (June 2019).
In addition to funding adult and community learning provision and providing funding for learners aged 19+ under the Framework for Co-investment in Skills , the Welsh Government funds a range of specific programmes intended to develop skills for employment and/or support further study that will develop skills for employment.
Its cross-departmental Employability Plan, aimed at tackling unemployment and economic inactivity, included plans to establish an employment advice service to would act as a single gateway to a new unified employability programme. The new service, ‘Working Wales’, launched in May 2019 and delivered by Careers Wales, aims to provide a simpler approach to employability support as a single point of contact through which people can access personalised, expert advice and training. This free advice service is offered through Careers Wales offices, local job centres and community hubs, over the phone or through a dedicated website. It is available to people over the age of 16 who are not in full-time education, regardless of location, accessibility or personal circumstance, to support them into employment, and is funded by the Welsh Government and the European Social Fund.
The unified employability support programme highlighted in the Employability Plan will be known as the ‘Job Support Wales Employability Programme’. It will have 3 strands:
The programme will consolidate the current suite of employability support programmes, which have been extended to provide continuity of employability and skills support in the meantime. These programmes include:
The Job Support Wales Employability Programme will also complement existing community-based employability programmes - ‘Communities for Work’, ‘Communities for Work Plus’ and ‘PaCE’:
The Welsh Government does not operate a regular capital budget solely for the further education sector, but has a capital budget for all educational infrastructure administered through the 21st Century Schools and Education Programme. The programme provides grants to cover 50% of the cost of new buildings or major upgrades.
For Band B of the programme (2019-24), there is also a revenue funding stream, using the Mutual Investment Model. The investment objectives for Band B are to:
Colleges may also use their reserves or external borrowing to finance capital investment.
The Welsh Government provides some support for training and assessment costs associated with apprenticeships.
Apprenticeships are programmes for individuals aged 16+ who are not in full-time education to gain technical knowledge, job-specific skills, practical experience and professional qualifications for their immediate job and future career. Apprentices are new or existing employees. Most of their work-based training is provided by the employer and approved training providers manage the apprentice’s off-the-job training and assessment/qualification programme. Employers pay the apprentice’s wages and, since April 2017, all UK employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million (€3.33 million*) have contributed towards the costs of apprenticeships by paying the apprenticeship levy at a rate of 0.5% of their pay bill.
*Exchange rate used €1 = £0.90, 16 December 2020.
Providers of further and adult education in Wales must satisfy the conditions on the provision of grant or grant aid set out by the Welsh Government in a Financial Memorandum. This establishes the terms and conditions under which payments are made and the key responsibilities of the governing body and the principal of the institution.
In addition to funding from the Welsh Government, further education (FE) colleges are also able to generate their own income through the charging of fees to learners, other grant sources, running full-cost courses, consultancy services or contract work, and providing services to learners such as refectories and childcare. They may also have secured European Social Fund (ESF) money for specific projects.
In funding adult education and training, the Welsh Government also made use of the European Social Fund (ESF) in particular to support projects aimed at raising skills and job prospects. The three priority areas for use of the ESF in Wales during 2014-2020 are:
These funds will cease at the end of the UK’s EU exit transition period in January 2021.
Some programmes of adult and community learning (ACL) and some courses and qualifications in support of adult employability and skills may be free to learners, i.e. fully government-funded. See the subheading ‘Main funding principles’ for the types of priority programme (and learner) most likely to receive full government funding. Other programmes may be partly government-funded, with individual learners or their employers making a contribution towards tuition fees/course costs. Other courses receive no government funding support and learners have to meet the full cost of their studies.
Where tuition fees are charged, these are set by individual institutions and vary depending on the length of the course, the subject area, and the intensity of study.
Most further education colleges offer free or discounted tuition to learners from low income families, disabled learners or to learners on benefits.
Financial support for adult learners is provided largely through grants or loans. There is no tax relief (tax allowance/exemptions) for learners or their parents or families.
The Welsh Government Learning Grant (WGLG) (FE) provides financial assistance to individuals in post-compulsory adult or further education who are aged 19 or over, ordinarily reside in Wales and are studying on an eligible course, which must lead to a nationally-recognised qualification.
The WGLG (FE) is income-assessed. In 2020/21, it is available for individuals with a household income below £18,370 (€20390.15*). The maximum grant available (for those with household incomes below £6120 (€6793.02*)) is £1500 (€1664.96*) for full-time students and £750 (€832.48) for those who study part-time (for at least 275 hours per year).
Further information on the WGLG (FE) is available from Student Finance Wales.
*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.90, 16 December 2020.
The Welsh Government also makes discretionary funds available to further education (FE) institutions and Welsh language centres for adults through the Financial Contingency Fund (FCF). Institutions make their own arrangements for allocating the funds but they must be used to provide:
Priority groups for support under the FCF scheme include learners who need help with childcare costs, especially lone parents; students who are carers; and learners on low incomes.
Institutions are required to have a published, written policy for the allocation of payments under the scheme and may provide the payments in the form of non-repayable grants or as short-term, repayable loans.
Most adult education and training is provided by further education colleges, which are non-profit private corporations, or by training providers who may be for-profit or non-profit organisations. As described in the previous sections of this article, these providers may receive some public funding in respect of this provision. They may also provide full-cost courses, funded only by tuition fees.
Employers may also receive some government funding in support of employees participating in education and training. This includes for employees participating in apprenticeship programmes, in specific employability and skills programmes (such as the ReAct programme) and in other full- or part-funded courses of adult education.
Article last reviewed December 2020.