COLLEGE leaders cross the region have joined calls urging the government to reconsider a funding ‘clawback’ that could force a reduction in adult education courses.

The government has announced it will revoke adult education funding from colleges if they do not hit a 90 per cent delivery target for 2020/21.

Due to the disruption caused by Covid, the Association of Colleges estimate that average college delivery is likely to fall between 75 per cent and 85 per cent.

As a result, the government could clawback between £68m and £22m, which could represent six figure totals of revoked funding for individual colleges.

The North-East England Chamber of Commerce says this threatens to cause a reduction in capacity for adult education provision at a time it is most needed.

And leaders of five of the region’s colleges, including Darlington, Hartlepool and New College Durham, have signed a letter from the Chamber urging the government to rethink its plan to take back the funding.

Chamber chief executive, James Ramsbotham, said: “This year has been tremendously challenging for further education colleges across our region.

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, colleges in the North-East have faced considerable disruption to their everyday operations throughout this academic year, including the implementation of local restrictions in the autumn and the recent national lockdown.

“As a result, colleges have lost a term of face-to-face programme delivery and many colleges across the North-East have fallen short of their adult education delivery targets for this academic year."

He added that the revocation of the funding could threaten colleges' financial progress and 'destabilise' them.

The Chamber’s letter calls on the government to reconsider setting the threshold rate for adult education ‘under delivery’ at 90 per cent and instead offer a significantly lower threshold reflecting the difficult context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Darren Hanky, principal of Hartlepool College, said colleges usually operate on a 'wafer thin' surplus and the revocation of funding could 'easily blow colleges off course'.

He added that the government's decision is also at odds with statements made by education secretary Gavin Williamson who told the Association of Colleges conference in February 'without any hesitation that the future is further education'.

Mr Hanky said: "We are hearing warm words from the Prime Minister and the government about the importance of further education, then you get decisions like this one and it leaves a few of us scratching our heads."

He said that adult education is viewed as the 'Cinderella' of the sector but it is more important than ever if it is to help people retrain after Covid job losses and help the economy bounce back from the pandemic.

Mr Hanky said: "Colleges’ finances are fragile after years of cuts, many operating with wafter thin surpluses of around one or two per cent. 

"With this in mind, any unplanned funding clawback puts these fragile finances at greater risk. 

"Additionally, the recent lockdown between January and March 2021 inhibited colleges from operating as planned – the decision not to deliver courses was taken out of colleges’ hands. 

"Finally, this decision by the government goes against the recent warm words towards the sector by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Education in terms of colleges being central to the government’s plans to kickstart the economy."

Chris Todd, Principal and Chief Executive at Derwentside College in Consett is also concerned about the clawback decision.

He said: "At Derwentside College, we have worked incredibly hard during this academic year to deliver as much adult learning activity as possible. 

"Many of our adult learners do not have access to their own IT facilities which has proven to be a significant barrier to e-learning. 

"We have also been unable to deliver courses of a more practical nature during the most recent lockdown period which has reduced our capacity to deliver our allocation in full. 

"This combined with a significant reduction in JobCentre Referrals has left us with a very limited timeframe to meet the 90 per cent threshold. 

"This decision risks hitting college finances at an already extremely damaging time. 

"I fear the decision to impose a 90 per cent delivery threshold has not been made with this context in mind and will cause colleges across England to reduce capacity for adult skills. 

"This is entirely at odds with the country’s longer term needs as we seek to recover from the impact of the pandemic."