By Richard Johnstone | 30 April 2014
The Local Government Association has hit out at the decision by the university admissions service to end information sharing with councils, warning this will make it harder for authorities to help people into work.
The umbrella group for local government said the University and Colleges and Admissions Service had decided to stop sharing data directly with authorities that helped town halls identify and help young people who do not stay in education or training.
UCAS collects information at the start of each academic year stating which young people are attending university. Councils use this alongside local intelligence to identify who is not in education, employment or training, the LGA said.
An Ucas spokesman told Public Finance the data would now be provided through schools instead of straight to councils, although it would delay the reform until next year. Schools, who are obliged to submit the information to national databases, could provide better context to the data for councils, he added.
However, the LGA warned that if Ucas stopped sharing this information directly, tens of thousands of school-leavers could miss out on assistance to find jobs or training if councils do not know where to target support.
Economy and transport board chair Peter Box said the planned change should be reversed so it does not hit efforts to tackle youth unemployment.
‘This information from Ucas has played a vital part of council efforts to identify those young people not going to university and in need of help into training, apprenticeships and job opportunities,’ he said.
‘Without it we risk some of our young people falling through the cracks and missing out on crucial support.’
