By Vivienne Russell | 2 February 2015
Taxpayers are losing more than £800m a year because of the ‘bums on seats’ system of funding post-16 education, the Local Government Association has warned.
The LGA said the current system, which funds schools and colleges on the basis of student numbers, is bad for both the public purse and the teenagers who enrol on courses.
Figures showed that 178,100 16- to 18-year-olds failed to complete post-16 qualifications they started in 2012/13 and are at risk of becoming not in education, employment or training (Neet).
Analysis for the LGA by the Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion found that this wasted education and skills provision costs £814m – around 12% of all government spending on post-16 education and skills.
‘Councils want every young person to achieve their full potential but too many are still dropping out of post-16 education and training or not achieving a passing grade,’ said David Simmons, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board.
‘Our analysis lays bare the substantial financial cost of this but the human cost is even greater with youngsters left struggling with uncertainty, a sense of failure and facing tough decisions about what to do next.’
He added that failure to reform the centralised funding approach left too many teenagers at risk of dropping out or without the skills needed to get a job. He called for the system to be reformed to enable providers and councils to be able to work together to provide the right courses.
