Sixth form college faces funding cuts

OLDHAM Sixth Form College has been hit in an estimated £200 million funding shortfall which could see teenagers turned away from schools and colleges across the country this autumn.

Heads and principals have been told by the Leaning and Skills Council (LSC) — the quango responsible for post-16 education — that their financial allocations for the next school year have been cut.

It is the second blow for the borough as Oldham College’s £80 million redevelopment hangs in balance after Government funding ran out.

Schools secretary Ed Balls said there had been a surge in demand for sixth form places because pupils were getting better GCSE results, and schools and colleges were doing a better job of recruiting students.

But he blamed the LSC for incorrectly stating that the funding figures given to heads on March 2 were their final allocations.

Oldham Sixth Form College, which has around 2,200 students, has broken up for Easter and the Chronicle has been unable to contact principal Nick Brown to confirm how much funding it has lost — reported to be up to 4 per cent per institution.

However, vice-principal Mick Walsh said he was disappointed at the cut and said: “As it stands it will affect our funding, as it will all sixth form centres, but we are hoping that they will reconsider.

“At the moment we have got no plans to cut our numbers and will continue to maintain our mission of widening participation in the area.”

Oldham Council was unable to confirm how school sixth forms would be affected.

Last week a report into the collapse of the Government’s multi-billion-pound college building programme said that Oldham College’s redevelopment, due to start in June, had little chance of going ahead.

It was among 79 building projects which have been halted, leading to the resignation of LSC chairman Mark Haysom.

The quango will update schools and colleges on their funding by the end of April after discussions with the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

An LSC statement added: “It is clear that our letter of March 2 to schools has caused them confusion and concern, for which we apologise.

“The letter set out that there were ongoing discussions with the department and that further checks needed to be done; however, it was misleading to say that these were final rather than provisional allocations.

“The number of young people who wish to study in school sixth forms and colleges this year is even higher than the growth we originally forecast in our annual statement of priorities.”