Councils highlight risk of cutting community learning courses

The Local Government Association has said that the upcoming Autumn Statement is an opportunity to reverse plans to curtail adult learning provision.

The courses at risk include courses such as family learning and healthy eating, helping residents manage their household budgets, studying English, or learning digital skills. GPs also use them as a social prescribing tool to help those experiencing loneliness and depression.

Councils say the current plans, which take a national approach rather than local, will have unintended consequences for the Government’s ambition for growth, as it will reduce local options for people looking to increase their skills and manage life’s challenges.

A separate report by the Heseltine Institute for the LGA also sets out how the national approach to adult skills is too fragmented and complex for learners and employers to navigate, with councils and combined authorities best placed to join this up and fill the gaps.

The report found that whilst government investment has focused on level 3 Free Courses for Jobs provision (A-level or equivalent), there are millions of adults who are locked out of progressing to this higher level training because they do not have a Level 2 (GCSE or equivalent). It recommends a more balanced funding approach and a far more joined up system locally, including devolving more powers to respond quickly to new labour market trends including digital, net zero and automation, whose impacts will vary from place to place.

With 80 per cent of the 2030 workforce in employment now, the report says in-work training is vital to achieve economic growth by providing increased financial incentives for employers to invest in skills, alongside local support for businesses to help translate these skills into productivity gains.

However, the Adult Education Budget has been halved in recent years and is set to be reformed into a new Skills Fund. The LGA said the Government should allow councils and combined authorities maximum freedom to plan this successor Fund with employers including those leading local skills plans, training providers, charities, and others. This would help identify and encourage more adults into learning and onto good jobs fit for the future.

Existing work between central and local government to roll out the Multiply adult numeracy programme is also proof that local, partnership approaches to identify and engage residents in learning are the most effective.

Cllr Kevin Bentley, Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “Growing the economy will not be easily achieved if we cannot provide the routes to jobs of the future.

“Our rapidly changing labour market means we need to be investing more now to give people the right skills and qualifications to keep up with demand, whether it be in new green technologies or providing the next generation of teachers, nurses and care workers.

“Every area has its own unique mix of jobs, qualification levels, unemployment and vacancies, which a one-size-fits-all national approach to tackling our looming skills deficit will not solve.

“Councils know their areas best and need the right funding and powers to help prepare a workforce fit for the future. This includes extending to all councils the ability to fully manage adult education budgets in their areas.

“Providing people with the means to upskill and increase their opportunities, including encouraging older people and those with little or no qualifications into work, will be ultimately how we boost growth, spread prosperity and help to level up the country.”