Ahead of the Government's Spending Review, the Department for Education has announced that next year's Adult Skills Fund will be cut. The Fund is split between the Mayoral Combined Authorities and the central agency, the ESFA. The ESFA’s budget will be reduced by 6%, whilst the Mayors’ skills budgets can expect a reduction of 2-3%. For the WEA, which is funded by the ESFA and the Mayoral Authorities, this can affect thousands of learners across the whole country.
At a time when Government should be building back opportunities and infrastructure, these cuts will affect the ability of thousands of people in England to access the adult education they deserve to support them to get on in life.
We are calling on the government to:
- Reverse the short-sighted cuts to the national and devolved Adult Skills Funds
- Restore the adult education budget overall to 2010 levels by the end of Parliament
- Rebalance the responsibility for community adult education across multiple Government departments to reflect its contribution to health and community building
- Ringfence an uplift for the post-19 workforce who are yet to see the same funding uplifts as teachers and college lecturers
What is the Spending Review?
The Spending Review is when the Treasury determines how much money each government department will have for the next few years. Spending Reviews usually come around every 3 – 5 years.
The amount of funding that the Department for Education receives will influence how much will be available for all the things it funds – such as schools, colleges, and adult education. Although some budget announcements have already been made before the Spending Review is concluded, that doesn’t rule out further cuts to education being announced in the coming months. A poor settlement for the Department could have a serious knock-on effect.
Although we don’t know exactly when the Spending Review will be announced, we are anticipating it will be in late Spring.
What you can do?
By letting decision makers know about the transformative impact adult learning has individually and in our communities, and to stop the government from cutting it further, there are 3 actions you can take.
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Sign our petiton - Sign and share our petition with friends, family and anyone you know who is an advocate for adult learning. The more signatures we get, the better chance we have of seeing a change. Click here to sign the petition.
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Contact your MP – request that your MP writes to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to demand that the cuts to the Adult Skills Fund are reversed, and that adult learning is protected and invested in during the next Spending Review. Share our list of asks with them and let them know why you think adult learning is truly transformational. You can find your MP here. We've put together a handy letter template which you can find via the button below.
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Contact your Metro Mayor – if you live in a mayoral combined authority, your mayor is responsible for how the adult education budget is spent locally. The Treasury has already told the mayors that between 2%-3% will be cut from next year's Adult Skills Fund. Write to your mayor or attend one of their local events and ask that they push back against this cut or ensure it is phased over three years.
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Share your story – whether it’s telling your friends or local media about the impact adult learning had on you or getting in contact with us so we can share your story nationally, the more we shout about the power of adult learning, the harder it is to ignore. You can share your story here.
To read more on our Spending Review submission and the cuts to the Mayoral Adult Skills Fund budgets, read our blog.
