The three missions cannot be met without recognising the importance of addressing the financial pressures in the sector, ensuring colleges have greater long term financial stability and operational flexibility to meet the needs of their communities.
Despite careful and professional financial management processes across the sector there are still real pressures on FE because of record increases in the number of learners choosing college after school, pay rises that haven’t been fully funded, unfunded inflationary costs of delivering courses, and the increase in National Insurance employer contributions.
To support greater financial stability in the sector and to provide the resources colleges need to deliver for learners and employers, the next Welsh Government should work with Medr to:
- Introduce a three-year budget cycle for FE and Work-Based Learning so colleges can plan for the long-term, including capital funds. Recent analysis by ColegauCymru shows that enrolment in the 16-18 age group for 2024/25 has increased by 8.27% since 2023/24. Enrolment figures have particularly increased for those learners coming in at lower levels, and learners who require support to remain in education.
- Recommit to funding pay scale parity between FE lecturers and school teachers, and provide additional funding to help meet the pay costs of business support and work-based learning staff, committing to fully funding the increase in National Insurance employer contributions. The three missions cannot be met without recognising the importance of addressing the financial pressures in the sector, ensuring colleges have greater long term financial stability and operational flexibility to meet the needs of their communities.
- Initiate a cross-government regulation review to free up resources by reducing low priority regulatory burdens. Alongside new investment, genuine efficiency savings can free up resources that can be better used to support learners and improve teaching and learning.
- Commit to long-term sustainable funding to ensure Pastoral Coach roles across colleges so that learners receive the support they need and lecturer workload can be focused on the delivery of high-quality teaching and learning.
- Increase the unit rate of funding to meet the full inflationary costs of delivering high quality education.
- Sustainably fund ALN provision and support. College data shows that there will be a predicted rise in costs created by the new ALN duties. For the 2025/26 academic year colleges estimate additional costs of £2.7million. ALN leads suggest the additional costs for the following year to be closer to more than £3million.
Read more on our 3 missions:
| MISSION 1 | MISSION 2 | MISSION 3 |
| Grow the economy by equipping industry and the workforce with the skills needed to meet the challenges of a changing economy that will be reshaped by the transition to net zero and the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). |
Improve participation, progression and outcomes in post-16 education by breaking down barriers, helping young people to make the right choices about their future and be ready for the world of work, and delivering high-quality teaching and learning. |
Tackle intergenerational inequality and poverty through adult education and access to second chance learning. |
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