Labour Conference Review: What’s Next for Further Education

The Labour Party conference has come and gone in a flash, and nestled in a jam-packed few days were some key announcements about the future of Further Education. With the recent divergence of the skills brief away from the Department for Education (DfE) and towards the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), there's a bit more to unpack than in previous years, so let’s break it down.

Number 10

The Prime Minister made the most significant announcement of all, as he scrapped the previous target of 50% of young people attending university, set by Tony Blair, instead replacing it with a new policy that recognises the importance of technical education and apprenticeships.

As a new rule, the government’s target is for two-thirds of young people to have gained higher-level skills through university, further education, or a “gold standard apprenticeship” by the time they’re 25. In a separate Downing Street announcement, it was confirmed that the target includes “at least ten per cent of young people pursuing higher technical education or apprenticeships that the economy needs by 2040, a near doubling of today’s figure.”

While we await further information on a pledge to invest an extra £800 million into 16-19 funding and further details on other announcements in a Post-16 Skills White Paper, we welcome the recognition that technical education has played and will continue to play a key role in preparing young people to contribute to the country’s workforce and wider economy needs.

The Treasury

Rachel Reeves unveiled a “youth guarantee” to tackle the rising number of young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET). The scheme will “guarantee” every young person “either a place in college for those who want to continue their studies, or an apprenticeship to help them learn a trade vital to our plans to rebuild our country, or one to one support to help them find a job”.

This announcement comes on the back of a previous extension to eight youth guarantee trailblazers that were announced by Liz Kendall, former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The trailblazers, according to the department, “are testing innovative ways to identify young people most at risk of falling out of education, employment or training and matching them up to local training or job opportunities.”

These announcements follow figures in August that showed the number of young people NEET had risen to 948,000, and further details on both Keir Starmer’s £800 million pledge and Reeves’ “youth guarantee” are expected in the chancellor’s November budget.

The Department for Work and Pensions

Typically, we’d be referencing a speech made by the Secretary of State for Education, but, following a recent cabinet reshuffle and the placement of Pat McFadden as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the skills brief has been transferred to the DWP.

McFadden will lead on the “youth guarantee” initiative, and said, “I think we’ve got to make the offers and the options attractive for people. We want good work experience, good training, good skills, but it’s important as part of it to have a paid employment sort of backstop, to use a phrase from another day, as part of the system, and the reason for that is to avoid a situation where a young person just drifts from education into long term on benefits.”

The backstop that McFadden refers to is part of the initiative, where “every eligible unemployed young person on Universal Credit for 18 months without earning or learning will be provided guaranteed paid work”.

What’s next?

While plenty of welcome announcements have been made, namely recognising the vital importance of technical education and apprenticeships, and new initiatives to guarantee young people the chance to gain valuable skills, there are plenty of details still to be revealed.

More details have been promised in the Chancellor’s November budget and a Post-16 Skills White Paper. Furthermore, news is likely to emerge from the Curriculum and Assessment Review, with results due to be published before the end of 2025.

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