The announcement that the NHS will benefit from £20billion of extra investment probably didn’t land quite how the prime minister had hoped. Most commentators focused less on welcoming it and more on where the money will come from. Understandable, perhaps, given the last eight years of an austerity policy which has resulted in severe underinvestment in public services, including further education.

The underinvestment in colleges has been painted vividly and starkly in recent months not just by the usual suspects, including the Association of Colleges, but by others not usually known for their hyperbole. There’s a long list to choose from, including the Ofsted chief inspector, the FE commissioner, the children’s commissioner, the House of Lords economic affairs select committee, the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

My current favourite quote (of a very good list of potentials) comes from the recent children’s commissioner report, which set out the 15-20 per cent real-terms per-student cut for 16- to 18-year-olds over the last 8 years. This means that “spending per student in further education and school sixth forms will be about the same in real terms in 2019-20 as it was in 1990, a remarkable lack of growth for such a long period.”

Clear impact

Very well put: a remarkable lack of growth indeed. So, we seem to have won the argument that the 16-18 phase of education is under-funded. I’m less optimistic on adult funding, where it’s more difficult to define and where the advocates are thinner on the ground. The needs are hardly less important and certainly no less urgent. When I managed the adult skills budget it was over £3 billion, the closest equivalent budget is now only £1.5 billion.

It’s important to understand the impact of this lack of investment. Three groups of people have suffered directly: students, potential students and staff. For 16-18 students, the impact is clear. Fewer teaching and support hours, less enrichment, less support, bigger class sizes and often a narrower curriculum offer. Students studying a so-called full-time programme now often have only 14 to 15 hours of contact time per week, compared with 25 to 30 in many OECD countries. Is that part of the reason why colleges are reporting that more and more students are suffering with stress and mental health challenges? Is it what we want for our young people by way of preparation for adult life?

Over 1 million adults every year are now missing out on adult education and skills compared with eight years ago. They are the hidden cost of college cuts because we can only imagine the positive impact lost. How many people have missed out on a job or a promotion? How many have not been able to read to their children, or help with their maths homework? How many businesses are not able to find skilled people?

Feeling the cuts 

It’s not only students and potential students who have felt the cuts. Staff have suffered too in two obvious ways. Firstly, their pay has stagnated and fallen behind inflation, schools, colleges in other nations and the industries they are training for. Thirty years ago, lecturer pay in colleges was ahead of teacher pay in schools, now it lags behind (median of £30k versus £37k). That’s simply not fair. The pay issue is made worse because of the staff cuts which have resulted in larger class sizes and fewer support staff. Hardly surprising that there is deep unrest amongst college staff as well as increased stress. Neither help create the atmosphere for a great student experience.

This will all come to a head early next year at the spending review when the NHS pledge will need to be accounted for before other claims for increased investment. For colleges, it’s clear that we have won the first battle to make everyone aware of the gross underinvestment. Our job from the autumn on will be to show how it has impacted: on life chances, on business success, on the economy and on society. All of the negatives. Then we need to show what more investment will achieve. All of the positive returns on investment colleges can deliver for people, communities, employers and the economy. Finally we need to persuade others to advocate for us and campaign hard ourselves. Then all we can do is hold our breath.