On 10 June 2020, the Public Accounts Committee published a report into University Technical Colleges (UTCs), concluding that UTCs have struggled to provide a financially suitable education offer.
University Technical Colleges (UTCs) were established in 2010 as model of secondary education focused on providing practical, technical education and qualifications for young people aged 14 to 19, and the Department for Education is nearing the end of a three-year programme to improve their performance. However, in January 2019, the 48 open UTCs were operating at 45% capacity on average, and ten of the original UTC’s had already closed. Over half of UTCs were rated as less than good by Ofsted in October 2019, and 14 UTCs accounted for nearly 10% of the total cumulative revenue deficits of all academy trusts in 2017/18.
The Committee made several recommendations to improve UTCs:
- Set clear three-year financial targets for each UTC and be prepared to close UTCs that are not meeting those targets at the end of that period.
- Work with those UTCs that have higher occupancy levels to help UTCs that are struggling to attract students.
- Within three months, explain in writing to the Committee how it uses data on student destinations to track the performance of UTCs, and what steps it will take to help parents assess the benefits of a UTC education.
- Work with UTCs to gain assurance about the value schools are getting from payments to the Baker Dearing Educational Trust and submit its findings to the Committee within three months.
The full report can be read here.