The Reform-run Derbyshire County Council is considering scrapping its entire direct delivery of its adult education service and handing it over to commissioned private providers.
This comes after the authority, under the now-resigned cabinet member for education, Jack Bradley, illegally approved the closure of five community adult education centres without consultation in August.
That decision, which was later re-made lawfully, had also followed the closure of a further two adult community education centres two months before.
Now the leading Reform UK cabinet is set to launch a consultation into the future of the entire adult community education service – with a total budget of £6.4 million through grant funding.
It says the service is currently due to overspend next year by £156,000 and needs to make changes.
The council details: “There is no statutory obligation for the council to directly deliver adult education services despite having traditionally done so, however the council has a general duty to facilitate adult education provision across the local area.”
It is consulting on three options: Focus funding on the existing centres with the highest proportion of learners aged 16-19 and disadvantaged communitites; deliver learning when and where is best for the learners and lean on employers to widen coverage; or “cease to be a direct provider of the service and commissions other training providers to deliver specific interventions”.
The council details: “A number of other councils across the country are not direct deliverers of adult education and partner with sector experts.
“The council has a general duty to ensure services it provides are the most viable and appropriate option to provide high-quality value-for-money services to local people and the consultation will inform future decisions.”
Cllr Simon Mabbott, cabinet member for education, said: “Changes to the way adult education is funded, together with the evolving needs of Derbyshire communities, gives us an opportunity to look at all options for how we deliver learning in the future.
“We must make sure we are teaching people who need the most support and who live in the most disadvantaged areas to give them the skills they need to help them progress on to further learning or get a job.
“We are committed to delivering a high-quality adult education service so we are considering asking people for their views on how we make it fit for the future – delivering courses in the most effective way and at locations that suit people to get the best out of their learning so that it has the greatest impact on their lives.”
The previously announced closures related to centres in Alfreton, Glossop, Ashbourne, Matlock, Middleton-by-Wirksworth, Shirebrook and Long Eaton, leaving eight remaining centres.
The council had claimed that the five closures announced in August would not lead to “any” redundancies, but the decision report for the issue detailed that 22 members of staff could lose their jobs if they do not accept reallocation to a different centre, with a support package of travel compensation for the first 18 months.
The overall adult community education centre service supports 5,973 learners with an average cost per learner of £731.
