College 16-18 curriculum, high needs funding, careers and enrichment surveys

AoC has conducted a number of surveys on broader college 16-18 curriculum issues, high needs funding, careers and enrichment.

High needs funding in colleges survey 2024

Headline findings:

• High needs funding formed a significant slice of college budgets, 9% on average, making colleges financially vulnerable to local authorities’ commissioning behaviour.
• Only 23% of colleges said that local authorities consistently took account of the financial viability of provision, with repeated reports of income failing to cover costs.
• High needs budgets for individual colleges amounted to £3.2 million per college, on average, showing the large scale of college high needs provision.
• Despite this scale, only 38% of colleges said that their local authorities consistently engaged them in strategic planning.
• Late payment was revealed as a problem. Only one-fifth (20%) of colleges said payments stuck to an agreed schedule and almost one-third (32%) said that payments were delayed beyond the academic year in which support took place.
• On average, 95% of college high needs income was spent on staff, with only 54% spent on learning support assistants. Other staff involved in supporting students included additional tutors, clinicians, and job coaches.
• 42% of colleges said that pay rates for learning support assistants were set by local authorities.
• 69% of colleges said they had been ‘directed’ to enrol students under the ‘duty to admit’ even though the college had said they could not meet the young person’s needs.
• Despite these problems, over three-quarters (76%) of colleges said their relationships with local authorities were collaborative and 69% gave examples of local authority actions that fostered collaboration.

AoC high needs funding in college survey report 2025