Helen Maguire

The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will transform the post-18 student finance system to create a single funding system.

The LLE will replace higher education student finance loans and eventually replace the Advanced Learner Loan (ALL) scheme for levels 4 to 6. In the first instance, some courses will transfer from being ALL-funded to being LLE-funded upon the LLE’s introduction. This is the case for the Level 6 Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre, which will transfer and therefore be in scope for the LLE. For courses which are being transferred for LLE launch, the relevant providers, including the awarding organisation, Trinity College London, were notified of the transfer outcomes in March 2025.

The ‘List of Qualifications approved for funding’ can be found at the following link by filtering by LLE: https://www.qualifications.education.gov.uk/.

The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will not be replacing the Dance and Drama Awards (DaDA) grant scheme. The LLE will provide individuals with a loan entitlement to the equivalent of four years’ post-18 education to use over their working lives (£38,140 in today’s fees). The LLE will eventually be replacing the advanced learner loans scheme for levels 4 to 6.

To offer LLE provision, providers will need to be registered with the Office for Students. Funding for the 2026/27 academic year will be subject to confirmation in the government’s spending review.

​​​​This government is committed to breaking down barriers of opportunity for all young people, including young carers who provide a critical role caring for their loved ones.

Young carers were added to the school census in the 2022/23 academic year. This change has raised both awareness and the profile of young carers in schools by, for the first time, providing hard data on both the numbers of young carers in schools and their education. The number of schools returning data on young carers as part of the census has been low. The last annual spring census showed that 72% of schools did not record any young carers in 2024, which is an improvement on the 79% of schools with zero returns in 2023. The department recognises that this is not good enough, and we hope to see an improvement in coverage and quality in the next spring census, due in June. We will monitor the quality of school census data on young carers for consideration for future inclusion in the daily collection. In the meantime, we are continuing to work closely with the sector to encourage better identification, recording and support for young carers in schools.

​Absence from school is almost always a symptom of wider needs and barriers that a family are facing, including where pupils may have caring responsibilities at home. The department’s statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ takes a ‘support first’ approach where pupils and families, including young carers, should receive holistic, whole-family support to help them overcome the barriers to attendance they are facing.

The government is committed to helping all young people, including young carers, thrive in education. We continue to work closely across government to strengthen the visibility and support of young carers both at home and in educational settings.

Young carers as a specific group were added to the school census in the 2022/23 academic year, allowing schools to identify their students who are providing care for the first time. The census data is creating a new evidence base on the educational outcomes of young carers across England, shining a light on how many young carers are in our schools and the impact that caring can have on their education.

The government recognises the importance of encouraging schools and local authorities to work closely with young carers and their families to identify their needs and provide tailored support, ensuring they do not miss out on vital educational opportunities.

The statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ requires designated safeguarding leads to undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their role. This includes having a good understanding of, and an alertness to, the needs of young carers.

The Children’s Social Care National Framework provides clarity on the outcomes that leaders and practitioners should achieve when supporting children, young people, and families, including young carers. The framework emphasises the importance of multi-agency collaboration, which includes schools as key partners in supporting the wellbeing and educational outcomes of children, particularly those involved with social care services and young carers. This includes drawing on the expertise of virtual school heads, designated safeguarding leads and designated teachers.

Since 2021 virtual school heads have had a non-statutory, strategic duty to promote the educational outcomes of all children with a social worker, including young carers whose families receive, or have received, social services support, enabling earlier intervention to address the educational barriers these children can face. The department is now making this role statutory through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which will enable local authorities to prioritise these children’s educational outcomes, ensuring they receive the support they need to succeed in education.

This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity, and helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education. That is why the department has committed to expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. As of April 2024, NHS-funded MHSTs covered 44% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England, and are expected to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.

NHS England has recognised that social prescribing is an early intervention approach that can work particularly well for people with low level mental health needs. It has set out a framework for social prescribing link workers operating within or alongside primary care networks. The University of Manchester’s article highlights findings of a pilot on how social prescribing link workers can work effectively to support young people in colleges.

It is for schools and colleges to choose the most appropriate support for their students based on their understanding of needs, making links to primary care services in their area and the support they provide to children and young people. We will look at the lessons of the pilot and evidence on social prescribing in exploring future practical resources for schools and colleges, helping them to provide effective early support.

Regarding Young Futures Hubs, the staffing of each hub will be co-designed with local stakeholders to meet the needs of their local community and the three overriding objectives of improving opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime. Such designs may include a variety of different staffing arrangements including social prescribers and other related professionals.

This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity, and helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education. That is why the department has committed to expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. As of April 2024, NHS-funded MHSTs covered 44% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England, and are expected to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.

NHS England has recognised that social prescribing is an early intervention approach that can work particularly well for people with low level mental health needs. It has set out a framework for social prescribing link workers operating within or alongside primary care networks. The University of Manchester’s article highlights findings of a pilot on how social prescribing link workers can work effectively to support young people in colleges.

It is for schools and colleges to choose the most appropriate support for their students based on their understanding of needs, making links to primary care services in their area and the support they provide to children and young people. We will look at the lessons of the pilot and evidence on social prescribing in exploring future practical resources for schools and colleges, helping them to provide effective early support.

Regarding Young Futures Hubs, the staffing of each hub will be co-designed with local stakeholders to meet the needs of their local community and the three overriding objectives of improving opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime. Such designs may include a variety of different staffing arrangements including social prescribers and other related professionals.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review is looking at all curriculum subjects, including mathematics. It is committed to ensuring the curriculum sufficiently prepares children and young people for future life and work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes to thrive.

The Review Group has now published an interim report, which sets out its findings and confirms the key areas for further work. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report. The report highlights the need for the curriculum to “respond to social and technological change”. The Review Group’s next steps include considering how best to equip young people with “the essential knowledge and skills which will enable them to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled world”.

The government will respond to the final recommendations in autumn.

The government is committed to giving children the best start in life and has set the ambition through the government’s Plan for Change for a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. The department will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage by 2028. A high quality and sufficient workforce is fundamental to this.

The department is supporting early years providers to attract talented staff by creating conditions for improved recruitment. Our national recruitment campaign is encouraging the public to ‘Do something Big’ and start a career working with small children. A dedicated campaign website is also helping people find out more about gaining qualifications and search existing job vacancies. We are also piloting whether £1,000 financial incentives may boost recruitment and running Skills Bootcamps for early years which can lead to accelerated apprenticeships.

The department recently announced the experience-based route, which enables early years providers to maximise the potential of staff who have the right skills and experience but do not hold an approved qualification. We have also taken steps to increase the graduate workforce via the early years teacher degree apprenticeship, providing a new undergraduate route to gaining early years teacher status.

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are or where they are from. However, this government knows that too many children and young people face barriers to learning. This is not acceptable, which is why the Opportunity Mission will break the unfair link between background and success, helping all children achieve and thrive.

High and rising standards across education are at the heart of this mission and the key to unlocking stronger outcomes and a better future for children and young people. The department aims to deliver these improvements through excellent teaching and leadership, a high quality curriculum and a system that removes barriers to learning, all of which will be underpinned by strong and clear accountability.

The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is why the department is committed to recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers.

The department has also launched an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which is closely examining the key challenges to attainment for young people and the barriers that hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve.

To strengthen school improvement, the new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention for schools identified by Ofsted as needing to improve and a universal service, acting as a catalyst for a self-improving system for all schools.

Recognising the importance of supporting children’s attendance and attainment, the government is committed to delivering on its pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state funded school with primary-aged children.

The pupil premium grant also provides funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England. Pupil premium funding will rise to over £3 billion in 2025/26, an increase of almost 5% from 2024/25.

The first duty of the government is to keep the country safe and this government is committed to responding to foreign interference, including those actions which amount to transnational repression. The government takes protection of individuals' rights, freedoms and safety very seriously, and any attempt by any foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm individuals in the UK will not be tolerated. Anyone who thinks they might be a victim should report incidents or suspicious activity to the Police via 101, a local police station or 999 in emergencies. As autonomous institutions, the department also expects universities to have robust processes in place to prevent and tackle incidents of harassment and abuse on campuses.

The department is taking specific steps to ensure our world-leading universities remain free from foreign interference. This includes the implementation of the new complaints scheme in the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which will offer a focussed route for concerns, including relating to foreign interference in academic freedom and free speech, to be escalated. The government is also working at pace on the implementation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which will require registration of foreign directed activity involving specific governments and entities where it is necessary to protect the safety or interests of the UK. The department expects the scheme to commence summer this year.

The department continues to work closely with the sector to increase their understanding of the risks and their ability to respond. We are conducting an internal review, informed by engagement with the regulator, sector, academics impacted by foreign interference, as well as international partners, to assess existing approaches to managing the risk of foreign interference and what more support they might need.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will strengthen multi-agency working between local authorities, health, police and education and childcare settings, and those settings will be designated in regulations. The department expects safeguarding partners to work together with relevant agencies to promote the welfare of children in their local area regardless of what type of education or training establishment they are attending.

The department is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university, regardless of their background.

The government continues to provide means-tested non-repayable grants to low income full time undergraduate students with children and/or adults who are financially dependent on them. We have announced an increase to maximum dependants’ grants for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, based on forecast inflation using the RPIX inflation index. Students undertaking nursing, midwifery and allied health profession courses also qualify for non-repayable grant support through the NHS Learning Support Fund.

The department is also increasing the maximum maintenance loans for living costs for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation, to ensure that more support is targeted at students from the lowest income families. Higher rates of loan for living costs are also paid to students eligible for benefits such as lone parents and some disabled students as well as care leavers, who are normally assessed as low income independent students. In addition, care leavers are also entitled to a £2000 statutory bursary, paid via their local authority.

However, the department recognises that there is much more to do to expand access and improve outcomes for disadvantaged students. Too many people across our country do not get the opportunity to succeed. We will act to change this. We are calling for providers to go further and play a stronger role in expanding access and improving outcomes for disadvantaged students, making sure that they are delivering robust and ambitious access and participation plans. By the summer, the department will set out our plan for higher education (HE) reform and the part we expect HE providers to play in this.