Universities push for LLE reforms as new system delayed again

Ministers have been urged to outline what another delay in the planned implementation of England’s new lifelong learning entitlement (LLE) means or risk losing the confidence of an already sceptical sector.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget confirmed that the new Labour government intends to proceed with wide-ranging changes to the student finance system that are intended to foster more flexibility, but set out a revised timetable for their implementation, with the first LLE-funded courses now due to begin in January 2027.

It marks the second time that the LLE – which will offer £37,000 worth of loan funding across a person’s life – has been delayed after it was pushed back from its initial planned start date in September 2025 to January 2026.

While many welcomed the first commitment that Labour will honour the changes initially envisaged by the former Conservative government, a lack of any information about why they had been delayed – and what the extra time will be used for – meant there was continued confusion over the potential repercussions of the new system.

“It would be very useful and reassuring to get more detail for the reasons for the delay and whether there are going to be any significant changes to the policy,” said Andy Forbes, executive director of the Lifelong Learning Institute.

“Otherwise, it just becomes about delaying it because it is a bit of a headache, and it loses impetus and people lose confidence in it.”

Mr Forbes said the LLE could yet prove politically important for universities seeking to show their worth to a government focused on skills and growth.

But currently institutions were having to invest considerable resource in preparing for the potential new system, according to Mr Forbes, and had “little confidence” this would be worthwhile.

René Koglbauer, dean of lifelong learning and professional practice at the University of Newcastle, said switching to the LLE could force his institution to restructure its entire modular system from 20- to 30-credit courses. Other universities have already instigated radical changes to their academic year to facilitate the new approach.

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Professor Koglbauer said the delay would buy universities more time to adapt but warned that there were still “big unknowns”, such as how credit transfers will work between institutions, whether those with existing degrees would be entitled to more loan funding, and how long a credit would be valid if a learner later sought to top it up to a full degree.

Jonathan Michie, chair of the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning, said he did not expect radical reforms to the design of the LLE – which has already been formalised in legislation – but if ministers did want to start again he urged them to separate out funding for traditional three-year undergraduate degrees, with a system for funding adult learning and career development “much simpler” to design on its own.

Rethinking whether grants could be offered alongside loans to encourage adults reluctant to take on further debt was also a crucial consideration, according to Professor Michie, president of Kellogg College, Oxford.

But politicians should avoid the urge to participate in “overambitious centralised planning” said Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, who, as an adviser in the Number 10 policy unit until February 2023, helped design the LLE in its current form.

She said the former education secretary, Gillian Keegan, had been “highly attracted” to this – but “the government must allow colleges and universities to respond to local and emerging demands”.

“It’s noteworthy that Canada, Australia and the US are all seeing a big growth in highly varied one-year vocational HE-based courses, something which our own current arrangements militate against and which the LLE could and should encourage,” she said.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com