At the Association of Colleges (AoC) Annual Conference and Exhibition 2025, NCFE hosted a breakout session bringing together senior leaders, educators, and practitioners to explore how devolution is reshaping adult skills delivery and what this means in practice for providers, learners and employers.

Titled Navigating Devolution: Local Skills Solutions for a Changing Funding Landscape, our session examined the move from national to regional funding decisions, and how colleges and training providers are responding. Discussion focused on emerging local opportunities, delivery challenges and the changing expectations placed on providers, learners and employers.

This was not the first time NCFE had convened the sector around devolution. For several years, we’ve worked closely with centres and providers in devolved areas to understand regional needs in adult education and where further support is required.

For example, in early 2025 we hosted a workshop at the Apprenticeships and Training Conference (ATC), bringing together product leads, colleges, independent training providers, and cross-regional organisations to share practical experience of delivering within devolved systems.

Building on these discussions at AoC in November 2025, NCFE returned with a refreshed panel including Emzi Mills-Frater (Product Manager, NCFE) and Andrew Barton (Product Manager NCFE), alongside Suzanne Slater (Commercial Director, NCFE), and sector leaders from Learning Curve Group, NCG and Pro Excellence Partnership.

Devolved adult funding: shared insight from the sector

While the audiences in March and November differed, several themes were consistent. Using Slido (a live polling platform) to capture anonymous feedback, 76% of respondents in March reported that only 0–25% of their adult funding came from devolved sources.

By November, this figure had reduced to 63%, indicating gradual movement but also highlighting a system still in transition.

With seven additional areas due to take on devolved responsibility by 2026–27, this picture aligns with AoC funding intelligence. While no overall increase in adult skills funding is anticipated in the short term, AoC has suggested that by the end of the decade up to 90% of the adult skills budget could be devolved.

As a result, providers across many regions are actively considering how they will operate in a funding and accountability landscape that looks very different from the one they are used to.

The impact of devolution on provider organisations

Delegates were clear that devolution brings both opportunity and challenge. In March, commonly cited impacts included ‘collaboration’, ‘opportunity’, ‘change’ and ‘positive’. By November, responses focused more on ‘changing priorities’, ‘responsiveness’ and ‘flexibility’.

These reflections demonstrate the sector’s ambition to work closely with employers and local stakeholders, while also recognising the pressures that accompany change.

Increased complexity, stretched resources and uncertainty around differing regional processes were recurring themes, reflecting the practical realities providers are facing.

Pictured: Slide responses from session attendees on perceived devolution impacts

Understanding the barriers

Several consistent barriers emerged across both sessions. Delegates raised concerns about funding decisions being made without sufficient local or sector-specific insight, challenges around transparency in procurement, staffing capacity, employer engagement, and the complexity of supporting national employers across multiple devolved areas.

These insights mirror what we’re hearing more broadly across the sector and help identify where targeted support, clearer processes and shared learning could have the greatest impact.

Importantly, these challenges were not framed as resistance to devolution, but as evidence of committed providers seeking to deliver effectively in an increasingly complex environment.

This was echoed by my co-panellist, Suzanne Slater, who explained: “Devolution creates space for locally responsive skills systems and challenges us to work in new ways. For NCFE, this means strengthening our internal expertise to meet regional priorities.

"We work with providers, employers and commissioners to develop solutions that reflect local need. We also connect regional learning with national insight to support progress across the sector.”

Experience and insight from the ground up

The discussions at both ATC and AoC provided honest, practical reflections from organisations already delivering in devolved systems. Panel members highlighted the importance of early and open communication with Mayoral Strategic Authorities, flexible curriculum and delivery models, and the growing role of data in shaping provision that meets genuine local need.

They also acknowledged that priorities continue to shift, and that even large, experienced organisations are learning in real time building internal capacity, developing new partnerships and adapting at pace.

The shared message was clear – devolution creates space for innovation when providers have the tools, data and partnerships needed to respond quickly. The future of local skills delivery will depend on flexible learning models, strong employer relationships and effective regional collaboration that avoids duplication and supports shared problem-solving.

What this means for the wider sector

The overarching sentiment from AoC delegates was one of cautious optimism. Devolution has significant potential to strengthen regional skills systems but only if delivered through partnership, transparency and shared understanding.

As devolution accelerates, NCFE will continue to work closely with providers, employers and devolved authorities to support providers navigating this evolving landscape, helping to ensure adult learners across England benefit from a more responsive, locally focused skills system.

Take the next step in enhancing adult education in your region – find out how NCFE can support your centre and help learners succeed here.

Pictured: Panellists at our AoC breakout session, Nov 2025