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23 September 2025
Adult education, skills and careers moving into DWP
As part of a reshuffle of Cabinet positions, the Prime Minister has replaced Liz Kendall with Pat McFadden as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. It is understood this is to accelerate the plan to transform the DWP into what’s been informally described as a ‘ministry for growth’.
As part of that, Baroness Jacqui Smith now has a dual reporting line, retaining her link into the DfE but also now reporting in the DWP for adult education, skills and careers. Sir Keir Starmer’s statement said;
’responsibility for apprenticeships, adult further education, skills, training and careers, and Skills England, will move from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions. Responsibility for higher education, and further education, skills, training and careers for those aged 19 years and under will remain with the Department for Education.’
To a degree, the adult careers element had already been signalled with the planned shift of the National Careers Service into DWP to form part of the new Jobs and Careers Service. It is encouraging that adult skills is also moving under this new remit for DWP, reinforcing the desire for a radical shift in the purpose and culture of the DWP - from being seen as too focused on benefits management to becoming a genuine service to support adults in gaining skills, moving into work and progressing in their careers.
An interesting aspect of the change, highlighted by Alison Morris from The Skills Federation (of which the CDI is a member) in an article in FE News, is that the DWP has a UK-wide remit whereas the DfE is only England focused. This raises some interesting questions around careers provision, which is devolved and delivered differently in each nation. There is no suggestion currently that this move will or can affect those arrangements, but it does raise the question of how the DWP operates a Jobs and Careers service that has a mixed delivery set-up.
This change comes quickly after the publication of the Work and Pensions Committee’s reports into its ‘Get Britain Working: Reforming Jobcentres’ inquiry, with an overall report on the consultation and a second specifically looking at the proposed Jobs and Careers Service.
The CDI, along with colleagues in the Career Development Policy Group and others, continue to engage with DfE and DWP to understand the potential and pitfalls of this new shift and will update when more is known about the practical implications.
As part of that, Baroness Jacqui Smith now has a dual reporting line, retaining her link into the DfE but also now reporting in the DWP for adult education, skills and careers. Sir Keir Starmer’s statement said;
’responsibility for apprenticeships, adult further education, skills, training and careers, and Skills England, will move from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions. Responsibility for higher education, and further education, skills, training and careers for those aged 19 years and under will remain with the Department for Education.’
To a degree, the adult careers element had already been signalled with the planned shift of the National Careers Service into DWP to form part of the new Jobs and Careers Service. It is encouraging that adult skills is also moving under this new remit for DWP, reinforcing the desire for a radical shift in the purpose and culture of the DWP - from being seen as too focused on benefits management to becoming a genuine service to support adults in gaining skills, moving into work and progressing in their careers.
An interesting aspect of the change, highlighted by Alison Morris from The Skills Federation (of which the CDI is a member) in an article in FE News, is that the DWP has a UK-wide remit whereas the DfE is only England focused. This raises some interesting questions around careers provision, which is devolved and delivered differently in each nation. There is no suggestion currently that this move will or can affect those arrangements, but it does raise the question of how the DWP operates a Jobs and Careers service that has a mixed delivery set-up.
This change comes quickly after the publication of the Work and Pensions Committee’s reports into its ‘Get Britain Working: Reforming Jobcentres’ inquiry, with an overall report on the consultation and a second specifically looking at the proposed Jobs and Careers Service.
The CDI, along with colleagues in the Career Development Policy Group and others, continue to engage with DfE and DWP to understand the potential and pitfalls of this new shift and will update when more is known about the practical implications.
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