Introduction

1. This publication provides guidance to support anti-racism in higher education, along with 2025/26 anti-racism funding allocations, match funding expectations and monitoring requirements.

2. This funding was originally provided in HEFCW circular W22/05HE: Consultation on funding to support race equality in higher education, to tackle anti-racism and support culture change in higher education, in line with race, access and success policy developments and the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. The initial publication included the conditions of match funding and the expectation that universities achieve a race equality charter award by 2024/25. All universities confirmed to HEFCW their intention to meet this commitment by the end of 2025.

3. This publication should be read together with HEFCW circular W23/06HE: Safe and inclusive higher education: supporting equality and diversity education. In October 2024 Medr published its 2024/25 supporting anti-racism in higher education guidance which set the scene for the higher education sector.

4. Welsh Government is committed to an Anti-Racist Wales by 2030. In 2024 Welsh Government published a refreshed Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan to ensure progress at pace against specific actions, including on tertiary education. We expect universities to take account of and contribute to these actions.

5. We welcome that eight Welsh universities now have the race equality charter Bronze Award. Universities have made significant progress in working towards achieving the race equality charter. The charter supports the process of becoming anti-racist universities. We expect all universities to continue to deliver against their charter action plans in 2025/26.

Medr’s duties and responsibilities

6. Medr has a strategic duty to promote equality of opportunity in tertiary education including as this relates to under-represented groups and people with protected characteristics. A detailed explanation is provided in Medr/2024/03 paragraphs 8-11.

7. Medr has published its strategic plan which sets out our funding commitment to work with the Welsh Government and the sector to make progress towards achieving an anti-racist Wales and ensure inclusive learning and work environments for all, regardless of identity. Medr’s operational plan also sets out that we will work with the Welsh Government and tertiary education providers to contribute to the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan, including: monitoring tertiary education providers’ progress against action plans and/or charter commitments, and developing and publishing race equality monitoring data.

8. In 2025/26, Medr will be consulting on new regulatory conditions of registration and funding which will include its staff and learner welfare and equality of opportunity conditions. The welfare condition includes a requirement related to staff and learner safety, which in this context means freedom from harms including harassment, violence, misconduct and hate crime. Medr’s regulatory powers will also place an expectation on providers to support equality of opportunity for under-represented students. Under-representation means those experiencing social, cultural, economic or organisational barriers or disadvantage.

9. Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan’s update has strengthened its emphasis on leadership and priority groups. It is expected that accountability for universities’ commitment to anti-racism will be overseen by the appropriate senior staff (such as Pro-Vice-Chancellors) and supported by governing bodies. It is also expected that universities improve their engagement and support to the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

The purpose of anti-racism funding

10. This funding is to prevent inequality, tackle racism and support the embedding of anti-racist policies and practices within universities. It contributes towards changing the culture and meeting the expectations of Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.

11. While this funding is framed in terms of race and ethnicity, universities should take a holistic approach to recognise how race and ethnicity intersect with other protected characteristics and societal groups and issues including, but not limited to, identity based harassment, violence and abuse, wellbeing and mental health, refugees and asylum seekers and religion and belief.

2025/26 allocations and conditions of funding

12. In 2025/26 funding allocations:

1. are subject to universities committing to match fund allocations (as in previous years and as set out in the funding table below);
2. use HESA 2023/24 student data, which are based on the HESA standard registration population, reduced to a headcount (i.e. if a student has more than one enrolment, they are counted once);
3. use student data which includes the whole student body: all modes, level and domiciles;
4. are based on verified 2023/24 HESA data which has been verified by the university;
5. as is our usual practice, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama student data are included within University of South Wales data and allocation; and
6. will be made as one payment in October 2025. Where reporting is unsatisfactory or limited we reserve the right to reclaim funding.

13. Our expectations for the use of match funding are that:

1. the Medr allocation should not result in any decrease in universities’ existing resourcing of anti-racism developments, including their commitment to achieve and demonstrate progress and continued commitment to their charter accreditation;
2. universities commit additional resource to support anti-racism actions, over and above the Medr £1m total allocation;
3. where any existing anti-racism activities or services are funded through fee and access plan or other sources in 2025/26, the delivery of these activities and services may be increased by Medr funding provided through this guidance or the related anti-racism university match funding (fee and access plans remain operational in 2025/26 until the new registration process is operational from 2026/27). Where this is the case, the university must make clear in all reporting and anti-racism monitoring how, and to what level, this funding has enhanced activities and services, and this may be subject to audit by us;
4. match funding or Medr funding can be used to meet the costs of relevant membership subscriptions, externally facilitated training or other external expertise;
5. universities must contribute effectively to the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan goals and actions;
6. universities maintain their commitment to the standards set out in the Race Equality Charter and actions in their action plan;
7. universities work collaboratively and effectively across the tertiary sector and with external partners, including those with lived experience to develop and share learning and practice; and
8. the match funding and the Medr allocation leads to an increase in pace and progress towards tackling racism to embed anti-racist practices, improving race equality, and the continued achievement and/or progression towards a charter award.

14. In 2025/26 allocations are as follows:

Institution	2025/26 Medr allocation (with £50K floor) (£)	2025/26 Sector matched funding  (no floor) (£)	2025/26  Total (£)
University of South Wales	160,566	160,566	321,132
Aberystwyth University	53,881	53,881	107,762
Bangor University	73,830	73,830	147,660
Cardiff University	224,721	224,721	449,443
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	106,160	106,160	212,320
Swansea University	144,340	144,340	288,679
Cardiff Metropolitan University	77,948	77,948	155,896
Wrexham University	54,345	54,345	108,689
The Open University in Wales	104,210	104,210	208,420
Total	1,000,000	1,000,000	2,000,000

Resources and information

15. In July 2023 Universities UK published Tackling racial harassment in higher education: progress since 2020 to review the impact of the 2020 guidance on how universities tackle racial harassment in HE and how they can improve further. Universities UK has also published a series of reports on changing the culture and religion and belief tackling antisemitism and islamophobia) to provide practical guidance to inform race considerations.

16. In March 2024, the Black Leadership Group launched the Higher Education Anti-Racism Toolkit (HEART). It has a ten-point plan to embed anti-racism in higher education systems (including strategy, pedagogy and the student and staff experience). Universities might find this a useful resource.

17. Welsh Government has developed a maturity matrix as a self-evaluation tool linked to the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan. The maturity matrix is attached as Annex A for information. Universities may find this a useful resource.

18. As Medr develops, through consultation, its regulatory conditions and guidance on staff and student welfare and equality of opportunity, we encourage universities to review their anti-racism activities, taking account of regulatory and conditions which will apply to them from 2026/27.

Deliverables and monitoring

19. Monitoring information and deliverables for 2025/26 should build on the 2024/25 plans submitted to Medr informed by learning from the race equality charter process and action planning outcomes, as well as staff and learner experiences. A monitoring template has been provided in Annex B and returns to us should include:

1. The university’s 2025/26 anti-racism action plan,
2. The university’s monitoring template, including progress and deliverables to July 2026; and
3. A funding statement to account for the Medr allocation and university match funding.

20. Where universities’ action plans are the same their race equality charter action plans they can submit the charter action plan to avoid duplication and unnecessary burden of reporting.

21. Should Welsh Government set new expectations on higher education or the tertiary sector during the funding period, we may provide additional information briefings and/or ask for additional monitoring.

Monitoring dates and returns for 2025/26 funding and reporting

22. The submission date for universities’ anti-racism action plans  is Monday, 13 October 2025. Please submit to [email protected].

23. The 2025/26 monitoring submission date is Friday, 23 October 2026. Please return the completed monitoring (Annex B) to [email protected].

Assessing the impact of our policies

24. We have carried out an impact assessment screening to help safeguard against discrimination and promote equality. We anticipate a positive impact on race, sex, disability, age, religion and belief.

25. We also considered the impact of this policy on the Welsh language, and Welsh language provision within the HE sector in Wales and potential impacts towards the goals set out in the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. Contact [email protected] for more information about equality impact assessments.

Further information and submissions

26. For further information please contact Savanna Jones ([email protected]).

27. Please submit your anti-racism action plan to [email protected] by Monday, 13 October 2025.

28. Please submit your monitoring template to [email protected] by Friday, 23 October 2026.

Introduction

1. During the 2025/26 academic year, Medr will be collating evidence about the impact and benefit of the previous ‘call to action’ on digital learning for further education (FE) and developing our evidence base on digital learning needs and priorities. We will also work with Jisc on a mid-term refresh for the Digital 2030 strategic framework. These activities will inform planning for Medr’s future strategic approach to digital learning in the tertiary sector.

2. The Welsh Government’s funding settlement to Medr for 2025/26 includes £3 million digital capital funding for FE. This funding is to provide continuity for FE after the call to action; to maintain momentum with progress which has been made over the last three years; and help to address specific funding pressures which have been raised by FE institutions. Each FE institution will also receive a £25,000 digital revenue allocation in 2025/26.

Timelines

Timing	Milestone or action
By 24 October 2025	Each institution to outline its intended use of funding (Annex B).
December 2025	Interim capital payment (50% of allocation) will be processed during December.
March 2026	The remaining 50% of capital allocation and an interim payment of £15,000 revenue funding) will be processed during March.
By 31 July 2026	Expenditure reporting and final claim. (Annex C to be added once interim payments have been made. Nominated funding leads will be notified when this form is available.)

Key points

• There were 3,895 apprenticeship learning programmes started in 2024/25 Q3 (p), compared with 4,570 starts in 2023/24 Q3.
• Level 2 foundation apprenticeships saw the largest fall compared to Q3 the previous year, a 19% drop (p).
• Healthcare and Public Services apprenticeships were the most popular sector in 2024/25 Q3 (p) with 1,985 programmes started. This accounted for 51% of all apprenticeship learning programmes started.
• 67% of apprenticeship learning programmes started were by female learners in 2024/25 Q3 (p), no change from 2023/24 Q3.
• 44% of apprenticeship learning programmes started were by learners aged between 25 and 39 in 2024/25 Q3 (p), compared to 42% in Q3 for the previous year.
• 16% of apprenticeship learning programmes started were by learners with ethnic minority backgrounds in 2024/25 Q3 (p), a 3 percentage point increase from 2023/24 Q3.
• 13% of apprenticeship learning programmes started in 2024/25 Q3 (p) were by learners identifying as having a disability and/or learning difficulty.
• 12% of apprenticeship learning programmes started were by learners living in the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in Wales in 2024/25 Q3 (p).
• There have been 77,385 apprenticeship starts since Q4 2020/21, as part of progress towards Welsh Government’s target of 100,000 apprenticeships. Including the starts which are not counted as part of the more rigorous target measure, there were 85,415 apprenticeship starts overall in the time period.
• The Programme for Government contained a target to create 125,000 all-age apprenticeships. During the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee meeting on 26 June 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language agreed a new target of 100,000 all-age apprenticeships to maintain the previous Senedd term’s target of 100,000.

The Welsh Government financial year budget for apprenticeships in 2023-24 was £139m and £144m in 2024-25 (Source: Medr Funding Allocations 2025 to 2026). Previously, there was additional funding for apprenticeships from the European Social Fund (£43m in 2023-24 Medr Funding Allocations 2025 to 2026). This ceased by the 2024-2025 financial year.

Apprenticeship learning programmes started: interactive dashboard

Wales Research Environment and Culture (WREC)

1. As noted in our Strategic Plan 2025-2030, Medr is committed to the development of research environments with positive cultures that attract and retain the best researchers and innovators from across the world. We are ambitious for our research sector in Wales. We want Wales to be renowned as a great place to undertake research and which, through collaboration, secures social, economic and cultural benefits. The development and sustainability of healthy research cultures in universities is pivotal to supporting excellent research, It is also important in its own right. We want to support the diverse workforce who contribute to research, including technical and professional staff. Through our funding, and our work with other partners, including UK funding bodies on REF 2029, we will encourage research environments that support integrity, diversity, inclusivity, well-being, mental health and respect.

2. WREC funding provides dedicated support for enhancing research cultures and environments. However, Medr expects that maintaining a healthy culture should be treated as an integral part of research and innovation activity and supported strategically through core research and innovation funding.

3. The allocation of £200,000 funding to Welsh universities is to support projects, programmes and activities that actively contribute to supporting or developing positive and healthy research cultures and environments. This funding could be used to extend existing projects, and also for new activities and infrastructure.

4. For this third year of funding, we would encourage institutions to continue to embed evaluative thinking in their activities to understand the outcomes and impacts of their research culture activities. This is to ensure that the activities are making tangible changes to research culture or generating learning about what works. In this academic year we are interested in the outcomes of interim evaluations.

5. In determining the use of allocations, institutions should continue to refer to the three themes outlined in the table below. These are based on themes developed through engagement with the Welsh and UK research sectors. This is not an exhaustive list and institutions are encouraged to use the funding flexibly accounting for their strategic priorities, and broader principles relating to improving research cultures and environments.

Themes	Potential sub areas of alignment
Creating Positive Research Culture(s)	* Reward and recognition of positive behaviours * Identifying what a positive research culture looks like including for well-being and mental health * Valuing diverse research activity * Career development of researchers and associated professions * Support for career transitions, career porosity and mobility between sectors * Developing research culture frameworks * Improving infrastructure and capacity to support better research grant capture * Tackling bullying and harassment * Collegiality and belonging * Valuing the full range of experiences, skills and contributions of all who contribute to research
Embedding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)	* Understanding and addressing barriers to inclusion for applicants from under-represented groups in the research talent pipeline with a view to ensuring the research environment is accessible, inclusive and equitable for all * Recognition of all staff contributions and career pathways frameworks, including for fixed-term, technical and research-enabling staff * Enhancing access to, and participation in, research from underrepresented groups * Understanding and tackling the challenges experienced by those who may experience multiple disadvantages
Responsible Research	* Integrity, openness and ethics * Improving research conduct and reproducibility * Research assessment and reform * Collaboration and convening institutions to share practice * Reproducibility of metrics

Inclusion

6. The research sector has an important role to play in supporting an inclusive Wales, including opportunities to improve support for staff and students who are currently disadvantaged. Medr has a strategic duty to promote equality of opportunity and we have set out commitments and actions to achieve this in our Strategic and Operational Plans. Medr is developing a new regulatory system which includes conditions on staff and student welfare and equality of opportunity. Higher education providers will be required to comply with these conditions, including as they relate to research. Medr expects WREC funding to be used to address barriers to inclusion of under-represented groups in the research talent pipeline and to develop a supportive and inclusive research environment, which values the contribution of academic staff, research enabling and support staff, and professional services staff.

7. We particularly welcome activities that support people with protected characteristics to have equal access to fulfilling research careers and to participate in research as citizens, contributing to the Welsh Government’s equalities-related strategies and plans, including, but not limited to the Disabled People’s Rights Plan: 2025 to 2035.

8. We also welcome activities that make progress towards the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan goals and actions, and take account of the institution’s commitments in its race equality charter action plan. We expect to see research students and staff included within institutions’ wellbeing and health, including mental health, strategies and implementation plans, which are required through Medr’s Wellbeing and health funding 2024/25 and monitoring requirements (Medr/2024/07).

9. Medr actively promotes the use of Welsh language in research, not only to foster a rich and inclusive environment that reflects the cultural heritage of Wales, but also in recognition of the statutory duties placed on institutions to support the Welsh language and Welsh-medium provision. WREC funding may be used to support activities to encourage research in the medium of Welsh.

Sharing learning and good practices

10. Medr recognises the importance of collaboration across the sector in developing positive research cultures and the role of organisations such as the Wales Innovation Network (WIN), the Learned Society of Wales, and Universities Wales. We are working through funded partnerships with these organisations to continue supporting diverse communities to effect change. Institutions are strongly encouraged to work collaboratively and build on existing activities that support positive research cultures, for example The Learned Society of Wales’s Researcher Development Programme.

11. We have previously provided £50,000 to WIN for activities to support shared learning across institutions. In 2025-26 we are exploring wider options to support collaboration and shared learning including learning from initiatives across the UK such as plans for the Good Practice Exchange and the Scottish Research Cultures Collaboration Manager. We welcome ideas and feedback on how this could be best achieved in Wales, please contact [email protected].

12. A positive and inclusive research culture is vital to advancing the civic mission of universities in Wales. By fostering diversity, equity, and collaboration, universities enable socially responsive, community-driven research that delivers meaningful social, economic, and cultural benefits to Wales and its communities. Inclusive environments can also support innovative approaches to engagement, empowering researchers to co-create knowledge and solutions with external partners.

Institutional allocations

13. The method used to allocate funding for 2025/26 is based on 2023/24 HESA staff and student data:

• Number of FTEs on research-only contracts at the higher education institution
• Number of FTEs on teaching and research contracts at the higher education institution
• Number of postgraduate research students at the higher education institution

14. A minimum allocation of £5k is used to ensure that all universities have a usable allocation to enhance their research cultures and environments. HESA data used have been verified by universities.

Institution	Research Contracts	Teaching and Research Contracts	PGR Students	Total	Allocation
University of South Wales	66	722	257	1044	£21,185
Aberystwyth University	104	297	260	660	£13,397
Bangor University	177	279	545	1000	£20,295
Cardiff University	864	1342	1570	3777	£76,368
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	40	361	390	791	£16,057
Swansea University	383	572	638	1593	£32,325
Cardiff Metropolitan University	27	583	124	736	£14,924
Wrexham University	1	201	54	255	£5,180
Total	1662	4357	3838	9856	£200,000

15. Medr notes that the WREC funding allocation methodology does not explicitly include research-supporting staff such as some of the technical community, and professional services staff. Medr acknowledges the crucial contributions of these staff to research cultures and the research environment.

WREC fund monitoring arrangements

16. Payments for AY 2025/26 will be made in August 2025. Medr expects assurances concerning the projects and activities that are being undertaken through this fund. Allocations should be spent in full in AY 2025/26.

17. Institutions should complete the WREC funding monitoring form at Annex A by 25 September 2026:

• Part 1 – Strategic Context: indicate the strategic context of research culture at your institution.
• Part 2 – Thematic Areas: indicate how the activities/projects align with the thematic areas outlined in paragraph 7, and whether: 1. activities would have taken place without the funding, 2. activities only took place through WREC funding provision, or 3. activities could have taken place without the funding, but to a lesser extent.
• Part 3 – Evaluation:  explain the effectiveness and impact of the projects/activities.
• Part 4– Confirmation: confirm that the WREC funding has been spent in accordance with the information outlined in this publication.

18. Information submitted by institutions in their reports will form the basis of evidence to support future budget decisions and support for research culture and environment across Wales.

19. We welcome the submission of monitoring reports in Welsh.

Further information

20. For further information, contact Hayley Moss ([email protected]).

Impact assessment

21. We have carried out an impact assessment to help safeguard against discrimination and promote equality. We anticipate a positive impact on race, sex, disability, age, religion and belief. We also considered the impact of this policy on the Welsh language, Welsh language provision within the HE sector in Wales, socio-economic characteristics and potential impacts towards the goals set out in the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

Publication summary

1. This publication sets out Medr’s requirements and funding arrangements for the Employment and Enterprise Bureau (EEB) activity in 2025/26. It confirms monitoring arrangements, timelines and attaches monitoring templates. 

2. The aim of the EEB is to deliver positive employment and self-employment outcomes for learners, by providing a package of support to develop learner employability, enterprise and entrepreneurial skills. This support should be delivered by working in collaboration with employers, Careers Wales, the Regional Skills Partnerships (RSPs), and other key partners to develop opportunities for learners in their regions.

3. The funding should be used to continue to integrate enterprise and entrepreneurship delivery within the EEB, with the aim of increasing the self-employment opportunities available to learners and leavers, as well as promoting embedding employability and entrepreneurship within the curriculum to the benefit of learners.

2025/26 funding

4. The total budget available to support the EEBs from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026 is £1,320,000. This funding is comprised of £960,000 of Medr funding and £360,000 received from Business Wales, which must be used to support the Enterprise and Entrepreneurship element of the EEB activity in FEIs in Wales. The total allocation will continue to be split equally across the 12 FEIs in Wales so that each FEI receives a total allocation of £110,000 in 2025/26.

Monitoring and timelines

5. FEIs are required to submit an interim and end of year monitoring report, using the templates at Annex A and Annex B, to Medr by the dates set out in the timeline. As the enterprise funding for 2025/26 is provided by the Welsh Government, information that is reported to Medr against those requirements will be shared with the Welsh Government so the impact of its funding can be monitored.

Action	Responsibility	Date
Publish 2025/26 EEB guidance	Medr	August 2025
2025/26 EEB first payment of £83,600	Medr	September 2025
Interim report submitted to Medr	EEBs	31 January 2026
2025/26 EEB final payment of £26,400	Medr	April 2026
End of year report submitted to Medr	EEBs	31 July 2026
Statement of Expenditure submitted to Medr	EEBs	31 August 2026

Publication summary

1. This publication sets out Medr’s requirements for the submission of two-year delivery plans covering the period 2025/26 to 2026/27 for higher education (HE) providers currently in receipt of funding for Targeted Employability Support for HE Students. It announces the 2025/26 academic year (AY) budget of £2m for this support and details providers’ financial allocations. Funding for 2026/27 academic year will be subject to Medr’s budget.

2. This funding should be used to develop the employability skills of students studying HE courses who are under-represented in HE as a result of social, cultural, economic or organisational factors as defined in the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022.

3. Delivery plans should build on progress made in the previous three years of funded activity, providing flexible and bespoke provision to students from under-represented groups to equip them with the social and financial capital to help them have a positive outcome after graduation. Activity should be targeted, take account of the student voice and be delivered in collaboration with a variety of partners including student services and employers, with the aim of removing barriers to employability and empowering students to take ownership of navigating their future career paths.

2025/26 allocations

Provider	Total funding (£)
University of South Wales	325,261
Aberystwyth University	154,148
Bangor University	150,304
Cardiff University	330,000
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	152,469
Swansea University	330,000
Cardiff Metropolitan University	238,931
Wrexham University	100,000
The Open University in Wales	176,503
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai	32,385
Grŵp NPTC Group	5,000
Gower College Swansea	5,000
Total	2,000,000

4. 2025/26 provider allocations have been calculated using the latest verified HESA data for 2023/24 according to the funding methodology outlined in paragraphs 37- 41 of this publication.

5. 2025/26 first tranche payments will be made on approval of delivery plans and end of year monitoring for 2024/25.

Timeline

6. We require universities and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai to:

• Submit delivery plans using Annex A and Annex B to [email protected] by 19 September 2025.
• Submit monitoring reports to us in February 2026 and September 2026 (Medr will send individualised templates to providers separately).

7. We require Gower College Swansea and Grŵp Colegau NPTC to:

• Submit delivery plans using Annex C to [email protected] by 19 September 2025.
• Submit a monitoring report to us in September 2026 (template to be sent separately).

Introduction

1. The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 (TERA), Section 5 states that Medr must promote continuous improvement in the quality of Welsh tertiary education and, in discharging this duty, must have regard to:
a) the importance of ensuring that members of the tertiary education workforce are capable of providing tertiary education of a high quality, and
b) the reasonable requirements of members of the tertiary education workforce for continuous professional development.

2. Section 5 (3) identifies members of the tertiary education workforce to be:
a) teachers of persons receiving tertiary education,
b) persons who provide support to such teachers, and
c) persons who provide support to learners to participate in tertiary education.

3. To support the discharge of this duty, professional learning is featured in Medr’s Strategic Plan under Strategic Aim 3.

Strategic Aim 3 To ensure learners receive the highest-quality provision in a tertiary education sector that strives for continuous improvement.

Growth commitment We will support the tertiary education workforce to access effective professional learning and explore ways to share best practice, extending effective pedagogy across the whole sector.

4. Professional learning in this context may include mandatory training, continuous professional development (CPD), subject and industrial knowledge, professional qualifications, action research and professional inquiry.

Use of the Professional Learning Fund

5. The Welsh Government’s funding letter to Medr for 2025/26 includes £5 million to support the professional learning and development of the further education workforce. Funding has been allocated to FE institutions based on the size of institution as a proxy for the number of staff. Allocations are set out in Annex A.

6. The funding allocated by Medr is made available subject to the general conditions for payment of funds set out in Medr’s Terms and Conditions of Funding.

7. Funding will support professional learning for practitioners and learning support staff and can be used to enable institutions to deliver or commission professional learning aligned to the themes outlined in this guidance. Funding should only be used for the development of staff involved in delivery of FE teaching and learning.

8. The funding can be used for activities that reflect each institution’s individual priorities, based on its own policies and the identified needs of its staff. Institutions are also encouraged to use the funding for collaborative activity and can choose to “pool” a proportion of this funding to support collaborative projects.

9. In drawing together applications for use of funding, we expect all institutions to consider:

• Professional standards for FE teachers, WBL practitioners and AL practitioners/Educators Wales
• Collaboration across the sector to improve efficiencies, peer support and sharing good practice.
• Previous learning to build on and embed the work developed in previous years.
• Balancing the learning needs of the institution (CPD) and the decisions practitioners make about their own professional learning needs and interests.
• The development of staff skills to support complex needs and skills priorities.
• Where institutions are undertaking professional learning relating to digital delivery, we will ask them to use the Digital Professional Standards which have been developed by Jisc as part of our Digital 2030 work.

10. Applications must focus on the eligible themes listed below. The list below covers mandatory themes which must be included and optional themes.

Mandatory themes

• Welsh language development.
• Professional learning required to create and support an anti-racist culture.

Optional themes

• Digital learning.
• Teaching and learning strategies, including differentiated learning.
• Literacy and numeracy (including ESOL).
• Enhancement of industrial skills linked to labour market needs (including capacity to delivery higher level qualifications).
• Strengthening A level and vocational pedagogy.
• Action research.
• Professional learning for specialist teaching and support staff for learners with complex needs.
• Delivery of activities designed to accelerate and build expertise for staff which will increase the learner’s knowledge and learning experience.

11. Institutions will be expected to report against each activity as part of the interim and final reporting requirements.

Key issues and methods of working

12. In preparing applications, institutions should consider other cross cutting policies and ways of working. These must include:

• Social Partnership
  FEIs are expected to develop their proposals using social partnership principles, to ensure their recognised trade unions are fully involved in planning, decision making, and implementing changes that will affect staff.
• Anti-Racist Wales
  Individuals and institutions should take responsibility for creating an anti-racist culture and driving lasting positive change, and in doing so, we would expect you to consider the professional learning required within your institution to help realise the ambition of an Anti-racist Wales by 2030.
• Creating a bilingual Wales
  Medr has a role to play in contributing to the Welsh Government’s ambition to achieve 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050 and have a duty to encourage greater use of the Welsh language. We therefore expect you to consider this when preparing your applications.

Professional Learning Strategies

13. As a condition of funding, Medr will require all institutions to submit a formal professional learning strategy. Institutions can either review an existing strategy, or develop a new one. The PLF can be used to fund the release of staff time to develop and evaluate strategies, and/or to bring in external expertise to support the process if required. Strategies will need to be submitted to Medr with their interim reports in February 2026.

Eligible activities

14. Funding can be used to:

• Undertake accredited teaching qualifications.
• Undertake specific modules or units of training to enhance teaching skills (eg MA modules).
• Update and enhance staff’s industrial/vocational skills.
• Purchase bespoke training, including the costs of external trainers or facilitators.
• Purchase or develop e-learning packages.
• Meet the costs of backfill for staff who are undertaking professional learning.
• Undertake research including action research.
• Collaborative design and delivery of professional learning and leadership development, including joint training on a regional basis.
• Developing bilingual professional learning resources and guidance for sector-wide benefit, including in work-based and adult learning.
• Professional learning for specialist teaching and support staff for learners with complex needs.
• Delivery of activities designed to accelerate and build expertise for staff which will increase the learner’s knowledge and learning experience.

15. The funding cannot be used for the purchase of capital equipment or software or for course development for learners.

16. If you are unsure whether your proposed use of funding is eligible please contact [email protected].

Evaluation criteria

17. Proposals must:

• Deliver professional learning in line with the Professional standards for FE teachers, WBL practitioners and AL practitioners/Educators Wales
• Identify clear benefits and show how impact will be evaluated.
• Be aligned to the themes listed within this guidance.
• Include activities which support Welsh language development
• Demonstrate professional learning which will create and support an anti-racist culture
• Demonstrate a clear rationale which reflects the identified professional learning needs of the institution’s staff.

How to apply

18. Each institution is required to complete and return a signed copy of the form at Annex C to:

• Formally confirm your institution’s acceptance of the funding
• Nominate an appropriate individual in your institution as the lead contact in relation to this funding
• Briefly outline your intentions for use of this funding

19. Signed forms should be returned to [email protected] by 7 July 2025.

20. Please notify Medr at the earliest opportunity if you foresee that you will not be able to spend your full allocation. If funding is released by individual institutions, Medr will consider if it is feasible to re-allocate this funding.

Monitoring and payment of funding

21. Subject to the return of Annex C, an interim payment (65% of your institution’s funding allocation) will be scheduled during February 2026.

22. You will be required to provide expenditure information by 31 July 2026 to release final payment. You should only claim against actual expenditure incurred by 31 July 2026. The amount of this final payment will be adjusted in line with the actual expenditure incurred, up to the total value of your institution’s allocation.

23. Interim and final report templates along with end-of-year expenditure information will be added as Annex D. Nominated funding leads will be notified when these forms are available.

24. Confirmation of the allocation is subject to Medr’s approval of activities.

Further information

25. Any queries regarding this guidance and supporting documentation should be directed to Karron Williams at [email protected].

Introduction

1. This publication gives definitions and guidance to higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education institutions (FEIs) with higher education provision (known collectively as higher education (HE) providers) that are funded by Medr (the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research) for their higher education provision. The guidance also applies for providers with specifically designated course provision, but who do not receive funding directly from Medr for their higher education provision, this includes some FEIs and some alternative providers. The guidance relates to the end of year data that are extracted from the 2024/25 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record via the HESA Information Reporting Interface Service (IRIS) to enable Medr to:
a). calculate funding allocations for part-time undergraduate credit based funding and the higher cost subjects premium for 2026/27;
b). calculate any adjustments to 2024/25 part-time undergraduate credit based funding;
c). monitor provision of medicine and dentistry courses;
d). establish final numbers of students and credit values at HE providers for 2024/25 for funding modelling and information purposes.

Main changes for 2024/25

2. The main changes made since the EYM 2023/24 survey are as follows:
a). The method for determining dormant/writing up students who have been inactive for the whole of the academic year has changed. Annex M contains details of the methodology used to identify such students in the data extraction. Annex K has also been updated to reflect the change.
b). The way medicine and dentistry credits are assigned to their academic subject categories has changed and the method now uses the course qualification subject and proportion rather than year of study. Details can be found in Annex K, paragraph 17.
c). The maximum fee limits for full-time undergraduate and PGCE courses have been updated. See Annex F.
d). Those providers that subscribe to HESA to return data relating to specifically designated courses, are now in the scope of the EYM data extraction. This is for the purposes of getting an end of year recruitment picture for these providers. Data are not used in funding calculations and do not need to be signed off. Further details are included in the guidance annexes.

Contents

3. This circular provides:
a). guidance and definitions for the various categories used to classify students;
b). information about the criteria used to extract EYM data from the 2024/25 HESA student record via IRIS;
c). details of the sign off arrangements for the tables made available through HESA IRIS outputs (see paragraph 10 for the list of tables requiring sign off). Note that the sign off process is only applicable to higher education providers that receive funding from Medr for their higher education provision. Providers that return data to HESA because they have specifically designated courses are not required to sign off the EYM tables, and the sign off sheet has been removed from their HESA IRIS outputs.

4. The contents of the annexes are as follows:

Annex		Page number
Annex A	Summary guide to the EYM 2024/25 survey	5
Annex B	Definition of a recognised HE qualification	13
Annex C	Distance learning, campuses, subsidiaries, franchises, validation arrangements and other collaborative arrangements	14
Annex D	Definition of residential and funding status	21
Annex E	Definition of ASCs	25
Annex F	Definition of mode of study	27
Annex G	Definition of level of study	30
Annex H	Rules for counting registrations	31
Annex I	Rules for counting credit values	38
Annex J	Table and column descriptions	43
Annex K	HESA/HESES/EYM mappings and end of year monitoring data extraction criteria	47
Annex L	Use of data by Medr	57
Annex M	Dormant/writing up student classification	59
Annex N	Funding status reference grid	61
Annex O	Sample copies of IRIS output tables extracted from HESA data	63

Adjustment of 2024/25 funding

5. For the purposes of calculating the funding consequences of under-recruitment for 2024/25 funding, part-time undergraduate credit based teaching funding is recalculated using EYM data. Credit values (for part-time undergraduate students) resulting from modules for which students registered up to and including, as well as after, 1 November 2024 will be used and the number of credit values associated with modules from which students withdraw will be deducted. The signed off EYM tables from the HESA IRIS extraction will be used for this purpose.

Process for signing off end of year monitoring and other data extracted from the HESA student record

6. Higher education providers that are directly funded by Medr for their higher education provision must sign off the data presented in the final 2024/25 HESA student record IRIS outputs as of the 5 November 2025 HESA final sign off date. The deadline for returning the signed IRIS outputs to Medr is 5 December 2025. This is the third year of producing IRIS outputs under the new HESA student record. We made some changes last year as a consequence of the consultation on changes to EYM for 2023/24, and are making some additional changes for 2024/25 (see paragraph 2). If any amendments to the extraction mapping or method are made after initial implementation of the extraction, we will inform providers. Providers should also inform us if they find any issues with the extraction, either in the presentation of the outputs or the mapping used.

7. During the HESA data quality checking period from 1 August to 29 October 2025, Medr will conduct quality checks of the data submitted. We will contact providers around six weeks prior to the final sign off date for the HESA student record of 5 November, and once providers have confirmed they are ready for us to send on any queries, we will provide a set of queries. Providers can also ask us to raise questions earlier than six weeks or set a date that they want us to send them our list of queries if they prefer, and can ask at any point for us to look at particular aspects of their data if that is useful to them. This is to assist with the provider’s own internal quality checking process and to ensure the data are fit for purpose for Medr. As described in the HESA Student Record collection schedule, providers are required to either resubmit their data to amend these anomalies, or provide an explanation as to why they are genuine.

8. Prior to returning the signed off IRIS outputs to Medr, higher education providers must have undertaken sufficient checks to be satisfied that the extracted data are accurate, and/or have made amendments where necessary if data are not accurate. As 2024/25 is the third year of the new student record under Data Futures, and given that some providers are still experiencing difficulties in the implementation of the new record, we are continuing to allow changes to be made to all IRIS outputs at the sign off stage. Providers should provide an explanation of any changes made. Further details of the process are contained in the Data Requirements publication for 2025/26, to be published in August 2025.

9. We do not require a hard copy of the signed IRIS outputs. Signed outputs should be returned by emailing them to Andrea Thomas at [email protected]. The deadline for return of the signed off outputs is 5 December 2025. Details about the process will be emailed separately to authorised signatories and data contacts in October 2025 as a reminder.

10. The IRIS outputs requiring sign off have an “S” prefix in front of their filename and are as follows:
a). End of Year Monitoring
b). Medr National Measures
c). Part-time fee waiver allocations
d). Part-time fee waiver monitoring
e). Degree apprenticeships monitoring (along with the requested additional information)
f). Per capita funding
g). Disability premium
h). Access and retention premium
i). Welsh medium premium
j). Expensive subjects premium
k). PGR training allocation
l). Race equality/Wellbeing and mental health funding
m). Targeted Employability Support funding
n). Total full-time equivalent (FTE) (for capital funding allocations)

Audit of data

11. Providers are reminded that EYM data, and other tables as described in paragraph 10 as extracted from the HESA student record via IRIS, and any amendments made to the extractions, including methods used to calculate any estimates included in the amendments, may be subject to an external audit carried out by Medr or by contractors working on Medr’s behalf. The systems and processes used to generate the HESA data extracted are in the scope of the institution’s internal audits.

Further information

12. Any queries should be directed to Andrea Thomas (email [email protected]).

Universities, colleges and education providers across Wales will receive a share of almost £1 billion this year, Medr has confirmed as it shared details of its funding allocations for 2025/26.

In January Medr set out the funding assumptions it intended to provide to tertiary education providers for the 2025/26 academic year. Following final confirmation of its budget from the Welsh Government, Medr has now confirmed those allocations and has provided further details about how budgets will be distributed across the tertiary sector.

This is the first time in Wales that total budgets from across the tertiary sector have been presented alongside each other, and includes breakdowns across apprenticeships, local authority school sixth forms, local authority adult community learning, further education and higher education, including research and innovation.

James Owen, Chief Executive of Medr, said: “This is a significant milestone for education in Wales. The publication of our first funding allocations demonstrates our commitment to transparency  and high-quality education and research opportunities for all. With Medr now operational for a year, we are excited to see the positive impact this investment will have on our learners and communities.

“Our comprehensive approach to funding, aligned with the priorities set out in our Strategic Plan, will support institutions to be well-equipped to provide learners with the best possible experiences and meet the challenges of the future.”

Table 1: Total funding for the 2025/26 academic year

	AY 2024/25 £ million	AY 2025/26 £ million
Ring-fenced
Apprenticeship contract	134.520	134.520
Junior apprenticeships	0.400	0.600
Core
Local authority sixth form *	116.664	116.853
Local authority Adult Community Learning *	6.479	6.479
Further education mainstream	409.066	422.826
Further education Additional Learning Support	16.741	16.741
Further education Financial Contingency Fund	7.192	6.880
Withheld from the allocations to support increased participation once evidenced in 2025/26.		21.126
Higher education research and innovation ** 1	97.295	97.121
Higher education teaching funding ** 2	69.434	69.745
Degree apprenticeships	9.411	9.411
Strategic
Access, well-being and inclusion ***	23.962	28.469
Employability and skills ***	3.320	3.320
Research and innovation ***	1.733	2.000
Student/learner and workforce ***	8.254	8.254
Data and technology ***	3.993	3.993
Strategic developments	2.250	3.500
Capital
Higher education	10.000	10.000
Further education digital	3.000	3.000
Total	923.240	964.838

Minor inconsistencies may occur due to rounding.

Providers were informed of their core allocations well ahead of the 2025/26 academic year.

Medr’s funding allocations for academic year 2025/26

Notes

In January 2025, Medr wrote to providers to set out, in broad terms, the funding assumptions that underlie the planned distribution of its budget for the 2025/26 academic year, and received final confirmation of its budget from the Welsh Government in March 2025.

Medr funding assumptions for academic year 2025/26 (January 2025)

The Welsh Government allocates funding to Medr annually on a financial year (FY) basis from 1 April to 31 March. Medr allocates funding to the majority of eligible institutions and providers on an academic year (AY) basis from 1 August to 31 July. It uses this format, FY 2025-26, to denote the financial year to 31 March 2026, and this format, AY 2025/26, to denote the academic year to 31 July 2026.

Table 1 notes:

¹ This includes Quality Research (QR), postgraduate research (PGR) and Research Wales Innovation Fund (RWIF).

² This includes full and part-time premiums, credit-based and per capita allocations.

*  Historically, local authority sixth form and Adult Community Learning allocations have been derived on a financial year basis. For AY 2025/26, Medr’s Board agreed that local authorities would receive a 16 month allocation from April 2025 through to July 2026, allowing Medr to move all tertiary core provision funding to an academic year budget cycle. The above table includes the 12 month commitment only covering the academic year.

**  In AY 2024/25, Medr’s predecessor body the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) applied a one-off pro rata reduction of £11 million to core funding lines for higher education and research to reflect a reduction in the funding available from the Welsh Government. As Welsh Government funding in FY 2025-26 does not reverse this position, the figures are now presented in this table based on the figures post-reduction, pro rated against each line for comparative purposes.

***  Strategic budgets are made up of strategic funding lines transferred to Medr from the Welsh Government and HEFCW. 49 strategic funding lines have been grouped into six thematic budget lines. A largely cash flat budget has allowed for stability in the levels of funding with increases in the access, well-being and inclusion budget (£2 million to recognise the Welsh Government steer of a £2 million increase for mental health support) and the research and innovation budget. It has also allowed for development of proposals for approximately £3.5 million of currently unallocated funding to support tertiary education providers to deliver against Medr’s operating plan. These groupings may change in subsequent years following evaluation of the impact and outcomes of these strategic investments.

Local authority funding for school sixth forms

A unit rate increase of 3.0% has been applied to the funding rates per learner. The methodology for calculating the local authority sixth forms’ allocations has been used since FY 2015-16 and was slightly amended in FY 2023-24 to account for a consistent drop-off of pupil headcount numbers from Year 10 to Year 11. For FY 2025-26 it is slightly amended further due to an added contribution for Teacher Pension Scheme (TPS), added at a rate of 3.91%. The funding methodology uses a combination of historic learner numbers and predicted demographic learner numbers for each local authority, multiplying these by a calculated average programme value. Uplifts for deprivation, sparsity and Welsh medium provision, along with a 3% local authority centrally-retained allowance and the 3.91% TPS contribution, are added to determine the final allocation. Two local authorities, Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent, have no school sixth form provision.

Further education

Full-time provision includes A-level and vocational provision across all educational levels from entry level to level 4 to around 44,000 learners. The methodology for calculating the full-time allocations has been used since 2015-16 with a small changes made in the 2023/24 academic year to account for a consistent drop-off of pupil headcount numbers from Year 10 to Year 11. For the 2025-26 financial year, it is slightly amended further due to an added contribution provided by the Welsh Government towards the increased costs of the Teacher Pension Scheme (TPS) for FE providers, added at a rate of 2.56%. The funding methodology uses a combination of historic learner numbers and predicted demographic learner numbers for each provider, multiplying these by a calculated average programme value. Uplifts for deprivation, sparsity and Welsh medium provision along with a 3% centrally retained allowance, 2% estate maintenance allowance and the now 2.56% TPS contribution are added to this to determine the final full-time allocation. A unit rate increase of 3.0% has been applied to the funding rates per learner.

Additional learning support (ALS) allocations

The total ALS budget available is proportionally split according to each college’s mainstream allocation. This recognises that where a college sees an increase/decrease in learners, it is likely that ALS needs will increase/decrease proportionally.

Higher education

Medr has allocated strategic funding to the Open University in Wales to the value of £605k, the same amount as in AY 2024/25.

Performance element funding for conservatoire provision is allocated to the University of South Wales for provision at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD), which is part of the University of South Wales Group. An allocation of £585k to support strategic developments at the RWCMD is provided in addition to the performance element funding provided through the expensive subjects premium. This strategic funding is the same amount as last year.

Premium funding includes allocations for:

Full-time undergraduate provision for:

• Expensive subjects (clinical medicine/dentistry and conservatoire performance element provision).
• Higher cost subjects (non-clinical medicine/dentistry, science, engineering and technology, and mathematical sciences, IT and computing).
• Welsh medium modules.

Part-time undergraduate provision for:

• Welsh medium modules.
• Access and retention.

All modes and levels for:

• Disability premium.  

Research and innovation allocations include:

• Quality Research (QR) funding, which rewards sustainable research excellence;
• Research Wales Innovation Fund (RWIF), which supports the range of knowledge exchange activities that result in economic and social impact, including the wider civic mission role of providers; and
• Postgraduate research (PGR) training.

Strategic budgets

Medr inherited 49 strategic budget lines from HEFCW and the Welsh Government. To enable a more tertiary-focused strategic approach, these separate budget lines have been merged into a smaller number of strategic pots. This signals a move towards a tertiary education approach, breaking down barriers between parts of the tertiary education sector in the way funding is allocated in the future, in line with Medr’s Strategic Plan.

In the future Medr will consult on and publish a funding policy that will set out principles for funding tertiary education, research and innovation in Wales. This will be informed by the new higher education register, where only those in the core category of the register will be eligible for higher education and research and innovation funding. The policy will also take into account Medr’s strategic duties.

Introduction

1. The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill received Royal Assent in September 2022. The Act established the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, known as Medr, which has assumed responsibility for regulating and funding most tertiary education provision in Wales. Medr became operational from 1 August 2024. This publication represents the first budget and funding publication of its type, including all tertiary sectors and funding provided by Medr.

2. Medr published its first Strategic Plan on 12 March 2025, setting out its ambitions for tertiary education, research and innovation in Wales. These ambitions are cast in founding commitments which have a two-year horizon for delivery, and growth commitments with a five-year horizon for delivery. Funding published in this publication is set in the context of those commitments and the importance of providing stability for providers during a change in oversight of tertiary education, research and innovation in Wales.

3. This publication sets out our overall funding for Medr-funded tertiary education providers in Wales for the academic year (AY) 2025/26. This document also includes individual provider allocations for all core funding and some strategic budgets where available.

4. Medr currently funds further education (FE) on behalf of the Welsh Government through an agency agreement issued under section 83 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. Medr allocates funding through these powers to institutions within the further education sector, local authorities and contracted apprenticeship providers.

5. Medr administers its funding for higher education (HE) based on powers set out in the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, which determines the nature of activities eligible for funding. The activities eligible for funding are predominantly those undertaken by higher education institutions. Some higher education funding is allocated to further education institutions, but Medr is only able to allocate this funding for the provision of prescribed courses of higher education.

6. The agency agreement and powers set out above will continue until the funding powers set out in the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 are implemented.

7. Separately, we regulate institutions that have approved Fee and Access Plans under powers set out in the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015. As a result of becoming regulated, institutions will have their undergraduate and postgraduate courses automatically designated for student support. For courses that are not automatically designated for student support, we administer a process that allows providers to have courses designated on a case by case basis. These two processes that lead to course designation by the Welsh Government do not relate to our functions to administer funding to institutions. As such, being regulated or having course designation does not result in providers receiving the funds that we administer and have set out the allocations for in this publication.

8. For universities in Wales and other providers in Wales that receive core HE funding, Medr funding does not include payments for tuition fee loans and grants or other student support payments. These are administered by the Welsh Government through the Student Loans Company. Apprenticeship providers, colleges and local authority maintained school sixth forms do not receive tuition fees other than for HE provision, the core funding allocated by Medr represents the majority of their income.

9. The Welsh Government allocates funding to Medr annually on a financial year (FY) basis from 1 April to 31 March. Medr allocates funding to the majority of eligible institutions and providers on an academic year (AY) basis from 1 August to 31 July. We use this format, FY 2025-26, to denote the financial year to 31 March 2026, and this format, AY 2025/26, to denote the academic year to 31 July 2026.

10. In the future Medr will consult on and publish a funding policy that will set out principles for funding tertiary education, research and innovation in Wales. This will be informed by the new higher education register, where only those in the core category of the register will be eligible for higher education and research and innovation funding. The policy will also take into account our strategic duties.

Contents

11. This publication covers all elements of our funding allocation for AY 2025/26. The Welsh Government published its final budget for FY 2025-26 in March 2025. The corresponding funding letter was received in March 2025.

12. This publication includes all formula-driven core grants. Where possible, grants allocated via strategic budgets, which may be subject to the provision of a specific expenditure plan or strategy, are also included.

13. Capital allocation details for HE institutions ^[1] will be announced separately, as will funding allocations for strategic tertiary education initiatives such as well-being and mental health and targeted employability support. For transparency these allocations will be communicated via separate publications.

^[1] Capital funding for the FE estate is provided directly by Welsh Government via the sustainable communities programme.

1. Introduction

1.1 Accounts direction

This accounts direction advises colleges of Medr’s requirements for the format of their audited financial statements for the year 2024/25.

We use the term “college” to refer to further education and sixth-form college corporations, established under the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

Medr publish the accounts direction on behalf of the Welsh Government, who are the principal regulator of Welsh further education colleges as exempt charities. Compliance with this accounts direction is a requirement of colleges terms of funding with Medr and other public funders.

Colleges in Wales remain subject to the Welsh Government’s Financial Memorandum until Medr’s own regulatory framework comes into effect.

References to Medr are assumed to refer to the collective responsibility to Welsh Government via Medr.

This accounts direction for primarily for use by:

a) principals, chief executives / accounting officers, and finance directors
b) governors
c) external auditors / reporting accountants

1.2 Background

Paragraph 36 of the Financial Memorandum between the Welsh Government and institutions, issued in March 2015 (guidance document no: 160/2015), requires institutions to comply with the Accounts Direction issued periodically by Medr. The direction will cover information to be contained in the financial statements, the manner in which they are to be presented, the methods and principles according to which they are prepared, and that they will be in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice and the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting for Further and Higher Education 2019 (‘FE and HE SORP’).

In issuing this direction Medr wishes to ensure the form, content and disclosures within institution’s financial statements follow good practice, are consistent across the sector and meet any specific requirements of the Welsh Government.

Over one thousand employees who faced uncertain futures as a result of Tata Steel UK’s decision to cease blast furnace steel production at Port Talbot have been supported to develop new skills through an innovative programme of local learning.

Funded initially by the Welsh Government and since August 2024 by Medr, the new body responsible for funding and regulating the tertiary* sector in Wales, the Personal Learning Account (PLA) scheme has seen significant uptake, in many cases quickly equipping learners with the skills for alternative employment. 

Over the last academic year alone, the Tata Steel intervention PLAs have supported over 800 Tata workers to undertake 995 PLA courses with a further 215 learners undertaking well over 300 courses supported over recent months.

Ben, a 40 year old father of two teenagers had been working at Tata for 24 years, and is one of the former employees to benefit from a PLA. After identifying and completing multiple courses with the NPTC Group of Colleges, he has now found alternative employment. 

Ben said: “I picked the courses I did because they best suited me as a way of building on and reinforcing my experiences and Tata based training, which is not always officially accredited to external bodies. Having had limited success in the job market for the roles I was interested in, it’s been a real eye-opener to see the impact the accreditations I’ve obtained have had.

“I’ve since had interest from multiple roles and companies and I’ve recently accepted a job on a major UK energy project not far from Port Talbot. I’m really enjoying it.’

Simon Pirotte, Chief Executive of Medr explained: “Clearly, recent events in Port Talbot have required many employees and supply chain businesses to look afresh at their futures.

“What we, and the Welsh Government before us, have managed to do by targeting funding to meet the specific needs of those able to access it, is to work with our colleges, training providers and local businesses to not only provide many with the optimism of alternative employment but in many cases deliver the skills which have helped deliver just that.

“I’m delighted to confirm that following its successes – this ringfenced intervention will continue into 2025/2026”

The Welsh Government Minister for Further and Higher Education, Vikki Howells said: “We made a commitment to the entire community in Port Talbot that they would not be left behind as a result of Tata Steel’s decision to quickly change operations at the steelworks and these bespoke Personal Learning Accounts are an excellent example of how we, working with Medr and partners, are providing impactful interventions to re-skill and support people into alternative local employment.

“I’m very pleased to see Medr continue this intervention into 2026 and would encourage anyone eligible who has not yet accessed it to consider how it might be beneficial to them.”

The Personal Learning Account programme aims to help individuals to upskill or reskill in priority sectors, particularly those earning below the median gross annual figure for full-time adults working in Wales. By focusing on national priority sectors, the programme enhances participants’ career and earnings potential. The Tata Steel PLA removes some of the earning access requirements in order to make the support more tailored for the different needs of the workforce.

Individuals can apply either directly to the colleges or through Working Wales. All institutions will ensure they have a process in place to support Personal Learning Account applications, undertake the initial assessment and process enrolment.

Notes

*The tertiary sector relates to education for people above mandatory school age -including but not confined to college, university, and vocational settings.

A targeted intervention for the Tata workforce has been operational from 1st April 2024. Since then, those  directly employed by Tata Steel UK and the company’s Welsh supply chain have been eligible for a targeted Personal Learning Account (PLA), providing the flexible support necessary to retrain and change career.

All applicants must in addition be offered employability support through the Careers Wales Steps to Employment Programme. Where individuals have confirmed that they would welcome additional support, the Further Education institutions must aim to provide them with the tools needed.

This funding and intervention is in addition to funding announced by the Tata Transition Board.