Memorandum 41
Submission from the Relate Institute
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The Relate Institute provides training
in relationship counselling and therapy for approximately 350
learners a year. The vast majority go on to work for Relate. Withdrawal
of HEFCE ELQ funding will seriously threaten the future of the
Relate Institute, publicly launched only last year by Alan Johnson,
then Secretary of State for Education and Skills. This in turn
will threaten the work of the entire Relate Federation which provides
crucial relationship support for couples, families and young people,
at reduced, or no cost.
2. Moreover, the speed of the introduction
of the change in funding will have a considerable, disproportionate
and, no doubt unintended, impact on the Relate Institute from
January 2008. Because of the flexible way that the Relate Institute
delivers its programmes students are able to embark on their training
in January and May as well as in September.
3. We believe learners studying for an ELQ
in counselling or therapy at the Relate Institute should be exempt
from the funding withdrawal for the following reasons:
— This major financial disincentive
to learners in this field will undermine government efforts to
extend the provision of talking therapies on the NHS, and family
and relationship support as set out in the recently published
Children's Plan.
— Coming regulation of counsellors
and psychotherapists by the Health Professions Council will place
our students within the grounds for exemptions as laid out in
Annexe B of the HEFCE consultation document[50]
— Maturity and life experience, which
may include a previous qualification, are highly desirable attributes
for a counsellor or psychotherapist; learners hoping to join these
professions will be disproportionately affected by the funding
withdrawal.
ABOUT THE
SUBMITTER
4. This submission is being made by Claire
Tyler, the Chief Executive of Relate. Relate has over 60 years'
experience of being the largest provider of relationship support
in the UK. It delivers relationship counselling, education and
sex therapy to individuals, couples and families in over 600 locations
nationwide as well as by phone and online. Relate works with 150,000
people a year, including 9,000 families, and 22,000 children and
young people. Relate works preventively with Children's Centres,
schools, GP's surgeries, prisons and our local Centres.
5. The Relate Institute is the training
arm of Relate, and was founded in 2006. The Relate Institute is
a faculty of Doncaster College, and provides research and relationship
counsellor training at undergraduate and post-graduate degree
levels. Each of these Higher Education Programmes is validated
by the University of Hull.
INFORMATION
6. The entry level programme in the portfolio
is the University Advanced Diploma: Introduction to Couple Counselling,
a part-time Level 6 qualification that lasts for one year. There
is progression from this to the part-time Postgraduate Diploma,
at which point students have the choice of pursuing one of four
specialist areas within Relationship Therapy. There is then further
progression on to the MSc in Relationship Therapy.
7. Relate Institute graduates invariably
go on to work within Relationship Counselling, almost always within
local Relate Centres. In order to work for Relate, they must have
at least the University Advanced Diploma. The progression rate
from the level 6 Diploma on to the Level 7 Postgraduate Diploma
is 23%.
8. The vast majority of learners on the
University Advanced Diploma course are over 25:
| Age range of students in 06-07 |
<25 |
= |
1
|
| 25-40 |
= |
55 (35%) |
|
41-60 |
= |
99 (63%) |
|
>60 |
= |
4 (2%) |
9. The withdrawal of funding would have a considerable
effect on our income, and ability to operate.
FORECAST IMPACT ON YEAR 2008—09
| UAD | PGDip
|
Number of Students | 225
| Number of Students | 193 |
| Loss 100% ELQ | £472,500
| Loss 60% ELQ | £92,640
|
| Loss 90% ELQ | £425,250
| Loss 50% ELQ | £77,200
|
| Loss 80% ELQ | £378,000
| Loss 40% ELQ | £61,760
|
| Loss 70% ELQ | £330,750
| Loss 30% ELQ | £46,320
|
| Loss 60% ELQ | £283,500
| Loss 20% ELQ | £30,880
|
| Loss 50% ELQ | £236,250
| Loss 10% ELQ | £15,440
|
10. On the basis of the current profile of students at
the Relate Institute, it is expected that in 08—09 there
will be 70% ELQs on the University Advanced Diploma and 30% on
PGDip. The consequent reduction in HEFCE funding is circa £375,000
(the sum of the emboldened rows above). The figure represents
approximately a quarter of the full income to the Relate Institute
and would result in the Relate Institute running at a substantial
and unsustainable loss.
11. Not only would this reduction in income lead to severe
financial difficulties for the Relate Institute, it would also
have major repercussions for the service delivery of Relate. Without
a flow of qualified counsellors, Relate cannot maintain the existing
level of services, let alone grow to meet increasing need. A knock-on
effect will be fewer newly trained counsellors going on to take
post-graduate qualifications: these allow them to do more specialist
work, particularly with children and families.
12. Moreover, we are very surprised by the retrospective
nature of this change about which we had no forewarning. The Relate
Institute will actually be affected by this policy before the
start of the 08/09 academic year. Recent changes in the way that
HEFCE funding is calculated will mean that any students starting
their programme of study in January and May 2008 will be treated
as though they are enrolled from September 2008, so HEFCE funding
will be lost for these students as well. The cost of this change
will result in a further reduction in HEFCE funding of about £80,000
in both 07/08 and 08/09, a loss of income over and above the reduction
of funding of £375,000 already referred to above.
13. This retrospective introduction without any forewarning
does not follow the principles of good public administration in
terms of allowing proper planning and transitional arrangements.
14. We understand, and support, the notion that savings
must be made in order to increase participation in Higher Education.
30% of learners studying for a University Advanced Diploma do
not have an ELQ, and we are keen to increase this proportion.
But we believe, as we know HEFCE does, that certain learners should
be exempt for strategic, social and economic reasons. We believe
that Relate's learners fall into this category because:
— Such a major disincentive to students of the Relate
Institute will undermine the government's stated aim of making
talking therapies more accessible via the NHS. All three of the
Relate Institute's therapeutic models—systemic, psychodynamic,
and cognitive behavioural—are recommended by NICE as approved
interventions. The Department of Health wants to provide 900,000
extra patients with such interventions by 2010-2011. A barrier
to this aim is a lack of trained practitioners. By extending our
existing contracting with Primary Care Trusts we are able to help
them meet the shortfall by training 350 practitioners a year within
the Relate Institute.
— This disincentive to students will undermine government
efforts to provide preventive interventions to families. The Government's
new Children's Plan states that "an effective family policy
must start with supporting strong couple relationships and stable,
positive relationships within families", and that Children's
Centres and other services must be able to signpost families to
relationship support. We already work in this way but need to
extend services so that they reach all parents—and children—in
need. This work depends on a supply of qualified counsellors,
and reducing learner numbers will jeopardise this.
— We note that, in Annex B of the consultation document,
it is stated that students on courses leading to qualification
"to practise as a nurse, midwife, social worker, or in other
related healthcare professions" should be exempted from the
general policy on ELQ. Counselling and psychotherapy will shortly
be regulated by the Health Professions Council, and this will
include Relate practitioners.
15. It is also important to note that not only are Relate
students more likely to be mature students, it is an advantage
that they are, and this enables them to engage with a client group
that itself has a wide range of work and life experiences. The
training of practitioners in counselling and psychotherapy rarely
follows standard routes. Entry into this field is by people who
typically have previous life experience and who have very likely
already developed a career in a related social care field such
as teaching and health care. There is also a significant intake
of people from other backgrounds who bring a broad range of work,
and other, experience with them.
16. Indeed, Relate prides itself on having attracted
a wide and diverse range of people to train as practitioners—increasingly
such people will already have studied at HE level. Such people
are uniquely suited to satisfy the growing need for a workforce
with the skills required by the NHS, and other partners. Such
a workforce is also mature enough to meet the needs of the client
group, and academically and professionally adaptable enough to
be able to take on board new knowledge and a new range of skills.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
ACTION BY
GOVERNMENT
17. Relate recommends that government grants an exemption
to students of the Relate Institute, and to learners across the
"talking therapy" field, given the social, economic
and strategic importance of these professions.
January 2008
50
Withdrawal of funding for equivalent or lower qualifications (ELQs),
Sept 2007. Back
|
