Editor’s view: cuts to ESOL revealed by Hyphen are a national emergency
Nearly 40% in real terms has been taken out of the budget for teaching English to speakers of other languages. Here’s why it’s bad news for Britain
One of the many ways in which we judge ourselves as a nation is how we help those less fortunate. The homeless, vulnerable children, refugees — everyone deserves access to steady employment, education, healthcare and a fair start in life.
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Alongside access to state schooling and the NHS, English language support for migrants has proven to be one of the most foresighted and durable government programmes to improve integration since the end of the British Empire. Hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of UK citizens and migrants have benefited for decades from free access to English classes, opening up pathways to self improvement and stronger communities.
This week, Hyphen launches a campaign to highlight the many successes and challenges faced by teachers and students of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). From interviews with British citizens and migrants who are learning English to strengthen their economic futures and community ties, to discussions with ESOL teachers, policy experts, third sector workers and faith leaders, we intend to shine a light on one of the UK’s most remarkable post-war initiatives.
About a million people in England and Wales currently cannot speak English well or at all, according to the 2021 census. This figure bodes dire prospects for not just for their economic futures — their ability to find employment and housing — but also their integration with the wider community.
Launched as part of the Local Government Act of 1966 and intended to fund public services in areas with significant Commonwealth immigrant populations, ESOL gradually matured throughout the 1970s from neighbourhood adult learning centres to statutory state funding for colleges and the Labour government’s defining Skills for Life strategy and national curriculum in 2001.
But sadly, funding for ESOL has been winnowed since the Great Recession in line with the UK’s economic woes. Spending on English language courses aimed at non-native speakers has been cut by 39% in real terms since 2009, according to exclusive figures obtained by Hyphen. This is despite a surge in the number of adults living in England who stood to benefit from ESOL training between 2011 and 2021, as shown in census data from those years.
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The ESOL cuts have proved seismic for all concerned. As our journalism this week and beyond will demonstrate, providers are struggling with long waiting lists, inadequate resources and recruitment pressures. A volunteer army of third sector spaces, including mosques, churches and community groups — many of them also underfunded and under-resourced — has felt compelled to step in to alleviate demand. Meanwhile, the national ESOL curriculum, which dates back to 2001, no longer fully reflects the lives of many learners are living now.
While many who undertake ESOL are British citizens, the programme is also sustaining attacks from the anti-immigrant and nativist right. English lessons for some foreign nationals in Lincolnshire are to be cut from 2027 by the Reform UK mayor of Lincolnshire. Opponents worry the policy could be expanded to include some of the other 23 councils under Reform’s control, including Kent County Council, whose leader Linden Kemkaran first floated the idea.
With all those challenges in mind, our coverage hopes to make two aims clear: the government needs to undertake an urgent review of ESOL, and it needs to do so with a view to restoring funding to pre-2009 real-terms levels. The question is no longer whether ESOL matters, but whether the system that has been in place since the 1960s is resilient enough for the present day.
