Free meals now cover every 16 to 19 learner in a household receiving Universal Credit, but most FE providers still cannot use the electronic checker. This week's update also sharpens qualification and reporting deadlines.

New attendance analysis estimates that almost 42,000 16 and 17-year-olds may be missing more than half their college sessions. The briefing also covers adult English and maths participation, V Level assessment rules and autumn data deadlines.

A safeguarding judgement can now move a college from an inspection report to government intervention in one step. That happened for the first time this week under Ofsted's new framework. It wasn't the only story that came down to records, oversight and whether the system can prove what happened. Safeguarding is a culture, not a folder TEC Partnership became the first college group to receive a safeguarding judgement of "not met", which triggers Department for Education inte