Individual Learning Account
The Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) scheme was a British Government scheme designed to support adult education in the United Kingdom from the late 1990s. The scheme was announced in the 1997 Labour Party manifesto to support adult education in Britain with a system of tax incentives from employers, as well as a cash contribution of £150 to each of a million individuals. The system was biased towards the uptake of information technology skills, following the emergence of the Internet. The scheme was abandoned in October 2001, after widespread fraud and abuse was found.
ILA Scotland was a separate scheme launched in 2004 by the Scottish Executive, which was replaced in 2017. The The Welsh Assembly Government also ran an ILA scheme from 2004 until 2017.
Original scheme
[edit]The scheme was announced in the 1997 Labour Party manifesto,[1][2] and formally introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown in the 1999 budget.[3] It was launched in 2000 in the form of financial reimbursement to educational course providers for the cost of the ILA incentives, intended to support adult education in Britain with a system of tax incentives from employers, as well as a cash contribution of £150 to each of a million individuals. The system was biased towards the uptake of information technology skills, following the emergence of the Internet.[4]
By the time the scheme was abandoned in October 2001, there were 8,500 accredited providers nationwide. The Department for Education and Skills was investigating 279 providers on the basis of substantial evidence of misselling, and police had arrested 30 people.[5] Prosecutions based on this fraud were still taking place in 2008.[6]
Capita was the contractor that implemented the payment scheme.[7] Following its investigation, the Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts reported that the total expenditure on the scheme exceeded £290million (£37million paid towards Capita) with fraud and abuse amounting to £97 million.[8] The fraudulent activity was in the form of obtaining learning account numbers from individuals or of buying them from corrupt providers and simply cashing the credit, knowing that there was virtually no chance that the fact that no education had been delivered would be detected. At the same time, the "students" were made to think they were getting a computer for free. This was generally a 4–5 year-old machine, in which a "study pack" had been installed in order to amount to education providing. [9]
ILA Scotland
[edit]In 2004, the Scottish Executive launched ILA Scotland, to replace the original ILAs. This new scheme was managed by Learndirect Scotland and the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.[10] The Scheme provided up to £200 per year for a variety of courses. ILAs were available for people with an income of £22,000 a year or less, who were not in full-time education or who are receiving benefits.[11] In 2017, after consultations, the Scottish Government replaced ILAs with Individual Training Accounts, which are fully provided by Skills Development Scotland.[12]
ILA Wales
[edit]The Welsh Assembly Government launched a replacement ILA scheme in 2003.[13] The ILA Wales scheme was closed by 31 March 2011.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ "New Labour because Britain deserves better". Keele University manifesto archive. 1996. Archived from the original on 16 August 2000. Retrieved 17 July 2008.
- ^ Smithers, Rebecca (29 November 2001). "Costs of failed learning plan 'cannot even be estimated'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- ^ "Brown springs basic tax cut surprise". The Guardian. London. 10 March 1999.
- ^ Bibby, Andrew (18 February 2001). "Learn your lesson - it's worth £150". London: The Observer.
- ^ Woodward, Will (25 October 2001). "Frauds scuttle adult learning scheme". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- ^ "Four charged for alleged £2m Learning Account scam" (Press release). Cleveland Police. 25 February 2008.
- ^ Kingston, Peter (30 April 2002). "ILAs face damning report". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- ^ "Tenth Report - Individual Learning Accounts". 4 April 2003.
- ^ King, Anthony; Crewe, Ivor (September 2013), "Chapter 9", The Blunders of Our Governments, Oneworld Publications, pp. 127–139, ISBN 978-1780742663
- ^ "New learning scheme unveiled". BBC News. 28 January 2004. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ ILA Scotland
- ^ "Individual Training Accounts launched - gov.scot". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ Tony Tysome (7 March 2003). "Bold Welsh unleash son of ILA". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ Closure of Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) Wales Scheme