Regular readers of this column will know that FErret is a sucker for a good romance. Now, a rumour has now reached his burrow that one of the epic love stories of our age could finally be about to get a happy ending.

Forget about Romeo and Juliet. Move over Cleopatra and Mark Antony. Shove off, Tristan and Isolde. Let’s clear the stage for the most feted star-cross’d lovers of the modern age (well, in FE circles at least): the Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency.

Tale of woe

For too long, the agencies’ shared passion for…well, funding has been thwarted by a clunky and arbitrary - nay, tyrannical - divide imposed by the machinery of government. Pre-16 funding has been channelled through the EFA, while 16-plus provision has been cruelly diverted via the SFA.

From the moment Peter Lauener was appointed chief executive of both the EFA and the SFA, FErret has been dreaming of wedding bells and a glorious union. (This was, remember, all before the Institute for Apprenticeships was added to Lauener’s portfolio - is there no organisation with an acronym ending in “FA” that this gentleman doesn’t have dastardly designs on?)

But the man in the hot seat has continued to stubbornly insist that, while more joined-up working would be prudent, there is no need for the agencies to go the whole hog.

“I never took the job on the basis there would be a merger,” Lauener told TES back in February. “There are certainly no plans for that and the things I’m doing, I’m not doing because of that. I’m just getting on with making sensible changes. I wouldn’t rule it out, but it’s not something I’m planning for.” What a killjoy.

A fool’s paradise?

But things, it seems, have changed. The days of further education being split across two government departments are over; everything education now lives within the Department for Education. So, rather than having to make do with nipping out for furtive coffees and trips to the movies, the EFA and SFA are well and truly shacked up together, residing under the same departmental roof.

And, among those in the know, there’s growing confidence that the Brexit-induced era of even greater austerity could finally be about to force the two lovers to cast off their independence and walk down the aisle.

Frankly, with colleges being forced to look at mergers to achieve greater financial resilience in the area reviews, it seems only right and proper that the clunky divide betwixt EFA and SFA finally be shattered.

FErret’s just popping off down the dry cleaners to get his wedding suit ready for the big day…

Share your gossip, scandal and intrigue with FErret by emailing ferret@tesglobal.com