A college has launched a “guarantee” that every student will progress into work or further study - and promised to pay them £1,000 if they don’t.

The offer by North Hertfordshire College is for 16-18 students, and states that they will all progress into a job, apprenticeship or further learning on completion of their study programme.

If students have not progressed to one of these six months after they complete their programme, the college will give them £1,000.

However the guarantee comes with strings attached: students will be expected to consistently attend classes, successfully complete their main qualification and abide by the college’s code of conduct.

Deputy principal Kit Davies said: “The guarantee reflects our confidence in the programmes that we offer and the support that we provide for our students as they complete their studies and think about their next steps.

“An important part of the guarantee is that students play their part - attending classes, completing their qualifications and behaving appropriately whilst they’re with us. That’s about students taking ownership of their own destiny with our support. We’ll continue supporting students for several months after they’ve completed their formal study programme, to help them find and secure the progression opportunities that will best work for them. If after six months they haven’t progressed, we’ll give them £1,000 to help them kick start their journey.”

The announcement follows a similar offer by Blackburn College. In 2010, it gave a guarantee that every student would obtain at least one A-level pass. Any student that failed would be given £5,000 by the college, which led to complaints by the Campaign for Real Education that it had created a “charter for dunces”. However the college told TES that in the first two years of the offer, it did not have to pay out for a single student.