A financially troubled Hampshire college has been forced to withdraw a statement containing claims about the outcome of an FE Commissioner review of its operations after failing to seek “ministerial approval” before publication.
This week, Havant and South Downs College (HSDC), which is under financial intervention, issued a press release declaring that an FE Commissioner-led review has ruled out a merger with another college as its cashflow issues are “in the past”.
However, today the college asked FE Week to “disregard and withdraw” the press release, which it claimed was an “early draft” that was “inadvertently sent” without ministerial approval.
It said: “This was premature and in error as the contents are still subject to details being confirmed and to subsequent ministerial approval.
“We would, therefore, ask you to disregard and withdraw that press release while the details are being finalised and ministerial approval is being sought”.
A “revised” statement will be issued “in the New Year”, the spokesperson added.
The college has also removed a post titled, “HSDC confirms strong and independent future following strategic review” from its website.
The post asserted that an FE Commissioner-led strategic review of whether it should restructure or merge, known as a structure and prospects appraisal (SPA), had found that the college is “well-positioned” to continue operating independently.
It added: “The process recognised that the college’s financial challenges are in the past and good progress has been made to resolve any issues.”
Troubled colleges are usually required to publish the FE Commissioner’s initial assessments after entering intervention, but SPAs remain confidential, even if they recommend major restructures such as a merger or campus closure.
HSDC was placed in intervention in May this year after “late identification” of expenditure resulted in its predicted £763,000 surplus for 2023-24, becoming a £548,000 end-of-year deficit.
The initial FE Commissioner’s assessment of the college’s challenges, published in October, revealed that trust between governors and leaders had broken down after the scale of the deteriorating finances came “out of the blue”.
That year, it had an overall income of about £42 million, with staff costs of about 72 per cent of its turnover, above the FE Commissioner’s 65 per cent benchmark.
FE Commissioner Shelagh Legrave’s team found “inaccurate” financial reporting to governors and a “risky reliance” on future land-sale receipts to fund an “ambitious property strategy”.
Since the intervention, HSDC has implemented a large-scale redundancy programme of up to a third of its 1,000-strong workforce and principal and CEO Mike Gaston announced his retirement.
The withdrawn press release said HSDC governors have “formally endorsed” the FE Commissioner’s recommendation to remain stand alone.
Mike Gaston, principal and CEO, who retires next month, had said the news meant he had “complete confidence” in the college’s future and new leadership, which would take it “from strength to strength”.
HSDC is has a ‘good’ overall effectiveness grade from Ofsted and teaches about 6,500 students across its three campuses in Waterlooville, Havant and Alton.
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