Forcing colleges to merge has “never” been the intention of FE Commissioner Shelagh Legrave – but most have “thrived” after forming a bigger group, she has said in her final annual report.
The FE Commissioner’s (FEC) yearly roundup for 2024-25, the last before Ellen Thinnesen takes over in January, delves into the extent of her team’s increasingly “active” support for the college sector during her tenure.
Sector-wide concerns raised by Legrave include the “scale and pace” of Department for Education qualifications reform, adult education funding and “sobering” reminders of governance failures amid recruitment challenges.
Balancing the books has been the main challenge faced by the six colleges that entered intervention last year, with five doing so due to their financial health.
Ten colleges have merged since Legrave took office in October 2021, some after entering intervention and others “voluntarily” seeking financial resilience in a larger college group.
Reflecting on her four-year term, former Chichester College Group chief executive Legrave said: “It has never been my intention to force mergers on colleges, but sometimes this is the right solution.
“It is also becoming much more difficult to survive as a general further education college if turnover is less than £20 million.”
Most college groups have “thrived” following mergers, while their leaders have remained “thoughtful” about ensuring colleges remain “for local communities,” she added.
‘Proud’ of intervention curbing
The total number of colleges in intervention fell from 23 to eight between October 2021 and October 2025, one of the commissioner’s key objectives.
Time in intervention has also reportedly reduced to 84 weeks against a target of 272 weeks, although this year is the first that the annual report has published this metric.
Four colleges left intervention in the last year, with three moving into post intervention monitoring and support. Legrave said she is “proud” of these figures.
‘Sobering’ reminders of bad governance
Without naming the most prominent governance failure in recent years – the multi-million-pound payments to Weston College’s ex-principal Sir Paul Phillips – Legrave emphasised the importance of expert governors making decisions “rooted in public values”.
Good governance is a “crucial element” in successful colleges but recruitment remains “challenging” in “some locations especially for finance/audit, FE curriculum/quality and those who have the expertise to chair committees”, she said.
Since June 2025, 23 colleges have asked the government’s FE Governor Recruitment Service for help and there is demand for “nearly 50 governor roles”.
The commissioner added: “Sector findings this year are a sobering reminder of where it can go wrong if public values are not underpinning the actions of governors and senior executives.
“Chairs and governors should be focused on continuous improvement. I am encouraged by good examples of boards using external appraisers to assess the performance of chairs or have a senior independent governor, drawing on practice from the private sector.”
Active support
College feedback on the commissioner’s work appears positive, with the latest survey suggesting that 82 per cent have accessed some form of active support and 92 per cent providing positive feedback about it.
Active support, which also offered to 61 local authority FE providers, includes preparing for Ofsted inspections, structural reviews, financial health checks, curriculum efficiency and financial sustainability support (CEFSS), and leadership and governance advice.
“Since its introduction in 2021, ‘active support’ offered through the FEC team has gone from strength to strength and now enjoys very strong, voluntary take-up across the FE sector,” the report said.
During the 2024-25 academic year, 36 FE colleges engaged with CEFSS, with half asking for more in-depth follow up support.
The commissioner’s team carried out financial health checks on four FE colleges and 15 local authorities.
They also started four structure and prospects appraisals (SPAs) and completed two, reviewing whether “a change” such as a merger is needed to “maintain financial sustainability”.
Leaders’ wellbeing
Mental health and wellbeing supervision for FE leaders, offered by UK charity Education Support, has also showed “clear benefits”, the report said.
Since its introduction began in 2023 195 FE leaders have accessed the support, with 68 starting since the start of 2025.
The support includes six fully funded one-to-one online sessions with a “qualified supervisor”, offering leaders a confidential space to “reflect, process challenges, and develop strategies” for managing leadership pressures.
Most leaders who participated reported being “better able to manage stress and anxiety”.
Qualification reforms ‘concerning but exciting’
A “central theme” in discussions with FE college leaders has been the “rapid evolution” of qualifications at levels 2 and 3.
Legrave said the FEC team has had to develop a portfolio of active support strategies to address “concerns” raised about the “pace and scale” of reforms.
She added: “The focus on simplifying skills provision at levels 2 and 3 has had wide-reaching effects, particularly as demand grows for level 1 and 2 places and for more personalised learner support.
“Some institutions and learners have undoubtedly felt the impact more acutely than others, underscoring the need for tailored, responsive support mechanisms.”
However, the commissioner also called the reforms “one of the most exciting opportunities for technical skills provision in recent memory”.
Adult ed and apprenticeship challenges
Legrave said that while government investment in 16 to 18 further education has been “very much welcome”, it is “much more challenging for colleges to deliver adult education”.
She believes the recent machinery of government change of switching adult education from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions has “signalled the importance of adult skills in getting more people into work to strengthen the UK economy”. But she also recognised “at the same time, colleges continue to face challenges in recruiting staff in technical areas”.
Two other key aims for Legrave were to grow colleges’ share of apprenticeships and expand skills bootcamp provision.
Apprenticeship market share has “remained flat”, though achievement rates have risen sharply, while the number of colleges offering skills bootcamps has increased from 52 to 81, her report revealed.
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