Four colleges have won tax rebates worth more than £2.8 million ahead of a Court of Appeal battle over VAT rules that will affect the entire FE sector.
The appeal, scheduled for June next year, is the latest round in a dispute between the Colchester Institute and HMRC over whether colleges can claim VAT discounts on the cost of large building projects started before 2010.
If the Colchester Institute wins, colleges could reclaim VAT on payments for projects used for teaching a mix of fully-funded and fee-paying students.
However, most FE colleges may also face significant increases to their tax bills after losing charitable reliefs, including a zero-VAT rate for new-build construction projects and 5 per cent tax rates on fuel and power costs. It could result in FE colleges paying millions more in tax, experts believe.
VAT advisers told FE Week an estimated 20 to 30 colleges could benefit from a victory by Colchester Institute as they have tax claims on similar building projects.
But if HMRC wins, it is understood colleges will retain the right to VAT reliefs and those following Colchester Institute’s example could have to repay any VAT adjustments they have already claimed.
The new rulings
News of the Court of Appeal date was confirmed last month in a series of rulings from a judge in the First-Tier Tribunal Tax Chamber, which deals with the first stage of appeals against HMRC decisions on VAT bills.
In the rulings, the judge said he was “bound” to rule in favour of the colleges, in line with a more senior tax court’s ruling in the dispute between Colchester Institute and HMRC that was issued in 2020.
Stuart Savage, tax director at RSM UK, said: “These cases, on their own, aren’t particularly important other than to those parties involved; but the issue more broadly is massively important to the sector.”
He added that, given that HMRC appears committed to pursuing the case to the Supreme Court, the Colchester Institute case should “resolve” the uncertainty around the VAT rules in this area, but warned that this “might not be for some years to come”.
The dispute
The Colchester Institute made a series of claims for VAT it paid on a large building project started in 2008 using a rule known as the ‘Lennartz mechanism’.
In 2020, the Upper Tax Tribunal, whose decisions set a precedent for other cases, ruled in Colchester’s favour.
The decision changed the way grant-funded education is treated for tax purposes, switching it from a “non-business activity” to a “business activity”, which excluded it from VAT reliefs.
However, soon after the 2020 ruling, HMRC said it acknowledged the court decision but would not impose the new rules on colleges while it mounted a new “test” appeal. This is the appeal scheduled next year.
In the meantime, HMRC left FE colleges with the choice of applying tax rules in the same way as Colchester Institute, which Portsmouth College, Cornwall College and Derby College Group did, or continue to follow tax rules as they stood before 2020.
Savage said the tax authority was “trying to do the right thing” by giving colleges the choice, as losing VAT reliefs would be a “real issue” for most colleges.
How much is at stake?
James Hurst, VAT adviser at Johnston Carmichael, said the cost for colleges could be worth “many, many millions”.
He told FE Week: “I’d say the vast majority of our FE colleges don’t have Lennartz claims and they are probably more concerned that on an ongoing basis they might lose their VAT reliefs, especially around fuel and power.
“If the Colchester decision is upheld it’s a massive additional cost for them. We are seeing HMRC start to pay more attention to how FE colleges are applying the Colchester decision or not right now, and making sure they’re consistent in that point.
“And for me, the sooner it can get to March 2026, and get to conclusion, the better.
“Rather than ‘pick a lane’, let’s get a long-term determination on where that is, and that would make the point simpler for everyone.”
An HMRC spokesperson said: “We are challenging the Upper Tribunal’s decision in the Colchester Institute case in an upcoming hearing in the Court of Appeal, which is relevant to the Derby College Group appeal and others.
“It remains our position that the funding given to the colleges is not payment for the free education they provide.”
The spokesperson added that HMRC will await the outcome of the appeal process before reviewing the tax treatment of FE colleges.
An ‘unusual’ case
HMRC’s decision to tell colleges they can “ignore” the binding 2020 ruling has led to a “long period of uncertainty”, said Socrates Socratous, VAT adviser at Buzzacott.
While the agency has given colleges the “flexibility” to decide which tax route to follow, the final court decision could lead to “subsequent adjustments” which could be backdated several years.
Socratous added that the HMRC withdrew permission for colleges to use the Lennartz mechanism in January 2010, meaning Colchester Institute and its adviser VAT Angles have secured a “one-off win”.
He said: “If they are successful, yes they’ve achieved the short-term win of getting repayments, but in the long term they’ve removed the ability of colleges to have buildings zero-rated for VAT. Is that a good or bad thing for the sector, if they can’t claim other VAT expenses?”
Previous Job: Chief Executive, Crystal Palace Park
Interesting fact: Val was leader of Croydon Council in the 1990’s, and a London Assembly member in its formative years. She went on to become Deputy Mayor for Transport until she retired from full time politics in 2018.
Ben Treloar
Chair, Natspec
Start date: July 2025
Concurrent Job: Head, Treloar College
Interesting fact: Ben was once a professional jazz musician. Useful grounding for responding to unexpected changes to SEND policy.
A group of the UK’s best young tradespeople head to Denmark next week to compete against their European peers at EuroSkills 2025.
After months of gruelling training, pressure tests and several bootcamps, Team UK is due to arrive at the Danish industrial hub town of Herning on Monday.
The 19 UK representatives will go head-to-head against 600 young professionals from other European countries in the intense competition that runs from Tuesday to Saturday.
The largest skills competition in Europe culminates in a sparkling medal ceremony, awarding the highest achievers in 38 skills with gold, silver, and bronze medals.
The event will host a visit from the King of Denmark Frederik X, and skills minister Jacqui Smith is also expected to attend.
Smith said in a message to Team UK: “Congratulations and good luck to the 19 young people from across the UK who will be taking part in EuroSkills, showcasing the best of our trades and professions.
“I am looking forward to meeting you all and watching you share your skills on the world stage – making our country proud.”
Team UK was selected following last year’s national competitions and subsequent heats, beating dozens of young people who are part of Squad UK, the official candidates preparing for the global WorldSkills 2026 competition in Shanghai, China.
They gathered last month for one final bootcamp weekend of training and exercises on handling the mental pressure that comes with representing your country on an international stage.
The 19 students and apprentices will be competing in their vocational specialisms such as graphic design, cooking and welding.
Lowdown on EuroSkills
Danish town of Herning, where this year’s EuroSkills competition will be held
EuroSkills Herning marks the ninth biennial event and is the largest European competition before the global WorldSkills contest, which will be held next year in Shanghai.
WorldSkills UK has slowly scaled up its participation in EuroSkills since the pandemic.
The UK pulled out of the 2021 event, held in the Austrian city of Graz, which had been delayed by a year.
Team UK returned at EuroSkills Gdańsk 2023 where it sent 20 young people to compete in 17 skills. They achieved one gold and two bronze medals, as well as six Medallions for Excellence, which are awarded for achieving the international standard in a particular skill. Overall the team came 13th.
Hometown pride
Messages of encouragement for Team UK have been made by college principals and sector leaders.
Rachel Kay, principal of Macclesfield College, said she was “incredibly proud” of student Grace Longden, who will be competing in the health and social care competition and is also a UK triathlete in her age group.
“Competing at this level requires immense commitment and resilience, and Grace is a fantastic role model for our college community.
“I wish Grace and the whole of Team UK the very best of luck in Denmark. We are cheering them on and are confident they will showcase the outstanding talent and skills that the further education sector has to offer.”
Five students from Southern Regional College in Northern Ireland will be competing in the industry 4.0 (Patrick Sheerin and Caolan McCartan), mechatronics (John Doherty and Jason McVerry) and electrical installation (Jonathan Gough) competitions.
Its college principal and CEO Lee Campbell told FE Week that having students earn their place on Team UK was a “remarkable achievement”, not just for the college but for Northern Ireland and the wider UK skills community.
She added: “We are confident that Team UK will inspire audiences with their skill, professionalism and dedication. On behalf of Southern Regional College, I wish the competitors every success.”
Ben Blackledge, chief executive of WorldSkills UK, said: “We are so excited to be heading out to EuroSkills Herning 2025 with this fantastic group of young professionals and wish them the best of luck for the competition.
“They will be tested to the highest standards, showcasing the skills that global employers are looking for, and will return to the UK with the knowledge and experience that will fast-track their careers.
As part of the deal, the Department for Education handed the new college group a £7.3 million grant – understood to be non-repayable as long as conditions are met – agreed loans of up to £2.1 million, and accepted plans to sell off a campus and theatre in Melton Mowbray.
It is hoped the merger will create a solvent college group under Loughborough College’s leadership, with campuses stretching across north Leicestershire.
But news of plans to sell the large 40-year-old theatre and adjoining college buildings has been met with dismay by people who fear the loss of a site for vocational training will harm the town’s already struggling economy.
Merger terms revealed
Details of the grant and campus sale were revealed by Loughborough College when FE Week sought details of the merger in a freedom of information request.
Loughborough College shared minutes of its July board meeting, which are yet to be published, which say the DfE gave the college a £7,368,770 grant to “support the merger” and a loan agreement of up to £2.1 million.
A Loughborough College spokesman said the DfE grant would be used for “strengthening essential operational functions”, to support “strategic investment” for the college group’s long-term future, and for “safeguarding the quality of teaching”.
The merger also involved the transfer of all of SMB College Group’s “property, rights and liabilities” – including its three campuses in Stephenson, Brooksby and Melton Mowbray.
Loughborough College principal Corrie Harris has taken over as the merged group’s CEO, while SMB College principal Dawn Whitemore has retired.
Campus sale plans
A previously unpublished merger proposal document written by Loughborough also referred to “plans for sale of the Melton site” and part of Brooksby, a specialist land-based campus six miles outside of Melton Mowbray.
The Melton campus has long specialised in performing arts and includes a 340-seat theatre auditorium, a hospitality training centre, public library and classrooms that were mothballed during the pandemic.
Whitemore told FE Week her team worked with the council to safeguard the Melton campus and Brooksby Hall, a 16th century manor house acquired by Leicestershire and Rutland County Councils in the 1940s to establish an agricultural college. However, options worked up by the team “were not embraced” by the FE Commissioner, who was appointed to lead the DfE’s financial intervention in 2023.
She added: “All parties were well aware of the need to find a solution for the historical financial burden that the group had faced, so as part of the merger we were very open, honest and transparent as we did not want the merger to fall through.”
Consultation notices published ahead of the merger did not detail any property sales, but simply listed “benefits” for students, staff and employers such as “enhanced facilities” and “financial resilience”.
A published ahead of the merger summarised responses from 63 people and referred to concerns about the “potential closure” of the Melton Theatre, which the college warned needed “major investment” to stay open.
Local dismay
Pip Allnatt, leader of Melton Borough Council, told FE Week that SMB College Group management and the FE Commissioner withdrew from proposals to save the theatre.
He said: “We are very disappointed at the slow demise of the Melton campus even though Brooksby continues to grow.
“The Loughborough College campus is used by Melton students but it is an inconsistent and long bus journey away. The start time of some courses is prohibitive.”
Mark Frisby, a former student at the theatre who went on to teach there, sat as a governor on the college board and now runs a careers advice company, called the merger a “takeover” by Loughborough College.
He said: “I think [selling the campus] would be an enormous step backwards, a theatre for a town of our size is one of the jewels.
“That people can’t go to a local college in a town centre where buses stop is a loss for us.”
Allen Thwaites, an independent councillor on Melton Borough Council, said: “The former Melton Tech was where I first met many people who are now local business owners – they all started at Melton College.
“The facility is the victim of a wider lack of support for education that is not university-based.”
College seeking solutions
A Loughborough College spokesperson claimed “no final decisions have been made” and said management was “working closely” with Melton Borough Council to “explore viable, long-term solutions” for the theatre and campus.
They added: “We fully recognise the theatre’s cultural and community value as a much-loved local asset and are committed to carefully considering all options for its regeneration and continued use.”
A DfE spokesperson declined to comment on record but told FE Week the financial support package provided to the college was intended to establish it as a financially sustainable institution.
As Nelson and Colne College Group unveils a new identity, its leader Lisa O’Loughlin reflects on tackling illness, steering a landmark curriculum review, and why she believes FE can’t lose its heart
Lisa O’Loughlin and the college group she leads have both undergone a transformation.
Her organisation is changing its name from Nelson and Colne College Group to East Lancashire Learning Group to better suit its wide remit.
Meanwhile, O’Loughlin herself has contended with challenges that have altered both her appearance and her mindset. She has, for the last 12 months, faced the pressure of helping decide how to overhaul our national curriculum and assessment system as one of 12 members of the government-appointed curriculum and assessment review (CAR) panel.
And a year earlier, shortly after moving to East Lancashire from her previous role as principal of The Manchester College and deputy CEO at LTE Group, she was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer.
Successive rounds of chemotherapy meant her “very blonde, quite fine and very curly long hair” grew back much darker and thicker, which was “bizarre”, O’Loughlin says.
Now clear of the disease, she jokes she went into chemo with hair like her former-seamstress mum, and came out with her dad’s (a former joiner).
But her new appearance aptly reflects her new “more mindful” approach to how she sees the world and her role in it. She adds: “You think about what’s happening today, rather than constantly thinking about the future.”
Lisa when she was at The Manchester College, with her previously long, blonde locks
Intense times
O’Loughlin’s present is still firmly focused on the CAR panel, as it prepares to present its final report to the government. The review is the most comprehensive attempt since the national curriculumwas introduced in 1988 toconsider curriculum content and assessment methodsacross all phases up to age 19.
O’Loughlin is one of only two panel members who represent FE and has “absolutely” felt a “big burden of expectation” because “these decisions – shaping the national curriculum and pathways post 16 – are so incredibly important”.
It has been a “very intense time” of roundtables, evidence sessions and online webinars. Over 7,000 responses were received to the panel’s call for evidence, which was itself over 100 pages long.
Some have expressed scepticism over the panel’s ability to properly analyse all those lengthy responses in detail.
O’Loughlin admits AI was used to help the panel’s support team analyse responses, but “we also had access to all the specific documents, so panel members were absolutely going into their areas of specialism and reviewing the detailed submissions”.
The chair of the Curriculum and assessment review panel, Becky Francis
Finding consensus
The responses demonstrated to O’Loughlin how she had underestimated the “overwhelming” extent to which young people wanted a stake in changing the curriculum. There were “lots and lots of calls” from them for more diversity, which were generally “thought through, considered provocations”.
She was also surprised at the scale of their demands for more education in financial and media literacy, which was highlighted in the review’s interim report.
The panel’s 12 members hailed from all corners of the education sector, from a SEND consultant (Gary Aubin) to Ofqual’s chief regulator, Sir Ian Baukham. “Ultimately”, a consensus was reached on “all” their recommendations, albeit with “a lot of debate”.
The work was a “significant time commitment”. But the fact many meetings were held online enabled O’Loughlin to continue with her day job.
Though the work was “very much evidence-led”, “you always bring the flavour of who you are to it”, O’Loughlin says, adding that she brought her strong passion for curriculum reform as a means of overcoming social disadvantage.
Lisa celebrating graduation with HE students
Curriculum passion
That passion pours out of O’Loughlin as she talks about her own college group, which holds an enviable position in the sector.
As well as being the only college in England to have been rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for two decades, it is the top-performing provider of adult education in England by achievement rate and second nationally for overall achievement across all ages and levels.
Its recent pass rate for level 3 technical courses was 98 per cent and 100 per cent for T Levels, which is particularly impressive given its learners hail from relatively deprived communities.
Some of its neighbours have not attained such glory; nearby Furness College is set to merge with Blackpool and The Fylde College (B&FC) after being branded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted last year, while Burnley College was downgraded to ‘requires improvement’ after being caught inflating achievement rates.
So what is the secret of the East Lancashire Learning Group’s success?
Its “strategic curriculum intent”, says O’Loughlin, is “always high-quality and focused on destinations beyond qualifications, with a real focus on the right programme for every learner”.
Similar buzzwords proliferate throughout the sector. But O’Loughlin claims their culture really is special; her colleagues “live and breathe” the ‘right programme, right learner’ approach “as vocabulary”.
“We provide a forensic approach to personalisation of learning programmes here,” she says.
As an example, she explains how level one and two foundation programmes “very carefully carve out different pathways” for learners, some of which lead to academic progression while others are occupational. All are “very carefully designed to lead to those destinations, with the pedagogies that underpin them”.
O’Loughlin followed a similar ethos at The Manchester College, which won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2021 for its ‘careers not courses’ curriculum strategy.
Lisa going back to the floor as part of National Apprenticeship Week
Striking a balance
Every college leader must decide where to strike the balance between academic and business leadership, and for O’Loughlin, it is very much tipped towards being “led by the academic”, as “that’s where the magic lies”.
“Of course, no chief exec will take their eye off the finances,” she adds, “but there’s a culture where we expect teachers to understand pedagogy and have an academic curiosity for the pedagogies that have impact.”
The college group conducts extensive pedagogical research with the Department for Education, and has just become a post-16 research partner for the Education Endowment Foundation.
There is a “very strong expectation” that lecturers will “very much invest in researching [teaching and learning] and implement what they learn”.
To give them the time for that they have slightly fewer contractual teaching hours than they might at other colleges; 810 hours a year, with community teachers teaching around 100 hours less in recognition of the travel they undertake.
Holidays are also generous at 43 days a year, plus eight bank holidays and five closure/efficiency days.
But on the business side of the leadership coin there are capacity and funding challenges that O’Loughlin has to contend with.
The group’s 4 per cent EBITA position in 2024-25 was regarded by its corporation board last year as being “below the level preferred”, with “the ambition for capital investment and reinvestment usually requiring a 6-8 per cent EBITDA”.
Each arm of the group has different needs; the Accrington campus faces more of a “purpose challenge”, with a “very clear focus on re-establishing high-quality technical education” there.
The Nelson campus is currently “experiencing capacity challenges”, with capital investment being its biggest issue. However, ELLG has now been announced as a formal partner in the newly launched North West Construction Technical Education College (CTEC). In collaboration with lead partner Wigan and Leigh College and Blackpool and the Fylde College, ELLG has been entrusted with leading on teaching excellence and technical pedagogy.
To boost capacity, the college will “tend not to overload class teacher ratios, because we are very, very focused on personalised learning programmes”.
Lisa helping create a ’20 years of Ofsted outstanding’ garden at the Nelson campus
But O’Loughlin is also determined the college will not become more selective about who gets a place on its courses.
“What’s often misunderstood about us, because we are incredibly high performing, is that people sometimes assume we’re selective and we’re not at all,” she says. “That [is shown] in our progress scores.
“Apart from any fitness-to-study issues, we accept students whatever their starting points. At the moment, we haven’t had to be more selective. We’ve managed to find innovative ways.”
O’Loughlin says her deputy principal of finance and resources, David Rothwell, who leads her estate strategy, is a “magician” because he “makes things work for us, without compromising the teaching and learning”.
But with population growth expected to continue, she fears a “tipping point” will arrive in the next two years.
The task of keeping the “investment in your colleagues and in your estate in balance” has “obviously been made much harder” by reclassification. The group would “definitely” have otherwise pursued commercial borrowing to repurpose its Accrington campus, but now “the pace is not as fast” for them to access funding.
Meanwhile, O’Loughlin believes young people “really felt” the impact of Covid, which played out in a lack of engagement and a “significant increase” in anxiety and mental health-related issues. But she also believes the “tide is turning”. Attendance rates across her college group in 2024-25 were “much improved”, with a “real strong upturn” in engagement.
“I’m hopeful that we’re over the hump of that, particularly in my college,” she says.
O’Loughlin adds that a lack of aspiration among students is caused by the options some are forced to take post-16, which “hopefully some recommendations in the [CAR] review” will “help change”. There is speculation the review will call for the scrapping of GCSE English and maths resits, though nothing has been confirmed yet.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham
The divining rod
Collaborating with partners from different sectors on curriculum matters has been central to O’Loughlin’s career; she previously spent six years as chair of the Greater Manchester Colleges Group, having been asked to “bring them back together” in 2016 after a tense area-based review meant college leaders had “ceased to collaborate”.
In 2017, Andy Burnham became the country’s first regional mayor, and college leaders worked with his combined authority to draw up radical plans for a collaborative 16-18 curriculum strategy for the region. This “ambitious” plan is “not yet complete, as the devolution journey itself is not yet complete”, but O’Loughlin believes so far it has been “incredibly successful”.
“There was a journey of learning together on the skills agenda, and that enabled us to form really high-trust relationships and collaboration with the combined authority,” she says.
She credits Burnham for being “almost the divining rod” for “bringing everybody together” and using the combined authority’s convening powers with employers to boost engagement and support for T Levels. The region had one of the first Gatsby-funded capacity building projects, and as a result had a higher uptake in T Levels than anywhere else.
The collaboration also led to free bus transport being rolled out for 16 to 18-year-olds, and extended to working with university partners on developing sectoral specialisms at level four, leveraging higher-level skills back into the area.
Just before she departed for Lancashire, she and Burnham launched the integrated technical education system as “almost the foundation” for the development of the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc) which has just completed its first year of delivery and which O’Loughlin is watching “with excitement”.
While it could be a blueprint for other areas to follow, O’Loughlin – mindful of her position on the CAR panel – emphasises that any local agenda that better prepares learners for the workforce should be an “overlay on that national curriculum”.
These days, O’Loughlin is “drawing on” the learning she did in Greater Manchester in her current role on Lancashire’s new skills advisory board, which is helping to guide its recently formed combined county authority.
The new authority might turn out to be rather more right-leaning than Greater Manchester in its political outlook; Reform is gaining popularity locally, and last year took control of Lancashire County Council from the Conservatives.
But O’Loughlin dismisses concerns that it may not prioritise funding the FE and skills agenda.
“If the supporting organisations are very strong and can work collaboratively to align those strategic intents, we should still be able to deliver really strong outcomes from it,” she says.
The FE Commissioner has called on colleges to publish board minutes within four to six months after an FE Week probe revealed half had failed to publish any this year.
A review of 215 colleges found 106 had not released any full board meeting minutes to the public in 2025, while a fifth (45) had published nothing in 12 months.
Board minutes for taxpayer-funded bodies such as FE and sixth-form colleges are considered an important symbol of accountable governance which, according to FE specialist lawyers, should be published on websites in line with freedom of information laws.
But FE Week’s review found 10 had published no minutes for more than two and a half years, and six had never made minutes available.
Responding to the findings, FE Commissioner Shelagh Legrave said: “From a transparency angle and as organisations who are receiving substantial amounts of public money, it is good practice for colleges to publish the minutes of their governing body meetings in a timely manner.”
Legrave, who advises the Department for Education on the college sector and leads interventions in struggling institutions, suggested they should publish their minutes “within six months”.
She added: “In an ideal world it would be about four months assuming you only have meetings every three months, you’ve got to have the time to approve it [at the next board meeting].”
College governance experts have blamed the failings on “administrative inefficiency” rather than deliberate concealment.
Legrave confirmed that a college failing to publish its minutes would not be grounds for an intervention but declined to comment on whether the rules on timely publication should be tightened up.
Wait just a minute
The six colleges without any minutes published online were Aquinas, Bexhill, Fircroft, Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form, the Mary Ward Centre and Plumpton.
When contacted for comment, Plumpton CEO Jeremy Kerswell said the college had been wary about publishing minutes on its website due to the “high degree of transparency” between the board and senior management.
However, the college said FE Week’s enquiry was an “opportunity to change” and it would publish all board minutes moving forward.
The Mary Ward Centre and Aquinas College both claimed their minutes were usually online but had been temporarily removed during website updates.
Therese Reinheimer-Jones, CEO of the Mary Ward Centre – which has now uploaded minutes for the last two years – said public records of board meetings were “an important part of our governance” and can be a useful tool for students, partners and potential trustees to learn about the “successes and challenges” the centre is experiencing.
Fircroft College said the missing minutes were an “oversight” due to staff illness and committed to publishing them from now on.
Bexhill and Joseph Chamberlain colleges did not respond to requests for comment.
FE Week found that 11 colleges had published minutes for meetings held in June and July. A further 55 had uploaded minutes from March and April.
‘No deliberate concealment’
Martin Sim, who has led turnarounds at several colleges, said he was an “avid minute reader” when looking at colleges on behalf of the FE Commissioner.
He added: “At the end of the day it’s not something people will deliberately hold back for any reason.
“I’ve yet to find a situation where I’m pretty happy that it’s a deliberate act of concealment – there are different ways of protecting information, you can redact or go fully confidential.”
Governance expert Ian Valvona, who has chaired multiple colleges, said minutes are an important way to help outsiders understand what could have led to failures.
“But I’d be very surprised if there was deliberate foot-dragging because corporations wanted to withhold something that was difficult,” he added.
“The non-availability of minutes is not good, don’t get me wrong, but I think in most instances it’s going to be just an administrative inefficiency, or just something hasn’t worked in getting a set of minutes onto the college website.”
‘Request a copy’
Ten colleges had not published minutes since the end of 2023. Several of those updated their website with newer documents after FE Week approached them for comment.
This included South Staffordshire College – whose most recent published minutes were from October 2022. The college did not respond to requests for comment.
Huddersfield New College was another example where board minutes hadn’t been published since 2023 but it has now updated the online archive up to its April 2025 meeting. Principal Marcus Smith-Connor said his college takes transparency and accountability responsibilities “extremely seriously”.
He added: “Anyone with an interest can contact the governance professional to request a copy of meeting minutes which have not yet been published, and these will be provided (excluding confidential information) in a timely manner.”
What are the rules?
Guidance for FE colleges issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) says that in line with the Freedom of Information Act, colleges are expected to publish governing body and committee meeting minutes for at least the current and previous three years.
Although it does set a specific timeframe, the ICO guidance says this is part of a legal commitment to publish “as much information as possible on a routine basis”.
Anieka Sheppard, a solicitor specialising in education at Shakespeare Martineau, said: “In addition to publication obligations in their [instruments and articles] and good governance, colleges are also subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
“The ICO has a guide for colleges as to what should be in their publication scheme. Minutes of corporation meetings are included as documents which should be published.”
Colleges are also governed by their own constitutional rules, known as instruments and articles, which they have been free to amend since reclassification as public bodies in 2012.
Most contain standard wording that commits to making board agendas, minutes and related documents available “as soon as possible” to members of the public.
They also promise to make copies of signed minutes available on the college website for at least 12 months.
The DfE’s FE and sixth-form college corporations governance guide also says it is a requirement under the funding rules to follow codes such as the Association of College’s (AoC) FE Code of Good Governance, which recommends colleges demonstrate transparent decision making by publishing minutes.
Jeff Greenidge, director for diversity and governance at the AoC, said: “The AoC code is clear that transparency is a fundamental feature of good governance and we encourage colleges to follow our governance code in all respects.”
The scale of the financial fallout from Strode College’s subcontracting scandal has been revealed – with a £5.75 million clawback now transferred onto the newly merged University Centre Somerset (UCS) College Group.
Government investigations into Strode’s historic delivery of traineeships found subcontracted learners were working illegal hours and funding rules had been breached.
The college’s financial health dived from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’ in 2023 once the Department for Education tallied up the recovery amount. Leaders were told to seek a merger partner as the institution was no longer sustainable on its own.
A newly-published batch of Strode College’s delayed financial accounts for years up to 2023-24 reveal the total clawback amount for the first time.
The £5.75 million liability has followed the college into the new merged organisation.
In a statement to FE Week, a UCS spokesperson confirmed discussions with the DfE regarding the clawback were handled prior to the merger.
They said: “We are working closely with the department on an agreed approach and repayment plan that ensures the continued financial health and stability of the newly formed college group, without compromising the quality of education or support for students and staff.”
The spokesperson stressed the merger was designed to “create a stronger, more resilient educational offer for Somerset” and insisted UCS remained in a “robust financial position” despite inheriting the multimillion-pound debt.
Strode College’s previous leaders last year instructed lawyers to write to the six subcontractors involved to demand repayment.
UCS College Group’s spokesperson told FE Week they were “not in a position to comment on the contractual matters relating to legacy third-party providers, but the appropriate reviews and actions are being taken where necessary”.
The DfE and college have not disclosed the repayment plan’s structure or duration.
Rule breaches occurred between 2019 and 2022 – around the time the government cracked down on subcontracting in FE by introducing caps on volumes, geographic restrictions and enhanced oversight and transparency requirements to tackle poor-quality provision from third-party providers.
‘Our focus is now firmly on the future’
Strode College was judged as ‘good’ by Ofsted in 2022, brought in a total income of £16 million in 2024 and taught around 5,000 students last year.
Bridgwater & Taunton College holds an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted grade, teaches around 24,000 learners, has income of £65 million and a ‘good’ financial health rating.
UCS’s spokesperson said: “Our focus is now firmly on the future. UCS College Group is well placed to grow and deliver for Somerset. We have an outstanding curriculum, a history of strong employer partnerships, and a commitment to widening access to university-level study through University Centre Somerset.
“The group is in a robust financial position, with a clear vision and ambitious strategy that will continue to deliver educational excellence and transformative opportunities for students and communities across Somerset.”
Awarding organisations have warned they face fresh layers of bureaucracy after Ofqual confirmed plans to add new enforceable “principles” to its bulging rulebook.
The assessment regulator confirmed on Thursday it will introduce new “principle conditions” to its already 100+ page general conditions of registration (GCR) for awarding organisations from December 4.
The six principles instruct awarding organisations to “act with honesty and integrity”, use evidence to make decisions, make sure their qualifications are fit for purpose and “where possible, promote public confidence in qualifications”.
AOs must also act in an “open, transparent and co-operative manner with Ofqual and, as appropriate, with users of qualifications” and conduct activities “with a proactive approach to compliance with its conditions of recognition”.
Ofqual said the principles will “help ensure a consistent understanding of our rules and make their underlying expectations clear” and help awarding organisations make decisions in “novel situations”.
But awarding representatives are concerned about the additional regulatory burden this could place on them and how the subjective language of the new principles could be interpreted.
A consultation on the proposals attracted 49 responses. Analysis of the consultation responses, published alongside today’s guidance, found that 17 respondents said the first principle – to act with honesty and integrity – lacked clarity and was “subjective in nature”.
Others were concerned how the principles will be interpreted “consistently”, particularly where subjective language is used.
Ofqual addressed fears by publishing extra guidance on the principles, and told awarding organisations they will not need to declare compliance or non-compliance in their annual statement to Ofqual for 2025-26. For future years, AOs have been told to make declarations about the principles “by exception”.
Breaches of a principle condition would rarely occur in isolation, meaning AOs declaring a breach of another GCR rule will likely also have breached a principle condition, which should be declared.
But, “where the principles condition is relied on in a new, unexpected or novel scenario not covered by other conditions and it is breached, we would expect that to be reported,” Ofqual said.
Non-compliance will result in sanctions including financial penalties, remove an AO’s awarding powers and instructions for certain improvements.
Rob Nitsch, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, told FE Week that his members thought the proposals were “inevitable” but “few had any disagreement with the substance” of the new principles.
He added: “We do remain concerned about the potential for overlap with existing conditions and the additional regulatory burden that will be created for awarding organisations.
“It will be important that the three-month lead-in period is used well and that the measures that Ofqual are putting in place to improve the operational viability of the introduction of a principles condition carry through.”
A new combined authority has finally dished out £6.5 million in procured adult skills fund contracts following the withdrawal of a legal challenge that delayed the tender process.
In July, FE Week revealed the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) had halted the awarding of contracts – due to commence on August 1 – after losing bidder CT Skills Ltd began legal action.
When the challenge was subsequently dropped, awards were made to 10 training providers late last month.
The successful bidders will share £6.5 million in their first year, with an option to extend the contracts for a further two years to July 2028. If all are extended, the total value to the procured providers will be £19.5 million.
CT Skills never publicly revealed the grounds of its legal claim, but FE Week understands multiple providers complained that feedback from markers did not match the bids they had submitted.
There were also concerns that multiple tender winners are headquartered outside of the combined authority’s geographical area, which covers Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
One other bidder that lost out, which did not wish to be named, said: “Some providers have said they’re contract-ready with premises and staff, but they’re not. How can out-of-area providers score more than in-region providers on readiness to deliver?”
The procured contracts will be added to EMCCA’s 16 grant-funded colleges and local authorities, which share £46 million between them. Total adult skills fund contracts (ASF) in the region are worth almost £53 million.
EMCCA took control of the region’s adult skills funding this year.
An EMCCA spokesperson said: “Decisions about ASF once made in government are now being made right here in the East Midlands.
“For the first time, this funding is being designed around the needs of our communities. EMCCA is working with local colleges, councils, employers, independent learning organisations and voluntary organisations to ensure education and training opportunities match the jobs of the future and the needs of our economy.
“EMCCA has already awarded nearly £53 million in adult skills and free courses for jobs funding. This is money which will help thousands of adults have the chance to learn new skills, open up better job opportunities and build brighter futures.”
Independent training providers that must bid for a slice of the funding through procurements previously complained that EMCCA put £7.8 million – down from an expected £10 million – out to tender. It is not clear why only £6.5 million was allocated.
CT Skills did not respond to requests for comment.
