Previous Job: Deputy CEO/Deputy Principal, New College Swindon
Interesting fact: Leah completed the hottest London Marathon on record. An experience to remember and highly recommended (in cooler weather!)
Lucy Auchincloss
Partnerships Director, Lifetime Training
Start date: September 2023
Previous Job: Director of Learning Operations – Fast Futures, Avado
Interesting fact: Lucy is an avid traveller and has a special spot for Zimbabwe where she was born. Plans for an upcoming significant birthday include a safari there and diving with Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa
Heather Marks
Deputy Principal, Boston College
Start date: August 2023
Previous job: Vice Principal – Curriculum, Quality and Learner Services, Boston College
Interesting fact: Heather is a keen skydiver in her spare time and is currently training to become a fully licensed skydiver
Lee Pryor
Acting Principal, Leeds City College’s Printworks Campus
Start date: August 2023
Previous job: Director of Apprenticeships, Luminate Education Group
Interesting fact: Lee trained in one of the first cohorts of Project 2000 Nursing at the Lakeland School of Nursing and Midwifery, Carlisle
Legal firms are advising colleges to sell surplus buildings and land in the next 18 months before a possible change in the rules on what they can do with the proceeds.
Eversheds Sutherland and Bates Wells, which represents more than 110 colleges in England, has told its clients they “might want to consider” quickly offloading any under-utilised assets ahead of a reclassification review in March 2025.
There are concerns that the review, which will be led by the Department for Education, could result in profits from land sales going to the government. Currently, colleges can retain any surplus cash they make from land sales and can use it in a variety of different ways, such as paying down debts.
“If there are surplus assets, colleges might want to consider whether or not they dispose of those assets prior to March 2025,” Nathan Lucas, principal associate at Eversheds Sutherland told FE Week.
He added that March 2025 is not “necessarily a drop-dead date, where restrictions will be imposed. It just means that there will be a review.”
But it could see colleges make moves to sell surplus assets in case the rules change.
‘Freedoms and flexibilities’
Colleges were reclassified as public sector organisations on November 29, 2022. It marked a move away from a 2012 policy introduced when colleges were classified as private sector bodies, to let colleges control their own financial plans.
The policy, called “Freedoms and Flexibilities”, allowed colleges to be “nimble about being entrepreneurial”, Jean Tsang, head of education at Bates Wells, said.
Following last year’s switch back to the public sector, Education and Skills Funding Agency chief executive David Withey told college leaders: “Colleges will continue to be able to manage their assets, including their estate, and to retain the proceeds of disposals. However, colleges will be required to ringfence the proceeds for reinvestment in capital assets.
“We will keep this approach in place until the end of the current spending review period (31 March 2025), when it will be reviewed.”
Tsang said: “We don’t know what’s going to happen. If you’re going to sell [a building], sell it sooner rather than later.”
There were concerns that rules would already tighten after reclassification. There are some limits on how colleges can spend funds made through asset sales – money can now only be spent paying back loans from the DfE, or banks, or on capital assets. They could also use that money as working capital to avoid insolvency if they get permission from the DfE.
Colleges selling land and buildings is nothing new, with many opting to do so in recent years to balance the books and keep financially stable. But it can be controversial locally.
Last month, Warwickshire College Group was finally allowed to sell off its Malvern Hills campus to a non-education entity after a drawn-out court case. It had faced strong opposition from locals and its local MP, Harriet Baldwin, who bemoaned the college’s “asset-stripping exercise”.
Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said it is “up to colleges to take their own decisions based on appropriate advice”, pointing out that a lawyer “might favour a quick sale” while a surveyor “might point out that property prices have fallen recently”.
He added: “Planning is always difficult, but it really doesn’t help that colleges don’t know whether current capital budgets will continue after 2025, what the borrowing rules will be and whether Treasury will try to change rules on capital receipts.”
‘Simply don’t know where we are’
Though there are now some limits on how colleges spend funds made through asset sales, colleges do not need consent to sell assets or give their sale profits to the government. But that could change, and there remain other uncertainties while colleges and their legal teams await the publication of a new financial handbook, expected by August 2024.
“I think from my perspective, we simply don’t know where we are,” Lucas, from Eversheds Sutherland said. “We are waiting for the financial handbook to be released, which we expect to be based largely on the existing academies handbook.”
But in the latest version of the academies handbook, published earlier this year, academies do need to get prior approval from the ESFA to sell off any kind of fixed assets, including buildings.
An upcoming consultation will look at the handbook and how colleges should operate in the public sphere.
Tsang said colleges understand they are in the public sphere but want the government to “give them as much freedom as possible within those confines”.
The education select committee has endorsed the appointment of Sir Martyn Oliver as chief inspector of Ofsted.
Recruitment documents published by the committee show Oliver – one of the country’s leading trust bosses – described the inspectorate as going from being “seen as combative … to cold”.
He also revealed Ofsted chief inspector was not a role he had ever “proactively considered”, but applied because “many system leaders” asked him to.
Oliver, currently paid £180,000 as chief executive of the Outwood Grange Academies Trust, will take a £15,000 pay cut.
Four candidates were invited to interview after 29 applications for the role. Only two candidates were found to be appointable, the other believed to be Sir Ian Bauckham.
Oliver’s appointment will now be ratified by the Privy Council. He is due to start on January 1.
Quizzed by MPs on Tuesday, Oliver set out his main priorities for the role, including undertaking a “big listen” to the sector and getting more sector leaders inspecting.
In a report today, the commitee recognised Oliver’s “commitment to education and his breadth of experience both within schools and as a leader, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged children.”
“However, given that safeguarding has been a key focus of this Committee, we hope that Sir Martyn will make this one of his priorities moving forward and we hope he can expand on his stated ambition to make Ofsted work holistically across different areas to support safeguarding.”
Oliver told MPs he had never been an inspector because he had been “too busy going behind the schools that Ofsted has placed into special measures and picking them up to have the time to go on and do it myself”.
The committee said it was “reassured that Sir Martyn has taken steps to engage with children’s services and the education sector more widely in preparation for this role”. Most of his experience has been in the schools sector.
One MP did not endorse new Ofsted chief
Kim Johnson, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, did not back the appointment.
“Instead of embracing the desperate demands for change, the appointment of Sir Martyn Oliver shows they are doubling down on their draconian approach to school inspections,” she said in a statement.
“This appointment shows a disturbing commitment by those in power to continue to wield Ofsted as a tool to punish schools for supporting the most vulnerable pupils.”
Oliver served as a commissioner on the government commission on race and ethnic disparities, which was heavily criticised for underplaying racism.
On Tuesday, Oliver told MPs he thought “parents do like the ability to describe their school simply”, in relation to questions over ditching one-word grades.
But he added that he was interested in views from parents and children about “how much faith” they “put upon the single-word judgment” as well as alternative ways of reporting outcomes.
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t have that one word, I’m asking what will you do [without it].”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “As Martyn Oliver takes up the post of the new Chief Inspector of Ofsted, he will know that he is taking over an organisation in which the profession has lost trust.
“Real policy change is needed because Ofsted is out of touch with the realities school staff are juggling on the ground, especially as so many other family and children’s services have disappeared.”
A trio of competitors in restaurant services are feeling hopeful about the final day of the EuroSkills 2023 competition despite a set of difficult tasks.
Team UK competitor Daniel Davies told FE Week that the first two days of the competition in Gdansk, Poland started off well but his training programme has been incredibly intense having only truly started in July. The WorldSkills cycle began back in March.
“We didn’t get the training programme up until July so really, I’ve only had about maybe two or three months to actually train,” he said.
“I did have three training sessions and that’s like week-long sessions throughout August, so that was a very tough month,” he said.
Davies’ first day began with the most complex task for participants specialising in restaurant services: fine dining.
“That was arguably the most complex day because of the sheer amount of tasks to do,” he said.
Davies, aged 21, hails from Aberporth in West Wales. He studied at nearby Coleg Ceredigion, and told FE Week that he is competing in EuroSkills 2023 because his catering hospitality lecturer Huw Morgan signed him up for a competition without his knowledge some years ago.
“Funny story actually. My lecturer signed me up to a front of house competition without me knowing and he came up to me about it four weeks beforehand,” he said.
“If I hadn’t done that competition, I wouldn’t be here.”
Dishing up at EuroSkills 2023
Some other competitors in restaurant services had different routes into EuroSkills Gdansk.
French competitor Mathis Foucart was an apprentice when he got involved with WorldSkills.
But the 22-year-old started unofficially in the industry aged 14, where he would wash dishes in a restaurant his brother worked in.
“And at 15, I started serving. I then went to catering school for three years, and after going to high school for two years I was an apprentice, and there I started with WorldSkills,” he told FE Week.
Mathis Foucart, France, Restaurant Service
Foucart’s training over the summer was intense. He didn’t have a single day off. And post-EuroSkills Gdansk, he won’t get much downtime.
“I need to come back to the restaurant because it’s so busy,” he said. “It’s a five-star hotel in Provence and it’s so busy the whole year, you don’t have a chill season.”
Foucart will be too old to compete in WorldSkills Lyon 2024, but he said it will be so important for the French team to have local support there, just as the competitors have here at EuroSkills.
Meanwhile, 24-year-old Łukasz Kobyłecki from the Polish delegation has only worked in restaurants for six years, and entered a national competition last year before training for EuroSkills.
“I started to work in restaurants six years ago and last year, I made the first steps to the competition here,” he said.
The competition has already opened doors for Kobyłecki, as he said after EuroSkills he will start a new job as head waiter in another restaurant.
“This competition is like training for me because we are planning to go to WorldSkills next year,” he added.
Łukasz Kobyłecki, Poland, Restaurant Service
Photo: Paulina Latek-Przybylska/WorldSkills Europe
Those in the restaurant services skill taking part in the three-day intensive event are put on shifts and have to serve in three different settings: fine dining, casual bistro dining, and a specific task module.
The specific tasks entail duties such as serving coffee, pouring prosecco, creating classic cocktails, and carving a pineapple which is then used to make a pineapple flambe.
Ahead of the final day, Kobyłecki said he was really proud of himself during the bistro service.
“The specific task model, it’s much harder than bistro. I hope tomorrow I do my best.”
In the tent where the tasks take place, the public and delegates can sign up to be customers in the makeshift restaurant environment.
The competitors said the setting is better than just having experts judge them.
“For me, it’s better because you can speak with the customer to relax,” said Foucart.
“When you have only the experts to judge, it’s more difficult for me because you have only the eyes of judgement, not the eyes of the customer with their big eyes and big smiles.”
Surveyor shortages have delayed vital checks to buildings for crumbling RAAC concrete at England’s biggest college group.
At least two other colleges have had to partially close their sites as more than 100 schools battle a crisis around buildings at risk of collapse.
But FE Week understands no colleges have yet had to delay the start of term for any students due to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), with affected learners moved to other facilities.
Ministers ordered 147 education settings to shut this week because of concerns around RAAC, which was widely used as a lighter alternative to standard concrete from the 1950s to the 1980s. Studies have since found the material can become destabilised over time. The government has known about the problem for years but only recently acted on it after learning over the summer of cases where buildings with RAAC collapsed, despite not showing any signs of deterioration.
A list of 146 schools and one college – Petroc – that have been forced to fully or partially close was published by the Department for Education this week, but it only includes cases identified as of August 30. About 1,500 schools and about 20 colleges are yet to complete RAAC checks, meaning the number of settings at risk is likely to be even higher.
Newcastle College Group (NCG) – one of the largest college groups in England, with more than 30,000 students spread across seven colleges – told FE Week it was due to begin its RAAC surveys last month but has so far failed to carry them out due to a lack of specialists.
A spokesperson for the group said the on-site survey scheduled for August “is now planned to take place in September and October, due to the availability of the specialist consultants required to undertake it”.
However, the college confirmed there has been no disruption to learning and that all learners are on site.
‘A pinch point’
There are concerns that finding enough specialist staff to complete the surveys will prove difficult and that the surging demand could open the door to unqualified personnel carrying out the checks.
Graham Watts, chief executive of the Construction Industry Council, warned that there is “likely to be a pinch point” around the number of available surveyors due to the large amount of work needed in a short space of time. However, he “believe[s] the industry will cope” despite capacity issues and that any pinch points could “be variable according to locality”.
However, he told FE Week it was imperative to avoid the “possible tendency of a knee-jerk reaction to asset managers appointing ‘surveyors’ who do not have the competence to carry out an appropriate survey since this will inevitably lead to more problems”.
‘Restricted access’
At least two other colleges have had to partially close their sites this week after identifying RAAC.
Trafford College Group, which serves more than 12,000 students across four colleges, closed part of its Marple campus including six classrooms. A spokesperson for the college said it had “restrict[ed] access to the affected area while we complete further surveys and if necessary, remedial works”.
“The classrooms affected will not be in use until we are reassured that they are fit for purpose and have passed all necessary health and safety checks,” they added.
The area is isolated on one side of the campus and there have been “no delays” to anyone starting term on time, as there is extra capacity. But it is “too early” to say when the RAAC will be removed from the site.
Sealed off
Devon-based Petroc, which has about 11,000 students, had to close the first floor of a building in Barnstable after it found RAAC at the site in February. A statement on its website published this week said the area “remains sealed off”, with “specialist engineering support structures” installed as a precaution. The college has put aside £300,000 to remediate its RAAC.
The DfE has pledged to fund all the cash needed to remediate school and college buildings with RAAC. FE Week also understands extra funding for things like transport to alternative classrooms will be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
FE Week understands that another college, Barnet and Southgate College, found RAAC during a refurbishment job in 2020 but has since removed it.
Experts within the FE sector anticipate that RAAC will be a lesser problem in colleges than in schools. In a blog for the Association of Colleges, Ian Pryce, chief executive of the Bedford College Group, said colleges “naturally generate cash to maintain the quality and value of their estate” as their accounts need to show the depreciation of their buildings. With schools, this is not the case, meaning “buildings are treated as rentfree accommodation”.
AoC deputy chief executive, Julian Gravatt, said: “Colleges operate from more than 4,500 buildings and we are certain that there will be a few cases where these buildings contain RAAC but, so far, there are no cases where this has required a significant building closure or a delay to the start of term.
“It can be quite hard to locate RAAC in a building because it is sometimes hidden by cladding, but colleges have a good track record in managing their buildings and the vast majority (more than 90 per cent) returned questionnaires to DfE when asked to do so earlier this year. DfE has commissioned specialist surveyors to carry out on-site inspections in schools and colleges in cases to follow-up suspected cases. This work continues.”
An Ofsted grade one apprenticeship provider has pulled out of apprenticeship delivery and government-funded skill bootcamps due to a change in “market attractiveness”.
Avado Apprenticeships Limited, formerly known as BC Arch Limited, is switching its focus to growing business lines of “professional qualifications and AI technology software as a service (SaaS) products”.
The company, which was one of the largest providers of apprenticeships in England with 1,350 starts in 2021/22, has seen its turnover and profit drop in recent years.
Avado Apprenticeships’ latest financial report, for 2021, shows turnover dropped 29 per cent that year (from £16.9 million to £12 million) and gross profit went down from 53 to 29 per cent, “largely due to the increase in subcontractor costs for new standards”.
Avado then decided to “make a strategic exit from low value and less profitable HR apprenticeship courses”, with a focus instead on “more sustainable and profitable data, marketing and agility academies”.
It decided to exit apprenticeships altogether last month.
The provider also began delivering government-funded skills bootcamps last year in digital and data skills but is now pulling out. However, it will continue to support corporate-funded data and digital bootcamps.
Multiple other big providers have pulled out of apprenticeships and bootcamps in recent years due to unsustainable funding rates offered by the government.
Lee Arthur, chair of Avado, said: “There are fundamental changes in education delivery we expect to be brought about by AI technologies. Our decision was a strategic decision based on market attractiveness. There are several more attractive markets.
“We feel we could move faster in those markets and help more learners by exiting apprenticeships. We are quickly developing and deploying several AI-edtech assessment and virtual coaching technologies.”
He added: “We remain strong supporters and advocates of the apprenticeship ideal, and of all the people who work tirelessly in this field both in government and private sector – to give opportunities to people to build a career and learn their craft on the job.”
Avado Apprenticeships was originally formed as Arch Apprenticeships (BC Arch Limited) by parent company Blenheim Chalcot LTF Limited – one of the UK’s biggest venture builders and private equity specialists – in 2012.
Its aim was to address the sorts of digital skills gaps the firm was seeing in its tech start-ups. Blenheim Chalcot, which was also behind software giant Agilisys, has offices in India, South Africa and the US.
Run through the Avado Group Ltd (registered in Jersey), Avado saw itself as one of the largest government-authorised apprenticeship training providers. It supported more than 8,000 apprentices over the past nine years and helped develop the UK’s first digital marketing apprenticeship.
About 50 further jobs are set to be lost at England’s largest apprenticeship provider as a new leadership team takes shape.
Lifetime Training this week launched a redundancy consultation – its second this year – to reduce its 1,000-strong workforce by about 5 per cent.
FE Week understands that nine departments across the business are affected, including curriculum, learner support and work-based learning partnerships.
The cuts come weeks after David Smith replaced Jon Graham as chief executive of the provider.
Smith also recently announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer, people director, operations delivery director, and partnerships director.
A spokesperson for Lifetime said the leadership team completed a “strategic planning exercise” over the summer, focusing on “growth and long-term sustainability”, which led to the decision to reduce the workforce. FE Week understands 120 staff are part of the redundancy consultation, but 50 jobs are expected to be cut.
Smith said: “Our focus is on long-term sustainability and enabling the business to take advantage of future growth opportunities. We have been carrying out a cross-functional review to avoid duplication and improve accountability and ownership. The review also strengthens our partnership, compliance, quality and operational models of delivery, which are reflected in the updated governance structure, bringing further emphasis to high-quality teaching strategies.”
Smith comes from outside the FE sector having led big-name companies such as Parcelforce, Royal Mail, City Link, Serco and, most recently, estates management company Bellrock Group.
He replaced Graham in July, who was moved on after just over a year in charge.
The CEO switch came a week after Lifetime Training’s executive chair Geoff Russell, who used to lead the Skills Funding Agency, suddenly left his post.
Both Graham and Russell were brought in from another large training provider, JTL, last year. Their departures came months after Lifetime Training was taken over by its lender, Alcentra.
The provider has experienced a rocky year including a critical ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted report and an ongoing government audit dispute that could result in a £13m clawback. It made about 60 staff redundant earlier this year.
Weston College has started the new academic year with an interim boss as the hunt for a permanent successor to England’s former best-paid principal, Sir Paul Phillips, drags on.
Jacqui Ford has been appointed acting principal and chief executive until at least March 2024 following multiple failed attempts to fill the post left by Phillips, who retired over the summer after two decades as leader of the south-western college.
But questions remain over whether Phillips has stayed on at the college in a newly created and remunerated role as president, as previously announced to staff earlier in the year.
The college is now staying tight-lipped over the presidential position after concerns were allegedly raised by prospective successors of the principalship in the past academic year, which a local union leader claimed was “creating a crisis at the college”.
A spokesperson for the college this week refused to confirm or deny whether Phillips has taken up the role of president.
Ford’s appointment comes after the recruitment process for a permanent principal went back to square one in June. The top job was formally offered to Cornwall College Group deputy principal Kate Wills but was revoked under mysterious circumstances.
The president’s role was created earlier this year and governors told staff in memos seen by FE Week that the role was “absolutely key” for governance initiatives and profile bids.
‘Appointment follows exceptional leadership and legacy of Sir Paul Phillips’
Ford was formerly deputy principal for partnerships and led Weston College’s SEND division. Her previous stint at the college spanned over two decades between 1995 and 2020.
At Weston College’s annual academic conference on August 23, Ford unveiled the college’s new management structure, which also showed the departure of three members of the executive team – Leah Palmer, Jo Watson and David Trounce.
Sir Paul Phillips’ son, Joe Phillips, who has worked at the college since 2010, will be Ford’s de facto second-in-command as chief operating officer after being recently promoted.
Ford told conference attendees that the managerial team will be moved around and based in different campuses so that key management personnel will not be “sitting in an ivory tower”.
In a public announcement dated August 23 about Ford’s appointment, Weston College said that “guidance of Sir Paul has been instrumental in shaping this new management framework”.
“This appointment follows the exceptional leadership and legacy of Sir Paul Phillips CBE, who has steered the institution towards remarkable achievements over the past 22 years,” the statement said.
Phillips stepped down officially as principal on August 31. He was England’s highest-paid principal, earning a total package of £362,000 in 2022, according to an analysis of college accounts data.
A Weston College spokesperson told FE Week: “Further to the retirement of Sir Paul Phillips on August 31, the college has implemented a robust interim management structure, which will be ably led by Jacqui Ford and a highly experienced team.”
Wills returns to Cornwall after Weston role mystery
Kate Wills has been re-hired by Cornwall College Group after resigning earlier this year to take the top job at Weston College.
She is now one of two group deputy principals and chief executives, working alongside Mark Wardle who was appointed to replace her to lead on curriculum and quality.
Wills now has senior responsibility as deputy chief for land-based provision, international and higher education at the college group.
After being appointed by Weston’s governors back in May, resigning from her previous role as deputy at Cornwall College Group and being announced to Weston staff, Wills’ offer was mysteriously withdrawn, leaving her without a job.
John Evans, principal and chief executive at Cornwall College Group, has now re-hired Wills on a 12-month contract following Wills’ bruising experience with Weston College.
Evans described Wills as an “exceptional leader” and told FE Week he “doesn’t like to see people treated badly”.
The national adult education budget tender has been “further undermined” after the government handed a last-minute contract to a provider and seemingly revoked another.
In July, the Department for Education named 55 training providers who won a contract in its AEB procurement worth £75 million in total.
But when releasing contract values last week, it only listed 54, whose combined allocations totalled £74.7 million. TLG Business Services*, an original winner, was left off.
The DfE then announced on Thursday it has awarded an “additional” AEB contract for an undisclosed amount to The Portland Training Company, taking the total number of winners back up to 55.
The department and Portland Training have refused to comment on the case. TLG Business Services did not respond to FE Week at the time of going to press.
It is therefore unclear why TLG Business Services is no longer a national AEB contractor, or why Portland Training has suddenly been given a contract months after the tender results were determined.
The outcome of the government’s AEB tender is also currently being challenged through the courts by Learning Curve Group, one of several major training providers that had bids rejected.
‘This further undermines the process’
Paul Warner, Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ director of strategy and business development, said: “We always welcome allocations being given to quality providers, but this change raises more questions than it answers. There were already concerns raised previously over this procurement round, and this further undermines the process.
“As a result, many providers will now be left wondering if this delayed award is an indicator of a wider issue in the way bids were they originally scored. This very much illustrates and reiterates the need for a frank and transparent discussion about how these processes work.”
A notice from the DfE about its decision to award Portland Training a late contract only said: “The relative characteristics of this incremental award are consistent with those of other successful tenderers.”
A 10-day voluntary period commenced on September 7. The contract will be entered into on September 19.
Karen Thompson, operations director at Portland Training, told FE Week: “We’re delighted that we got the outcome. It means we can continue to support learners back into employment. But the actual process of getting it I can’t comment on.”
Portland Training is judged ‘good’ by Ofsted and won a national AEB contract for £1.7 million in the last AEB tender in 2021.
TLG Business Services has never been inspected. DfE criteria for the AEB tender did however welcome bids from new providers that are not yet Ofsted registered.
In 2021/22, the provider held subcontracts worth just over £100,000 with South Tyneside Council.
AELP director of policy Simon Ashworth told his members last month that “on reflection”, the performance and quality thresholds for bids were “set too low”.
From the 2023 competition, 15 of the winners were awarded almost the maximum individual amount of £2.5 million, including Realise Learning and Employment Ltd, The Skills Network and Let Me Play Ltd.
Three of those 15 big winners – Prevista Ltd, Aspire Sporting Academy Ltd, and Pathway First Ltd – are judged ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted. A further two – The Construction Skills People Ltd and Twin Training International Limited – have only had an early monitoring visit.
The lowest value contract awarded was to Logistics Skills & Consultancy Ltd, which received £236,580.
ESFA officials were delayed in commencing the contracts due a legal challenge launched by the Learning Curve Group, which imposed an “automatic suspension” in August. Learning Curve Group has since given permission for the suspension to be lifted.
The provider group, which has seven offshoots, has set out plans to make 30 of its 1,000 staff members redundant due to the bid failure.
However, Learning Curve Group is still hopeful of a positive outcome from the legal case, which is seeking a re-run of the procurement as well as damages.
The legal challenge claims the group was “deprived of a real chance of winning a contract” and the agency had “unlawfully failed to create or retain lawful, sufficient contemporaneous records of the reasons for the scores awarded”.
Chief executive Brenda McLeish said the court case is ongoing and added: “We’re being forced into unfair redundancies due to the Department for Education’s unlawful decision to refuse our bid.
“We’re losing good staff and good people. We’ve been put into an unfortunate situation that we don’t want to be in.”
*[UPDATE: After this article was published the DfE published a separate Contracts Finder page for TLG Business Services’ contract award, taking the total number of AEB tender winners up to 56. The DfE claimed: “Publication on contracts finder takes place after signing of the contracts by both parties. The difference in timing is as a result of the automatic suspension.”]
