The Department for Education has bolstered the FE Commissioner’s team with three new deputies amid a shake-up of its FE oversight regime.
Former EKC Group chief executive Graham Razey, FE adviser Esme Winch and Windsor Forest College group CEO Gillian May have been selected following a recruitment exercise in the summer.
They will each begin three-year terms in the coming months. Razey will join the FE Commissioner’s (FEC) office on December 1, while Winch will begin on January 2, 2026 and May will start on June 1, 2026.
Each deputy will be paid £700 per day for up to 200 days a year.
The three new hires will replace three of the current deputies.
Nigel Duncan and Phil Cook were appointed in 2023 on a three-year term but will be stepping down at the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Frances Wadsworth was first appointed in 2018. Her latest term of office was extended in May and will end her term in February 2026.
Becky Edwards remains in post and is two years into her three-year term.
They will all serve under new FE Commissioner, Ellen Thinnesen, who takes over from Shelagh Legrave in January.
New deputies
Razey began his career at South Kent College and held the principal position at Canterbury College and East Kent College before they merged to become EKC Group in 2018. He retired from Ofsted ‘outstanding’ group in April and stood down as one of the FE Commissioner’s national leaders of further education.
Meanwhile, Winch has been an adviser to the FE Commissioner for six years. She was previously managing director and CFO of NCFE and last held a college leadership role in 2016 when she stood down as CEO and principal of Loughborough College.
May has led Windsor Forest Colleges Group since 2021. The four-college group recruited just over 7,000 students in 2023-24 and was graded ‘good’ by Ofsted in 2024.
The new hires come as DfE refreshed its guidance on how it will oversee quality improvement and financial management of colleges earlier this week.
The new rules will replace place-based teams with new regional improvement teams (RITs) that will assess and direct the support needs of colleges in their areas. Each RIT will have a dedicated lead deputy FEC to provide targeted support.
Really pleased to see Graham Razey take up a role that will see his own experience of turning around poor colleges put to good use. Hopefully the need for interventions will reduce and the government will invest the required level of funding into our sector.