FE commissioner

Richmond residential college in cash crisis

Adult residential college strained from large clawbacks, funding cuts and unsold property

New FE Commissioner Ellen Thinnesen heralds a new dawn for oversight

From revelation in Grimsby to tackling racism head-on in Sunderland, frontline nursing to testy mergers, Ellen Thinnesen’s unorthodox path to FE commissioner will undoubtedly shape how she does the role, writes Jessica Hill

How a £25m crisis and intervention forced us to rebuild – and made Brooklands stronger

Six years under FE Commissioner intervention pushed our college to the brink. But the debt, disruption and scrutiny forged a new culture, a new identity and a renewed confidence, proving that intervention can be transformative

NTI for Newbury College from ‘serious cashflow pressures’

PFI costs and delayed asset sale trigger concerns over cash

Weston chair felt powerless over £2.5m payments to former principal

Ex-Weston college chair gives tell-all interview following FE Commissioner probe

Weston College governance failure allowed ‘concealment’ of £2.5m payments to former principal

Paul Phillips was paid £1.8m in 2023, including a ‘significant’ six-figure retention payment which his COO son ‘resisted’ paying

Bailout saves WCG from going insolvent next month

But the college group’s new principal says it is now ‘on the right track’

Three new deputy FE commissioners join Legrave

Former college principals are among the appointees

Martin Sim, principal, City College Southampton

Martin Sim, deputy FE commissioner and now emergency principal at City College Southampton, has done some of the toughest troubleshooting gigs in the sector. He tells Jess Staufenberg why a ‘skull and crossbones’ approach keeps him buoyed up When the FE commissioner’s team does an “intervention assessment” at a college, I can’t help imagining a […]