An association for college leaders has called on the FE commissioner to stop “naming and shaming” senior managers in intervention reports.

The demand comes after current and former principals and chief executives were identified in a number of reports by commissioner Richard Atkins as being to blame for colleges’ financial difficulties.

Anne Murdoch, general secretary of the Principals’ Professional Council (PPC), told Tes: “Some of the reports that have come out in the past, particularly in the autumn term, named principals and chairs of governors, indicating them as the cause of the problem and questioning their capacity to lead a recovery.

“I am not criticising the need for accountability, but when individuals are named in a report, which intentionally goes public, that is a problem.”

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‘These people have families’

Dr Murdoch added: “These are people who have families; they may have children in the sector. They have careers. What we are concerned about is the naming and shaming of individuals in the reports. What we want is to avoid the humiliation of senior staff, whether it is the principal, the director of finance or any other.”

The FE commissioner intervenes in colleges that are either rated inadequate by Ofsted; have received a notice of concern from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) about their finances; failed to meet the ESFA minimum standards; or have been found to be at high risk of failure following a diagnostic assessment. Such an assessment may be triggered by a “requires improvement” rating from Ofsted, or when an institution is in early intervention by the ESFA for financial health.

The commissioner has published 15 intervention reports since February 2018.

‘Serious business failure’

In November, the intervention report for West Nottinghamshire College said then-CEO Dame Asha Khemka, named on the opening page of the report, had “overseen a serious business failure which will impact on the whole college”. Dame Asha resigned in October.

A report on Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, published on the same day, identified a number of areas of issues connected to the college’s former leadership, including former principal Garry Phillips, who died shortly before Christmas. 

This month, the commissioner’s office has published reports for Easton and Otley College, North Hertfordshire College and John Ruskin College.

The Department for Education and the FE commissioner were contacted for comment.