Five colleges have been issued with financial health notices to improve and are therefore now in scope for being referred to the FE commissioner.
All the colleges are being asked to closely monitor their cashflow position and maintain regular contact with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the banks.
The colleges are Coulsdon Sixth Form College; Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College; North Hertfordshire College; Northumberland College; and Worthing College.
North Hertfordshire College, Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College and Coulsdon Sixth Form College have all requested exceptional financial support.
Proposed mergers
Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College was subject to a critical FE commissioner intervention report earlier this month.
Former principal and chief executive Garry Phillips left at the end of the summer term to become principal at City College Plymouth, a position from which he resigned earlier this week following mounting pressure from unions.
The FE commissioner’s scathing report concluded that “the executive leadership of the college in relation to delivering an appropriate property strategy and securing overall financial sustainability has been poor”.
Coulsdon College is due to merge with nearby Croydon College at the start of the new year, as a result of a structure and prospects appraisal carried out by the FE commissioner in January 2018.
Worthing College is being told to press ahead with its merger plans with Chichester College Group by the end of next March, as per the recommendations of the Sussex area review, which was published two years ago this month.
The reports for the colleges can be read here:
