A merger is on the cards for a small Somerset college that faces a threat to its sustainability following a case of dodgy subcontracting.
The FE Commissioner published an intervention report today for Strode College after a government audit found young adults on security and rail traineeships were made to work illegal hours by the college’s delivery partners.
A “significant” but undisclosed clawback is now being demanded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, which has deteriorated the college’s financial health to ‘inadequate’. The college hasn’t published accounts for the past two years, but it serves around 4,000 learners and had an income of less than £17 million in 2021.
The college, which has launched legal action against the subcontractors involved, cannot repay the traineeship clawback in the short to medium term.
