Further education colleges will retain their reserves and continue to operate subsidiaries in the event they’re reclassified to the public sector as widely expected, FE Week understands.
As the Office for National Statistics (ONS) comes to the end of its six-month long classification review, fears that a move to the public sector could result in a raid on reserves appear to have not materialised.
Due to report later this month, the statistics body is expected to reclassify colleges from the private sector – a change which will trigger the need for decisions on a range of issues including tax, staff pay, accounting, and borrowing.
