College Statement - Financial Notice to Improve

Weston College today (Tuesday 8th April 2025) responds to the publication of the Financial Notice to Improve report by the Department for Education.

The College is also publishing its accounts for the financial year 2023, which was delayed due to an investigation related to the notice.

Both publications detail how the former Principal and CEO received a remuneration package of over £1.8m in 2023, which included a ‘retention payment’ of £909,000.

The investigation, undertaken in June 2024 by the Further Education Commissioner’s Office on behalf of the Government, discovered that the former Principal’s package was approved by a remuneration committee without the approval of the College board and without the knowledge of any current member of the College’s Senior Executive Team.

During summer 2024, the College made a significant number of changes to its governance and management, including an experienced interim Chair of Governors appointed by the Further Education Commissioner’s Office, a new Principal & Chief Executive, a new Chief Operating Officer and an Interim Clerk supporting the board. These changes have also seen 17 new board members join since September 2023, when the former Principal and CEO had retired, with none of the remaining board members having served on past remuneration or audit committees.

Interim Chair of Governors Tim Jackson said: “As a result of the investigation and in response to the verbal recommendations by the Further Education Commissioner’s Office in June 2024, significant changes were approved by the board and implemented in July 2024 to strengthen governance, improve oversight and due diligence. The publication of the 13 recommendations in the intervention report today entirely matches the changes implemented in July 2024.

These changes have been repeatedly monitored by the board and shared with the FE Commissioner team and the ESFA at the regular intervention case meetings since July. These actions have been successful and will ensure there can be no repetition of anything like this in future.”

Changes include:

• a dedicated governance professional who does not report to the CEO/Principal and provides challenge and guidance to the Board the Chair and Principal.
• a review of the terms of office for all governors in line with the Association of Colleges’ Code of Good Governance so that all current Board members have no more than 8 years' service.
• robust reporting procedures, ensuring transparency and consistency regarding the approval of senior post holder pay.

Tim Jackson added: “The College board of governors are shocked at the size of the remuneration package paid to the retired ex-Principal in 2023 and the years prior to that. They believe the remuneration sums at this level are unacceptable and agree with the FE Commissioner Intervention report concerning this being a matter of a failure of proper governance processes and poor decision making around the best use of public funds, which we note were made by a past membership of the board of governors.”

“I would like to thank those members of staff, who were brave to raise concerns with regulators in relation to this matter as and when these were discovered and who prioritised the integrity and interests of the College, their colleagues and students.”

“Over the past months, the College has worked alongside the FE Commissioner’s Office and other stakeholders to provide a transparent and accurate picture of the events prior to summer 2023. This has been a long process, but the College was able to quickly and effectively address concerns raised within the notice to improve.”

“Our focus now is on the robust and rigorous controls and governance, alongside a culture of trust, transparency, accountability and fairness in our decision making.”

Principal and CEO Pat Jones said: “Staff and the wider college community will understandably be concerned and dismayed about the remuneration package revealed by this investigation, and we recognise those frustrations.”

“We want to reiterate that the focus of the investigations and subsequent financial notice to improve are about past issues dating back to a period concluding in the summer 2023. The financial notice to improve does not relate to our sustainability, to the high quality of education we deliver, or to our general finances, which are in good health.”

“My priority with the support of the Executive Team is about making sure that an ethos and culture of trust, transparency, care and equity is at the forefront of all decisions. We started this process by immediately addressing the pay differential of our staff, and a 4-8% pay award was implemented in the Autumn term 2024, which was far in excess of the Association of Colleges (AoC) recommendation."

“We would like to thank all our staff and our stakeholders for their ongoing support and look forward to continuing on our roadmap to becoming an ‘Extraordinary College’.”