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Further education college in Kent enters education administration

West Kent and Ashford College has entered education administration only months after its associated college in nearby Hadlow became the first institution to do so.

The college filed a petition to be placed into education administration at the High Court on 6 August 2019 and on 16 August 2019, a judge ordered that administrators be appointed with immediate effect.

College chair Martin Doel said: “While finances have been stabilised over recent months, the college is faced with exceptional outstanding liabilities and would be insolvent without external support.”

A report by regulator the Further Education Commissioner in February concluded the West Kent and Ashford board “have failed in their fiduciary duties and in so doing put the solvency and long-term financial sustainability of the college and its learners at risk”.

The commissioner found a “corporate failure of leadership, financial management and governance including a failure to protect West Kent and Ashford College’s interests within the operation of the wider ‘Hadlow Group’”.

Insufficient steps had been taken to avoid conflicts of interest at board and senior management level and the college faced significant financial problems “despite having had protected funding for three years, at substantially higher level than other colleges”,

Administrators will work with West Kent and Ashford’s interim principal and senior management team to enable the college to continue to operate, with applications and enrolments being taken for courses starting in September 2019.

Mr Doel said staff continue to be employed with no changes envisaged and student qualifications would be unaffected by the education administration.

Hadlow College entered administration after a scathing report from the commissioner last February.

Educational administration is a status introduced last year for colleges that become insolvent, which allows an administrator to take over but with a mandate to give r priority to the interests of students rather than those of creditors as in a normal administration.