About us
We work with further education (FE) colleges to improve their quality and financial resilience and with local authorities delivering further education.
What we do
The FE Commissioner takes a key role in working with all statutory further education colleges and designated institutions (FE Colleges), and with local authorities delivering further education to improve the quality of education for learners, strengthen financial resilience, improve the quality of leadership and reduce the risk of intervention.
The FE Commissioner works closely with key teams within DfE, ESFA and Ofsted and alongside broader partners, including the Education and Training Foundation, the Association of Colleges, the Sixth Form Colleges Association, HOLEX, and other representative groups, as well as with employers and employer representatives.
The role of the FE Commissioner and their team forms part of the DfE’s college oversight policy. The policy encourages continuous improvement and improved outcomes for learners at all FE colleges, and the role of the FE Commissioner is to support them to recognise and tackle any issues, and to help them improve.
Where, as part of the college oversight policy, the DfE needs to intervene the FE Commissioner and their team will be asked to investigate, report and recommend actions for improvement.
If Ofsted deems a local authority to be overall inadequate for their further education provision, they will also be referred to the FE Commissioner team to recommend actions for improvement.
You can read the FE Commissioner’s latest annual report.
Support
The FE Commissioner and their team offer a wide range of support and help to all FE colleges and local authorities delivering FE in England. This can span from:
- an informal discussion on how the FE Commissioner could help
- tailored support for a specific issue
- reviewing, helping, and supporting costed curriculum planning
- help with a recruitment campaign for the senior leadership team
- a health check to review college operations and share findings with the college
Other support initiatives led by the FE Commissioner’s team include:
- national leaders of further education (NLFEs) – who are serving college leaders who provide mentoring and support to colleges that need to improve
- national leaders of governance (NLGs) – who are experienced college governors and clerks who offer mentoring and support to governance boards
- the further education leadership mentoring programme – which supports existing and aspiring leaders
- effective practice and ‘how to’ guides to showcase improvement
- a financial benchmarking tool for colleges
- college governor financial dashboards,
- structure and prospects appraisals (SPAs) – a way of assessing options to change a college’s structure and provision in a clear, objective and evidence based way
- local provision reviews (LPRs) – which examine options for achieving long-term sustainable provision in a local area where the issues in a local area cannot be solved by looking at individual institutions in isolation
Further guidance on help and support for colleges and help and support for local authorities is available.
Intervention
The FE Commissioner’s team undertakes an intervention assessment when serious weaknesses and risk of failure have been identified at an FE college.
This involves:
- conducting intervention assessment visits
- preparing reports on their findings
- recommending actions a college can take
You can find out more about our FE Commissioner visits and reports.
These assess the capacity of the existing governance and leadership of a college to deliver rapid and sustainable improvements.
The FE Commissioner’s team may conduct further visits to review progress against the recommendations.
Where the FE Commissioner’s Team make an assessment of capacity and capability of the local authority FE provision leadership and management to lead improvement, recommendations in any published Ofsted report together with recommendations from the FE Commissioner will become additional conditions of funding.
Read the intervention reports.
Who we are
The FE Commissioner is an independent adviser and leads a team of former leaders and finance practitioners from within the further education (FE) sector.
The FE Commissioner and deputy roles are non-statutory public appointments.
The FE Principals Reference Group challenges and advises the FE Commissioner and contributes to policy development for colleges in the FE sector.
Further Education Commissioner
Deputy Further Education Commissioners
FE Advisers
Steve Campion
Steve has been an FE Adviser since February 2020. He has worked in the FE sector for 10 years, and is currently deputy principal at Wiltshire College Group, previously at Exeter College and previously at Bridgwater College. Prior to this, Steve held both public and private sector finance roles.
Ellie Churchward
Ellie joined the team in September 2023. Her experience includes serving as Head of Lifelong Learning and Skills at a local authority. She specialises in quality.
Meredydd David OBE
Meredydd joined the team as a Deputy FE Commissioner in 2018 serving to December 2023, and became a senior FE Adviser in January 2024. He was principal at Reaseheath College and has been a board member for the Association of Colleges, Landex and The National Land-based College (UK). He specialises in quality.
Diane Dimond
Diane joined the team in September 2023. She has been a principal and finance director at multiple colleges and has spent time mentoring FE senior leaders. She specialises in finance.
Anna Fitch
Anna has been an FE Adviser since 2019. She was previously a regional audit manager for the Skills Funding Agency, finance director at New College Swindon and managing consultant for FE Associates. She specialises in finance.
Pauline Hagen OBE
Pauline has been an FE Adviser since April 2021. Her experience includes serving as CEO of a multi-academy trust, and working as an Ofsted Inspector. She specialises in curriculum, leadership and quality.
Tim Jackson OBE
Tim has been an FE Adviser since April 2021. He has worked in the FE sector for 38 years, 22 of those as principal of Sparsholt College and then Sparsholt College Group. Tim has served on Local Enterprise Partnership and college boards.
Jo Pretty
Jo has been an FE Adviser since September 2021. She has worked in the FE sector for 21 years. She was CEO and principal at Lowestoft College, then principal at the University College, Isle of Man. Jo has also served on a range of employer and skills boards.
Martin Sim
Martin joined the team as a Deputy FE Commissioner in 2019 serving to December 2023, and became a senior FE Adviser in January 2024. He has spent almost 40 years working in the FE sector, including as principal of Salford City College, and has had several interim principal roles. He specialises in quality.
Laraine Smith OBE
Laraine has been an FE Adviser since January 2020. She was formerly principal of Uxbridge College for 10 years and then principal and CEO of a merger between Harrow College and Uxbridge College.
Dr Kate Webb
Kate became an FE Adviser in 2021. She has worked in the FE sector for over 25 years, most recently as CEO of The Windsor Forest Colleges Group. She specialises in curriculum and quality.
Anne Whitworth
Anne joined the team in September 2023. She is a chartered accountant and has worked as a finance director and vice principal in the FE sector, most recently at Southampton City College. She specialises in finance.
Esme Winch
Esme has been an FE Adviser since 2019. She was previously a finance director (Newcastle College Group), managing director & chief financial officer (Northern Council for Further Education), and chief executive and principal (Loughborough College). She specialises in finance.