City & Guilds members vote in favour of independent inquiry

Members of the City & Guilds Foundation have voted to back an independent inquiry into the sale of its commercial awarding business, following pressure from an action group at the charity’s annual meeting today.

At the “yearly meeting”, members voted in favour of the Save City & Guilds Action Group’s resolution to launch an inquiry into “all aspects” of the sale of the business to PeopleCert last year.

About 100 attendees, including the charity’s advisory council and a wider group of members, approved the statement that outlined “grave concern” about the decision-making of trustees, large post-sale bonuses to senior executives, and transparency.

FE Week understands 67 of the 100 attendees voted for the resolution, which would require the inquiry to be overseen by three councillors, with a full report completed within six months.

The meeting, held at Drapers’ Hall in the City of London, ran over its scheduled time by two hours.

Attendees said that many members, including representatives from City & Guilds’ founding livery companies, expressed frustration to trustees about the sale.

Members also approved the appointment of Jessica Leigh-Jones as the charity’s new chair, replacing Ann Limb who stood down in January. Limb was made a Baroness in December but has said she will not be taking her seat in the Lords until “matters relating to my previous voluntary roles are resolved”.

In a separate earlier bi-annual meeting of the charity’s advisory “council”, the same resolution for an independent inquiry did not pass, with a minority (six) understood to have voted in favour.

The council includes about 50 councillors who are either elected, co-opted from industry or appointed by the City of London’s livery companies – although it is unclear how many attended today.

A charity spokesperson said the trustee board now “needs time to reflect” on the resolutions passed during the meeting over the coming days.

However, the agenda shared before the meeting warned that the board would only implement the recommendations if they decide they are “in the best interests” of the charity.

A letter from law firm Bates Wells advising that an inquiry would not be in the charity’s interest is also understood to have been handed out during the debate.

Speaking on behalf of the action group, council member Neil Bates said: “Today’s vote is a decisive victory for members and fellows after a five‑month campaign to get answers that should have been provided from the outset.

“We were told to move on, to accept secrecy, and to trust without transparency. Members have now made clear that this was never acceptable.

“This resolution sends an unambiguous message: the sale of City & Guilds’ operating arm will not be brushed aside or quietly forgotten.

“An independent inquiry must now be established, and it must follow the facts wherever they lead. Trustees are duty‑bound to act on this instruction, not reinterpret it or delay it.”

The Charity Commission has already opened a statutory inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the sale, which will probe trustee decision-making and million-pound post-sale bonuses for executives paid by PeopleCert.

Earlier this week, in an exclusive interview with FE Week, PeopleCert’s owner Byron Nicolaides revealed that his own internal review has been escalated to examine “potential criminal activities” surrounding the deal.

This is understood to include concerns that bidders were not given accurate estimates of the cost of upgrading the awarding body’s legacy IT system, which could be as high as £50 million.

A spokesperson for the City & Guilds Foundation said: “Today we held our bi-annual City and Guilds of London Institute (CGLI) council meeting with members of council and annual meeting with some of our CGLI members.

“Both meetings were an opportunity to reflect and discuss the recent decisions made and present our early thinking on the strategy for CGLI moving forwards.

“Our strategy is deep rooted in our royal charter to advance technical education, and there was a commitment made from the trustee board at both meetings to better work with and engage with them moving forward.

“In addition, a range of resolutions were passed and the trustee board now needs time to reflect on those resolutions and will be meeting in the coming days to discuss them and next steps.”