The Charity Commission has said it is “actively engaging” with City & Guilds’ parent charity after concerns were reported following the sale of most of its assets to a private company last year.
In October, the City & Guilds London Institute (CGLI) completed the sale of its training and awards operation to Greek language certification company PeopleCert.
All of CGLI’s awarding, assessment and training businesses have transferred to PeopleCert, which will run the operations under the name City & Guilds Limited.
Some 1,400 staff were to be transferred out of the charity – which will operate under the City & Guilds Foundation name – to leave 10 to 15 employees, it was announced in October.
The charity said at the time that it expected to have £180 to £200m in assets post-sale and that it would largely rely on the annual earnings from its reserves, with plans to form a strategy on its future activities.
Since then, concerns have been reported over the sale including a rumoured restructure and bonuses awarded to transferred employees.
The commission said it had received assurances as to CGLI trustees’ decision-making but that its permission was not required for the sale.
“We are aware of recent media reports about factors relating to the sale of assets by City and Guilds of London Institute and are engaging actively with the charity to obtain more information to assess any next steps for us as regulator,” a spokesperson said.
Reports of cost savings plans
Last month, the Guardian reported that two senior transferred CGLI directors were paid bonus payments of more than £1m.
The paper also referenced a PeopleCert “restructuring” presentation in early December in which the firm identified £22m of savings at City & Guilds Limited.
Of the savings, £13m were “personal cost synergies” largely achieved by not replacing staff leaving the organisation with UK hires, it reported.
Tom Bewick, technical education historian, wrote in a Substack article that “about a third of roles could be” offshored to Greece.
Bewick added that the bonus awards raised “serious ethical and governance concerns”.
Late last year, a petition to “keep the City and Guilds Institute public” was launched to oppose the sale.
PeopleCert did not respond to a request for comment around potential UK staff cuts and relocations.
Charity’s response
The charity has dismissed what is has said are “a number of inaccurate claims” around its sale of training and awards operations to PeopleCert.
In a public statement from its trustees on 2 January, it said: “CGLI was not created as a public sector body, it is an independent charitable organisation.
“Until the sale, it achieved its charitable goals through a combination of charitable and commercial activities.
“The commercial activities always had to compete in an open market to be able to stand alone.”
CGLI trustees said the sale was necessary to protect its future interests.
They said: “Responsibly divesting the commercial awarding organisation and skills training business was the most effective way to protect the organisation’s long-term health.”
The charity also sought to address concerns raised around bonus awards.
It said: “Trustees were not involved in any pre or post-deal conversations regarding remuneration matters for CGL [City & Guilds Limited] executives that would apply after the sale.
“Bonuses for eligible employees reflecting performance in 2025 are payable in line with CGLI’s remuneration policy.
“No payments outside CGLI’s existing bonus schemes have been paid.”
When asked if the bonus payments quoted in the Guardian were correct, a CGLI spokesperson said it had nothing further to add from its public statement.
