7
Table 1: Legal personality and regulatory frameworks of colleges in the four countries
of the UK
Country Legal Personality of
Institution
Status of Board Members Public Body or accounted
for as 'private'
Regulatory Regime
England Further education
corporations (which
can operate a number
of 'colleges') are
exempt charities
Exempt from annual
accounting to the
Charity Commission
for England and Wales
Principal Regulator:
Secretary of State for
Education
Primary legislation:
Further and Higher
Education Act 1992
Governors are trustees of
a charity
Charity legislation and the
expectations of trustees*
apply
*Prohibits remuneration,
except in specific, approved
circumstances
Private - designated as
Not for Profit Institutions
Serving Households (NPISH)
N.B. 2010 ONS
classification 'Public' for
colleges across the UK
Amendment: Office
for National Statistics
designation from April
2012: 'Private'
Source: AoC Note
(January 2019)
Education and Skills
Funding Agency
FE Commissioner
OfSTED inspections
(institutional and themed)
Quality Assurance Agency
Office for Students
Charity Commission
Code of Good Governance
for English Colleges (AoC,
2015, updated 2019)
Northern
Ireland
Each college is defined
as an executive nondepartmental public
body
Primary legislation:
Further Education
(Northern Ireland)
Order 1997
Non-executive governors
(board members) appointed
under the Further Education
(Northern Ireland) Order
1997 (charity status not
agrees with Northern
Ireland Charity Commission)
Northern Ireland Board
members remuneration
policy and scheme in place
Public (i.e., classified within
the central government
sector) [Financial
Memorandum between
the Department for the
Economy and FE Colleges
- 2018]
Department for the
Economy
Northern Ireland Audit
Office
Northern Ireland
Department of Finance
Further Education Code
of Governance [Northern
Ireland FE Colleges] (2016)
Scotland Colleges as institutions
are defined as
charities
Guidance from OSCR
(Scottish charity
regulator) applies
Principal regulator:
Scottish Ministers
Primary Legislation:
Further and Higher
Education (Scotland)
Act 1992
Further and Higher
Education (Scotland)
Act 2005
Post-16 Education
(Scotland) Act
2013 (introduced
regionalisation of
colleges)
College board members are
trustees of a charity
Remuneration policy and
scheme in place
Currently only Regional
College Chairs are
remunerated
Legislation to be introduced
to enable Assigned
College Chairs to also be
remunerated (expected
2021)
Public
Source: Scottish
Government Good
College Governance Task
Group (2016)
Scottish Funding Council
Skills Development
Scotland
Audit Scotland
Education Scotland
Scottish Public Finance
Manual (SPFM)
Externally facilitated
governance reviews
Code of Good Governance
in Scotland's Colleges
Good Governance Steering
Group (Guardian of the
Code)
OSCR (Charity regulator)
Wales Further education
corporations are
exempt charities
Principal Regulator:
Welsh Ministers
Primary legislation:
Further and Higher
Education Act 1992
Governors are trustees of
a charity
Charity legislation and the
expectations of trustees*
apply
*Prohibits remuneration,
except in specific, approved
circumstances
Private - Not for Profit
Institutions Serving
Households
In 2014, the Welsh
colleges returned to
NPISH status following
the Further and Higher
Education (Governance
and Information) (Wales)
Act 2014
Estyn Inspections
Funding from Welsh
Government
Higher Education Funding
Council for Wales
Provider Assurance and
Governance Service
(Welsh Government)