Melton college needs financial rescue plan

SMB College Group, which has campuses at Melton, Brooksby and Coalville, confirmed the move today (Monday) but says it is confident it can navigate through this challenging financial period.

The business announced in May that it would be relocating virtually all of its Melton courses to the Brooksby site with only the performing arts programmes remaining at the town site.

A deadline of September 30 this year has been set by the Department for Education for SMB College Group to come up with an ‘outline recovery plan’.

Dawn Whitemore, the principal and CEO, told the Melton Times this afternoon: “I want to assure all students, parents and other key stakeholders that the college will deliver its recovery plan and the college will be financially viable.

"The college has no debt, which is quite unusual for the sector, and we still have cash in bank but some of this is committed.

"We have been prudent in our planning and budgeting to ensure we get the operating costs right in line with our income levels.

"We have already taken major steps to ensure our recovery.

"The move from our Melton campus – with the exception of performing arts provision – is part of that process, all lines of expenditure have been reviewed and we have taken every opportunity to work differently, staffing remains our highest cost.

"We are continuing to work with partners on solutions that if successful could accelerate and support our recovery.”

Three years ago, the former Brooksby Melton College merged with Coalville-based Stephenson College to form SMB College Group. It was a move which Mrs Whitemore has said was ‘a lifesaver for both college’.

The business has since had the boost of receiving some of the local £23million ‘levelling up’ funding.

It will be invested in the theatre to upgrade facilities further to become a bigger community asset and act as a bespoke hub for the college’s performing arts students.

Mrs Whitemore explained: "We are still dealing with the impact post-Covid, which cannot be underestimated, the significant increase in costs which have been unprecedented along with the reclassification of colleges in November which limits some of the actions we would have been able to take.

"It is important to reiterate that we have asked for support early by way of ensuring the college is successful.”

She added: “We know that working proactively with the FE Commissioner and her team that we can resolve our current issues.

"The FE Commissioner has the students at the heart of their support and together the SMB College Group will deliver the financial turnaround planned and remain an economically sustainable FE provider, whilst continuing to make strides with improvements to the quality of our study offer and ensure our learners get the best possible education.

"We would like to thank everyone of our stakeholders for their continued support and will keep you posted on our progress. “

A letter from the DfE states: “I am issuing this Notice To Improve because The SMB Group has serious cashflow pressures and the DfE is exercising its oversight policy provisions, to reflect the heightened risk.”