Association of Colleges

AoC's Funding team acts on behalf of the 345 Colleges in England to do the following:

Represent College interests to the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA), Skills Funding Agency (SFA), Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Department for Education (DfE) and other organisations:

• To make it easier for Colleges to access government funding, raise fee income and secure other funding
• To raise awareness of College activities in delivering education and training to individuals and employers
• To raise awareness of the costs of these activities
• To facilitate good policy making at the point of origin
• To argue the case for reduction of the administrative burden and minimise regulation of successful Colleges

Support effective College financial management through:

• Organising and assisting the national meetings of the College Finance Directors Group (CFDG)
• Regularly sending pertinent information to Finance Directors through briefings
• Organising the annual College Finance Directors conference (which takes place annually in June)
• Regularly attending regional CFDG meetings and specialist groups
• Managing the College Financial Reporting Project
• Organising useful seminars for finance staff in conjunction with AoC Management Services, SFA and others
• Holding induction days for Finance Directors who are new to the sector
• Assisting funding issues

Represent Colleges at BIS, DfE, YPLA, SFA and other meetings, for example:

• YPLA/SFA meetings on new models of funding, efficiency and data collection
• SFA meetings on audit and regulation
• UKBA immigration group meetings 
• Student Loan Company loans and bursaries group
• SFA Sector Accounting Policy Group
• Regular one-to-one meetings with senior BIS, DfE, YPLA and SFA managers
• UKBA meetings on changes to migration rules

Inform Colleges of key funding, finance, accounting, tax and other decisions through:

• Fortnightly briefings (Funding and Finance)
• Other AoC events
• Attendance at quarterly regional CFDG and AoC meetings
• Telephone assistance, explanations through e-mail, etc

Represent and negotiating on behalf of Colleges with third party organisations:

• Copyright Licensing Association
• Educational Recording Agency
• Construction Industry Training Board

Contact details:

Julian Gravatt, Assistant Chief Executive and Director of Research and Development
Robert Russell, Financial Development Manager
Geeta Patel, Research Officer
Tel. 020 7034 9900