AoC HR & Employment Law Conference & Exhibition 2026

AoC is a market leader in providing recruitment and consultancy services to the FE sector. We play a key role in building stronger through sustainable recruitment, championing talent, and supporting career ambitions. The teams at the AoC have established and trusted relationships with key stakeholders throughout the FE sector and beyond. The AoC team comprises of: •AoC Executive Recruitment •AoC Interim Recruitment •External Board Reviews •The College Collective.

AoC website

ECC is the UK’s leading specialist in fair and transparent pay and grading, with over 30 years’ experience supporting the education sector. As a not-for-profit organisation, we help colleges tackle complex reward challenges through job evaluation, pay and grading reviews, benchmarking and specialist consultancy. Home of the FEDRA job evaluation scheme, we combine deep sector knowledge with practical expertise to help FE organisations build fair, sustainable and transparent approaches to reward.

ECC website

Eversheds Sutherland is a leading legal adviser to the education sector, ranked Band 1 in both Legal 500 and Chambers. Our specialist education lawyers advise further education colleges on employment, HR and governance matters, combining deep sector knowledge with practical, commercially focused advice. We understand the challenges colleges face and help institutions manage risk, support their workforce and achieve their strategic objectives.

Eversheds website

Irwin Mitchell partners with the Association of Colleges to provide specialist employment law and HR advice services for member colleges. The firm supports further education providers through a dedicated legal helpline, regular sector briefings, policy workshops, and training events.
Jenny Arrowsmith is a Partner at Irwin Mitchell and leads its national Further Education employment practice. She acts as contract and relationship lead for a wide range of FE institutions and leads Irwin Mitchell’s relationship with the Association of Colleges, including oversight of the national employment law helpline provided to AoC members. Jenny advises colleges on complex workforce and employment law matters, supporting them to navigate change and manage risk effectively.

Irwin Mitchell website

Solat Chaudhry is the visionary founder and current Chief Executive of the National Centre for Diversity, established in July 2005. Solat has worked passionately in the field of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion for over 20 years. Working to support victims of discrimination, harassment, and victimisation.

National Centre for Diversity website

Our team of education specialists works with further education institutions across the UK on a broad range of issues. As a full-service law firm with a focus on the education sector, we’re able to tailor our service offering to fit your needs. Our track record speaks for itself. We’re proud to have education as one of our firm’s longest standing key sectors, acting for over 100 further and higher education institutions.

Shakespeare Martineau website

Faye oversees the development and delivery of our services and programmes and is responsible for their quality and impact. Prior to joining Education Support Faye's role was Head of Workplace Wellbeing Programmes at the mental health charity Mind, where she led on the development of Workplace Wellbeing programmes including the Mentally Healthy Universities Programme, the Our Frontline campaign and the Mental Health at Work website. Faye feels incredibly passionate about supporting better workplace mental health and making an impact across the education sector.

Dr Louise Karwowski is Founder and Lead Neuro-Inclusion Strategist at Bright Brains, helping colleges and organisations create neuroinclusive cultures where learners and staff can thrive. With over 20 years' experience across further and higher education, Louise works with senior leaders, educators and organisations to embed neuroinclusive practice through leadership, culture and organisational design. Combining a PhD-level STEM background with expertise in neuroinclusion, she translates research, policy and evidence into practical strategies that improve outcomes, strengthen belonging and remove barriers to success. Louise is known for helping organisations move from awareness to meaningful, sustainable change.

David Hughes became Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges in September 2016. Before that he was Chief Executive at Learning and Work Institute and spent over 10 years at the Learning and Skills Council and Skills Funding Agency where he had national responsibility for funding and improvement with colleges and providers. David holds several Board positions including with the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics and the Bell Foundation. He was Vice-Chair of the East Midlands Regional Assembly in the 1990s, founding Chair of the Education and Training Foundation in 2013 and has helped set-up several third sector organisations.

With over 15 years of experience in people services, Hayley Shaw is passionate about creating positive and inclusive people-first work cultures that support learning and growth. As the Director of People Services, she leads a team of professionals who deliver strategic and operational services across the College.

She is chair of the SW AoC HR Network, Director at Bristol Professional Services, and have a postgraduate degree in HR management. She is also passionate about mental health and her core competencies include leading change and innovation, developing talent and performance, promoting diversity and wellbeing, and building partnerships and collaboration across teams.
 

Ben Wood is a Partner in our Employment Labour and Pensions group who specialises in advising educational establishments on governance and employment matters.  Ben’s practice is focused on further education, sixth form and academy clients.  As a senior member of the education team Ben is regularly involved in providing training for governors and senior managers of educational institutions covering a wide range of topics including governance, equality and diversity, whistleblowing, performance management, industrial relations and restructuring.

Matthew Kelly is a Partner in our market leading education practice and specialises in advising further education colleges on all employment law and governance aspects. Matthew has over 25 years’ experience advising clients in the FE sector and deals with day to day queries facing colleges as well as complex employment tribunal litigation, dealing with sensitive discrimination and whistleblowing claims. In addition, Matthew regularly speaks at conferences and seminars focusing on key issues facing the sector.

Jo qualified as a solicitor in 1995 and advised individuals and organisations on all aspects of employment law. For the last 26 years she has worked as a dedicated practice development lawyer providing technical advice and support to colleagues and clients. She has a particular interest in the education sector, the legal issues around sex and gender, and holiday pay. Jo produces client-focused alerts and newsletters and has been recognised by Lexology as a legal influencer on 10 separate occasions. She regularly provides commentary to the media and has appeared on the BBC.
 

Alex qualified as a solicitor in 2018 and has practised employment law throughout her career. She supports clients and colleagues on a broad range of workplace issues, with a particular focus on the education sector. She helps employers navigate legislative change and emerging legal developments, providing practical advice on complex workforce challenges. Alex regularly delivers training for colleagues, employers and HR professionals and writes extensively on employment law topics. Lexology has recognised her as a Legal Influencer for her contributions to employment law thought leadership. 

Sam Perkins began his FE career as a lecturer before moving into teacher development and quality improvement. His role has since expanded to encompass professional development for all staff, alongside responsibility for recruitment and resourcing. He is now Group Head of Resourcing and People Development at East Kent Colleges Group and a member of the Group Leadership Team. Sam is passionate about developing innovative and inclusive approaches to recruitment, while creating internal development programmes that support staff growth and provide clear progression routes.

Kerry is the Chief People Officer at EKC Group, leading the organisation’s People Strategy and overseeing People Services, People Development, Resourcing and wider organisational development. As a member of the Group Leadership Board, Kerry shapes a culture centred on inclusion, capability and high performance. A CIPD member, Kerry has recently completed the Chartered Institute of FE Colleges programme, strengthening her sector expertise. Under her leadership, EKC Group was named Employer of the Year at the Kent Chamber Business Awards, recognising the Group’s commitment to staff experience, development and organisational excellence.

Neil is an experienced and successful leader and educationalist with a significant breadth and depth of experience over a 35-year career in Further Education. Highly skilled in building effective and beneficial relationships, politically astute and with detailed and current understanding of educational and broader policy drivers, Neil has strong strategic acumen and is a people-centred leader. Under Neil’s leadership, Barnet and Southgate has secured 2 successful Ofsted outcomes, enhanced its reputation as a regional anchor institution, launched an ambitious Strategic Plan, undergone a successful culture change programme, and secured Outstanding financial health.  Outside of his role, Neil is currently part of the Leadership College for Government’s Public Leaders Programme and is a Leadership Coach, Governor of a Local Pupil Referral Unit, and member of the AOC Employment Policy Group, National Joint Forum and Curriculum Strategy Group.

Jan Hutt changed her career in her mid-30s, having had a lead role in a cultural change programme in a large private sector organisation which delivered outstanding results through a strategy focussed on employee engagement. This inspired a move into the People and Organisational Development Profession.  Her experience in developing and implementing impactful organisational and cultural change across a range of organisations, including in the private sector and Higher and Further Education, is embedded in her unshakeable belief that people can make an outstanding difference to organisational success, and in our sector, to the futures of millions of young people and adults, and societal cohesion and ambition.

Evan Williams joined the AoC in 2002 as an Employment Adviser and is currently the Head of Industrial Relations. Evan has been involved in National Pay Negotiations since joining the AoC, with a short break to on the early 2000’s. During this period, he has led and/or advised on all aspects of sector employment, workforce issues, industrial relations and governance. 

Kirsty Watt is Director of Strategy and External Affairs at Acas. Acas is the expert on workplace relations in GB with the statutory duty to promote the improvement of industrial relations and conciliate potential Employment Tribunal cases and collective disputes. Kirsty was previously Deputy Director at the Department for Education, tackling long-standing disadvantages faced by children and young people. Before that Kirsty led programmes on equality, capability, organisational change, crisis and the Covid-19 response at the DfE. She led the Academy Ambassadors Programme, transforming board membership at academy trusts and engaging business in the future of young people's education and life chances.

Suzanne Daley is a Reward Consultant and job evaluation specialist with over 14 years’ experience in reward, pay and job evaluation. She has extensive experience working with job evaluation methodologies, supporting organisations to develop fair, transparent and consistent grading and pay frameworks. In her current role with ECC, she works with organisations to implement HERA and FEDRA, providing consultancy, training and ongoing support to ensure they can embed effective job evaluation processes. She has also led the development of new grading and pay structures and redesigned role analyst training programmes. She is passionate about making job evaluation practical, consistent and accessible.

Andrew Lees joined the HR team at Hugh Baird College in October 2023. He has extensive experience in shaping people strategies and has previously held strategic people leadership roles across complex, multi-site international organisations. Andrew is responsible for leading the College's people strategy, supporting a high-performing and inclusive culture. He is passionate about developing leadership capability and ensuring the workforce is equipped to meet the evolving needs of education and skills.