The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into City & Guilds\u2019 sale of its qualification awards business to a private company last year.<\/p>\n
The announcement has been made after the Guardian revealed last month how City & Guilds bosses were handed million-pound bonuses<\/a> after the charity privatised its business arm.<\/p>\n The payments \u2013 which are understood to include a \u00a31.7m award for the chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and \u00a31.2m to the finance director, Abid Ismail \u2013 emerged after reports of how the privatised City & Guilds business has also embarked on a \u00a322m cost-cutting drive and is shrinking its UK workforce<\/a> after being sold by its charity owner to PeopleCert, an international certification company.<\/p>\n The presentation detailing the cost-cutting programme appears to have been removed from the PeopleCert website after the Guardian published the plans.<\/p>\n Alongside the bonuses, Donnelly is also understood to have been granted a \u00a3100,000 increase to her salary, which now stands at about \u00a3430,000. Ismail\u2019s salary is also believed to have been increased by 30%, rising by about \u00a370,000 to \u00a3300,000.<\/p>\n The commission said its inquiry will examine a range of issues including \u201cconcerns raised in public reporting relating to the sale and bonuses awarded to its executives\u201d.<\/p>\n It will also review \u201cinformation provided by the charity to the commission regarding the sale of the awarding, assessment, and training businesses of the charity\u201d, as well as \u201cthe trustees\u2019 decision-making regarding the sale\u201d plus \u201cinformation that they were provided with and considered when making this decision\u201d.<\/p>\n In its statement the commission said it \u201cmay extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge\u201d, adding that it had previously been \u201cmade aware of the proposed sale by the charity, and had sought and received assurances about the trustees\u2019 decision-making, but the sale did not require the commission\u2019s regulatory consent\u201d.<\/p>\n Founded in 1878 by the City of London and a group of 16 livery companies, the original institute developed a national system of technical education, offering qualifications and apprenticeships<\/a> in fields ranging from manufacturing and mechanical engineering to hairdressing and horticulture. It was awarded a royal charter by Queen Victoria in 1900, and the body says it helps about 1.1 million people a year.<\/p>\n It has enjoyed a storied history, and the body\u2019s famous alumni include the chefs Jamie Oliver, Marcus Wareing and Gordon Ramsay<\/a>, as well as the former England football manager Gareth Southgate, the celebrity gardener Alan Titchmarsh and the fashion designer Karen Millen<\/a>.<\/p>\n The institute\u2019s business was owned under the umbrella of a charity, City & Guilds London Institute (CGLI), which announced in the autumn that it was selling its training and awards operation, City & Guilds (C&G), to PeopleCert<\/a>.<\/p>\n