Buckingham yet to file accounts for last two years

The private University of Buckingham is yet to file its accounts for the years ending in 2019 and 2020, despite a requirement for all institutions to file accounts annually to the English regulator.

The last financial statements filed by Buckingham, nurtured from its earliest days by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, were for the year ending 31 December 2018.

Sir Anthony Seldon, the former public school headteacher and historian known for his biographies of prime ministers, left his post as Buckingham vice-chancellor on 1 October 2020 at the end of a five-year term.

His May 2020 resignation letter was reported to have cited the impact of Brexit, which has cut the numbers of European Union students coming to the UK, and Covid, which hit wider international recruitment.

“Like most v-cs I’ve found the job leading in this hostile environment challenging and isolating and increasingly so,” Sir Anthony was reported to have said. “Numbers and finance have been a 24/7 anxiety.”

On the delay in filing financial statements, a Buckingham spokesman said: “The university's audited accounts for 2019 will be published on our website in the next few weeks and audited accounts for 2020 will be published soon after that.

“There have been issues historically with processing the accounts which led to delays but these have now been resolved.”

Buckingham is registered with the Office for Students, the English regulator, as an “approved” rather than “approved (fee cap)” provider, meaning its students are subject to a lower cap on the tuition fee loans they can access from the Student Loans Company.

An OfS spokesman said: “Speaking generally, rather than about any specific provider, the requirement to comply with the OfS’ accounts direction is set out in Condition E3 of our regulatory framework.

“Under Condition F3 all providers are required to submit to the OfS their audited financial statements. This applies whether a provider is in the approved or approved (fee cap) category of the register.

“Where we judge that a provider may have breached one or more conditions of registration we may make interventions or apply sanctions.”

The OfS deadline for institutions to submit their financial statements is five months after year end, although it granted two-month extensions during the pandemic.

Times Higher Education asked Buckingham if the OfS had notified it of any potential intervention or action. The university did not address that point.

The OfS’ spokesman said that it would not comment on an individual provider.

Another major development for Buckingham in the period in question was the takeover of the former Manchester Metropolitan University campus in Crewe. In December 2018, it was announced that Buckingham, in partnership with an Indian healthcare provider, had bought the site and would redevelop it as a health science campus offering biomedical and podiatry degrees.

At the time of Sir Anthony’s announcement of his exit, it was also reported that the Charity Commission was investigating “governance and financial issues” at Buckingham.

Buckingham’s spokesman said: “The Charity Commission has concluded its findings. It has said the case is closed.”

James Tooley, former professor of education policy at Newcastle University, has succeeded Sir Anthony as vice-chancellor.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com