Sheffield College sets aside £5m in case officials demand funding back over exam fraud probe
The mayoral office could demand its money back
The Sheffield College may be forced to pay back £5m in funding over an investigation into alleged exam fraud.
An investigation is currently underway into the school’s 2023/24 achievement rates in teaching English to non-native speakers, known as ESOL.
A statement in August 2025 revealed a number of staff had been suspended over “maladministration,” and that the school was holding an internal review.
However, this also led to a probe by the South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority, which funds the college’s ESOL courses through the adult skills fund, reportedly to the tune of £11.6m a year.
This same adult skills funding is also facing a full external audit, which is expected to conclude at the end of the 2026/27 financial year.
As a result, filings show the college has set aside £5m in case the mayoral authority demand their money back at the end of this audit, according to a report by FE Week.
A spokesperson for the college said: “Money has been put aside as a contingency measure should the college be required to repay any adult skills funding on conclusion of an ongoing external audit.
“As the audit is ongoing, it would be premature to conclude whether any funding will need to be repaid and we will not be making any further comment at this stage.”
When the story broke in 2025, the college was reportedly the largest ESOL provider outside of London, and records over 7,500 leavers for the course each year, as well as some-of-if-not-the-highest ESOL achievement rates in the country between 2022 to 2024.
Achievement rates have reportedly plummeted since then. In February, the college said it would see a “significant fall” in its performance results as a result of “enhanced quality assurance processes for one curriculum area.”
This essentially meant school’s overall exam scores had been harmed by checks and balances brought in for the exceptionally large ESOL course following the fraud probe.