City & Guilds bosses awarded themselves millions in bonuses, investigation finds

The two most senior executives at City & Guilds awarded themselves millions of pounds of bonuses “without authorisation from, or knowledge of” their superiors, an internal investigation into last year’s £166m sale of the vocational charity has found. The report into the conduct of Kirstie Donnelly, the former chief executive of City & Guilds, and the body’s finance chief, Abid Ismail, sets out how the pair “directly authorised and paid bonuses to themselves” of nearly £3m combined. It found a further £2m was paid to other senior executives and 60 more junior colleagues in a scheme run from the newly privatised company that was exposed by the Guardian in December . A statement issued on Monday by PeopleCert, the private company that acquired the City & Guilds vocational awards business in October, said the bonuses and salary hikes “were in direct breach of [Donnelly’s and Ismail’s] duties and responsibilities as office holders and caused significant harm to the organisation’s reputation”. The payments occurred without the knowledge of PeopleCert or the former charity owner, it said. “In the case of Kirstie Donnelly and Abid Ismail, we intend to take all action available to ensure the recovery of these amounts (£1.7m and £1.2m respectively) and will make appropriate referrals to the relevant authorities,” the statement added. …