By Gavin Mackintosh And Bethany Ruby Rose-
The former head of an academy trust who appropriated a double salary for himself from a private company contracted to his schools, has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct. Liam Nolan was executive head teacher, CEO and accounting officer at Perry Beeches The Academy Trust in Birmingham until he resigned in May 2016.
Once referred to as The ‘God Of Education’, his schools had received outstanding praise from former UK prime minister, David Cameron. Today, he is a figure of disdain after a big fall from grace that will cost him sleepless nights.
A Teacher Regulation Agency misconduct panel ruling today that the actions of Liam Nolan, the former chief executive of the Perry Beeches chain, “lacked integrity”, is damning. He was cleared of dishonesty, but the verdict badly tarnishes his image and reputation. The panel will now decide whether or not to prohibit him from teaching.
Nolan was referred to the TRA after an investigation by the Education Funding Agency found Nolan was paid £160,000 over two years on top of his £120,000 headteacher salary by Nexus Schools Limited, a procurement firm which itself was paid around £1.3 million by Perry Beeches. He must have believed he deserved the super extra pay as the god of education. Unlike his former pupils who have had the easier path of learning through a well structured and inspiring curriculum, mr. Nolan will unfortunately have to learn the hard way.
The £160,000 payment was for Nolan’s services as Perry Beeches’ CEO- a role that was subcontracted via Nexus and Liam Nolan Limited, another private company of which Nolan was the sole director. Nolan had denied trying to conceal his arrangement with the company, and claims omissions of details from trust accounts and declaration forms were a mistake.
But Samantha Paxman, the presenting officer for the Teacher and Regulation Agency, told the hearing finances were “part and parcel of education at the highest level”.
“It is critical that schools manage their finances with proper stewardship,” she warned.
Nolan and the rest of the Perry Beeches governing body stepped down the same year following the EFA’s investigation. The trust’s schools have since been handed to new sponsors.
PRAISE
Yesterday, the TRA panel heard that Nolan, a former “superhead” often praised by ministers, even signed off invoices from Nexus himself, despite receiving money from the company. Nolan conceded blame to many of the allegations against him, but denied they amounted to dishonesty or a lack of integrity. However, the panel concluded after several hours of deliberations at the hearing in Coventry this morning, thast his actions amounted to misconduct.
Tthe panel, made up of teachers Fiona Tankard and Ian Carter and chaired by lay member William Brown, ruled that his actions constituted misconduct. They overwhelmingly concluded that Nolan breached academy funding rules with his dual role because he failed to seek that his pay arrangements met his tax obligations and because there were no “exceptional temporary circumstances” that justified payment outside payroll.
It was also proven that Nolan failed to ensure the payments were disclosed in his trust’s 2013-14 financial statements. This clearly breached academy funding and Charity Commission rules. Nolan further broke the rules by failing to disclose the conflict of interest that existed around his dual role in an annual declaration of business interests, and by failing to ensure the trust had a written contract with Nexus.
Nolan also failed to ensure the trust had a competitive tendering policy before contracting services to Nexus . The panel concluded that Nolan’s actions were “lacking in integrity” because he signed the 2013-14 accounts and annual declaration despite the omissions. However, they ruled that he did not act “dishonestly”.
Samantha Paxman, a lawyer representing the TRA, asked Mr Nolan about accounts for the year 2013-14. She said there was no reference to his role of chief executive officer.
She asked: “Is this because this was an arrangement you were trying to conceal?”Mr Nolan said: “Absolutely not,” adding the arrangement was “absolutely transparent”. She further asked him why he did not declare his links with Nexus on a declaration of interests form.
He admitted this was an error saying “nobody had told him that this was the form where it was to be declared”. Very surprising was his suggestion not to know about the need to declare his links with Nexus, especially as we are dealing with a head teacher here.
Defending Mr Nolan, lawyer Andrew Faux told the panel he was once regarded as “the God of education”.
“He was a fantastic inspirational head teacher, but an absolutely rubbish finance officer,” Mr Faux said.
Andrew Faux, representing Nolan, said the former head was “pleased that the panel accepted that his actions were not dishonest”.
“The total of Mr Nolan’s pay and benefits package was not outside payment levels within the sector. The payment of part of that package via a ltd company has been subject to a tax enquiry and, as noted by the panel today, there is no suggestion that his personal tax affairs were not managed correctly.
“There was a mistake in the 2013-14 accounts in relation to the disclosure of payments to Liam Nolan Ltd. Those payment had been declared in 2012-13 and were declared in 2014-15.
“Mr Nolan’s working arrangement was created by the Trust’s directors however he did not formally declare his business interests on a form in December 2014.
“The panel’s findings today, in the main, relate to those two mistakes.”
Faux added that at the time of the mistakes, Nolan had “no developed understanding of the role of accounting officer”.
“He is an educationalist and not an accountant.
“Mr Nolan deeply regrets that his failure to understand and adhere to the high standards expected of an accounting officer led to the collapse of the educational project that he was involved in.
“He accepts the panel’s finding that his actions as an Accounting Officer demonstrate a lack of integrity. He believes that by his actions he has let down his colleagues, the profession generally and, more importantly, the children of Birmingham.”
Mr. Nolan has not only let himself down here, but the thousands of pupils who had looked up to his leadership qualities and brilliant direction in the way of their academic development. A man of his stature should have known better, he wouldn’t have been found guilty if his excuse was acceptable.