In recent days, a number of inaccurate claims have been made about the sale of City & Guilds. In response, the Trustees of City and Guilds London Institute have issued the following statement and Q&A to address these issues.
On 16 October 2025, City and Guilds of London Institute (CGLI) announced the sale of its commercial awarding organisation and skills training activities to PeopleCert, a global leader in professional and language certification. This sale completed on 31st October 2025.
As custodians of the charity CGLI, Trustees are guided by their duty to ensure the charity has a sustainable future. CGLI was not created as a public sector body, it is an independent charitable organisation. Until the sale, it achieved its charitable goals through a combination of charitable and commercial activities. The commercial activities always had to compete in an open market to be able to stand alone.
Trustees’ first priority has been to ensure that the CGLI has the funds to continue its skills and social impact work at the size and scale needed today and for future generations. After thorough review, Trustees concluded that to achieve this, significant and timely intervention was needed to protect the charity from the instability of political cycles, policy reform and competitive pressures, all of which have an impact on the charity’s income and its ability to continue its charitable objectives.
At the same time, the commercial activities that CGLI had always undertaken in awarding and training required significant investment. With the pace of technology and AI advancement outstripping the charity’s ability to fund at the scale needed to meet learner demand, it was clear that looking ahead, the charity would lose the tech race, both in funding and in delivering high quality programmes to support vocational and technical skills in an increasingly competitive and global market.
In response, the Trustees considered a range of strategic options, including maintaining the status quo, borrowing to fund charitable activity, and sale. They concluded that responsibly divesting the commercial awarding organisation and skills training business was the most effective way to protect the organisation’s long-term health, secure its mission for future generations, and support continued investment in awarding and training. A formal, competitive sales process was therefore undertaken with a number of organisations making bids.
During the 30-month process, the Trustees engaged in regular dialogue with relevant stakeholders including government, The Charity Commission, Privy Council and the appropriate regulators, with appropriate approvals also being granted.
Following the transaction, CGLI continues as a regulated Royal Chartered charity, operating as the City & Guilds Foundation. The divested commercial awarding organisation and skills training business owned by PeopleCert continues as City & Guilds Ltd (CGL).
With a substantially strengthened and sustainable financial base, CGLI can focus fully on its charitable mission, using the proceeds of the sale to generate an income stream which will allow the charity to expand its role as a social investor and change maker in skills and education, building on our historic purpose to drive measurable social impact and long term systems change. CGLI now has the opportunity to set a strategy, independent of CGL, to harness our investment income and the power of the brand to transform access to skills and employment. Trustees will aim to use the operational freedom to develop partnerships that leverage in new funding from partners, whether foundations or impact investors, and build a movement to support our purpose.
This Impact Report sets out the range of ways in which we already do this, which we will build on.
A number of questions have been raised about the transaction, which are addressed below:
Q: What sale price was agreed by City & Guilds?
A: The financial terms of the transaction are commercially confidential. However, it has been widely reported that, as a result of the sale, the City and Guilds London Institute and its charitable foundation will receive a very significant financial benefit. This includes gross assets of approximately £180–200 million being available to the charity, including the proceeds of sale and the provision of office space for a period of five years. These sums will be invested to produce a return which will significantly increase the resources at our disposal to become a more innovative and impactful social investor and change maker.
Q: When were regulators first informed of Trustees’ decision to sell and when was the change of control request granted?
A: At all times, the Trustees were concerned to ensure that the process met all the legal and governance requirements and that stakeholders were consulted and informed. As part of this, Trustees spoke to the relevant regulators at the appropriate stages as we moved towards the conclusion of the process.
Q: What warranties have been provided to regulators to protect UK learners in the event of financial insolvency of City & Guilds Ltd?
A: CGLI agreed the necessary checks and assurances with the regulators before the sale. A rigorous regulatory approval process was undertaken. Any subsequent requirements are a matter for City & Guilds Ltd.
Q: Can you provide the latest version of the Royal Charter, as well as detail the latest changes made by Order in Council (June 2022)?
A: We will make this available on the website. The Charity Commission were kept informed and due consideration was given by them and Trustees to the Charter and upholding its charitable objectives, both of which remain in place.
Q: Were DfE ministers informed of the sale and what details were shared with them and when?
A: Yes. DfE were informed early in the process and kept fully informed along the way.
Q: What due diligence was carried out by the Trustees on PeopleCert?
A: Full commercial due diligence was undertaken supported by independent financial and legal advisors.
Q: What alternative options to this sale were discussed by the Trustees, i.e. to safeguard the future of the charity?
A: The Trustees considered five options to protect the future of the Institution. These ranged from doing nothing, to merger, borrowing funds, and sale. After thorough consideration over a 30-month period, supported by extensive input from highly respected commercial and legal advisers, the final decision was to sell the charity’s awarding and training businesses. This approach secured the long-term future of the charity while also providing the necessary investment and capabilities for the commercial training and awarding business, which required significant capital to remain competitive in a highly regulated market that is increasingly reliant on technology infrastructure to meet learner demand.
The principal objective was to improve our ability to invest in projects which deliver real social impact. An example of some of the excellent work which we are currently doing which we wish to see built on is the Future Skills Commission for Prisons. This work supports charities to deliver training inside prisons and ensures that learning can be put into practice immediately upon release even for those not yet ready to enter work.
Another example is the Displaced People Fund. Through targeted social investment and specialist partnerships, we support refugees and asylum seekers to access high quality training, gain recognised qualifications, and build the skills, confidence, and connections needed to secure meaningful work.
Q: On what legal basis has the trademark name, City & Guilds, been licensed to the new private entity? Which entity, the foundation or the private company, ultimately owns the C&G brand?
A: The brand of City & Guilds for the purpose of awarding and delivery of skills is now owned by CGL so as to protect the brand for future learners. ‘City and Guilds’ can also be used by the City & Guilds Foundation and as CGLI stands for the City and Guilds of London Institute, that cannot be changed. That has not been sold. Appropriate trade mark registration is in place to this regard.
Q: Which independent trustees / advisors made the decision to award the bonuses to the CEO and Finance director, referenced in a recent press report? Were any other bonuses paid to other individuals employed by the charity and/or the new private entity?
A: Trustees were not involved in any pre or post-deal conversations regarding remuneration matters for CGL Executives that would apply after the sale. This is a matter for the new City & Guilds Ltd owners. CGLI will publish its accounts as normal in January 2026 and details of pay and renumeration up to the sale will be reported in the accounts in the usual way. Bonuses for eligible employees reflecting performance in 2025 are payable in line with CGLI’s remuneration policy. No payments outside CGLI’s existing bonus schemes have been paid.
Q: When were the Trustee appointments to the new Foundation openly advertised? Have senior executive roles and board positions to the new City & Guilds Ltd company been openly advertised?
A: There have been no new appointments, save for critical Interim Executive appointments made through a full external process with a reputable external recruitment agency to ensure leadership capability and stability is in place through the transition. For employees transferring to CGL, TUPE was applied as required.
Q: What role did the CEO and FD play in negotiating the sale? And who specifically represented the Trustee board in those sale negotiations?
A: This was a Trustee-led process and decision. External input to the Trustees from highly respected legal, commercial and charitable advisers was also in place.