"Our members and all the learners they serve are committed to educational, occupational and social advancement. In everything I do, I want to ensure that Skills and Education Group is best positioned to support them."
Aneka Cann
Head of Brands
Around here, Aneka is the glue that holds things together, day in and day out. An expert in all things branding, she manages the brands of our four nationally recognised organisations: Skills and Education Group, Skills and Education Group Awards, Skills and Education Group Access, and BIIAB. Despite an endless to-do list, she always makes sure that we’re on track through her thorough, precise planning and execution. If it’s on the list, Aneka gets it done.
Aneka’s many responsibilities include:
- Project management
- Creative leadership
- Events coordination
- Team leadership
- Content strategy and development
Drawing on her background in marketing, communications and graphic design, Aneka is a valued team member who turns creative ideas into a well-organised process that communicates our brand and services. In turn, her work contributes to the advancement of further education and skills, along with the opportunities that they afford so many individuals and communities.
“You must do the right thing for the right reason—which is not necessarily financial gain.”
Cathryn Atkinson
Head of Funding Policy Strategy
Cathryn provides leadership team with core strategy around the educational environment, landscape, and government focus on further education initiatives.
With a strong work ethic and values and a natural passion for making a difference, Cathryn always strives to make a real difference by supporting individuals in changing their lives through the funding, products and services Skills and Education Group offers.
Quite simply, she’s the real McCoy.
Some of Cathryn’s responsibilities are:
- Monitoring, reviewing, analysing and providing a strategic overview of the current internal and external educational environment and landscape, and the government’s focus on the latest initiatives. This includes highlighting threats, opportunities, recommendations and constructive challenges, which inform and influence our Executive Leadership team in relation to strategic direction for Skills and Education Group
- Working with key Executive Leadership team colleagues to identify, develop and implement reports that aid growth and provide key intelligence relating to products and services
- Working across Skills and Education Group to develop and coordinate responses to consultations from those including regulators
- Developing policy briefings on key announcements from the government and working with our communications team to ensure that these are effectively communicated to Centres and members in a timely manner.
For Cathryn, doing the right thing for the right reason is paramount, and Skills and Education Group does just that as she and her passionate and supportive colleagues strive to achieve social inclusion for all.
“I love being part of the bigger social mobility picture and impacting the lives of learners, educators, staff, customers and members. It’s at once motivating and quite humbling.”
Helen Gibson
Head of Product Development
Helen’s in-depth experience in the early years and primary sectors, teaching, and further education drives effective curriculum development and delivery that inspires students to realise their potential. She’s such an education strategist, builder and leader, you might say her work is “extra” curricular!
Helen’s responsibilities include:
- Managing the Skills and Education Group Awards and BIIAB portfolios of qualifications
- Monitoring the educational landscape to ensure that our portfolios of qualifications remain up to date and fit for purpose
- Working with stakeholders and subject matter specialists to effectively develop our qualifications and maximise their market potential
Backed by more than 30 years of experience, Helen leads her team in influencing and improving qualification development in order to advance learning and positively impact communities. Her attention to detail and passion for delivering products of the highest quality is making a substantial difference to the educational experiences of a wide range of learners and educators alike.
“I’m particularly proud to be part of an organisation which does such important work through its Foundation, and to work with a great bunch of colleagues who really care about doing the right thing. It’s a must!”
Jennie Lawson
Director of Access to HE
When it comes to expanding opportunities for individuals and communities, Jennie is guided by one fundamental law: everyone deserves the chance to grow and to realise their aspirations. Passionate about the transformative and enabling powers of the Access to HE Diploma, she brings 25 years of experience in adult learning and skills and 15 years of managing Access to HE to her role, which includes:
- Leading the Access team in achieving continuous improvement of strategy, policy and practice
- Delivering effective risk management and monitoring of all recognised Access Centres
- Maintaining standards and processes and the security of the award of credit across all Access provision
- Ensuring Skills and Education Group meets all QAA regulatory and service agreement requirements
Committed to the advancement of others, Jennie works collaboratively with the Access team to ensure the highest standards of quality and regulatory compliance, and the very best in Centre support and learner experience.
“Our organisation has a passion for supporting and developing staff and learners so that they can achieve their full potential, and this is emphasised in what we do and how we operate.”
Karen Plowman
Head of Professional Development
Karen supports and encourages others to work to the best of their ability, as she and her team develop and grow ideas to support the further education and skills sector.
You’ve likely heard the expression, “Keen as mustard”. Well, it should be upgraded to “Keen as Karen.” In heading our Professional Development team, Karen brings great enthusiasm and energy to supporting and encouraging others so that they can work to the best of their ability as, together, they develop and grow ideas to support the further education and skills sector.
In her role, Karen is responsible for:
- Planning and preparing a programme of professional development activity for the further education and skills sector
- Supporting the needs of providers by offering bespoke training and development that meets their needs
- Developing aspiring staff in the sector so they become efficient and effective educators and leaders
- Encouraging and developing the use of digital technologies to enhance the learning experience
- Supporting the growth of Skills and Education Group membership
Proud to be part of a team that works together to achieve, Karen is energised by working with like-minded professionals who all want to do well for the further education and skills sector, ultimately making a difference in learners’ careers and lives.
“We all like to be a part of something bigger. Both Skills and Education Group and the wider sector provide our Centres and their learners the opportunity to develop. What we all do is a small part of supporting the success of others.”
Karl Stringer
Director of Quality and Compliance
Karl identifies problems and puts plans in place to remedy the root causes, as it applies to awarding processes and compliance with regulatory requirements.
When it comes to our team, Karl’s definitely a first stringer! Working with rules and structures and applying his all-round insight into our awarding processes, Karl identifies problems and puts plans in place to remedy the root causes. His role brings him into contact with almost everybody across Skills and Education Group, as well as many of our customers.
Karl’s responsibilities include:
- Ensuring BIIAB, Skills and Education Group Awards, and Skills and Education Group Access’ compliance with the requirements set by our regulators
- Acting as the point of contact for all regulators for BIIAB, Skills and Education Group Awards, and Skills and Education Group Access
- Ensuring self-assessment is undertaken regularly against all regulatory criteria so that we remain compliant with regulatory requirements
- Working with the Compliance and Regulation team and the head of Quality Assurance to support our Centres in meeting our requirements
Taking genuine pleasure in working with a team that wants to “do the right thing”, Karl values the way that Skills and Education Group looks out for, consults and generally considers its staff, leading to a positive work environment.
“Education and skills can be a life changer, regardless of a person’s stage of life. I can support career changes, widen skill sets, grow confidence, and impact families and communities for the better. It’s the best!”
Kaye Jackson
Director of External Affairs
Kaye is committed to growing customer relationships and supporting our customers as they work to improve the life chances in the communities they serve.
If a jigsaw puzzle is missing a piece, you want Kaye on the case. She loves the trust that comes from growing customer relationships, and listening and really getting to the bottom of what people are trying to achieve. For her, no two days are ever the same, and there is certainly no time to get bored as she works to solve the puzzle that is the further education and skills sector.
Kaye is responsible for:
- Leading the work of our knowledgeable and solution-focused Relationship Management team, ensuring clear points of contact for all customers across Skills and Education Group
- Establishing relationships with key stakeholders and maintaining up-to-date knowledge of the skills landscape on a regional and national level
- Identifying new business opportunities across Skills and Education Group and effectively managing pipelines
- Providing excellent customer service, and serving as a source of information and a critical friend when needed
- Working with the Brand Manager and wider communications team to ensure products and services are effectively marketed and communicated
Knowing that Skills and Education Group has a true desire to improve the life chances of communities, Kaye and her team work hard to make sure they support our customers in making this a reality. She finds no better feeling than when customers share the same passion as her, and their faces light up when they realise she has just found the solution they hadn’t thought of.
"I want to do everything in my power to eliminate any barriers that stand in the way of learning for anyone. I also believe that every day is a school day, and it doesn’t matter how old you are, you always have room for growth."
Kerry Ore
Head of End-Point Assessment
You can’t say “Kerry” without saying “care”. With the goal of making sure that every apprentice has an equal chance to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and behaviours they have acquired throughout their apprenticeship, Kerry is passionate about ensuring that apprentices have every opportunity to succeed, during their end-point assessment and beyond.
Kerry’s responsibilities include:
- Serving as the operational lead, implementing and managing the end-point assessment process across Skills and Education Group
- Leading the development of end-point assessment processes, policies and procedures, along with annual reviews and updates
- Ensuring our end-point assessment product offer is fit for purpose, relevant to the market, and in alignment with our wider strategic aims and priorities
- Managing all of our independent end-point assessors and internal quality assurers
Kerry centres our end-point assessment on supporting apprentices. Working collaboratively with diverse colleagues who offer a wide range of educational expertise, she sees each day as an opportunity for us all to learn and to better serve our customers and learners.
Individual growth and opportunity is at the heart of everything we do. I’m proud to make a positive contribution to everyone connected with Skills and Education Group, be it staff, learners or Centres.
Kirsty Riley
Head of Customer Support
With her passion for people, organised thinking and careful planning, you might say Kirsty riles up everyone she works with — in the best of ways. Her excitement for building trust and delivering on promises permeates her work, as she establishes strong working relationships with staff and customers alike, bringing out the best in everyone.
Kirsty’s role includes:
- Leading the Customer Support team, prioritising work streams and allocating resources to meet customer needs
- Identifying and implementing approaches that improve customer experience and ensure customer satisfaction
- Managing risk and evaluating operational systems, and continuously making improvements
- Ensuring regulatory compliance, and developing and implementing procedures to maintain it.
With more than 30 years of experience working as a people manager, Kirsty thrives on recognising the potential in others and helping them to grow and succeed. She brings the same enthusiasm to acquiring additional knowledge and new skills for herself — making every day a learning day for us all!
Skills and Education Group has a fantastic culture and ethos, which extends to finances. By helping to control and secure our year-end surpluses, I can ensure that more learners will benefit from our Foundation work.
Liz Humphrey-Talmey
Head of Finance
With more than 30 years of expertise in sectors that include practice, construction, manufacturing, education and philanthropy, Liz is a fully qualified financial whizz. Through process analysis and problem-solving that demystifies accounting, she works closely with staff at all levels in the Group, providing them quality financial information and setting them up for success in their roles.
Liz’s responsibilities include:
- Managing the entire finance function
- Producing all financial and management accounting information for the Group
- Strategic reporting
- Cash maximisation and control
- Ensuring compliance with all financial regulations
- Working with external stakeholders
At Skills and Education Group, Liz values the opportunity to be herself and have her opinions heard—both professionally and personally. She’s committed to social mobility for all, and recognises that the financial health of our organisation is intrinsically tied to the well-being of our staff, our customers and, ultimately, the many individuals and communities they serve.
“Our dynamic membership body is focused on supporting the development of the workforce, and our eclectic and far-reaching range of services enables us to fulfil this objective. Through our recently launched foundation, our team continues to make a positive impact on social mobility and social inclusion issues, and shines a spotlight on the work of our members and the wider sector.”
Paul Eeles
Chief Executive
Paul has over 30 years’ experience in the post-16 skills sector, including seven years as a lecturer and 13 years managing work-based learning with colleges and independent providers. For the past nearly two decades, he has been on the senior teams of all of the key membership bodies across the further education and skills sector, representing apprenticeship providers and colleges. More recently, along with being the CEO of Skills and Education Group, he has been on the board of and chaired the body representing awarding organisations across the UK.
But he’s no stick-in-the-mud.
Continuously expanding his thinking and building his skills, Paul is responsible for:
- Leading the strategy of the Skills and Education Group and our subsidiaries, and seeking opportunities for the group and subsidiaries to grow and add value
- Ensuring that our whole team is developed and focused on delivering great results for our members and customers
- Working with key partners, stakeholders and influencers to advance our work and our objective to make a real difference in people’s lives
- Linking everything we do back to our charitable objective
Leading by example, Paul understands the need for action, working closely with our team to take on a range of challenges in order to effect change for each and every one of our stakeholders.
“Above all, I value the culture at Skills and Education Group: in everything we do, we’re one team, one family. We support one another to get the job done to the highest possible standard, and we all work our hardest to ensure our customers have the best possible service.”
Scott Forbes
Chief Operating Officer (Development and Delivery)
In his role, Scott wears a lot of hats … and shirts, ties, trousers and shoes, because he serves our organisation and stakeholders in so many ways. Committed to championing social mobility, he drives the work of our Foundation to financially support learners, education providers and their staff. Likewise, he ensures that our products and services across the Group are on track to best meet the needs of the organisations with which we work. And that’s just for starters.
Some of Scott’s responsibilities include:
- Working with the Executive Leadership team on strategy, policy and finance to ensure that effective management and performance systems are followed
- Managing our awarding services and ensuring quality assurance across Skills and Education Group
- Overseeing our international strategy
- Supporting strong, effective communications and engagement with our customers, membership and stakeholders
- Driving our external affairs activity with key stakeholders including the government
- Facilitating our customer journey to always meet each customer’s unique needs
- Overseeing the strategy behind our professional development and learning programmes.
It sounds like a lot to take on, and it is. But Scott benefits from the same advantages that our customers and members do: the full support of a qualified, passionate team.
“People work best when supported and treated with dignity and respect, and achieving success is a team game. I’m so proud that our organisation takes this approach as we champion better lives for all.”
Sue Hartley
Head of HR
Sue Hartley is at the, ahem, heart of Skills and Education Group’s human resources and operations department. Compassionate, empathetic and supportive, she is motivated by seeing how people thrive when they are supported and respected, and believes people should be at the centre of sound decision-making.
In her role, Sue is responsible for:
- Providing a professional HR service to employees and management
- Managing the recruitment process
- Ensuring that up-to-date HR policies and practices are in place
- Contributing to staff training and development plans
- Managing health and safety, IT and facilities
With an eye for the big picture, Sue brings clarity and practical solutions, whilst maintaining a calm, rational perspective when the going gets tough. Her work plays a key role in our organisation’s ability to support a diverse range of people to continuously develop their skills, abilities, and contribution to the workforce, their families, and their communities.
Why use Skills and Education Group Access?
Skills and Education Group Access is an Access Validating Agency (AVA),
licensed by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), to validate and quality
assure Access to HE Diplomas.
Partnering with Access to HE Providers, we help to create:
Opportunity:
Our Diplomas contribute to student success—in the classroom, the job market and the community.
Growth:
Students work with life-changing teachers and curricula, gaining the confidence and experience to realise their academic goals.
Change:
By supporting adult students in their education journey, we’re ensuring that they have the tools to transition into new and fulfilling careers.
Working Together
For us, collaborative efforts build lasting success.
Meet our family
Skills and Education Group provides high-quality services centred on collaboration, responsiveness, and diversity. They form lasting strategic partnerships with their membership and create opportunities in the wider education and skills sector to support the development of the workforce. Through their awarding organisations they support all students in achieving their full potential, no matter what their age background or ability.
Providing high-quality support and services to the educational sector, Skills and Education Group Awards offers qualifications and assessments regulated by CCEA, Ofqual and Qualifications Wales, along with a range of non-regulated provisions.
An awarding and End-Point Assessment Organisation of choice for work-based learning providers, employers and further education colleges, BIIAB offers regulated qualifications and assessments to advance skills, education and career opportunities in the hospitality, health and social care sectors, and more.
We know the power of all.
Our partnerships aren’t just with our membership, they’re with each other. Because we know that inclusion and collaboration are key to creating opportunities for everyone.
Meet our team!
Leadership Team
Aneka Cann
Head of Brands
Cathryn Atkinson
Head of Funding Policy Strategy
Helen Gibson
Head of Product Development
Jennie Lawson
Director of Access to HE
Karen Plowman
Head of Professional Development
Karl Stringer
Director of Quality and Compliance
Kaye Jackson
Director of External Affairs
Kerry Ore
Head of End-Point Assessment
Kirsty Riley
Head of Customer Support
Liz Humphrey-Talmey
Head of Finance
Paul Eeles
Chief Executive
Scott Forbes
Chief Operating Officer (Development and Delivery)
Sue Hartley
Head of HR
Board of Trustees
Atholl Stott
Trustee
Debra Gray
Trustee
Gill Clipson
Trustee
Phil Bloor
Trustee
Randeep Sami
Trustee
Yultan Mellor
Chair
Atholl Stott
Trustee
Debra Gray
Trustee
Gill Clipson
Trustee
Phil Bloor
Trustee
Randeep Sami
Trustee
Yultan Mellor
Chair