Peter Lauener, the former chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, will be donating his £25,000 annual salary associated with a new role at Newcastle College Group (NCG) to the college’s student hardship fund.

It was announced earlier this week that Mr Lauener (pictured, left) would take up the post of chair at NCG on 1 March. While that role does not come with a salary, the college said Mr Lauener would also become chair of Intraining, a training provider owned by NCG - a post that is remunerated. 

The disclosure that he plans to give that salary away to support students was made in correspondence released by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) this week.

In a letter to the Department for Education regarding his application to take up the role at NCG, it stated: “Mr Lauener has noted in his application that the role is remunerated at £25,000 per annum (by agreement with the Charity Commission) but he has arranged for this to be allocated to the student hardship fund of the college.”

Mr Lauener, currently the interim chief executive at the Student Loans Company, spent 42 years in the civil service prior to retiring last November. In recent years, he had served as chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), as well as its predecessor organisations, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). He was also interim chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships.

The ACOBA letter stated that Jonathan Slater, permanent secretary at the DfE, had described the retired civil servant as someone “well known in the sector” who is “passionate about making a difference to NCG and local delivery.”

‘Act of kindness’

Responding to the news of Mr Lauener’s generosity, Katherine Francis, Newcastle College Student Union president and student governor at NCG, told Tes: “I would like to express my great appreciation of Mr Lauener’s kindness in donating £25,000 to the student hardship fund.

She added: “I look forward to meeting Mr Lauener in the very near future to thank him in person and to show the appreciation from students for his act of kindness.”

In a statement, NCG said: “The post of chair of NCG is not remunerated. Peter will also take up the post of chair of Intraining, NCG’s national independent training provider and a wholly owned subsidiary. The Intraining post carries a remuneration of £25k per year. Peter has asked for this to be paid directly to a student hardship fund.”

Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? Follow Tes FE News on Twitter, like us on Facebook and follow us on LinkedIn