Cardiff Academy Limited

Cardiff Academy Limited, a private secondary school located in Cardiff, Wales, entered administration on 12 August 2022. Gerald Irwin of Irwin & Company was appointed Administrator.

Sajid Ghaffar took over Cardiff Academy in June 2018, at a time when the college had no students. Sajid Hussain was employed as the Head of Operations.

Following the takeover, Cardiff Academy offered scholarships, which enabled it to recruit students locally. By September 2018, it had recruited circa 28 students. In April 2019, the college received a UKVI Tier 4 license and NCUK accreditation.

During the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years, amongst other things, Cardiff Academy received Top A Level results in the UK, recruited international students, created its own foundation programme and received CTH accreditation. Turnover for the 2020-2021 academic year was over £1 million.

In January 2021, Mr Hussain went to Pakistan for family matters and was not involved in the day to day running of the college from January 2021 until April 2021. During this period, a large number of students joined Cardiff Academy from Pakistan. Unfortunately, some protocols were not followed, which resulted in the UKVI tier 4 license being revoked in March 2022.

Despite Covid, Cardiff Academy had its highest turnover and appeared profitable. However, the majority of the international students from Pakistan did not pay their fees in full, which resulted in circa £200,000 being outstanding which had to be written off. Cardiff Academy also lost an agent who recruited over 25 students the previous year, resulting in fewer students being recruited and approximatively £350,000 lost in revenue.

In January 2022, Mr Ghaffar confirmed he was unwilling to invest any further funds as he wished to redevelop Harlech Court, where the college operated. Mr Hussain invested circa £50,000 to allow the college to survive until the end of the June 2022 academic year. However, the absence of premises resulted in the cessation of trade, all staff being made redundant and ultimately the administration process.

Putting the company into administration was not straight forward, however, because educational establishments are one of a number of categories of businesses that require third party authorisation to do so. The primary legislation says that the Education Department in England and Wales must either be given notice of the Directors’ intention to appoint an Administrator or agree to it, so that that they may appoint their own Special Administrator to protect the students’ interests should they wish.

However, because of the college’s location in Wales, this responsibility is delegated to the Welsh Government, and it took some time to establish and locate the appropriate official. When done, it was discovered that the person was ‘self-isolating’ due to Covid. Eventually, however, it was agreed that the college’s directors could appoint an administrator in the usual way.

Administration was chosen as an alternative to liquidation in view of the Bailiff for Local Authorities’ involvement and potentially to facilitate a possible sale as a going concern.

Solicitors from Lewis Onions have assisted the Administrator.

The Administrator’s Proposals can be found HERE.