Financial troubles at two Kent colleges are making it harder for other institutes to borrow money.

This is according to Martin Doel, who served as the interim chair of the West Kent and Ashford Colleges (WKAC) following the suspension of the parent group's chief executive and his deputy.

Hadlow Group suspended the pair, Paul Hannan and Mark Lumsdon-Taylor, in February amid an investigation of the Hadlow Group's funding.

The Department for Education had to instigate an unprecedented insolvency regime as the WKAC was placed into education administration.

Now Mr Doel - the Further Education Trust for Leadership professor of leadership - has said that the incident has led to a rise in banks' uncertainty across the industry.

Speaking at the Association of Colleges’ annual conference in Birmingham, he said: "The obvious disadvantage of education administration is the increased borrowing costs across the sector.

"The banks are at a greater jeopardy than they would ever have been before in terms of lending to the sector, that’s the downside.

"On the other hand, the reverse of that is there is less irresponsible lending going into the sector.”

Having also spoken about his experiences as interim WKAC chair from March to September, Mr Doel also offered suggestions for better scrutiny in the industry's future.

He posited that the financial director or CFO should get three weeks leave in summer to allow whistleblowers to come forward in their absence, and that audits should be completed during this period to ensure impartiality.

Also, he stated that principals should leave board meetings 15 minutes early to enable governors a chance to air their concerns.

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