Report finds LSC guilty of 'very serious' management failure in college buildings fiasco

However, the union said there was little in the report that would offer much comfort to staff at the troubled colleges still unsure if they will have a job in the near future.

The union said the cash-strapped colleges had to be compensated urgently, otherwise jobs would be lost, communities would suffer a lack of educational opportunity and it would be staff and students who inevitably suffered the most from the LSC's failings. Seventy nine further education colleges had building schemes approved by the LSC - and a further 120 were carrying out feasibility studies - when work was halted in December.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'This report, much like the one from the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills (IUSS) Committee, quite rightly identifies and criticises the failings of the LSC. The IUSS committee report recommended compensation for those colleges encouraged to take forward the building plans and who now find themselves cash-strapped and in perilous positions. We urgently need to know what money is available and to ascertain which colleges remain in real financial difficulty.

'The bottom line is that these colleges find themselves out of pocket because of the failings of the government and the LSC. It would be quite tragic, and utterly outrageous, if staff and students were to suffer because of the failings that have created this fiasco.'