Bright Assessing chief executive Krissy Charles-Jones (pictured) has said the firm was “no longer a training provider” after all its previous awarding organisations walked away.

An email allegedly sent by a Bright employee to a learner on June 3, which was posted on a Facebook forum called the Bright Training Problem, said the Warwickshire-based firm had pulled out of the training market and the plan was now to “develop the company into e-learning software”.

It added Bright had arranged for the learner to be transferred to an unidentified “alternative provider”, which would cause “minimum disruption” to training.

After being asked to comment on the email by FE Week, Ms Charles Jones said: “We are no longer a training provider, correct.”

She said: “All learners were asked if they wanted to be transferred before doing so”.

Ms Charles-Jones declined to comment on how many learners had been sent the email and, when asked if refunds would be issued, she said Bright was “in the process of sorting out learners”.

It is thought Bright no longer has a certificating organisation.

Awarding body OCR, which confirmed it had cut ties with Bright last month, announced on June 5 its malpractice committee had completed a “lengthy investigation” into the firm.

A spokesperson said the committee found “there had been a breakdown in Bright’s quality assurance arrangements” for lifelong learning courses run by Bright and certificated by OCR.

Ms Charles Jones was unavailable for comment on the OCR ruling.

It comes after NCFE stopped certificating Bright courses in February following its four-month investigation into alleged malpractice.

The awarding organisation released a statement summarising the findings three weeks ago after Bright’s appeal against the findings of the investigation was rejected by NCFE.

The Bright investigation claimed that 225 former Bright learners had been de-certificated because their portfolios were either sub-standard or could not be found.

Ms Charles Jones claimed NCFE was to blame for qualifications being revoked as it had not carried out sufficient “external moderation” of Bright courses.

A statement released on Bright’s website at the time the findings came out said: “We have issued a complaint to Ofqual about NCFE and hope that as an independent regulator of all awarding organisations they will act and be seen as completely independent, impartial and unbiased.”

An Ofqual spokesperson said: “There are ongoing legal issues between NCFE and Bright. Because of this we are unable to progress any appeal or comment any further at this time.

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13 Comments

  1. Tracy

    I enrolled with Bright in December unaware that they were already being investigated, so why was there no warning of this? Lot of money and time invested in trying to secure a new job. Who protects the people in this position? Who will fund the replacement course? How do we get our money refunded? Should I claim benefits and have all my training funded by the government (cynical I know)Has anyone any advice that can help all learners caught up in this on-line fraud.

  2. Clair Hobson

    I have lost £710 having enrolled on an assessors award programme. I would like to know how we get our money refunded? Particularly as I hadn`t yet started! I have contacted my bank and there could be a possibility of a refund if the company have ceased trading – jest checked companies house and Bright International Training Limited are still trading. Is anyone any the wiser?

  3. Hannah-Joy

    I am in the same boat. They assured me a while back that everything was ok when it clearly wasn’t. They never gave me any option to be transfered…I would have taken it!

  4. Hannah-Joy

    “After being asked to comment on the email by FE Week, Ms Charles Jones said: “We are no longer a training provider, correct.”She said: “All learners were asked if they wanted to be transferred before doing so”.”
    I don’t think so love…no one asked me if I wanted to be transferred…Who is there left to help us get refunded…or transfered even? I’d happilly continue my course elsewhere but I’m not paying AGAIN. They took our money and didn’t give us what they agreed to. WRONG and so many lies.
    As for this:
    “Dear Hannah-Joy

    I am writing to you to hopefully put all rumours to bed. Bright are not in administration and the latest article produced in FEWeek was completely untrue and inaccurate, hence why the newspaper received no comment from us.

    I would like to reassure you that our learners are our main priority and focus. ”
    OK then…LIES!

  5. Josiane

    How does FE week contact Krissy Charles Jones??? All learners are left with NO contact, nowhere to turn to, to get a solution… apart from a complaint forum, the police maybe doing some investigation, trading standards agreeing there is a problem but doing what else(?), OCR who can not help un-registered learners (that’s exactly one of the key issue of Bright malpractice)…

  6. BOWHQ

    I can’t believe the gall of these people. I am going to ask the same question. I paid £2000.00 for my course, how do I get my money back! And who exactly was supposed to contact me regarding transferring my course to another provider. I had to work hard and save just as hard to do this course. I’m beyond disgusted.

  7. Petra

    Looks like we are all in the same boat. I am well advanced on a DTTLS course. I don’t want to pay again, I just want to finish my course and claim my award, but what should I do. Some guidance would be appreciated. Surely there are breach of contract issues here.

  8. Not true that all learners have been contacted. I have had no contact about this. Course paid for in January. I’ll be making some calls to the company tomorrow morning!