The government has clawed back a six-figure sum from a Liverpool college after an investigation into apprenticeship claims found “refutable” electronic signatures and unreliable evidence.
An Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) investigation found that between 2020 and 2022, City of Liverpool College breached several funding rules by submitting evidence that was either invalid or inaccurate.
According to the report published today, the college failed to keep reliable evidence, submitted inaccurate data and incomplete off-the-job hours evidence.
The college has repaid £177,885 and “is implementing changes to its procedures”.
It is the first investigation report about financial fraud, irregularity or error at a further education college published by the government since 2019.
The short ‘outcome report’ includes general descriptions of financial issues, such as a “failure to keep effective and reliable evidence”.
This included electronic signatures not being “supported by evidence to show they were non-refutable” and recommended new processes to ensure signatures are “secure and cannot be replaced easily”.
City of Liverpool College “inaccurately” claimed additional training costs and failed to keep “effective and reliable evidence” of claims, the report said.
Other issues included “incomplete” off-the-job, “too infrequent” reviews with apprentices, and individualised learner records (ILR) that investigators found did not reflect “what is happening”.
A spokesperson for the college said the report’s outcome “reflects the complex regulatory landscape” for apprenticeships.
They added that staff “swiftly adapted to remote working” during the time the issues occurred.
The spokesperson continued: “We acknowledge that the audit identified discrepancies and resulted in a recovery of 0.2% of our funding for the review period.
“We agree with the audit findings which pertained to our provision in 2020/21 and 21/22, and we have since addressed and resolved all identified concerns.
“The funding was recovered in the 2023/24 academic year and has no impact upon current college finances.”
The investigation report also includes “prevention” recommendations related to each issue it found, such as conducting monthly audits of evidence to “highlight any gaps” and undertaking “frequent reviews” with apprentices.
Audits should be conducted by a “internal audit/quality assurance function” who can identify issues, including that apprentices are “on track” to reach their off-the-job requirement.
Providers should also carry out monthly “detailed analysis” of their ILR, provider data self-assessment toolkit, and financial risk management reports to help “identify and correct” any issues, the report suggested.
Regular data checks “will ensure” that additional payments are “claimed accurately”, it added.
The investigation, carried out by the ESFA before it merged with the Department for Education in March this year, concluded in June 2024.
Unlike detailed, multi-page ESFA reports published before a change of policy in 2023, the ‘outcome’ report does not set out a chain of events and only three bullet points summarising the concerns and outcomes.
Further education funding expert Steve Hewitt said details of the investigation findings were “useful”, but said he would benefit from “more detail” about how the college’s processes failed with its electronic signatures.
He added: “The department, and the agency before it, has never given us a meaningful definition of ‘non-refutable’ and publishing something like this with no further detail is likely to scare providers into sticking with, or even returning to, paper-based forms.
“Having said that, I’ve always been somewhat sceptical that, just because it’s on paper, means it’s any less open to fraud or forgery.”
The DfE was contacted for comment.
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