Justice: Provider overturns published grade 4 Ofsted report after ‘arduous’ battle

A training provider has overturned an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted judgment following an extraordinary decision by the watchdog to publish – and then unpublish – the damaging verdict.

UK Training & Development Limited (UKTD) has now remarkably been rated as ‘good’ following a reinspection just months after the provider was dealt the lowest possible grade.

The inspection saga shines a light on Ofsted’s already under-fire complaints process and sets a precedent for appeals against grade four results, an outcome which usually results in contract termination from the Education and Skills Funding Agency for private training providers.

UKTD’s managing director, Theresa Wisniewski (pictured), told FE Week she was “delighted” with the outcome after a “long and arduous battle”.

“These events have come at cost both financially and personally to me, both of which there is no recompense for, however, the fight for justice is one that had to be made,” she said.

‘Substantive evidence’ forced reinspection

UKTD, based in Hemel Hampstead, was originally inspected in July 2022 and following an unsuccessful appeal, Ofsted published an ‘inadequate’ report in October.

But UKTD continued to appeal the judgment with legal advice from Duncan Lewis Solicitors, arguing that it was a “flawed and inaccurate inspection” and was successful in securing a rare reinspection, which led to Ofsted removing the grade four report from its website in December.

A completely different and smaller inspection team was sent back to UKTD in April and resulted in ‘good’ judgments across the board.

The provider’s main complaint when the grade four report was published was that inspectors had failed to consider the impact of Covid-19 on the hairdressing industry that it delivers apprenticeships to.

Several other providers, mainly in the hospitality, service and care sectors, have issued similar complaints over the past year after receiving ‘inadequate’ Ofsted judgments – and in some cases have tried and failed to overturn the judgments in the High Court.

Wisniewski said she was able to land a reinspection due to “perseverance and substantive evidence that the previous inspection outcome was wrong”, but refused to say exactly what new evidence was submitted.

She added: “The inspection by comparison in April was challenging but fair and as a result we were able to showcase our provision effectively and achieve the right outcome for UKTD.

“Unfortunately, many providers have suffered from an Ofsted culture and regime that in my view has failed to recognise and properly understand the intricacy and pressures in the delivery of work-based apprenticeships in what has been a very difficult few years.

“The education inspection framework has been used in some cases by inspectors to view providers without context, failing to adequately take into account sector issues, the range of employers we work with, and other mitigating circumstance such as a pandemic and economic crisis.

“As a training provider and a business, we also experienced the impact of Covid and survived whilst still providing good quality training, support and outcomes for our learners and employers. This has not been recognised adequately in some inspections and in particular those sectors that have been hit hard, such as hairdressing. Additionally, not every provider delivers the same model, and this can bring different challenges, but this does not mean we are not good at what we do.”

Complaints process to be reviewed

Training providers and colleges have been successful in getting their judgements upgraded prior to inspection reports being published in the past, but it is unheard of for Ofsted to remove a report after publication and decide to carry out a reinspection.

UKTD’s success comes shortly after Ofsted’s senior leaders admitted their complaints policy “is not working” and will be reviewed.

Officials have been told to make the process more human and less bureaucratic, FE Week understands, following backlash from the education sector.

Paul Warner, director of strategy and business development at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said his organisation is “pleased that Ofsted are taking on board criticisms of the appeals process” which will “help to ensure continuing improvements in the inspection process even more through further co-operation with the sector”.

The feedback in UKTD’s ‘good’ report is unrecognisable to the ‘inadequate’ report published just months ago.

The grade four report claimed that leaders had “not rectified many of the weaknesses identified at previous Ofsted inspections”, accused leaders of lacking “ambition” for apprentices who allegedly often struggled to meet the demands of work and study because they “do not regularly receive their entitlement to time away from work”.

It also claimed that apprentices were “frustrated” with the training and assessment provided.

But the grade two report states that leaders “have taken effective action to improve the quality of education”.

Apprentices now have “very positive attitudes to their training”, “quickly gain highly relevant and up-to-date practical hairdressing and barbering skills”, and benefit from tutors who “collaborate closely with employers to link the practical teaching in salons to the theory sessions that tutors teach”.

Wisniewski said the report now “accurately and reflects our provision fairly”, adding that the reinspection was conducted by an Ofsted team that “had the right skills, competencies, and a willingness to fully understand our provision and the issues during and after Covid”.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “We have nothing further to add to the published inspection report.”

This isn’t the first time UKTD has battled ‘inadequate’ Ofsted grades. The provider was given the judgement twice in 2017.

The two inspections were based on safeguarding failings. It is not clear why the Education and Skills Funding Agency did not terminate the provider’s contracts following the previous grade four judgements, as is usual practice for independent training providers.

The agency can, however, decide not to terminate contracts in exceptional circumstances.

UKTD, which was set up in 1998, was also judged ‘inadequate’ in 2006 by the Adult Learning Inspectorate – Ofsted’s predecessor.

The ESFA declined to comment.

Director ban for bogus apprenticeships firm chief

The owner of an east London training provider has been slapped with a seven-year director ban after investigators found fake apprenticeships that earned him almost £1 million.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency investigated London College of Global Education Ltd after an Ofsted new provider monitoring visit found “examples of people on the list of apprentices who were not studying at the provider” in 2021. 

Narayan Sah, the provider’s owner, was paid £994,690 for 471 apprentices in 2020/21. Following Ofsted’s visit, the ESFA alerted Sah that the agency would be investigating his training provider.

Shockingly, following the notification, an “internal verification of learners” conducted by Sah led to 463 of his 471 apprentices being removed for being ineligible for funding, if they existed at all.

DfE figures record 400 starts at London College of Global Education when the company began delivering apprenticeships in 2020. None of the learners enrolled completed an apprenticeship qualification for which funding was obtained, the Insolvency Service said.

Most of those ghost apprenticeships were advanced and higher-level ICT programmes. Ofsted reported all off-the-job training was delivered remotely.

Taking away the eight apparently eligible learners, the ESFA demanded the return of £885,989. By the time the company went into liquidation in July 2021, this was reduced to £429,189.

Sah founded the company, originally known as Sagarmatha Consulting Limited, in 2010, but is now disqualified from company directorship until May 2030.

Liquidators report that investigations with the ESFA are ongoing in their latest update, published on Companies House in September 2022.

“Meetings were carried out with the ESFA to discuss concerns that they have raised in the conduct of the company. The matters identified from these investigations are ongoing however, so as to not prejudice any potential future litigation, the joint liquidators do not intend to disclose the specifics of the investigation to date,” the report said.

Among the company’s £1 million-plus liabilities to creditors, including the ESFA, over £20,000 is owed to HSBC, over £18,000 to Dubai-based ed tech company Seeding Brains Education and Training, and FE Week’s publisher, LSECT, is owed £168.

Logistics assessment body acquired by VTCT

Awarding body VTCT has beefed up its apprenticeship end-point assessment (EPA) operation by taking over Skills for Logistics.

Skills for Logistics, which claims to have a 25 per cent market share in apprenticeship assessments in the logistics sector, became a subsidiary of VTCT last week.

The move adds eight apprenticeship standards to VTCT’s EPA roster, taking its total to 31 and making the charitable trust the joint tenth largest end-point assessment organisation.

VTCT chief executive Alan Woods said the acquisition will help ease the process to gain Ofqual recognition for Skills for Logistics – suggesting that the latter has to date been unsuccessful in getting  EPA recognition from the regulator in its own right.

Skills for Logistics offers assessments for LGV drivers, supply chain warehouse operative and supply chain practitioners. As the UK struggles to deal with widespread and well-documented lorry driver shortages, VTCT’s ability to bring “that size and scale to their operation” as part of the acquisition will be significant, Woods said.

“We now have 31 EPA standards that we are responsible for, so we’ve got size and quality that we’re bringing to the game,” he added.

“But we also need to have that quality and rigour from Skills for Logistics – they have got fantastic employer relationships.”

Woods said the takeover will not lead to any redundancies, adding that VTCT will use some of the “firepower on our balance sheet” to take Skills for Logistics into new areas, which will “enable them to develop some new products and services”.

VTCT’s presence in the logistics sector will be expanded, as it aims to “develop ourselves into an organisation which is working in as large a part of the foundation economy” as is appropriate.

David Coombes, the managing director at Skills for Logistics, and Paul Spink, the company’s development director will continue to lead the business while the same board will still be in place.

VTCT meanwhile will “continually look” for acquisitions which will help them improve their provision within the foundation economy.

Apprentices to take ‘integrated’ EPA and mandatory qual assessment

Apprentices will soon be unable to walk away from their apprenticeship with a qualification before passing their end-point assessment, in a move designed to reduce the large number of drop-outs.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has confirmed that it will proceed with proposals to make passing an apprenticeship contingent on achieving both the end-point assessment and, if the standard has one, a mandated qualification. 

This comes in response to complaints from training providers that, in some sectors, apprentices will leave their programme once they’ve achieved a qualification but before they take the end-point assessment. As well as negatively impacting the provider’s achievement rate, IfATE said these early withdrawals also mean there is no formal record of apprentices’ competence against the knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) required by their apprenticeship standard. 

IfATE estimates around 40 per cent of apprenticeships currently mandate a qualification.

Following a consultation, IfATE yesterday released amended criteria it will apply to new and revised apprenticeships from next month on mandatory qualifications. 

Here’s what you need to know.

The three mandates

As proposed, there are three sets of criteria that determine whether a qualification should be a mandatory part of an apprenticeship. 

Firstly, IfATE will approve a mandatory qualification if they see evidence of a regulatory or legal requirement for it. For example, if a particular qualification is prescribed in regulations for a license to practice. 

Similarly, if a qualification is required by a relevant professional body for professional registration, IfATE will want to see evidence that the named qualification is required, that professional body registration is necessary and that said professional body has been involved in the development of the standard.

Thirdly, if employers can prove that a qualification is widely required by their industry and that employers have helped design it, a qualification can be approved as necessary for the labour market. 

Integrated assessments

A popular proposal to reduce non-completions by integrating the assessment for qualifications with the apprenticeship end-point assessment (EPA) will proceed. This is designed to reduce the number of apprentices that quit their apprenticeship after they’ve achieved a qualification, but before they take the EPA.

The idea is that a subset of KSBs from the standard will be identified for an integrated assessment which counts towards the qualification and the EPA.

Guidance states: “Where it is possible to do so, mandated qualification assessment(s) must be integrated with the apprenticeship end-point assessment.”

It describes how the apprenticeship assessment plan should be designed so that the award of the apprenticeship and the category takes place “within the same period” and that the apprenticeship and qualification can only be awarded if at least one shared assessment has been passed. 

Additional content only if IfATE is too slow 

IfATE will proceed with its proposal to reject requests for mandated qualifications that simply add “structure”, “stretch and challenge” or “depth and breadth” to apprenticeships. This is because mandated qualifications must be taken consistently by all apprentices, so introducing qualifications with extra content could disadvantage apprentices in different employer contexts.

The institute also maintains that any mandated qualifications should not teach content that is in addition to the to the knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the apprenticeship standard.

However there will be a new process which allows for additional content in qualifications “in exceptional circumstances”. IfATE highlights how this could be used for apprenticeships in occupations where technology advances faster than IfATE can update the KSBs in the standard. 

In IfATE’s own words: “Respondents were often critical of IfATE’s agility in reviewing occupational standards.”

Precise mandates

Employer trailblazer groups will have to specify precisely which qualification/s should be mandated in the relevant apprenticeship, rather than a generic high-level description.

For example, rather than simply describing a mandated qualification like ‘level 3 diploma in youth work practice’ as now, the new system will require each mandated qualification’s title, level, awarding body, guided learning hours, Ofqual qualification number and the sector subject area.

A new process will also be introduced so that officials can match technical qualifications approved elsewhere within IfATE to an apprenticeship with a qualification mandate, which will then be reviewed by the employer group.

If the employer group believes a qualification, like a level 3 technical qualification of a higher technical qualification, isn’t suitable for the matched apprenticeships, they’ll have to explain why to IfATE.

Revealed: 42 colleges and schools share £140m capacity cash ahead of demographic spike

More than 40 colleges and sixth forms will share £140 million to build facilities to accommodate a demographic spike in 16 to 19-year-olds.

The funding comes from the Department for Education’s post-16 capacity fund, which allocated £83 million to 39 colleges in 2021/22 and £8.6 million to eight others in 2022/23.

Successful projects in this latest round are “expected” to complete by September 2024.

Skills minister Robert Halfon said the funding will enable colleges and sixth forms to “add additional capacity where there is a pressing need for places for 16 to 19-year-olds in their local area, given local demographic pressures”.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association estimates there will be 260,000 additional 16- to 19-year-olds that will participate in education in the coming years.

Four of the 42 winning bids in the 2023/24 list – Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, Cirencester College, Itchen Sixth Form College, and The Henley College – received allocations in earlier rounds.

The Department for Education does not publish the individual allocations for each college.

The fund was available to sixth form colleges, 16 to 19 academies, 16 to 19 free schools such as university technical colleges, and general FE colleges.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “We are delighted that so many SFCA members have been successful in the latest round of the Post-16 Capacity Fund. This is an excellent fund that is already helping institutions to deal with the demographic increase in 16- to 19-year-olds.

“We’d like the fund to be available on an annual basis as it is hugely oversubscribed and many of our members are operating at or over capacity. But it is good to have confirmation today that more young people will have the opportunity to study in high performing institutions and benefit from brand new facilities.”

Today’s announcement brings the total spending from the fund to over £230 million across 89 colleges and sixth forms.

The 42 providers awarded a share of the £140 million for 2023/24 are:

Funding rate boost for next round of higher technical skills injection fund

The second round of the government’s “skills injection fund” that aims to boost delivery of level 4 and 5 higher technical qualifications (HTQs) will involve higher per student funding rates.

Up to £48.8 million is being made available to colleges, universities and private providers to spend on specialist equipment, facilities, and upskilling staff to deliver HTQs across the next two financial years.

The funding is expected to ensure there are “widespread credible alternatives” to a three-year degree ahead of the introduction of the lifelong loan entitlement in 2025.

Skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister Robert Halfon opened the fund for bids today. He said: “Boosting funding to support the delivery of HTQs and ensuring that schools and colleges have the space they need to provide all students with top notch training is essential to achieving parity of esteem with traditional degrees and plugging skills gaps in key sectors.”

Round one of the skills injection fund involved dishing out £21 million to 85 providers in 2022/23 – which was £11 million short of the £32 million on offer.

The new £48.8 million pot consists of £29.8 million for capital costs such as specialist equipment, perpetual software licenses and refurbishing existing facilities; and £19 million for resources such as upskilling technician staff, curriculum planning, or learner recruitment events.

It will also involve higher per student funding rates compared to the first round.

The formula for grants will be based on predicated learner numbers, with funding capped at £6,667 per student for most applicants. The basic cap in round one was £5,000.

However, if the bid comes from an IoT the per learner funding rate will receive a 20 per cent uplift to £8,000, while providers located in a designated “local skills area” – places where skills-based interventions are taking place as part of the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda – will receive a 10 per cent uplift to £7,333.

IoT and local skills area uplifts on offer in round one of the fund were 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

Colleges, higher education institutions, independent training providers and Institutes of Technology can bid for the funding. Providers with an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating and those not registered with the Office for Students are not allowed to apply.

The fund is for HTQs only, and for providers preparing to deliver across all 15 occupational routes up to academic year 2025/26 when the lifelong loan entitlement will be introduced.

DfE guidance states that if a provider has already received funding through the HTE growth fund, or through the HTE skills injection fund round one, they can apply again for funding to deliver a “different HTQ within the same route or a different occupational route”.

For example, if a provider received funding to deliver a network engineer qualification it could not apply for funding to deliver another level 4 and 5 network engineering qualification but could apply to deliver a new software developer HTQ.

The DfE said there were no minimum learner numbers, but did expect a “viable cohort”, and warned that funding clawbacks could be used where providers failed to reach 80 per cent of their predicted numbers.

Applications must be submitted by July 21. Outcomes are planned to be communicated in November.

UPDATE: The list of 66 winners to this fund was published on November 10 and can be viewed here.

UCAS chief executive Marches on

Higher education admissions body UCAS will soon be on the hunt for a new chief executive. 

Clare Marchant, who has led UCAS since July 2017, will leave the role later this year to become the vice chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire. 

UCAS said Marchant will remain in post during this year’s clearing period but won’t yet provide a firm departure date. The UCAS board will begin the search for a new chief executive “shortly”.

Trudy Norris-Grey, the chair of the UCAS board, said Marchant “leaves UCAS in an incredibly strong position” and paid tribute to Marchant’s role in expanding the support UCAS provides “to students making life-changing decisions.”

“While we are disappointed to see her leave UCAS, we are delighted that the higher education sector will continue to benefit from her skills and passion,” she said. 

Earlier this year, it was announced that UCAS will expand its service to advertise apprenticeship vacancies in the autumn. From autumn 2024, the site will be expanded further to allow applicants to apply for apprenticeships alongside traditional degree applications. 

And at the FE Week Annual Apprenticeship this year, Marchant said a team was working on introducing UCAS tariff points for apprenticeships by the end of 2023. 

Marchant at AAC

On leaving UCAS, Marchant said: “Leading the team at UCAS has been a privilege and a joy. I am most proud of the huge strides forward it has made in increasing the number of students supported each year, particularly those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

“During my time at UCAS, I have worked closely with vice-chancellors from across the UK in our shared mission of supporting students taking their next step in education and training. I am therefore excited to help thousands of students do exactly this at the University of Gloucestershire.”

Marchant succeeds Stephen Marston, who retires as vice chancellor at the University of Gloucestershire at the end of July.

Revealed: The 21 experts to oversee roll-out of SEND reforms

The government has named the 21 members of its SEND and alternative provision implementation board who will be tasked with overseeing the roll-out of key reforms.

Association of Colleges senior policy manager David Holloway, children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza and Ofsted national director Chris Russell are among the members of the board.

It is chaired jointly by children’s minister Claire Coutinho and mental health minister Maria Caulfield, and met for the first time today.

Last year’s SEND green paper proposed such a board to “hold partners to account for the timely development and improvement of the system”. Plans were confirmed in the government’s improvement plan earlier this year.

Children's minister Claire Coutinho
Claire Coutinho

Today, the government named members of the board, which it said would oversee the “actions government will take to improve children’s outcomes, and parents’ and carers’ experience of the SEND and AP system in England”.

“The national SEND and AP implementation board will oversee these actions and provide challenge and advice. The members will provide feedback and insight from their sector. They will also help to champion the changes we’re making.”

Coutinho said it was “fantastic to chair the first meeting of the national SEND and AP implementation board, and get the board members’ views on how to best make sure each local area can deliver for parents and families through our new local inclusion plans”.

“The board members bring a range of expertise from parents and family groups, education, health and local government that will be invaluable in making sure that the new system we are creating delivers the early intervention and better support that children need.”

Here’s the full list of members…

  • Claire Coutinho MP, Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing (Chair)
  • Maria Caulfield MP, Minister for Women and Minister for Mental Health and Women’s Health Strategy (Chair)
  • Leora Cruddas, Chief Executive, Confederation of Schools Trusts
  • Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner
  • Susan Douglas, CEO, Eden Academy Trust
  • Tina Emery and Sarah Clarke, co-chairs, National Network of Parent Carer Forums
  • Michael Freeston, Director of Quality Improvement, Early Years Alliance
  • Richard Gill, Chair, the Teaching School Hubs Council and CEO of the West Midlands MAT, The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership
  • David Holloway, Senior Policy Manager, Association of Colleges
  • Alison Ismail, Director, SEND and Alternative Provision, Department for Education
  • Christine Lenehan, Director, Council for Disabled Children
  • Nigel Minns, Strategic Director – People, Warwickshire local authority, and chair of the Association of Directors of Childrens Services Health, Care and Additional Needs Policy Committee
  • Sue North, Head of Children and Young People for Learning Disability, Autism and SEND, NHS England
  • Professor Sarah O’Brien, Chief Nurse, Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board
  • John Pearce, Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services at Durham County Council and President of the Association of Directors of Childrens Services
  • Christopher Russell, National Director of Education, Ofsted
  • James Sanderson, Director of Community Health & Personalisation and joint SRO for SEND in NHS England
  • Alison Stewart, Head of SEND, South West London Integrated Care Board
  • Mark Vickers, Chair AP/SEND CEO Network and CEO of Olive Academies
  • Fiona Walshe, Director for Mental Health and Disabilities, Department of Health and Social Care
  • Simon Wellman, Director of Education and Skills, Telford and Wrekin Council

Board will take ‘full account’ of children’s views

Terms of reference for the board, also published today, state it will take “full account of the views and needs of children and young people with SEND and in AP, and their parents and carers”.

The board will operate in a way which “fosters co-production” with children and young people, and will use “expertise and knowledge to advise on the delivery and implementation of the SEND and AP Improvement Plan and how this impacts end users”.

It will draw on the “latest data, evidence and evaluation to provide insight into the current performance of the SEND and AP system” and ensure the improvement plan “stays current and adapts to broader social changes and new challenges”.

The DfE said members had been chosen to cover a “broad range of interests and expertise relevant to SEND and AP, and links across to other related key programmes across education, health and social care”.

“Where possible, members will set aside any organisational or personal interests in order to drive transformational change at the national system level.”

Training firm rated ‘inadequate’ kept contract despite sexual harassment reports

A training provider previously slammed for failing to oversee a subcontractor after reports of sexual harassment has avoided contract termination despite an ‘inadequate’ inspection.

In what is a rare exception to the rules, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has also elected not to suspend the firm from starting new apprenticeships at the time inspectors found “ineffective” safeguarding.

Ofsted handed Avant Partnership Limited an ‘inadequate’ rating in October after it found the provider had “limited oversight” of safeguarding at a subcontractor after female construction apprentices reported experiencing harassment whilst studying.

Staff at the subcontractor, Orchard Training and Education Limited, had also “not received training on protecting learners and apprentices from sexual abuse and harassment”, inspectors said.

Under the ESFA’s funding rules, an ‘inadequate’ judgement from Ofsted usually results in a suspension from the register of apprenticeship training providers and contract termination.

Suspension exemption

But Steve Roe, Avant Partnership Limited’s chief executive, told FE Week that his training provider had “retained our contract and were able to continue recruiting apprentices” following the report in October.

Avant remains on the government’s register of apprenticeship training providers.

Ofsted inspection data shows that there are 11 independent training providers, including Avant Partnership Limited, with ‘inadequate’ overall judgements and ‘ineffective’ safeguarding.

Each of those providers has received some form of sanction, either a suspension in new apprenticeship starts or removal from the register, except for Avant.

Why Avant has received this special treatment is unclear.

‘Reasonable progress’

In a new monitoring visit report published yesterday, inspectors found Avant and its subcontractor, Orchard, had “successfully implemented a wide range of improvements to ensure that the arrangements for safeguarding are now effective”.

Avant has appointed a safeguarding team to work across both sites, which uses “consistent processes” for reporting and dealing with safeguarding concerns, Ofsted’s report adds.

“Leaders have established a culture of safeguarding, which is woven through all parts of the two organisations. They have introduced a mantra of “if in doubt, speak out”, and tutors and staff are more willing to report concerns, which are then dealt with appropriately by the safeguarding team.”

Roe pointed out that, in October, Avant was rated good in every area apart from leadership and management, which got an ‘inadequate’ rating due to the safeguarding concerns and caused the training provider to get ‘inadequate’ for overall effectiveness.

“Ofsted were able to focus their monitoring visit in April 2023 on the improvements we had made to our safeguarding arrangements, which resulted in the positive report published this week.”

He said Avant had “reviewed our safeguarding arrangements and invested in further resources” following the earlier report, which involved recruiting a full-time member of staff as a designated safeguarding lead, which oversees safeguarding across both Avant and Orchard’s work and reports directly to him.

Avant has also employed a new head of compliance and quality who, along with other staff, visits the subcontractor “frequently”, the Ofsted report said.

“They carry out lesson visits and quality reviews [at the subcontractor], providing helpful feedback which leads to targeted professional development. They work with subcontractor staff to provide support and challenge, which subcontractor staff welcome in their aim to continue to improve the quality of their provision.”

Recently, staff at Avant trained employees at Orchard in behaviour management and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder awareness. Ofsted concluded that Avant has made “reasonable progress”.

Orchard, which does not appear to have subcontracts with any other providers, had contracts with Avant worth £859,115 by the end of August 2022, according to the latest government data.

The DfE declined to comment, saying it does not comment on individual provider cases. FE Week approached Orchard for comment.