A national health and social care training provider has closed due to staffing shortages that stalled apprentices’ progress.
CareShield Ltd had 405 apprentices on its books during its most recent visit from Ofsted in March 2025, but has now handed back its funding contract to the Department for Education.
The provider received back-to-back ‘requires improvement’ grades from the watchdog, with inspectors highlighting how apprentices were “frustrated” by changes in coaches and that “too few” learners complete their apprenticeship.
Leaders at the company told FE Week they notified the DfE of their decision to voluntarily withdraw from apprenticeship delivery in January this year. They worked with the department on an orderly wind-down until April 30.
The firm would not say how many staff have lost their jobs, but its most recent accounts show there were 54 employees in 2024.
In a joint statement, CareShield CEO Emma Perry and owner Christian Greenshaw said: “The decision to withdraw from apprenticeship delivery was not taken lightly. It followed a combination of sustained sector-wide challenges, including staffing shortages, high vacancy rates, and persistent operational pressures, which collectively disrupted learner progression.”
The pair added that functional skills rules requirements “further compounded these issues, making it increasingly difficult to deliver a consistent and high-quality experience for apprentices and employers”.
Ministers’ decision on February 11 to scrap the exit rule, which forces apprentices without a GCSE pass to achieve a functional skills qualification in the core subjects to complete their training, for those aged 19 or older, was not enough to convince CareShield’s leaders to continue training.
The most recent NHS long-term workforce plan, updated in 2023, showed 112,000 vacancies. It forecast a shortfall of between 260,000 and 360,000 staff by 2036-37.
CareShield’s latest grade three Ofsted report said that apprentices “enjoy studying at CareShield” but have been “frustrated” by changes in coaches, which has disrupted their learning and impacted negatively on their progress.
And although staff set out clear expectations for apprentices’ attendance, “too few” apprentices attend their taught sessions, including functional skills.
“Too few apprentices remain on their apprenticeship programme, and too few complete their apprenticeship within the planned timescales,” Ofsted said.
CareShield’s retention and achievement rate sits at 50 per cent, according to the government’s most recent data.
CareShield, headquartered in Hertfordshire, was set up in 2009 and won its first direct contract to deliver apprenticeships in 2018.
It taught apprentices across England, with most based in the Northeast, Yorkshire and Humber, East of England, London and the Southeast.
Perry and Greenshaw refused to say whether the company would now be put into administration.
The pair run another company called BroadShield Ltd, which delivers workforce development to organisations across all sectors.
Ofsted’s chief inspector has issued an emergency “urgent notification” to the government after finding vulnerable young offenders at risk of harm at a G4S-run secure training centre.
The notification, signed by Sir Martyn Oliver yesterday and published today, is a process rarely used and is reserved for the most serious cases of failure and requires the justice secretary to respond within 28 days with a plan to improve.
Sir Martyn can only issue the notification with the agreement of His Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons and the Care Quality Commission’s chief inspector of hospitals and healthcare.
Oakhill Secure Training Centre (STC), based in Milton Keynes and run by private security company G4S, has been issued with its second urgent notification after Ofsted found “serious and systemic failures” and safeguarding “in disarray” during a full inspection earlier this month.
Ofsted inspectors found the STC, which boasts “a safe environment provided with support and experience of care” on its website, “is no longer child centred” with staff reporting “a culture of fear, mistrust and reprisal.”
In a letter to the justice secretary Shabana Mahmood, Sir Martyn said his inspectors uncovered “profoundly serious and systemic failures that mean children have been and remain at risk of harm.”
Serious allegations about staff at Oakhill were not properly reported, leaving staff continuing to work with young people despite serious allegations against them. “Children are then left without appropriate safeguards,” Sir Martyn said.
Oakhill’s director and a deputy director were suspended on July 20, the day before Ofsted’s inspection began. Another deputy director was recently sacked.
Young people were “inappropriately charged” out of their personal money for a “victims fund” which Sir Martyn said needed further investigation.
He also reported that 30 members of staff at Oakhill have been suspended since November 2024; 23 of those related to allegations around conduct with children.
Staff have not been trained on up-to-date physical restraint techniques and inspectors witnessed the use of inverted wrist holds which caused “unintentional pain” to detainees. While permitted, that technique wouldn’t be necessary if staff were trained on newer guidance, Sir Martyn said.
The chief inspector said the STC broke its own rules on the use of “separation”. This type of isolation is supposed to be limited to three hours, but inspectors found young people separated “for lengthy extended periods” running into “many days.”
“The rationale for continuing separation into many days is inappropriate, not always clearly documented and is contrary to the STC rules,” Sir Martyn said.
Additionally, young people with mental health concerns were not always given timely care and medicines are not always administered safely, the report said.
The report also exposed unsanitary living conditions for young people, a lack of protection from health risks such as food allergies.
It also slammed the Youth Custody Service, which is supposed to monitor G4S’s contract, for failing to identify and/or take sufficient action to help safeguard children.
Last STC standing
Oakhill STC houses up to 80 young offenders aged 12 to 18 years old.
It is the last remaining secure training centre in England. G4S lost the contracts to run Medway and Rainsbrook amid similarly alarming mismanagement claims. They were both subsequently shut down.
Oakhill has not been properly run for some time.
It was first subject to an urgent notification in 2021 after a damning ‘inadequate’ Ofsted inspection judgment found that children frequently experienced violence and use of force by “inexperienced staff”.
The government accepted all of the recommendations of a subsequent review into safeguarding at Oakhill later that year as part of the required action plan that follows an urgent notification.
Inspections in May 2022 and October 2023 found the STC to be ‘requires improvement’ but by October 2024 it was again ‘inadequate’.
G4S’s contract to run Oakhill expires in 2029, FE Week understands.
Oliver’s letter said: “It [Oakhill] continues to present weaknesses that were identified at previous inspections. Given the recent leadership and staff suspensions, we are unable to assess it as having the capacity to improve.”
Mahmood now has 28 days to respond with an action plan for improvement at the centre.
A spokesperson for Oakhill STC said: “The safety and welfare of children at Oakhill STC is our highest priority, and we take the Ofsted inspection findings extremely seriously.
“We are working collaboratively with the youth custody service and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service to develop a robust action plan to address the concerns raised.”
The current trend is to use micro-credentials in place of larger awards or certificates in green skills and sustainability. These can be regularly updated to keep up with emerging technological advances and be crafted to address specific local needs.
Deliver Adult Green Skills
Funding for adults has changed significantly over the past two years. The Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has closed the Adult Education Budget (AEB) and has been replaced by the Adult Skills Fund (ASF)
Adult green skills are funded through ASF as tailored learning, specialised micro-credentials in green skills can be delivered as either a stand-alone unit, or can be combined to form adult skills programmes.
South Thames College Group are successfully delivering adult green skills programmes in solar technology and retrofitting. They commissioned Green Skills Solutions to craft two brand-new micro-accreditations and combined these with other units to form a new programme.
A growing number of providers are starting to offer green micro-accreditations at full cost or co-funded. Colleges and independent training providers are working directly with employers to deliver their ESG goals through on-line training. Some providers are offering courses on-line directly to individuals wanting to upskill or retrain. This model boosts revenue, saves on training costs and plugs local skills gaps.
A new innovation fund has been established to finance the costs of developing new micro-credentials to address skills gaps, particularly in artificial intelligence and green skills.
The Funding Adult Green Skills initiative aims to equip adults with the knowledge and training necessary to thrive in the rapidly growing green economy. This includes delivering tailored learning programs designed to upskill or reskill adults in areas such as sustainability, energy efficiency, and environmental innovation.
Through the Green Skills Solutions initiative, we offer accessible and co-funded training options, helping learners and employers prepare for a low-carbon future. Courses are available through various delivery models and funding options—ensuring that green skills are not just for the few, but for everyone.
Whether you’re an employer looking to green your workforce or an individual aiming to upskill in sustainability, now is the time to take action. Contact us today and be part of the workforce driving the UK’s transition to a greener future. Collaborate with us to shape the green economy through education, innovation, and opportunity.
An exam board will be fined £350,000 after more than 1,500 GCSE students received the wrong exam results last year.
The blunder over WJEC’s Eduqas GCSE food preparation and nutrition qualification meant hundreds of pupils had to be issued with the correct grade months later.
Regulator Ofqual also found the body had allowed thousands of papers to be reviewed by the same assessors who had originally marked at least part of them, breaking regulations.
Amanda Swann, Ofqual’s executive director for general qualifications, believes the penalty meted out to the WJEC reflects the “serious nature” of its “failures”.
“Students must be able to trust that their results accurately reflect their performance, and what they know, understand and can do.”
In all, 1,527 youngsters taking the qualification last summer received incorrect results.
The organisation failed “to adjust teachers’ marking of coursework – which made up 50 per cent of the qualification – to ensure results were in line with national standards”.
850 given worse grades
It was found that 847 students received lower grades than they deserved, with 680 benefitting from inflated results. Just over 17,600 did not need to be changed.
Those with worse marks were issued with the correct ones in October 2024. The WJEC decided those with higher marks “should keep them to avoid unfairly penalising students who may have already used those results”.
Ofqual is set to fine WJEC £175,000 for the case. The exam board will be ordered to cough up a further £175,000 for allowing 3,926 exam papers between 2017 and 2023 “to be reviewed by the same assessors who had originally marked at least part of them”.
One student had their grade increased last year following an independent review. WJEC also issued “credit notes as financial compensation to schools and colleges, for all affected reviews, totalling just over £219,000”.
Ofqual said the awarding body has “admitted the breaches, fully accepted responsibility, taken steps to prevent the problems happening again, and engaged fully with” the regulator.
A WJEC spokesperson said the organisation takes “full responsibility and acknowledge[s] that we did not meet the usual high standards expected of us”.
“We would like to sincerely apologise to the learners affected by these incidents.
“We want to reassure learners and centres that we have undertaken a thorough review of our processes and implemented appropriate measures to ensure such incidents do not occur again in the future.”
Earlier this year, WJEC was awarded licenses worth up to £13.9 million for two construction T Levels previously run by City and Guilds.
The government has paused an £8 million warm homes skills programme (WHSP) after some training providers jumped the gun and promoted courses before winners were officially confirmed.
In an email sent to bidders yesterday, the Midlands Net Zero Hub, which is running the programme on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), said the tender suspension was caused by “a few” applicants promoting WHSP-funded courses to potential learners before funding decisions had been made.
The WHSP is a flagship green skills programme where providers can bid for up to £1 million to deliver subsidised retrofit courses.
Colleges and training providers were expecting the funding competition results on Friday for training to begin from this Friday, August 1.
“This postponement has become necessary due to a breach of the competition guidance by a few applicants,” the email stated.
“Specifically, some applicants have publicised WHSP-funded training offers prior to the official announcement of funding decisions.”
The email confirmed that no applicants had received formal or informal confirmation of the outcome of their bids, and “premature promotion” of courses breached competition rules.
The DESNZ said it was “investigating the allegations and will address them appropriately”.
A spokesperson added: “Winners will be announced shortly, and there will be no delay to the scheme’s timeline.”
Retrofit
The WHSP aims to increase the supply of skilled workers in energy efficiency and retrofit. Applications for colleges and training providers to win a share of an £8 million fund to subsidise training closed in June.
Providers could bid for up to £1 million for “work packages” of qualifications geared towards entry-level training, upskilling workers for non-domestic buildings and training for specialist roles like retrofit assessors or solar installers.
Up to 9,000 retrofit professionals could be trained through the scheme by July 2026.
A £9.2 million phase two programme is in the works to run from 2026 to 2027, but hasn’t been confirmed.
The Department did not name which training providers had breached the rules when asked by FE Week.
Bidders were told yesterday that advertising courses before funding was approved breached the competition guidance. The guidance states that all publicity of courses funded through the project must be approved by the Midlands Net Zero Hub and that training providers must not start their project until the Hub has approved a signed grant agreement letter.
Local officials and an exam board have launched investigations into a Yorkshire college’s ESOL achievement rates.
Allegations of dodgy English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) results in 2023-24 have emerged at The Sheffield College.
The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, which funds the college’s ESOL courses through the adult skills fund, is investigating the issue.
The college has suspended two senior staff members, according to local newspaper The Tribune, and launched its own internal investigation.
Awarding organisation City & Guilds has also launched an inquiry into the college’s delivery of ESOL courses and reportedly revoked the college’s “direct claims status”, which allows the college to mark exams and verify results without confirmation from the exam body.
The Sheffield College is currently the largest ESOL provider outside of London. It recorded over 7,500 leavers for its ESOL courses in each of the last two years.
The college had the highest ESOL achievement rates in the country in 2022-23, at 96.5 per cent, and ranked third in 2023-24 with 94.4 per cent.
A Sheffield College spokesperson said they are taking the matter “very seriously” and confirmed an initial internal investigation into “one of our academy areas has taken place”.
“This was in response to concerns raised about some achievement claims and associated certification for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students in 2023-24,” the statement said.
It added: “As investigations are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further until those have concluded.”
AoC support
The college reportedly conducted a previous investigation into “maladministration” of ESOL delivery but concluded there was no intentional manipulation of results.
But it has allegedly now suspended two senior staff members pending the outcome of this new internal investigation. The college’s spokesperson refused to confirm the suspensions.
Meanwhile, an external interim manager to lead the college’s ESOL department has been provided by the Association of Colleges.
The AoC refused to confirm who was leading the department.
An AoC spokesperson said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while the college’s initial internal investigation is ongoing.”
Sheffield College’s CEO and principal, Angela Foulkes, sits on the AoC board as Yorkshire and the Humber representative.
Large ASF allocations
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, led by Oliver Coppard, has had a devolved adult skills fund (ASF) since 2021, and the college has repeatedly been awarded the largest share of the budget.
It received the top share (18 per cent) of over £7 million in ASF allocations from a £39.3 million budget in 2021-22.
The college’s core ASF income from the MCA grew to £10.2 million the next year, a quarter of the authority’s budget.
It increased a further 13 per cent to £11.58 million in 2023-24. The authority awarded the college an indicative £11.58 million allocation from the ASF 2024-25, over a third of its total £31.8 million budget.
A spokesperson for the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) said: “We are aware of the situation and are in contact with Sheffield College. We are undertaking our own investigation, and the college is undertaking its own internal investigation, therefore we are unable to comment further while they are ongoing.”
An outstanding London college has appointed a new leader following the retirement of its long-serving principal and CEO.
Governors at West Thames College have promoted Marta Gajewska (pictured above) to the top job after four years as vice principal for curriculum and quality.
She succeeds Tracy Aust, who has stood down after 27 years at the college, spending the last nine as principal and CEO.
The college described Gajewska as “a passionate advocate for inclusive, high-quality education with a bold vision and deep commitment to student success”.
Gajewska joined the college as director of core skills in 2016 before becoming vice principal in 2021. Before West Thames, she was head of teaching and learning at East Berkshire College.
West Thames is one of London’s smallest general further education colleges, reporting a total income of £24.1 million for the 2023-24 financial year. It employed 255 staff and enrolled 5,300 students that year across its two campuses in west London.
Ofsted graded the college ‘outstanding’ in January following a full inspection, praising its “life-changing” impact on disadvantaged students.
Tracy Aust
Aust said: “It’s not the Ofsted ‘outstanding’ that means the most to me, it’s the fact that we are able to provide an outstanding student experience for each and every student who walks through our door.
“That has always been my personal goal and what has driven me to do the role I do in a sector which genuinely transforms lives.”
On her watch, Gajewska said the college’s “unwavering commitment to excellence continues.”
“We will keep raising the bar, ensuring every student receives the support, education and opportunities they need to thrive. Whatever your background, whatever your goals, we’re here to help you succeed,” she added.
The Department for Education overspent its apprenticeships budget for the first time last year in what has been described as a “landmark moment”.
Experts now fear further apprenticeship spending restrictions may follow the scrapping of public subsidy for level 7 programmes and warned there is “limited” headroom for funding non-apprenticeship courses through the reformed growth and skills levy.
England’s apprenticeships budget in 2024-25 was originally set at £2.658 billion before rising to £2.729 billion partway through the financial year.
DfE’s recently published annual accounts show apprenticeship spending hit £2.781 billion, meaning a £123 million (4.6 per cent) overspend on the original budget and a £52 million (2 per cent) overspend on the revised budget.
To cover the excess, the DfE authorised £52 million in “virements” – a transfer of funding from another budget line to the apprenticeships budget.
The DfE told FE Week the higher level of spending was caused by more starts and achievements compared to previous years, as well as increases to some funding bands.
Simon Ashworth, deputy CEO at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), said: “This marks a landmark moment after years of unspent funds being returned to the Treasury.
“It reflects the aggregated impact of apprentices already on programme and the financial consequences of increased achievement rates.”
‘Government will face further trade-offs’
Despite spending more on apprenticeships than had been budgeted, the DfE claimed there wasn’t technically an overspend because officials were able to match the full spend through virements.
Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute, said: “Small variances to budgets do happen, and in this case a 2 per cent overspend seems to have been offset by underspends elsewhere.”
The DfE refused to say what other budget line was raided to cover the apprenticeship overspend.
FE Week has been reporting on potential apprenticeship overspends since 2018 following an initial warning from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
The issue stems from soaring numbers of higher-level apprenticeships that are more expensive to deliver than lower-level programmes.
A National Audit Office report in 2019 said there was a “clear risk” that apprenticeships were not financially sustainable for the government, as the costs were around double what was expected in 2015.
Pressure was eased when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and numbers of new starters fell. But in 2021-22 DfE’s apprenticeship budget was underspent by just £11 million, or 0.4 per cent.
The underspend in 2022-23 was £96 million (4 per cent) and in 2023-24 it was £16 million (1 per cent).
Almost £2.2 billion of the DfE’s apprenticeship budget has been returned to the Treasury since the levy launched in 2017-18 to 2023-24. No apprenticeship funding was returned to the Treasury in 2024-25.
Treasury boosted the DfE’s apprenticeships budget by 13 per cent to £3.075 billion in 2025-26 owing to the mounting pressure.
‘Future overspends may not be so easily absorbed’
Evans said: “The apprenticeship budget has been basically fully spent for a few years now. Even with the rise to £3 billion this year, there is likely to be limited room for flexibility in the levy outside apprenticeships.
“And prioritising apprenticeships for some groups, like young people, is likely to require reductions for other groups, as we’ve seen recently at level 7. Either the budget needs to rise further, or the government will face further trade-offs in the future.”
There is likely to be a surge in level 7 apprenticeship starts this year before levy funding is switched off in January 2026, and foundation apprenticeships are being rolled out this autumn. Another budget strain could be the potential launch of the new level 2 business administration standard, which is likely to prove highly popular.
The DfE is aiming for 30,000 foundation apprenticeship starts in their first year. Kate Ridley-Pepper, the DfE’s apprenticeships director, recently warned of further potential “savings” and “trade-offs” if the new scheme became too popular.
She told last month’s AELP conference that the level of spending on apprenticeships “is not sustainable in the long run”.
The government also still plans to turn the apprenticeship levy into a growth and skills levy that funds non-apprenticeship training, which will include new short courses from April 2026.
Ashworth said: “We welcome the additional £350 million injected into the 2025-26 budget, which has provided much-needed headroom and helps reduce the impact of Treasury top-slicing in the short-term.
“However, the recent defunding of level 7 apprenticeships won’t deliver quick savings, and in a tight fiscal climate, future overspends may not be so easily absorbed. Greater clarity on apprenticeship funding beyond 2025-26 will be increasingly important for long-term planning and stability.”
Treasury margin shrinks
Mark Corney, senior policy adviser at the Campaign for Learning, said that despite higher levels of apprenticeship spending the Treasury margin is shrinking.
The money raised through employer levy contributions isn’t hypothecated in the sense that it doesn’t determine the apprenticeship budget – this is separately set by the Treasury.
The top-slice is the amount the Treasury keeps after collecting the funds paid by employers and dishing out spending for apprenticeships to the DfE and devolved nations.
This margin was around £800 million in 2024-25.
Corney pointed out that the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) has estimated that total apprenticeship levy paid by businesses in 2025-26 will be £4.2 billion, which is £100 million more than the outturn of £4.1 billion in 2024-25.
The levy raised £91 million more in April to June 2025 than it did in the same period last year.
Corney said Treasury is on track to raise £4.2 billion or more in 2025-26. When the DfE’s £3.075 billion budget is distributed and around £500 million is dished out to the devolved nations, this would leave a top slice of around £623 million.
The decisions taken on AI by colleges and training providers in the next year will fundamentally alter the lives of learners and teachers over the next decade. Already there is enough evidence of both the enormous benefits that well-designed AI systems can offer, and the harm that poorly implemented AI can cause. If AI literacy is not treated as a priority within leadership teams then the risk of harmful AI increases.
You will notice that I haven’t explored the possibility of no AI here. Consumer accessible generative AI applications are already widely used by learners and tutors, and will continue to be so, above or under the radar. They may be used in ways that harm learning or are unethical.
There are many entirely reasonable objections to the current wave of big tech-led AI innovation: it is driven by profit rather than purpose, it replicates societal racial and gender biases, and from a sustainability perspective it has highly negative consequences on the visible horizon. So surely avoidance is the ethical choice?
The consequence of leadership teams not deeply immersing themselves in both risks and opportunities will be that AI is used in harmful ways: bypassing cognitive development, deskilling professionals, creating unfair advantages for those with AI skills, and contracting out critical thinking to technologies that have undoubted flaws
You are an AI organisation already – whether that’s acknowledged or not
If you haven’t developed a systematic approach then you may already be facing the harm that unethical, inequitable and dehumanising AI can cause. Because these technologies are both readily available and widely accessed. You are an AI organisation already – whether that is acknowledged or not.
Ignoring AI may make us feel ethically better but we can shape a better future by using it in a mindful way cognisant of environmental harms, in a human way crafted to improve the knowledge and skills of learners and tutors, and in an equitable way aware of inequalities and poor representation. Some colleges and training providers are doing this now.
It is vital to look at the range of evidence when designing AI systems: to help learners develop their skills, to support tutors in designing personalised and engaging programmes of tuition whilst helping them manage their workload, and support staff in providing richer data insights and better processes. A recent MIT study shows the cognitive deficit when students outsource their learning to AI. It also shows that “brain first, AI later” to help review work is a good combination.
An experiment on the impact of using ChatGPT in lesson planning showed that it saved 30 per cent on preparation time with no impact on lesson quality as assessed by an expert panel. All this emphasises the importance of reviewing the available evidence systematically.
We are seeing some institutions adopt and even develop AI systems that are heavily human, ethics and equity focused. Ofsted has reviewed some of the best practice in its paper“The biggest risk is doing nothing”. Activate Learning has implemented a suite of AI tools, early-stage evaluation of which have shown improved outcomes and well-being. Windsor Forest Colleges Group have developed a teacher support AI, “Winnie”. Basingstoke College of Technology has taken a whole-college approach to upskilling staff and students in AI and giving them a license to innovate responsibly.
Deliberately designing AI systems to stretch learners rather than bypass their learning is key. Developing datasets with fewer systemic biases and training AI on them, including available open-source AI, can help reduce biases.
And we need to widen access to the development of critical thinking and communication skills that enable individuals to adapt to future AI innovations.
Data-safe environments are essential to protect private data. Whilst the actions of one individual or college are not going to significantly dampen environmental impacts, we should be as mindful of the carbon impact of our actions when using AI, just as when driving our car.
The Finnish government has committed to pursuing human-centred and ethical AI, whilst supporting its integration into education. Estonia has encouraged similar whilst leaving education institutions to innovate. Safe, ethical and responsible use is in their national curriculum.
We will be working through our partnerships with sector bodies to see wider adoption of responsible AI. The whole skills community needs to get this right – at a whole system level. There is much that is encouraging in both policy and practice. There now needs to be collective action to make positive, human-centred tech happen.
