ESFA intervenes as Leicestershire college group hits ‘serious cashflow pressures’

A college group in Leicestershire has been placed in formal FE Commissioner intervention as it grapples with “serious cashflow pressures”.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency published a financial notice to improve for the SMB Group today.

The letter, dated July 27, said “serious cashflow pressures” leaves the college at a “heighted risk”. SMB Group must now put together an improvement plan which could include staff cuts, while the need for emergency bailout funding from government will also be explored.

A spokesperson for the college group said it was facing a number of “challenges” impacting the wider sector, “including the aftermath of Covid-19 and significant economic challenges”.

“As such, the college has proactively invited the FE Commissioner in early to support our efforts to remain an economically sustainable FE provider, whilst continuing to make strides with improvements to the quality of our study offer and ensure our learners get the best possible education,” the spokesperson added.

SMB Group, which has almost 3,000 learners on its books, was created from a merger of Stephenson and Brooksby Melton colleges in 2020. Last May, Dawn Whitemore, the group’s chief executive told the Melton Times the merger was a “lifesaver” for both colleges as one was asset rich and the other was cash rich, which enabled the group to go “from strength to strength”.

But it has faced multiple financial hurdles over the last year. 

In March its finance and resources committee warned that the group was facing a “very challenging” financial climate made up of high inflation and increased transport costs, amid a “smaller learner base”.

SMB Group recorded a deficit of £3.6 million in its most recent accounts despite aiming for a surplus, which it blamed on “increasing inflation and recruitment challenges”. Those centred around high agency costs and “having to match higher salaries to attract staff in a difficult marketplace”.

In October 2022, the group noted that it was facing a clawback of T Levels funding from the government after it had recruited 50 fewer learners than it was meant to. The group was downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted in February 2023.

The FE Commissioner has now intervened to assess the “college’s capability and capacity to make the required changes and improvements”.

SMB Group must put together an outline recovery plan by the end of September, including financial planning tables, and plans to explore “further staff savings” in 2023/24 and 2024/25 alongside “a thorough review of curriculum areas”.

It must also submit a monthly cashflow template to the Department of Education, and explore the “potential for and, if necessary, the extent of any financial support required”.

The college must attend regular meetings with DfE, and if it is deemed that the college has failed to “take the necessary actions” within the timescales set out, the department “will take further action”.

David Johnston appointed children’s minister as Coutinho promoted

Former education committee member David Johnston has been appointed children’s minister after Claire Coutinho was promoted in today’s mini reshuffle.

Johnston, the MP for Wantage, becomes the fifth children’s minister in just under two years.

The post also has responsibility for the important SEND reforms, which are finally set to be trialled in chosen council areas before being rolled out across the country in a few years.

He becomes the seventh children’s minister since a landmark review to reform the broken system was launched in 2019.

Other responsibilities of the post include children in care, mental health, alternative provision, behaviour and school attendance.

Coutinho has been promoted to energy and net-zero secretary. She is known as an ally of prime minister Rishi Sunak and worked as a special adviser at the Treasury while he was the Chancellor.

She is thought to be the first MP from the 2019 election cohort to hold a seat in cabinet.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan tweeted that Coutinho will be “fantastic” in the new role, adding she was “looking forward to welcoming” Johnston to her department.

But Clare Howard, chief executive of specialist college body Natspec, said: “It is an unenviable achievement to become the fifth children’s minister in less than two years and the seventh to oversee the government’s landmark SEND reforms.

“The government needs to move away from its merry-go-round approach to governance – previous ministerial changes have led to delays in addressing serious issues, and those providing education and training to young people with SEND desperately need stability, effective leadership and prompt action to address these long-standing issues.”

What do we know about David Johnston?

Like Coutinho, Johnston became an MP in the 2019 election. He served on the education select committee from March 2020 until October 2021.

He was then parliamentary private secretary at the Department for Education for ten months before resigning in July last year in protest against Boris Johnson’s premiership.

Before becoming an MP, Johnston was chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation for more than 10 years, and also served on the Social Mobility Commission.

He was appointed an OBE in 2018 for services to social mobility and education.

According to Wikipedia, Johnston has held governor posts at Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College, where he attended as a pupil, and Pimlico Academy, founded by former academies minister Lord Nash.

Training sector pays tribute to ‘big character’ Gareth Phillips

Tributes have been paid to awarding body boss Gareth Phillips after he died following a battle with cancer.

Phillips worked in the skills training and awarding sectors for over 20 years. Most recently he founded Vistar Qualifications Ltd in 2015, which is an end-point assessment organisation for nine apprenticeship standards.

Regulator Ofqual published a notice today stating that Vistar has surrendered its recognition following Phillips’ death. The company will now be wound down.

Innovate Awarding has stepped in to maintain a record of EPA results issued by Vistar. Innovate’s chief executive Charlotte Bosworth described Phillips as “one of the big characters of the awarding and EPAO sector”.

She said: “Gareth was always on hand to provide sound advice and be a critical friend. Gareth and his contributions will be hugely missed by the sector and personally I will miss his friendship.”

Before setting up Vistar, Phillips led on commercial development at awarding body BIIAB. He was also the director of Educational Development International (EDI) Ltd before it was acquired by Pearson in 2011.

John McNamara, the incoming interim chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies and current chair of Innovate Awarding, said Phillips was a “staunch advocate for vocational skills training and always sought to put the interests of learners first.

“He is sadly missed for his positive and optimistic view on life. Whenever I met him at FAB conferences or other events, he generated energy and friendly enthusiasm, and of course humour. My thoughts and condolences go to his family at this sad time.”

Anna Phillips, who worked with her father Gareth Phillips at Vistar Qualifications, said: “Gareth will be dearly missed by all friends, colleagues, and the sector, of which he contributed greatly to, demonstrated by the kind words and heart-felt tributes received from so many people.

“He was never willing to compromise on quality and expected the highest standards and commitment from his team. Gareth guided, mentored, supported, and believed in others throughout his professional and personal life to help them to be the best they can be, and we hope this continues to positively contribute to the sector.”

Phillips was also managing director of training provider People 1st in the mid-2000s.

Paul Warner, director of strategy and business development at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “It is really sad news to hear Gareth recently passed away. As chief executive of Vistar, he brought a wealth of experience to the skills sector and his commitment to work-based learning speaks for itself. All those at AELP who knew Gareth will be thinking of him and his family.”

Lifelong loan entitlement faces ‘significant’ timescale challenges, warns DfE perm sec

The lifelong loan entitlement faces “significant challenges” that could delay the planned 2025 rollout, the Department for Education’s most senior civil servant has warned.

In a recently published assessment, DfE permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood concluded that the flagship skills reform policy represents “good value for money and is feasible to deliver”.

However, she warned that the biggest risk to the feasibility of LLE is “significant delivery challenges to meet the 2025 launch”, including several external factors outside of the department’s control.

She has consequently imposed a further assessment at full business case stage in 2024 and a re-test of the government’s accounting officer standards.

Legislation to introduce the LLE was passed through the House of Commons in May. It is currently making its way through the Lords.

The policy, which is planned to launch for the 2025/26 academic year, will provide learners up to the age of 60 with a loan entitlement to the equivalent of four years – around £37,000 – of higher education study.

They will be able to use the funding over their lifetime through a credits system to study qualifications at levels 4 to 6, for both modular and full-time study at colleges, universities, and other providers registered with the Office for Students.

Acland-Hood evaluated the programme against the government’s four accounting officer standards: regularity, propriety, value for money, and feasibility.

In her evaluation, published last week, she noted that a “substantial suite of regulations” needs to be made under primary legislation and that DfE aims to lay these in 2024, “before or early in the student recruitment cycle for the 2025 to 2026 academic year”.

She said the “economic appraisal” shows that the LLE programme is likely to deliver value for money. It is expected that the entitlement will “incentivise more people to study at levels 4 to 6, including those who would not have otherwise studied because of the barriers they face in the current system,” she explained.

However, some elements of the programme are yet to be designed, and the “behavioural response” of students and providers remain “very uncertain”, Acland-Hood warned.

But the main feasibility risk of LLE is meeting the 2025 delivery timescale, and there are factors outside of the programme team’s control that “may delay the reform”.

She said: “The design and delivery of the system is highly complex, with multiple interdependencies across the whole of the HE and FE landscape.

“Furthermore, the LLE attracts interest from a wide group of political stakeholders and the public. Such complexity and public scrutiny might impact deliverability of the system within the publicly announced timescales, given the need to find compromise between different stakeholders across several interlinked areas.

“In addition, the programme depends on good partnership with the Student Loans Company and the OfS and their delivery of new systems and processes. It also depends on behavioural change among providers, learners and employers, as well as continued funding.”

Acland-Hood said she had “confidence” that the programme team is managing these risks and dependencies, adding that a recent review “recognised that the programme has so far successfully managed to deliver on time, despite its complexities”.

She concluded: “I therefore assess that, though it is not without risk, the programme meets the feasibility test, though continued attention needs to be paid to the timeframe for reform.”

A DfE spokesperson told FE Week said: “We remain on track for launching the LLE in 2025.”

Ongoing impact of Covid-19 on education evident with GCSE resit results

While news emerges of a new Covid-19 variant, in the education world, we are also getting a reminder of the ongoing effects of the pandemic. This week, GCSE results were released from the summer 2023 exams. In England, this is the first year since 2019 with pre-pandemic grade boundaries. And understandably, there is plenty of debate about whether this is fair or the right time.

Whatever your view, the return to ‘business as usual’ has brought the ongoing impact of the pandemic on education to the surface. Pre-pandemic, while pass rates were not high enough, results for 16- to 19-year-olds retaking GCSE English or maths in post-16 education were steadily increasing year-on-year. This reflected the ongoing efforts of teachers and leaders in further education to continue to develop effective strategies to support the specific needs of this cohort. But this year, the pass rate has fallen below the pre-pandemic level by 4.8 percentage points in GCSE maths and 4.4 percentage points in GCSE English.

Why would there be such a significant difference in the performance of two year groups, just four years apart? Comparing the results of 2023 and 2019 suggests that taken as a whole, the cohorts of young people moving through secondary and post-16 education are not yet at the level of their peers who sat similar exams four years ago pre-Covid.

This doesn’t mean that the cohorts don’t have the same potential. But it does mean, unsurprisingly, that missing significant amounts of education does affect how much a young person knows and performs in exams at 16. The 16- to 19-year-olds who received GCSE results this week, were in years 8 to 11 when the pandemic first hit. Over the next two years, large blocks of school or college were missed. Even now, without any lockdowns or restrictions in place, attendance levels have still not fully recovered. Across the last academic year, almost a quarter of pupils in England missed at least 10 per cent of available sessions. While everyone hoped that all children and young people would quickly catch up to where they would have been if the pandemic had never happened, we can now see that for many this isn’t the case.

This demonstrates that the impact of the pandemic on education is not a quick problem to fix. It would be foolish to think that with the return to pre-Covid grading in England, and other devolved nations from next year, the education system can now forget that the pandemic ever happened. Instead, we should be concerned by the reports of ongoing poor attendance. And we should worry that the government’s catch-up policies are currently set to end in August next year. I don’t think the government really wants this gap to become their legacy in education. Rather than let catch-up policies come to an end, they should consider how efforts to close gaps for the ‘Covid generation’ of children and young people could be scaled up.

However, it is possible to end on a positive. Although the overall pass rates are down, the number of students achieving a GCSE in English and maths in post-16 education is increasing. These young people will have achieved a pass this year, after not achieving it last year when the grade boundaries were more generous. For these young people, this is incredible progress. The Association of Colleges estimates that 87,000 young people achieved a grade 4 or above in English or maths in post-16 education this academic year. And as their director of education policy, Catherine Sezen, put it yesterday, “colleges should be proud”.

‘Automatic suspension’ on national AEB contracts lifted amid legal challenge

A group of training providers has agreed to lift a “suspension” that was placed on national adult education budget procured contracts after it launched a lawsuit against the government.

New court documents show the Education and Skills Funding Agency sought consent from Learning Curve Group to remove an injunction that prevented the ESFA from entering contracts with the winners from its recent tender, which were due to be issued on 1 August.

Justice Fraser, the judge in Technology and Construction Court, has now ordered for the “automatic suspension” to be lifted with “immediate effect”.

The automatic suspension was triggered as per public contracts law on August 3 when Learning Curve Group and its seven affiliates launched legal action against the ESFA for allegedly “unlawfully” evaluating its failed AEB bids.

This meant that whilst the ESFA is being sued, it previously could not enter into the AEB contracts with the 54 training providers that won in the £75 million tender.

FE Week understands that several contracts had not yet been issued at the time that the legal challenge was launched.

According to law firm Capsticks, an automatic suspension is in place to allow the opportunity of the procurement being altered or re-run if a legal challenge succeeds.

In Learning Curve’s claim, it demanded a re-run of the national adult education budget procurement plus a payout of damages and legal costs.

A blog on Capsticks website states that if an automatic suspension under public contracts regulation is lifted, “the court does not have the power” to set aside the contract between the contracting authority and the preferred bidder aside at the end of trial.

Any remedy for a successful challenge is then “limited to damages”, the blog said.

ESFA ‘extremely opaque’ to unsuccessful AEB providers

Learning Curve Group’s legal challenge claims it was “deprived of a real chance of winning a contract” and the agency had “unlawfully failed to create or retain lawful, sufficient contemporaneous records of the reasons for the scores awarded”.

Simon Ashworth, director of policy at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), told members in a newsletter today that the ESFA is regularly “extremely opaque” about the procurement process to unsuccessful AEB bidders.

“In our feedback to the ESFA, we have been clear there needs to be a timely process, the scoring system and feedback needs to be clearer and more transparent and there is a need to properly recognise prior track record,” he said.

“After every ESFA-led procurement outcome I can remember, the agency continues to be extremely opaque about the process for unsuccessful providers to lodge any form of appeal or ‘complaint’. This needs to be clearer.”

He added that it was “disappointing” that nearly 40 per cent of AEB tender winners are either Ofsted ‘requires improvement’ or have not had a full inspection, even though this is the minimum requirement threshold.

“On reflection, this threshold was set too low,” he told members.

Learning Curve Group and the ESFA could not comment on its legal challenge while proceedings are live.

Why air purification in education settings is important this term

Conversations around air pollution and the dangers and health risks attributed to it have been commonplace for several years now, with many regulations already in place to lessen its dangers. In comparison, its counterpart of indoor air quality is a largely under reported and under researched topic – until now.

Most recently, the UK’s Chief Medical Officer’s, Professor Chris Whitty, annual report published in December 2022 highlighted the importance of prioritising indoor air pollution as an obvious next step after the improvements made to outdoor air pollution[1]. Paired with the fact that people spend 80% of their time indoors, indoor air quality has become a far more prevalent topic in the current news cycle – especially considering that indoor air pollution can be up to five times more polluted than the air outside.

Moreover, the importance of ventilating indoor spaces to prevent the spread of disease has been emphasised over recent years which has led to the general public’s heightened awareness of the air circulating in their indoor spaces, whether communal or private.

With this in mind, keeping windows open to allow natural air flow through an indoor space is often the most common solution. However, this can come with its own risks and problems as outdoor air is not necessarily cleaner or more hygienic and can carry in allergens, especially as we head into warmer months and pollen begins to be released into the air. The issue therein lies with the particles in the air itself: viruses, pollutants, and allergens being amongst some of the main harmful particles[2].

Therefore, simply opening a window and letting the outside air flow through an indoor space is not always the best answer.  As we come into the warmer months of the year, airborne allergens are more common and, as summer temperatures rise, so can pollution levels [3]. More action is needed to improve air quality in the spaces we are able to control in order to mitigate the effects of pollutants.

For example, at this time of year, with the weather being warmer, and of course flowers in bloom – a time of year many look forward to. However, for the 26% of adults in the UK who are diagnosed with hay fever[4], this means allergy season is upon us. As an airborne allergen caused by pollen from trees and plants, the outdoor air is filled with these particles that cause harm to those that suffer from the allergy. In addition, 49% of people report experiencing hay fever symptoms[5] – from itching noses and burning eyes, the symptoms are not only uncomfortable but can impact quality of life, affecting everyday life and lowering quality of sleep. Furthermore, hay fever is not just a once off: hay fever season usually lasts several months starting in March through to September[6], and this year it has started earlier than ever in February[7].

For those who struggle during this period, simply opening a window to ventilate their indoor spaces is clearly not an adequate solution. The allergens do not just stay outdoors: pollen can be carried on hair and clothes indoors. Keeping the windows and doors closed may seem like the pollution is being shut out – but it is just being trapped in.

The air purification solution

Removing and destroying the particles themselves to purify the air is one of the most efficient solutions to tackle the problem. Air purifiers are amongst the best ways to trap and destroy the pollutants in indoor spaces we can’t see whilst circulating clean air back out. HEPA filters can capture 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns[8], preventing them from leaking back into the air and the activated carbon in air purifiers can absorb gases, odours and chemicals[9].

Allergens are of course not the only indoor air pollution particles to be worried about – most harmful particles cannot be seen or smelled but can definitely affect both our physical health and cognitive performance. Alongside pollen and other allergens, particles such as bacteria, industrial emissions, chemical emissions, and other ultrafine particles can all be present in a wide range of indoor spaces; and the smaller the particle, the bigger the problem.

With children expected to spend a minimum of 32.5 hours in education settings[10],  it is of vital importance that users of shared education facilities are not being negatively affected by the polluted indoor air.

Air purifiers are the most clear-cut way to trap most of these particles and replace them with clean air, ensuring the health and performance of those in the space. It is important for educational settings to not only be aware of the issue but show that they are doing all they can to provide an adequate solution, signposting to its users that they are putting the health and safety of its students and staff first.

Learn more about Dyson’s air treatment solutions for education settings here: https://www.dyson.co.uk/commercial/air-treatment

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/we-can-and-should-go-further-to-reduce-air-pollution-says-chief-medical-officer

[2] https://www.iqair.com/us/newsroom/10-most-harmful-air-pollutants-youre-breathing-everyday

[3] https://schoolsweek.co.uk/tackle-hay-fever-in-your-school-with-dfe-approved-air-purification/

[4] https://www.allergyuk.org/about-allergy/statistics-and-figures/

[5] https://www.allergyuk.org/about-allergy/statistics-and-figures/

[6] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hay-fever/#:~:text=Hay%20fever%20is%20usually%20worse,count%20is%20at%20its%20highest.

[7] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/hay-fever-season-is-about-to-hit-the-uk-early-like-now_uk_63eca9dae4b07f036ba036a9

[8] https://www.dyson.co.uk/air-treatment/purifiers/dyson-purifier-cool-auto-react/overview

[9] https://www.dyson.co.uk/air-treatment/purifiers/dyson-purifier-cool-auto-react/overview

[10] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063520/Minimum_expectation_for_length_of_school_week_-__information_note.pdf

GCSE resits 2023: Maths and English pass rates down again

Just 16.4 per cent of students resitting GCSE maths in England passed with at least a grade 4 this year – down 4.8 percentage points on pre-pandemic levels.

Pass rates for English resits meanwhile hit 25.9 per cent, down by a similar level of 4.4 percentage points on the year before Covid-19 hit.

This is the second year that exams have returned since 2019 when the pandemic prompted a temporary switch to teacher-assessed grades.

Entries to maths and English GCSEs for post-16 students this year rose by 19,000 and 13,000 respectively compared to 2022, as they continue to recover to pre-pandemic levels which led to a big drop in entries.

The Joint Council for Qualifications said that results for students aged 17 and over are “more variable” compared to results for school-aged pupils, but this is “not surprising” because it “reflects a more changeable cohort”.

For maths, the proportion of the 154,023 post-16 students achieving a grade 4 – equivalent to a C in the old system – in 2023 is 16.4 per cent. The pass rate for 2022 was 20.1 per cent, and in 2019 it was 21.2 per cent.

There was no major difference in the GCSE maths resit pass rate by gender: it was 16.4 per cent for females and 16.3 per cent for males.

In English, the proportion of the 117,155 post-16 students achieving a grade 4 in 2023 is 25.9 per cent. The pass rate for 2022 was 28.4 per cent, and in 2019 it was 30.3 per cent.

The gender gap in pass rates was more noticeable in English: 31.3 per cent of female resit students achieved a pass while 22.1 per cent of males did the same.

Catherine Sezen, director of education policy at the Association of Colleges, said: “English and maths resits present a complex picture.

“A larger resit cohort this year means that although overall percentage achievement has fallen, the number of students achieving a GCSE in English and maths post 16 has increased on 2022; colleges should be proud that 55,000 students have achieved a grade 4+ in English or maths as a result of post-16 study in summer 2023.”

More resits will put pressure on ‘stretched’ post-16

Education experts have warned more young people will have to resit English and Maths in post-16 education next year, because of the overall fall in GCSE grading.

FE Week analysis estimates that 38,000 more students will have to continue studying English compared to last year after failing to achieve a 4 or above. This is a 28.6 per cent rise – above the 3.3 per cent rise in entries both subjects.

Nearly 22,000 students will have to continue maths compared to 2022 – a 14.9 per cent rise.

Professor Becky Francis, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said the post-16 sector is “stretched” and “as things stand, many are unlikely to achieve a pass even through resits.

“This has serious implications for individual students’ life chances. It is likely that those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds will be most affected, so the attainment gap must be carefully monitored, and support targeted towards pupils in greatest need of it.”

Sezen added: “The growth in the year 11 cohort, combined with a fall in 4+ achievement mean that we estimate there will be considerable additional demand for post-16 English and maths resits at a time when colleges are facing staff recruitment challenges.”

But Ofqual chief regulator Jo Saxton told FE Week that college principals will be “delighted” with more resit students.

She said: “From conversations that I have with leaders in FE, lots of them found it really difficult in the pandemic years where they didn’t get the intake that they would normally get. So certainly, my experience on the ground is that principals are delighted to have more students. I don’t think that that’s something that they see as a problem.”

‘Dispiriting cycle of resits must end’

Introduced in 2014, the government’s resits policy forces students who have not achieved a pass in English and/or maths GCSE by age 16 to continue to work towards achieving these qualificationsas a condition of their places being funded.

Students who achieve a grade 3 have to retake their GCSE, while students with a grade 2 or below can either take a functional skills level 2 or resit their GCSE.

Today’s results have reignited calls for this controversial policy to be reconsidered.

Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “Students who need to continue their learning in maths and English post-16 should not be forced into repeated resits which can lead them to feel disillusioned and disengaged.

“They should be able to take the qualification which they and their school or college deem most appropriate, be that a GCSE, or a functional skills or other relevant qualification – enabling them to move forward with their education, training or employment.”

Training provider drops ‘inadequate’ apprenticeships ahead of damning Ofsted report

A construction training provider has pulled the plug on apprenticeships ahead of a damning inspection report which said its apprentices were “at risk of harm”.

SB Skills Solutions, which offered level 2 construction apprenticeships, was hit with an ‘inadequate’ report published today, following an inspection back in June.

Training providers typically have their contracts terminated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency following an ‘inadequate’ inspection outcome. But leaders at SB Skills Solutions said it had already begun to exit the apprenticeships market before the inspection took place, citing significant staff shortages and rising costs.

Inspectors slammed the provider for its “disregard for the training, development and well-being of their apprentices” after it gave little notice before ending its apprenticeship provision.

SB Skills Solutions, which is based in Skelmersdale in Lancashire, had 69 apprentices spread across level two standards in groundwork, plant operations, highways maintenance and bricklaying.

It also had fewer than five learners on a plant skills bootcamp at the time of the inspection – which it will continue to offer after Ofsted gave its adult learning programmes a ‘good’ rating.

But it scored ‘inadequate’ in the quality of education, leadership and management, and apprenticeships, with ‘requires improvement’ grades for behaviour and attitudes, and personal development. That gave it an ‘inadequate’ rating overall. 

‘Backed into a corner’

Inspectors said the quality of the apprenticeship provision was “poor” and that “too many apprentices lack the motivation and enthusiasm to continue their learning due to a high turnover of staff”.

They also flagged that some tutors had “insufficient knowledge” of their subject areas, meaning “too many” apprentices leave their studies before completion.

Ofsted said the provider told apprentices and employers it was stopping apprenticeships on the day it was alerted to the Ofsted inspection, and that they had “received no prior notice”. 

“Apprentices and their employers told inspectors that they were disappointed and frustrated because leaders had taken the decision to cease apprenticeship training,” the report said.

But the provider’s operations director, Neil Beaumont, told FE Week it had no other option after most of its staff left without completing their notice periods just before the inspection.

“We were literally left with no delivery staff. What other option did we have when we had no staff left to deliver that provision? I was backed into a corner, it’s ridiculous.”

‘Ineffective’ safeguarding arrangements

Inspectors also flagged “ineffective” safeguarding arrangements at the provider, which they said failed to replace the safeguarding lead who left weeks before the inspection.

That left its apprentices, two-thirds of whom were under 18, “at risk of harm”.

But Beaumont said that was “far from” the truth.

“Learners weren’t at risk, there was a minimum number of days where we didn’t have the safeguarding lead,” he said. He added that the safeguarding lead for apprentices had had a mini-stroke and could not be replaced straight away.

‘Serious weaknesses’

Inspectors warned that “all learning materials” for apprenticeships were out of date, that the provider did not work with employers to sort out on and off-the-job training, and that most progress reviews were “significantly” overdue.

“Although managers recognise serious weaknesses in the quality of the apprenticeship provision, they do not implement sufficient and coordinated quality improvement actions to ensure that apprentices receive an acceptable quality of training,” the report adds. 

They also said the “lack of a stable workforce” meant apprentices would often repeat the same lessons, and that tutors do not give enough guidance on how to improve work, or correct mistakes.

Beaumont, the operations director, said the provider “does take [the criticisms] very seriously”, and said the criticism “didn’t come to any surprise”.

But he pointed to significant recruitment problems over the last year and a half, and rising costs in apprenticeship delivery as reasons for their decision to halt apprenticeship provision. For instance, in the groundworks provision, he said costs “have gone through the roof” while the funding has remained the same.

Beaumont also reiterated the provider was “still committed” to delivering its boot camps, and that they “intend to grow” those courses. The skills boot camps received strong praise from Ofsted, which said learners leave their courses “well prepared” to work in the sectors they trained for.