OCTA closes training arm after critical Ofsted judgment

A care charity has closed its training arm following a critical Ofsted inspection which called out “extremely low” apprenticeship achievement rates.

Oasis Care and Training Agency (OCTA), founded in the 1990s and based in London, is a £10 million turnover home care and transport charity that branched out into apprenticeship and skills bootcamp training in recent years.

But, in a full inspection in February, Ofsted handed it an ‘urgent improvement’ judgment after finding the quality and performance of its apprenticeship training had declined as leaders failed to track progress and keep “consistently correct records”.

The education watchdog found that apprentices “struggle” to keep on top of their learning, with their employers often failing to give them “sufficient time and opportunity” to complete their studies and apply their learning.

This left some feeling “frustrated”, under pressure and choosing to leave before completion.

According to a follow-up Ofsted monitoring report published this week, the charity’s leaders have now stopped delivering apprenticeships and will prioritise helping the remaining 35 apprentices complete their training. Another 30 who are on a break in learning will transfer to alternative providers.

OCTA also “no longer has funding” for health and social care skills bootcamps from the Greater London Authority, worth about £470,000 in a “payment by results” grant for 2026-27.

The report added that leaders have recently closed the training arm of the business and most staff have been made redundant.

According to its latest accounts, the charity employs 475 staff, with 435 working on its social care service. It is not clear how many have lost their jobs.

DfE statistics show the charity had only 10 achievements in 2024-25, and “low” recorded in every previous year, against about 100 starts since 2020-21.

Leadership and governance at the provider was also graded ‘needs attention’, with inspectors noting they did not have “sufficient oversight” of training, were not informed enough to make the right decisions and did not give managers proper support to improve provision.

OCTA was approached for comment.

It is the latest apprenticeship provider that appears to have had its contract terminated after a red rating for the achievement evaluation area under Ofsted’s new report card system.

Blame Brexit

Training was a small part of OCTA’s business model, with most of its income coming from local authority-funded care at home in central, south and west London, as well as transport, recruitment and cleaning services.

The charity was founded in the early 1990s to provide support and home care services for elderly Somali people in south-east London.

According to its 2024-25 accounts, the charity’s care business was “badly affected” by workforce gaps created by Brexit.

Inspections by health and care watchdog Care and Quality Commission of its home care services include a ‘good’ grade overall for OCTA and its central London branch, but ‘requires improvement’ for its west London branch.