Half of the 88 training providers to win funding in the government’s national adult education budget (AEB) tender did not hold a procured AEB contract last year, FE Week analysis has found.
Outcomes for the delayed procurement were communicated to providers last month and the list of winners has now been released.
A total of 208 independent providers previously held procured AEB contracts with the agency, but this number has been slashed by almost 60 per cent to just 88.
They are sharing a £73.9 million pot.
FE Week analysis of this latest procurement result and the ESFA’s allocations spreadsheet for last year shows that 44 of the 88 the winning bidders did not previously hold a procured allocation.
And two of the winners are colleges which already receive grant funding for AEB from the agency.
The contracts awarded in this latest procurement are for the 2021/22 academic year. The list of winners was first published by Carley Consult earlier today.
Outcomes were originally supposed to be communicated on June 24. The ESFA then said they could not meet that deadline and bidders were told the outcomes would be ready for June 28, only for this date to be further pushed back. Results were finally communicated two weeks before the contract start date.
Read the next edition of FE Week for further analysis of the results of this procurement, which will be published on September 10.
The list of AEB tender winners and their allocation:
Provider Name |
Allocation |
Child Care Company Old Windsor |
£2,999,959 |
Go Train |
£2,999,865 |
Skills Training |
£2,999,694 |
Capita |
£2,804,943 |
Acacia Training |
£2,479,420 |
Construction Skills People |
£1,999,740 |
GP Strategies Training |
£1,964,325 |
Axia Solutions |
£1,956,917 |
Plato Training |
£1,912,200 |
Specialist Trade Courses |
£1,829,605 |
Portland Training |
£1,742,743 |
Professional Training Solutions |
£1,683,116 |
Skills to Group |
£1,617,350 |
CT Skills Limited |
£1,422,105 |
Babington Business College |
£1,358,749 |
Academy Transformation Trust |
£1,333,278 |
Qube Qualifications & Development |
£1,235,568 |
Acorn Training Consultants |
£1,233,000 |
Learning Curve Group |
£1,229,462 |
Profound Services |
£1,226,339 |
Impact Futures Training |
£1,186,126 |
TRN Train |
£1,156,079 |
Back 2 Work Complete Training |
£1,132,777 |
Eat That Frog CIC |
£1,013,745 |
Resources N E |
£988,190 |
Community Training Portal |
£969,926 |
Seetec Business Technology Centre |
£926,228 |
SCL Education & Training |
£903,624 |
Mainstream Training |
£897,721 |
Strive Training London |
£882,053 |
SCCU |
£855,530 |
Aspire Sporting Academy |
£847,799 |
Acorn Training |
£821,259 |
South West Association of Training Providers |
£809,402 |
Kiwi Education |
£780,895 |
Futures Advice Skills & Employment |
£769,973 |
Eden Training Solutions |
£755,056 |
JBC Skills Training |
£742,936 |
Derby Business College |
£742,531 |
Voluntary & Community Sector LSC |
£727,000 |
Skills Edge Training |
£723,020 |
BCTG |
£696,418 |
B Skill |
£692,767 |
Antrec |
£676,941 |
Forward Trust |
£612,064 |
Think Employment |
£611,471 |
JGA |
£599,874 |
Train 4 |
£590,794 |
Waltham International College |
£589,210 |
Genesis Training Group |
£553,251 |
Northern Care Training |
£543,632 |
Fareham College |
£542,979 |
Functional Skills |
£506,406 |
Best Practice Training & Development |
£475,890 |
Education & Training Skills |
£452,100 |
North Staffordshire Engineering GTA |
£446,190 |
Workpays |
£433,908 |
Total Training Provision |
£419,428 |
Access Training East Midlands |
£411,393 |
Personal Trainer |
£398,796 |
Northern Regeneration CIC |
£365,865 |
Aspiration Training |
£353,831 |
Talented Training |
£346,018 |
Keir Training & Recruitment Ltd |
£339,326 |
Achievement Training |
£334,496 |
Fairway Training Healthcare |
£318,667 |
Citrus Training |
£310,153 |
E Training |
£309,215 |
Creative Process Digital |
£301,860 |
Bright Direction Training |
£299,680 |
Plumpton College |
£297,975 |
Thelightbulb |
£269,067 |
Finchale Training College |
£265,123 |
Train Together |
£260,742 |
ALM Training Services |
£250,889 |
Building Heroes Education Foundation |
£236,778 |
Nottinghamshire County Council |
£224,498 |
DTK Business Services |
£219,134 |
Development Manager |
£194,895 |
Evolve Your Future |
£188,137 |
Cedars Health & Beauty Centres |
£186,553 |
FC Training College |
£185,567 |
Mi Computsolutions Incorporated |
£172,256 |
Logistics Skills & Consultancy |
£172,136 |
Communicators Training Associates |
£162,344 |
Number 4 Group |
£151,068 |
Gateway Education London |
£150,678 |
JM Excellence in Training |
£150,147 |
And learning curve group have 5 of these contracts through their various off shoots worth around £5m
No doubt they’ll be delivering their usual top quality online learning as well. Do any of these learners get a job as a result I wonder?
One provider. Four companies in the group. Four identical bids. Four totally different scores. One big scandal.
Yes, total inconsistency in scoring across similar bids, although that is par for the course with ESFA (and precursor organisation) tenders in my extensive experience.
A minimum contract value was established to reduce the level of risk and possibly stop funding ending up in a small number of hands. Fifteen minutes on Companies House would have revealed that the same company (and the same directors) control four other successful bidders, totalling £5m of taxpayers money. Learning Curve must be delighted with themselves and you have to commend their foresight…and bid writing. But what’s to stop them buying more Trojan horses next year and doing more of the same? Not quite cricket! Feel really sorry for the quality providers that missed out.
Would be interesting to see if these providers previously held contracts and how much of their previous allocations they actually delivered across what parts of the country and what qualifications.
The biggest winner on here (Child Care Company Old Windsor) also own another big winner on the list – Impact Futures. Their websites are more or less identical. Is there really a different offer for learners/employers? They win over £4m between them. Unbelievable!