Overhead view of a student studying
FT21P1 Overhead view of a student studying Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Learndirect, the UK’s largest adult training provider, has blamed the government’s austerity programme for its failure to meet the education regulator’s minimum quality standards.

The company, which was privatised by David Cameron’s coalition government in 2011, on Thursday complained that being forced to “manage a reduction in central government funding” was part of the reason why its standards had deteriorated so sharply that Ofsted declared it an “inadequate provider”.

Following the official publication of Ofsted’s damning report – which Learndirect had asked the high court to suppress – the company said it had to deal with a 50% dive in its government funding.

“Like all providers in the sector, we’ve had to manage a reduction in central government funding,” a company spokesman said. “For Learndirect Ltd this totals a 50% reduction in our adult skills funding over the last five years. These funding reductions were made at short notice and required significant changes to the business for it to remain viable.

“Our new senior management team, with the support of our stakeholders, has moved quickly to ensure the business responds to the challenges this poses. This includes diversifying our income streams and starting to address areas that require development.”

The Ofsted report, which was finally published on Thursday, said Learndirect’s directors and senior managers had “failed to take swift and decisive action to stem the decline in performance over the past three years”.

Oftsed found that the company, which has paid out tens of millions of pounds to its owners and managers since privatisation, “requires improvement” or is “inadequate” in all seven areas of its inspection criteria. The inspectors listed 11 areas in which Learndirect was an “inadequate provider” and found just three “strengths” of the business.

“Until very recently, company directors and senior leaders presided over a sustained decline in performance across all programmes,” Ofsted inspectors said in the report. “The proportion of learners and apprentices achieving their qualifications and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment had deteriorated significantly. Leaders and managers at all levels of the organisation failed to oversee and challenge the particularly poor provision delivered by apprenticeship subcontractors.”

The report said Learndirect’s apprenticeship training was a particular concern. “Too many apprentices receive insufficient training to develop new skills, and they do not receive enough off-the-job training,” the report said. “Too many 16- to 19-year-old learners on traineeships do not complete their programmes.”

Ofsted said the proportion of apprentices completing their training on time had declined significantly over the last three years to “very low” levels. It said 70% of apprentices failed to meet the minimum standards and six in 10 did not achieve their apprenticeship on time.

The company, which is responsible for the training of almost 73,000 people, received £158m of Department for Education funding in the year to July 2017. The department has said it will not grant Learndirect any new contracts and will cease funding the company by July 2018.

However, the owners of Learndirect are continuing to win government-approved apprenticeship contracts via a separate company – Learndirect Apprenticeships – that they set up last year.

Learndirect had asked a high court judge to suppress the report, warning that its publication could lead to the “catastrophic” withdrawal of government funding and the possible collapse of the company.

The company sought to reassure its trainees and employees that it is financially stable. “The business is well-supported by our stakeholders and will continue to meet its contractual obligations and the needs of our learners as usual,” a spokesman said. “Our new senior management team, with the support of our stakeholders, has moved quickly to ensure the business responds to the challenges this poses.”

Learndirect is 65%-owned by Lloyds Development Capital, the private equity arm of Lloyds Bank.

[“Source-theguardian”]