The Department for Education have released their common findings from assurance work on post-16 education providers for 2023/24. While it makes for some very interesting reading, it doesn’t contain many surprises for the Solvendis team as the findings align with what has been identified in our own audit work. In 2023/24 we carried out 44 […]
There is no doubt that for a Governance Board to be effective (Advisory or Decision Making), Board reporting also needs to be effective. Acknowledging that an Ofsted inspection focuses on only certain aspects of a Board’s responsibilities, it is noteworthy that board reporting is one of the most commonly recurring criticisms, with inspectors invariably pointing […]
The number of approved APAR providers looks set to fall below 1500 for the first time since the apprenticeship reforms. Just over 70 new providers were added to the register in 2024, but we still saw a net reduction of 49 organisations approved to deliver. This second chart provides an analysis by date of first […]
In our experience too many providers either: Read and sign their apprenticeship contract with the DfE/ESFA without sharing important content with key staff; or Just sign it without reading it It’s no surprise, therefore, that we overlook one or two key contractual clauses which should be reflected in our policies, processes and practices. Examples of […]
