Trainees still left high and dry following disgraced firm’s collapse

3aaa was the subject of an ESFA investigation last year

A third of all apprentices who were formerly training with scandal-hit Derby firm 3aaa are still without a replacement provider some seven months after it collapsed, according to reports.

FE Week says that 1,321 of the 4,229 trainees left without placements when 3aaa went under last October are still in limbo as of May 10 this year.

The report suggests that some of the training providers that have taken on the apprentices have been branded as “insufficient” by Oftsed, while four have been rated ‘requires improvement’ and three have never been inspected at all.

Some 500 jobs were lost after training provider 3aaa went into administration last year. Derbyshire Constabulary is leading an enquiry into the company following an Education and Skills Funding Agency investigation (ESFA) investigation into the company following unknown claims by a whistleblower.

3aaa collapsed afterthe ESFA withdrew its £16.5m skills contract. It is alleged that the company manipulated Individualised Learner Records to artificially inflate achievement rates.

Co-founders Peter Marples and Di McEvoy-Robinson resigned from the firm in September. According to his LinkedIn profile, Marples says 3aaa failed because of regulatory issues which he is “still in the dark about”.

According to a report in FE Week last October, 3aaa spent £1.6m of government-funded cash on sponsorship deals with sports clubs, including £1.3m with Derbyshire County Cricket Club.

FE Week reported that other sponsorship deals signed by 3aaa included: £382,610 with Derby County Football Club; £203,999 with Norwich Football Club; £175,800 with Rotherham Football Club; £146,160 with Leicester Tigers; £132,900 with Reading Football Club; £50,000 with the Derbyshire FA; £46,200 with Birmingham City Football Club; £28,750 with Norwich Community Football Club; and £25,000 with Team Rallye.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close