600 jobs at risk as Elmfield Training in administration

A WARRINGTON-based training firm, reported to have received more than £100m in public funds for vocational training provision and the subject of a Skills Funding Agency investigation, has gone into administration.

Elmfield Training, which employs 600 people, was also the subject of a BBC Newsnight investigation at the start of the month. It found that employees were routinely asked to alter forms to claim funding for staff who never wanted to do an apprenticeship.

The Skills Funding Agency, which pays for apprenticeship training, issued a notice of serious breach to Elmfield Training on July 15, which included conditions to limit its publicly funded business activities to those learners that are already on a skills programme.

Elmfield Training agreed not to engage any new learners in publicly funded skills programmes until the agency was satisfied with progress being made. Although the SFA investigation is ongoing, it has lifted its blanket ban on new learners at Elmfield Training, following a positive Ofsted report.

The SFA said: “We take any allegation against an organisation involved in the delivery of skills extremely seriously. We are currently investigating the credibility of these claims and we are not able to comment on specific details during a live investigation.

“The agency’s priority is to protect the interests of learners, employers and the tax payer and we work to ensure existing learners and apprentices are supported, while Government funding is allocated appropriately.”

It added: “Should any whistleblower have information of irregularity in relation to public funds provided by the Agency, we would encourage them to contact us directly and their evidence will then be considered in line with our investigations procedure.”

According to Newsnight, the majority of government funding received by Elmfield was paid to train apprentices for a single employer, Morrisons supermarket. That contract has earned Elmfield more than £60m since 2010, it said.

In July, an Ofsted inspection awarded Elmfield a grade 4 – the lowest grade possible – for the Morrisons training. Morrisons switched from Elmfield to another training provider in August.

Two former staff told Newsnight they were routinely asked to change documents to claim government funding for Morrisons staff who did not want to do the English or maths training required to complete an apprenticeship.

In a statement Elmfield Training said it had faced “a number of very difficult challenges” in the past few months which it said had recently intensified.

It added: “The board and its advisers have been working hard with major stakeholders in recent weeks to try and put the business on a sounder long term footing. These efforts are continuing in order to seek to preserve jobs and protect learners.

“Whilst this is on-going the directors have taken steps to protect the company through an administration process.”