Guidance

Post-16 intervention and accountability

Published 18 April 2024

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-16-intervention-and-accountability/post-16-intervention-and-accountability

We allocate funding to providers of education and skills training for young people and adults. We hold providers to account for their performance to ensure they:

  • meet our requirements for financial sustainability
  • consistently raise standards

Skills for jobs: lifelong learning for opportunity and growth sets out our approach to how we will:

  • oversee the sector
  • provide support
  • intervene, where necessary, to address serious issues

There are differences in the way we intervene depending on the type of provider. For specific information, providers should always refer to their own:

  • accountability agreement
  • funding agreement
  • contract for services

We publish core templates of these documents each year.

FE corporations (colleges), sixth-form colleges and designated institutions should refer to the guidance on college oversight and intervention.

Independent training providers

We will terminate independent training providers contracts when:

  • Ofsted have graded them as inadequate
  • they meet one of the financial intervention triggers

Where we have evidence that learners’ interests would be best served by maintaining the contract, we will issue strict contractual conditions with rigorous monitoring. If the provider fails to improve, we will terminate the contract immediately.

Providers should use the contact form within the Customer Help Centre and select ‘I would like to contact a Case Manager’ if they have any queries.

Local authorities

Where we fund local authorities to deliver FE provision that is in scope for inspection by Ofsted, we will take into account Ofsted’s inspection findings. This includes any published monitoring visits. Where Ofsted judge them to be inadequate, we could:

  • terminate the contract
  • issue a notice of additional conditions of funding
  • refer them to the FE Commissioner for an assessment of the capacity and capability of the current leadership and management

Where the provider needs to improve, we will use the recommendations from the Ofsted and FE Commissioner reports as additional conditions for continued funding. Non-compliance with these recommendations could result in further action.  

We do not undertake financial assessments of local authorities.

Apprenticeship training providers (all provider types)

To understand what may trigger intervention action, providers should refer to the apprenticeship accountability framework policy.

The framework is for all providers currently delivering apprenticeships, and sits alongside:

Special post-16 institutions for high needs students

Special post-16 institutions have places commissioned and funded by local authorities. We fund them under a grant agreement. We assess the financial health of special post-16 institutions on the same basis as independent training providers.

Where financial or education performance is at risk or underperforming, we work in partnership with the local authority where the provider is located. This makes sure we take the right action, subject to the circumstances and in the best interests of learners. This may include placing the provider in intervention.

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