Guidance

Apprenticeship training provider accountability framework and specification

Updated 11 April 2024

Applies to England

This apprenticeship accountability framework and its specification inform our assessment of the quality of provision delivered by apprenticeship training providers.

We expect training providers to routinely review and assess the quality and success of their individual programmes. We expect them to take proactive action to improve their provision and shape their apprenticeship provision offer.  This framework supports training providers to proactively:

• review their own performance
• identify potential quality issues
• support their continuous improvement

Accountability policy for apprenticeship training providers

It is important to protect the experience of all apprentices, increase achievements and drive-up quality. We also want to ensure that pockets of poor provision do not undermine the performance of apprenticeship provision more broadly and brand of the programme. Apprenticeships rely on the commitment and effective collaboration between an employer, an apprentice, and a training provider. Whilst all parties have a key role to play in the success of an apprenticeship, we know that the quality of training is a major factor in whether apprentices successfully complete their apprenticeship.

This framework provides a holistic, timely and data-led approach to training provider accountability. The framework provides a wide range of quality indicators with specified threshold which providers can use to support self-improvement. These will reduce the likelihood that we’ll need to intervene. We’ll use this information to determine when and where intervention may be needed.

Now that the framework is established, we’ll be taking a more robust approach in its application. We’re retaining the same indicators, but we’re introducing higher thresholds for 3 of the 10 indicators and removing the 250-apprentice threshold that applied to 3 of the measures.

The thresholds in this framework reflect our minimum expectations. You should not use them as targets or aspirations. Providers with large volumes of learners should expect close monitoring and performance management designed to effect continuous improvement.

Our stronger approach will take immediate effect. We’ll use the new thresholds will be in performance conversations from June 2024, when the supporting data dashboard is published with the updated thresholds and applied to current and historic data. We’ll use the framework to assess performance throughout the academic year to ensure that where we need to take intervention action, this is timely and proportionate. At our discretion, we’ll make full use of the range of existing contractual measures available that are detailed in your provider funding agreement. We’ll evaluate each case according to its own circumstances. This may include acting where performance across the different indicators compares poorly with other providers delivering similar provision, or where there have been ongoing performance conversations but agreed improvements have not been realised for reasons within the provider’s control.

We’ll continue to consider relevant contextual factors that may be impacting a provider’s performance where these can be appropriately evidenced.

Indicators we use to review provider performance

Reviews will assess the latest available data for each indicator for the current academic year and the previous academic year (where applicable).

We’ll continue to keep the indicators and their thresholds under review to ensure they are set at the right level.

Quality indicators and thresholds

Outcomes from Ofsted inspection

This is the outcome from your most recent Ofsted inspection. We’ll consider organisations to be ‘at risk’ if Ofsted grades them:

• inadequate for ‘apprenticeships’
• inadequate for ‘overall effectiveness’ under its further education (FE) and skills remit, where there is no separate apprenticeship grade

The contractual action we may take in these circumstances is set out in your funding agreement.

We’ll prioritise providers under the accountability framework if they’ve not yet been inspected by Ofsted, or if they’ve been inspected by Ofsted and received:

• a ‘requires improvement’ grade at full inspection
• an ‘insufficient progress’ at a new provider monitoring visit

Apprenticeship achievement rates

Apprenticeship achievement rates are calculated as part of qualification achievement rates (QAR).

We’ll assess organisations with an all-age apprenticeship achievement rate:

• of less than 50% as ‘at risk’
• greater than or equal to 50% and less than 60% as ‘needs improvement’

Apprenticeship retention rate

Apprenticeship retention rates are calculated as part of qualification achievement rates.

We’ll assess organisations with an all-age apprenticeship retention rate:

• of less than 52% as ‘at risk’
• greater than or equal to 52% and less than 62% as ‘needs improvement’

Employer feedback

This is collected through a questionnaire and displayed on the find apprenticeship training service.

Organisations with average employer feedback of less than 2.5 will be assessed as ‘needs improvement.’ 

Currently, the feedback rating shown on the find apprenticeship training platform is cumulative. However, to ensure we only review recent performance, the framework will use the most recent academic year rating for assessment against the threshold as shown on the supporting framework data dashboard for each provider. 

Apprentice feedback

This is collected through an apprentice’s ‘my apprenticeship’ account and displayed on the find apprenticeship training service.

We have introduced a threshold for this indicator. From June 2024, organisations with apprentice feedback of less than 2.5 will be assessed as ‘needs improvement’.

You can review apprentice feedback in the find apprenticeship training service, once 10 apprentices have responded.

Currently the feedback rating shown on the find apprenticeship training platform is cumulative. However, to ensure we only review recent performance, the framework will use the most recent academic year rating for assessment against the threshold, you should therefore refer to the data as shown on the accountability framework dashboard.

Supplementary indicators and thresholds

‘Total number of apprentices’ means all your apprentices within the academic year, regardless of their completion status. It includes:

• new starts
• existing apprentices
• apprentices on both apprenticeship standards and frameworks recorded in the individualised learner records (ILR) through funding models:
  • 35 (‘adult skills’)
  • 36 (‘apprenticeships’)
  • 81 (‘other adult’)

Apprentices who do not meet the qualifying period of a minimum 42 days are excluded. This is set out in the apprenticeship funding rules.

We may monitor the volume of leavers in the first 42 days of apprenticeships in future updates.

Off-the-job training

This is collected through the FRM37 report of financial assurance: monitoring post-16 funding.

We’ll assess organisations as ‘at risk’ if they have any of the following:

• more than 20 records with errors
• one or more apprentices reported with zero planned hours
• one or more apprentices with zero actual hours on apprenticeship completion

We’ll assess organisations as ‘needs improvement’ if they have either:

• more than 15 records for planned hours
• one or more records for actual hours

Withdrawals

This is where the ILR ‘completion status’ field is ‘3, the learner has withdrawn from the learning activities leading to the learning aim’.

We’ll assess organisations as ‘at risk’ if their withdrawals are greater than 35% of the total number of apprentices.

We’ll assess organisations as ‘needs improvement’ if either:

• their withdrawals are less than or equal to 35% and greater than 15% of the total number of apprentices
• more than 250 apprentices have withdrawn

From June 2024, the threshold for this indicator will change. We’ll assess organisations as ‘at risk’ if their withdrawals are greater than 20% of the total number of apprentices.

We’ll assess organisations as ‘needs improvement’ if their withdrawals are less than or equal to 20% and greater than 15% of the total number of apprentices.

Apprentices past planned end date

This indicator refers to apprentices who are continuing training past the date their planned learning end date or were past it when they completed their apprenticeship (it does not include the end point assessment period).

This includes apprentices where the ILR ‘completion status’ field is recorded as either:

• code 1 – the learner is continuing or intending to continue the learning activities leading to the learning aim
• code 2 – the learner has completed the learning activities leading to the learning aim

We’ll assess organisations with more than 15% of the total number of apprentices past their planned end date by 365 days or more as ‘at risk’.

We’ll assess organisations as ‘needs improvement’ if they have either:

• more than 15% of the total number of apprentices past their planned end date by 180 days or more but less than 365 days
• more than 250 apprentices past their planned end date, regardless of the length of time

From June 2024, the threshold for this indicator will change. We’ll assess organisations with more than 15% of the total number of apprentices past their planned end date by 180 days or more as ‘at risk’.

We’ll assess organisations as ‘needs improvement’ if they have more than 15% of the total number of apprentices past their planned end date by 90 days or more but less than 180 days.

Break in learning

This is where the ILR ‘completion status’ field is ‘6, learner has temporarily withdrawn from the aim due to an agreed break in learning’.

We’ll assess organisations with more than 15% of the total number of apprentices on a break in learning by 365 days or more as ‘at risk’.

We’ll assess organisations as ‘needs improvement’ if they have either:

• more than 15% of the total number of apprentices on a break in learning by 180 days or more and less than 365 days
• more than 250 apprentices on a break in learning, regardless of length

From June 2024: the threshold for this indicator will change. We’ll assess organisations with more than 10% of the total number of apprentices on a break in learning by 365 days or more as ‘at risk’.

We’ll assess organisations as ‘needs improvement’ if they have more than 10% of the total number of apprentices on a break in learning by 180 days or more but less than 365 days.

End-point assessment organisation (EPAO) data

This relates to apprentices:

• on apprenticeship standards only
• with no end-point assessment organisation in the ILR

It includes apprentices past their planned end date.

We’ll assess organisations with apprentices identified as having no end-point assessment organisation in the ILR:

• within 3 months of the planned end date as ‘at risk’
• within 3 to 6 months of the planned end date as ‘needs improvement’

The end-point assessment organisation in the ILR must be valid for the standard being delivered. It is the provider’s responsibility to ensure they select an appropriate EPAO for the apprenticeship standards they are delivering. Where our validation checks highlight instances of invalid EPAOs being selected, we may take this into account as part of your performance review.

Review process

We’ll continually monitor provider performance against the indicators and may contact providers at any point in the academic year to discuss where their performance falls below the thresholds.

Before a review

Case managers will identify providers that are ‘at risk’ or ‘needs improvement.’

They will contact you to set out where data indicates provision has fallen below any thresholds.

The case manager will invite you to have a management conversation. We expect you to respond promptly.

Consider whether there are mitigating factors and share any supporting evidence with your case manager before the conversation.

During the management conversation

The case manager will review provider data against the framework’s quality and supplementary indicators.

The discussion or correspondence is focused on where your data indicates performance is below required thresholds. We’ll discuss:

• evidenced reasons why performance is below our specified thresholds
• your track record
• capacity to improve, including evidence of action you may have already taken to improve and when you expect to see the impact, and progress in relation to improvement plans or targets we have previously agreed with you
• how your performance compares with sector or standard benchmarks (where appropriate)
• any other relevant contextual evidence

The case manager may ask for further information. You should provide this within the agreed time period.

After the review

Following the meeting, the case manager will inform you in writing about whether any follow-up action is required.

Range of interventions

After the management conversation, if we believe that poor quality provision is due to provider failure, we’ll intervene and take further action.

Our interventions will prioritise protecting apprentices’ interests. We may support you to improve your provision where you demonstrate this is possible in a timely manner.

Your funding agreement sets out the full range of intervention actions we may take. These include but are not limited to:

• require you to produce an improvement plan with associated targets
• restrict your ability to recruit new apprentices for one or multiple standards
• restrict your sub-contracting arrangements
• withhold or suspend funding for a fixed or indefinite period
• cap funding for delivery of new standards, for a fixed or indefinite period
• where necessary, terminate your contract
• put in place other contractual conditions as appropriate

No intervention

If you are ‘on track’ against all indicators, we’ll not contact you to arrange a review.

There may be instances where providers do not meet one or more of the quality indicators, but we decide that an immediate management conversation is not needed. For example, a provider may have an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted grade and we expect them to have the capacity to improve.

Contextual factors

We’ll take relevant contextual factors and a holistic view into account when we review your performance.

Apprentices with protected characteristics

Every apprentice deserves excellence in their training provision, and all those considering an apprenticeship need to know that apprenticeships are accessible and that they will be supported to achieve.

We expect providers to offer opportunities for training and progression that meet the needs of a range of apprentices and businesses. This is in line with your duties under the Equality Act 2010 not to discriminate against apprentices with protected characteristics. Some apprentices have a greater distance to travel to achieve full occupational competence on their chosen standard.

We’ll consider the profile of a provider’s cohort when we review their performance.

The provider guide to delivering high-quality apprenticeships provides guidance on the additional funding and support available to support different cohorts to achieve.

Small or new apprenticeship provision

When deciding on intervention action for underperforming providers, we’ll consider whether they:

• have small cohorts
• offer new or immature provision

We expect these providers to set realistic improvement targets as a priority. We’ll challenge them on reasonable progress and evidence of impact.

Data timeliness and accuracy

It is important that your data accurately reflects your apprentice population and performance at any point in the year. Your funding agreement sets out your obligations with regards to the accurate and timely reporting of data.

You can use the following tools to test its credibility:

• funding information service
• provider data self-assessment toolkit (PDSAT)
• post-16 monitoring reports dashboard in view your education data
• analyse FE data tool (AFED) – this includes an overarching dashboard for the quality view

Complaints and feedback

You can complain about an intervention through our customer help portal if you’re unable to resolve this with your case manager directly.

Framework policy principles

The framework is underpinned by the following principles:

Data-driven

We’ll use a wide range of quality indicators to give us a rounded overview of a provider’s delivery.

Risk-based

We’ll take a risk-based approach, using a range of quality indicators. These will focus on providers where there may be quality issues so we can intervene to protect apprentices’ interests.

Encourage self-improvement

We aim to:

• identify risks to quality early
• protect apprentices’ interests
• support self-improvement

Timeliness

We’ll monitor your performance data throughout the academic year. This ensures that management conversations and intervention happen earlier, where necessary.

We expect you to monitor and review your performance data throughout the academic year.

Proportionality

We’ll only take interventions as a result of a management conversation. Interventions are not automatic and we’ll consider previous or ongoing management conversations and track record.

We’ll take proportionate action to support providers to address quality issues, where they demonstrate they have the capacity to improve in a timely manner or that some performance issues are evidently beyond their control.