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Training provider chief urges government rethink over coronavirus payments

Head of Performance Through People says scores of independent training providers could close if they are not helped financially as apprenticeship training halts due to pandemic

The head of a West Midlands private training provider says hundreds of firms in the sector could close unless the Government rethinks its stance on funding for independent training providers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Rob Colbourne, managing director of Performance Through People, said providers were facing an "immediate and very serious cash flow" challenge as a result of the Government's decision to deny guaranteed funding to apprenticeship training providers.

The Department for Education (DfE) announced this week a raft of measures aimed at addressing issues facing the further education and training sector as the coronavirus pandemic takes hold.

Among them was the decision to deny guaranteed funding to apprenticeship training providers just days after announcing the opposite approach for grant-funded, further education colleges.

Private training providers work with employers to give in-class education to apprentices alongside their on-the-job training, with the vast majority of their funding coming from the DfE.

But Mr Colbourne says they have now been left in limbo as a result of the new guidance released by the DfE whose policy states it "does not allow payment for services in advance of delivery".

Funding for apprenticeships cannot be made to private training providers until the training has taken place but this has all been put on hold because of covid-19.

Mr Colbourne has written to 15 West Midlands MPs asking them to contact Education Secretary Gavin Williamson and urge him to re-think his department's stance.