{"id":380298,"date":"2026-04-07T22:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/380298\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T22:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:22:15","slug":"healthcare-provider-stops-new-starts-amid-ofsted-urgent-improvement-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/380298\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare provider stops new starts amid Ofsted \u2018urgent improvement\u2019 verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"

A healthcare apprenticeship provider has paused starts while it battles with poor achievement rates that led to Ofsted dishing out multiple \u2018urgent improvement\u2019 judgments.<\/p>\n

Hertfordshire-based Averee Ltd received the lowest possible rating for both leadership and governance and achievement in a report published today<\/a> under the watchdog\u2019s new report card system.<\/p>\n

The provider, which mostly trains adult care worker apprentices online, saw its overall apprenticeship achievement rate fall 12 percentage points from 36.2 per cent in 2023-24 to 24.2 per cent in 2024-25, compared to the national average of 65.4 per cent.<\/p>\n

Inspectors found leaders had a \u201csuperficial understanding\u201d of the provider\u2019s strengths and weaknesses, with poor oversight leading to ineffective tracking of apprentice progress. While leaders recognised the need to improve retention and completion, Ofsted said their actions had failed to deliver results.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Averee said the company had already taken a \u201cproactive\u201d decision to pause recruitment in July 2025 to focus on improving quality and outcomes for its existing learners.<\/p>\n

The report marks the second further education provider to receive the lowest grade since Ofsted scrapped overall effectiveness judgments in favour of a five-point scale across multiple areas, ranging from \u2018exceptional\u2019 to \u2018urgent improvement\u2019. The first was JS Consult,<\/a> another healthcare apprenticeship provider with similarly weak achievement rates.<\/p>\n

At the time of inspection, Averee had 51 adult apprentices, most studying level 2 and 3 adult care programmes and level 5 leader in adult care. A small number were enrolled on higher-level care and management standards. Training is delivered largely online.<\/p>\n

Inspectors identified widespread weaknesses in delivery. Too few apprentices complete their programmes on time and too many fail altogether. Many learners are unclear about what they need to do to finish their apprenticeship and are poorly prepared for final assessments.<\/p>\n

Those who fall behind are not supported effectively to catch up, while leaders were criticised for setting low expectations that fail to motivate apprentices or ensure timely progress.<\/p>\n

English, maths and digital skills development was also found to be poor. Staff do not consistently correct written English errors, leading apprentices to repeat mistakes, while spoken English is not developed well enough to prepare learners for professional discussions at their final assessment.<\/p>\n

Although recent interventions such as additional mock tests have been introduced, inspectors said these are too new to show any impact.<\/p>\n

Ofsted acknowledged that leaders have a clear aim to make training accessible to the healthcare workforce and are now rethinking their strategy \u2013 including whether to continue offering apprenticeships in the sector at all.<\/p>\n

Despite this, safeguarding arrangements were deemed effective, and apprentices who remain on programme benefit from strong pastoral support. Learners reported feeling safe and said tutors help them manage their wellbeing and build resilience.<\/p>\n

Averee received three \u2018needs attention\u2019 ratings, including for inclusion, curriculum and teaching, and participation and development.<\/p>\n

The provider argued that external pressures in the healthcare sector, including service closures and workforce changes among a small pool of employer partners, have disproportionately affected achievement rates. The provider pointed to an in-year retention rate of 80 per cent as evidence of \u201cstrong\u201d learner support and engagement.<\/p>\n

Under government accountability rules, an \u2018urgent improvement\u2019 judgment places apprenticeship providers in an \u201cat risk\u201d category, typically triggering intervention from the\u00a0Department for Education\u00a0and potentially leading to contract termination.<\/p>\n

Averee said it is working closely with officials to secure a \u201cstable and high-quality path forward\u201d while reviewing its long-term apprenticeship strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur priority remains ensuring that all learners are supported to successfully complete their programmes,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain committed to acting with transparency and integrity throughout this process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A healthcare apprenticeship provider has paused starts while it battles with poor achievement rates that led to Ofsted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-380298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}