As with many institutions in further education, it has not been an easy twelve months for apprenticeship training providers. Inflation’s impact on running costs and salary pressures have forced some providers to leave the apprenticeship market altogether and the government has been prompted into “exceptionally” reviewing the funding bands of 20 high-value apprenticeships.
Starts on the programme are 5.1% lower than a year ago and the impact has been felt most worryingly in the younger age groups and at the lower levels. Concerns about post-pandemic programme completion rates have also been well documented. Therefore it is perfectly reasonable to wonder why a medium-sized employability and skills provider like Twin Group should decide that now is a good time to start offering apprenticeships.
In the latter half of 2022, Twin Group completed the purchase of eTraining, a South East registered apprenticeship training provider. Despite the current economic challenges, the transaction certainly wasn’t a fire sale because eTraining is a respected Ofsted grade 2 provider with a very solid 25-year track-record in delivering apprenticeships and adult skills programmes.
For the owners and management of eTraining who remain in the business, the attractions of becoming part of Twin Group were mainly twofold. Firstly they knew that my fellow directors at Twin and I were willing to make a significant investment, both in terms of finance and resources, to preserve what has been achieved and secondly eTraining was gaining access to the Group’s markets, systems and clients with a view to growing substantially over the long term. In respect of the latter, Twin will support eTraining’s response to changing employer and regional skills needs which are resulting in new and in-work progression opportunities to promote economic growth locally and nationally.
