One of England’s largest apprenticeship providers was left out of this year’s qualification achievement rates (QARs) after a systems error caused the duplication of 700 learners, leaving its figures “unreliable”.
Several other big providers that were included in the government’s official performance tables told FE Week they experienced similar problems but did not spot the issues until after the deadline for challenges, adding that their true rates are higher than those published.
But officials have insisted the issue was not widespread and is understood to not have had a significant impact on national results.
Apprenticeship achievement rates were published at national and provider-level on March 31 for the 2021/22 academic year.
