The majority of apprentices on one of the country’s largest discount retailer’s apprenticeship scheme have abandoned their training due to “ineffective initial advice and guidance”, Ofsted inspectors have said.
In an Ofsted report published today, inspectors graded B&M Retail’s apprenticeship programme as ‘inadequate’ for not planning a “sufficiently ambitious” programme, leaving apprentices to either stop their training or leave employment of B&M entirely.
During its late May inspection, the watchdog recorded just 17 apprentices aged over 19 at B&M retail sites across the country – a huge cut from the 167 apprentices recorded at its monitoring visit in February 2022. Apprentices were studying the level 5 operations or departmental manager apprenticeship standard, the level 3 team leader or supervisor standard or the level 2 customer service practitioner standard.
The report rated the employer provider ‘inadequate’ in three areas and ‘requires improvement’ in behaviour and attitudes and personal development.
