England’s former largest apprenticeship provider, 3aaa, hit the headlines in 2018 after a government investigation into alleged manipulation of achievement rates paused an Ofsted inspection, resulted in contract termination, administration, and a referral to the police.
A key figure behind the company, Peter Marples, a self-declared “successful entrepreneur” who previously owned Derby County Football Club, has since maintained the company’s innocence and pledged to have his day in court over the alleged scandal.
He has stuck to his word.
Marples and three other members of his family who had shares in the company recently filed a lawsuit against the Department for Education in the high court seeking damages of at least £37 million.
But the case has nothing to do with the decision to terminate 3aaa’s funding contracts, collapse or referral to the police in 2018. Rather, it centres on the DfE’s Education and Skills Funding Agency’s refusal to sign off on the sale of the company back in 2016.
