Guidance

APAR conditions of acceptance

Updated 11 December 2024

Applies to England

These conditions of acceptance on to the apprenticeship provider and assessment register (APAR) are to protect government funding and apprentice needs. 

Admission to and removal from the APAR is at the discretion of the Department for Education (DfE).

These conditions apply to all apprenticeship training providers:

• currently on the APAR
• accepted on to the APAR after 1 August 2023
• that make applications or reapplications to the APAR from 1 August 2023

DfE may, at its discretion and at any time:

• revise any of these conditions
• add new conditions

If you are already on the register, any revisions to the conditions will be applied in relation to your organisation from the date they become effective. This does not depend on the date you were admitted to the register.

Conditions of acceptance for apprenticeship training providers

Condition 1: application process

We expect your organisation to have complied with the APAR application processes.

Condition 2: re-applying

If your organisation is invited to re-apply, we expect you to have re-applied by the date specified.

Condition 3: providing information

We do not expect your organisation to have provided inadequate, incomplete or misleading information in its application. We may require you to evidence examples provided in the application.

Condition 4: informing us of changes

If there is a material change in the information in your organisation’s application, we expect your organisation to:

• inform us of any change within 1 calendar month
• co-operate with any enquiry we may make at all times

Failure to do so determines the provider as high risk as set out in section 5.1.1. VIII of the DfE policy on funding higher risk organisations and subcontractors (or any superseding policy).

Condition 5: gap in provision exceptions

If your organisation’s application was successful through the ‘gap in provision’ exceptions process (which began in September 2021), your organisation:

• must deliver the apprenticeship standard in which you were nominated to deliver within 3 months of entry on to the APAR, through or with the employer that supported your application
• can only deliver the apprenticeship standards listed on your APAR application, unless you have had agreement from DfE to expand to other apprenticeship standards

Condition 6: delivery timelines

We expect your organisation to:

• directly deliver apprenticeship training within 6 months of being listed on the APAR, if you are a main or employer provider
• deliver apprenticeship training as a subcontractor within 6 months of being listed on the APAR, if you are a supporting provider
• not have a period of non-delivery longer than 6 months in duration

Accredited initial teacher training providers will be permitted to have a period of 18 months inactivity before being in scope for market exit. This is due to the way these providers recruit for the level 6 teacher apprenticeship standard.

Condition 7: funding agreements

We do not expect your organisation to:

• be in breach of a funding agreement you hold with DfE
• have had an apprenticeship funding agreement terminated by DfE
• have requested to terminate your organisation’s apprenticeship funding agreement held with DfE

Condition 8: higher risk organisations

We do not expect your organisation to fall within the criteria set out in DfE policy on funding higher risk organisations and subcontractors (or any superseding policy).

Condition 9: changes of leadership or ownership

We expect you to notify us 12 weeks prior to a change of ownership or control in your organisation.

If no apprenticeship delivery has taken place prior to the change, you may be removed from the APAR rather than being required to re-apply to the APAR.

If apprenticeship delivery has taken place prior to the change, the new organisation may be removed or be required to re-apply to the APAR.

Condition 10: financial health

We do not expect your organisation to be assessed by DfE as having ‘inadequate’ financial health and be unable to provide the assurances requested by DfE at that time.

Condition 11: inadequate Ofsted inspection grade

We do not expect your organisation to be graded ‘inadequate’ for apprenticeships by Ofsted or ‘inadequate’ for overall effectiveness under its further education and skills remit, where there is no separate Ofsted grade for apprenticeships.

Condition 12: Ofsted monitoring visits

We do not expect your organisation to have 2 consecutive Ofsted monitoring visits resulting in one or more ‘insufficient’ progress reports.

Condition 13: subcontractors

If you have subcontracted provision as a main provider or employer provider, we expect you to follow all apprenticeship subcontracting funding rules, including submitting subcontractor declarations.

If your organisation is the supporting provider, we will determine non-delivery through seeing if your organisation appears as a subcontractor in the sub-contractor declarations.

Summary

Apprenticeship training providers

If an apprenticeship training provider does not comply with any of the above conditions, DfE may, at its discretion, take one or more of the following actions.

Review all apprenticeship training providers within your group structure that are admitted on to the APAR

This review will consider whether organisations within the group structure are complying with:

• the conditions of acceptance
• the DfE policy on funding higher risk organisations and subcontractors
• apprenticeship funding rules
• performance management rules
• any other DfE rules or policy

Require your apprenticeship training provider to re-apply for admission to the APAR

Any re-application will be considered in accordance with the rules and guidance applicable at that time of re-application and based on the information contained in that re-application.

Remove your apprenticeship training provider organisation from the APAR

If DfE takes the decision to remove a provider from the APAR because of meeting one or more of the criteria of the DfE policy on funding higher risk organisations and subcontractors, DfE will not normally consider a further application for registration on to the APAR for a period of 3 years from the date of the letter confirming removal from the register.