Official Statistics

Main findings: further education and skills inspections and outcomes as at 31 August 2021

Updated 3 March 2022

Applies to England

This is the main findings report for the further education and skills inspections and outcomes as at 31 August 2021 release. The following are also available:

• underlying data, tables and charts
• methodology
• pre-release access list

Introduction

This release contains:

• provisional data for the most recent inspections and outcomes as at 31 August 2021
• provisional data for inspections and monitoring visits carried out between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021

The number of providers publicly funded to deliver further education, training and/or apprenticeships has increased by 76% between 31 August 2017 and 31 August 2021. This is mainly as a result of the apprenticeship funding reforms introduced in 2018.

The proportion of providers judged good or outstanding as at 31 August 2021 was 83%, an increase of 2 percentage points since 31 August 2020.

Of the providers that had a judgement made on their apprenticeship provision, 81% were judged good or outstanding at their full inspection or were judged to be making at least reasonable progress at their new provider monitoring visit (NPMV).

Impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus)

During the 2020/21 reporting year (1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021), full inspections were only able to take place during the last 3 months, between June and August.

In the months when routine inspections were suspended due to the pandemic, we carried out 253 interim visits and 135 progress monitoring visits (see management information – further education and skills – as at 31 August 2021).

We did not carry out any full inspections of prisons or young offender institutions between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021. However, as part of our phased return to inspection, we carried out interim remote visits and progress monitoring visits alongside HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). By the 30 September 2021, HMIP had published 17 of the interim remote visits and 5 of the progress monitoring visits. At the progress monitoring visits, we judged 3 prisons to be making reasonable progress and 2 insufficient progress.

Provider numbers

The number of providers publicly funded to deliver further education, training and/or apprenticeships has increased by 76% between 31 August 2017 and 31 August 2021. This is mainly as a result of the apprenticeship funding reforms introduced in 2018.

Between 31 August 2020 and 31 August 2021, an additional 307 providers became publicly funded and started delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships. Over the same period, we stopped reporting on 126 providers because they either merged, ceased to be funded or stopped delivering. On 31 August 2021, there were 2,053 further education and skills providers publicly funded and delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships recorded on Ofsted’s systems. This is 181 more than on 31 August 2020 and 885 more than on 31 August 2017.

The additional 307 providers include 273 independent learning providers (including employer providers) and 26 higher education institutions. All but 25 of the independent learning providers are delivering apprenticeships. All of the additional higher education institutions are delivering level 6 and 7 apprenticeships, which Ofsted became responsible for inspecting on 1 April 2021.

Of the 126 providers that we no longer report on, 118 were independent learning providers (including employer providers). Of these, 44 providers (37%) started and stopped receiving funding and delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships before Ofsted could carry out any form of inspection. Of the 26 providers that left after receiving an NPMV, we had judged just over half (14) to be making insufficient progress in at least one theme.

The number of general further education colleges that we report on has continued to decline. This is mainly due to established colleges merging to form new entities. Since 1 September 2020, we have 3 new entities to report on, each a result of 2 established colleges merging together. In addition, 2 National Colleges have closed. As at 31 August 2021, there were 163 general further education colleges recorded on Ofsted’s systems, 5 less than as at 31 August 2020.

The percentage of further education and skills providers not yet inspected or visited has increased by 2 percentage points since 31 August 2020. This is due to the increase in the number of providers and routine inspections being suspended for 3 months of the year (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Number and proportion of further education and skills providers inspected or visited, over time

^{Number of providers in brackets.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible table format.}

In-year inspection volumes and outcomes

NPMVs accounted for almost three quarters of inspections (excluding interim and progress monitoring visits) carried out between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021.

In-year inspection volumes

In between the national lockdowns, we continued with our NPMVs, as these were the providers that we knew least about the quality of their provision and were therefore deemed to be the highest priority. We were able to return to full inspections of new providers from June 2021.

Between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021, we carried out a total of 239 NPMVs. This included 32 additional NPMVs to providers that were judged to be making insufficient progress against one or more themes at their previous NPMV and were due a full inspection. This was in place of a full inspection while routine inspection was suspended. This allowed us to reassess the providers in a timely and proportionate way and in the interests of learners. We carried out these 32 additional NPMVs between October and December 2020. The Education and Skills Funding Agency was able to take into account the outcome of the additional NPMVs when making intervention decisions. Since March 2021, we have carried out a further 207 NPMVs. This includes 8 safeguarding follow-up visits after an insufficient judgement for safeguarding was made at an NPMV.

We carried out 44 full inspections between 1 June 2021 and 31 August 2021. All of these were to independent learning providers (including employer providers) that had not previously been inspected.

In-year full inspection outcomes

Of the 44 further education and skills providers inspected in 2020/21, 4 were judged outstanding for overall effectiveness, 26 were judged good, 12 were judged requires improvement and 2 were judged inadequate.

Figure 2: Further education and skills providers’ full inspection outcomes by overall effectiveness, 2020/21

^{Number of inspections in brackets.
View data in an accessible table format.}

In-year NPMV outcomes

Around three quarters of providers were judged to be making at least reasonable progress in all themes at their NPMV in 2020/21. This is unchanged from last year.

Of the 231 NPMVs we carried out between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021, just over three quarters (76%) of providers were judged to be making at least reasonable progress in all themes. This is unchanged from 2019/20. We judged 19% to be making insufficient progress in at least one theme and 5% to be making insufficient progress in all themes.

At the 8 follow-up safeguarding visits, 2 providers were judged to still be making insufficient progress in safeguarding.

Figure 3: NPMV outcomes, over time

^{Number of NPMVs in brackets.
Based on monitoring visits carried out by 31 August each year.
Excludes follow-up safeguarding visits.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible table format.}

Most recent inspection outcomes

The proportion of providers judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection has increased by 2 percentage points since 31 August 2020.

On 31 August 2021, 52% of the 2,053 further education and skills providers had received a full inspection. Of these, 83% were judged to be good or outstanding at their most recent inspection, an increase of 2 percentage points from 31 August 2020. This increase is mainly as a result of providers judged requires improvement or inadequate no longer being in scope for inspection. Usually, this is because either the provider has lost its funding to deliver public education, training and/or apprenticeships or has closed.

Figure 4: Overall effectiveness of further education and skills providers at their most recent inspection, over time

^{Number of providers in brackets.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible table format.}

Quality of apprenticeship provision

On 31 August 2021, there were 1,598 providers funded and delivering apprenticeships in Ofsted’s systems. Of these, 1,175 (74%) had a judgement made on the quality of their apprenticeship provision at the time of their full inspection or NPMV.

Figure 5: Number of providers delivering apprenticeships on 31 August 2021, by type of inspection

^{View data in an accessible table format.}

Of the 1,175 providers that had a judgement made on their apprenticeship provision, 81% were judged good or outstanding at their full inspection or were judged to be making at least reasonable progress at their NPMV. This is a 2 percentage point increase from the previous year.

Figure 6: Quality of apprenticeship provision, over time

^{Number of providers in brackets.
View data in an accessible table format.}

Notes

The quality report for these official statistics contains an explanation of the methodology used and the relevant inspection frameworks, along with other useful information.

Glossary

Definitions of terms are within the statistical glossary.

Further information

Contact for comments or feedback

If you have any comments or feedback on this publication, you should contact Richard Jones on 03000 130 608 or Richard.Jones@ofsted.gov.uk.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical release: Angela Serjeant, John Hadler, Emily Green, Kyle Drury and Alex Peace.

Annex: data tables for figures

This section contains the underlying data in an accessible table format for all figures.

Data for Figure 1: Number and proportion of further education and skills providers inspected or visited, over time

Date as at	Total number of providers	% Not yet inspected	% Received new provider monitoring visit	% Received full inspection
31 August 2021	2053	15	33	52
31 August 2020	1872	13	29	58
31 August 2019	1904	22	23	55
31 August 2018	1682	37	4	59
31 August 2017	1168	12	0	88

See Figure 1.

Data for Figure 2: Further education and skills providers’ full inspection outcomes by overall effectiveness, 2020 to 2021

Reporting year	Total number of full inspection outcomes	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement	% Inadequate
2020 to 2021	44	9	59	27	5

See Figure 2.

Data for Figure 3: NPMV outcomes, over time

Reporting year	Total number of NPMVs	% Reasonable or significant in all themes	% Insufficient in at least one theme	% Insufficient in all themes
2020 to 2021	231	76	19	5
2019 to 2020	167	76	16	8
2018 to 2019	387	80	16	5
2017 to 2018	66	80	17	3

See Figure 3.

Data for Figure 4: Overall effectiveness of further education and skills providers at their most recent inspection, over time

Date as at	Total number of providers with an inspection judgement	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement	% Inadequate
31 August 2021	1069	13	69	15	2
31 August 2020	1083	13	68	15	4
31 August 2019	1050	14	67	14	4
31 August 2018	997	15	66	17	2
31 August 2017	1023	15	64	18	2

See Figure 4.

Data for Figure 5: Number of providers delivering apprenticeships on 31 August 2021, by type of inspection

Total number of providers delivering apprenticeships on 31 August 2021	% Full inspection	% New provider monitoring visit	% Awaiting inspection grade for apprenticeship provision or first new provider monitoring visit
1598	36	38	26

See Figure 5.

Data for Figure 6: Quality of apprenticeship provision, over time

Date as at	Total number of providers with an apprenticeship judgement	Full inspection % outstanding	Full inspection % good	Full inspection % requires improvement	Full inspection % inadequate	New provider monitoring visit % at least reasonable across all apprenticeship themes	New provider monitoring visit % at least one insufficient theme
31 August 2021	1175	4	33	10	1	44	7
31 August 2020	1058	4	36	11	2	38	8

See Figure 6.