The Department of Education has referred 3aaa, to be investigated by the police which has forced the company into liquidation.
Aspire Achieve Advance Limited (3aaa) is one of the UK’s largest Apprenticeship providers which has received approximately £30 million in government funding last year.
This investigation comes at a time when the Education and Skills Funding Agency terminated its contracts with 3aaa.
3aaa’s directors have said that due to this, the company had no other choice but to be put into administration after the withdrawal of funds.
The funding agency had apparently carried out this decision due to recent investigations into the company which are still in progress.
This case will be lead by the UK’s national reporting centre for cybercrimes and fraud, Action Fraud.
A DfE spokesperson stated:
“We have terminated our contracts with 3aaa. Our priority now is to find new training providers as quickly as possible for the affected learners. We have put a specialist team in place to identify new providers and help learners with as little disruption as possible. Following our investigation, we have referred our findings to the police, through Action Fraud. We will look very carefully at what lessons can be learned as a result of this investigation.”
Last month, the co-founders of the company, Peter Marples and Di McEvoy Robinson, resigned during the DfE’s second investigation into the apprenticeship provider.
