APAR (formerly RoATP) and Provider Due Diligence: How to Check a Training Provider

You have a shortlist of training providers and no reliable way to tell them apart. Every one of them is on the government register, every one of them says learners do well, and none of them will volunteer the figure that would settle it. Find a Training Provider lists 1,274 approved providers. Of the 1,000 with a published achievement rate, the median is 68 per cent, so half of those reporting providers sit below it. The remaining 274 approved providers publish no rate at all, which is its own signal.

What the register is, and what it is not

The apprenticeship provider and assessment register (APAR) is the government's list of organisations eligible to receive funding to train apprentices. It replaced the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP), so if a provider or an older document still talks about RoATP, this is the list they mean. If a provider is not on it, you cannot use apprenticeship funding to pay them, which is set out in the government's guidance on employing an apprentice and in the GOV.UK guidance on the APAR. That makes APAR status a hard gate. It does not make it a recommendation. GOV.UK says as much: being on the register does not mean the government recommends the provider.

Approval means a provider cleared a set of checks on financial standing, capacity and quality processes at the point they applied. It says nothing about whether they are any good at delivering the specific standard you care about, whether the tutor who impressed you in the sales meeting will be the one teaching your apprentices, or whether the organisation is in better or worse shape than it was when it was approved.

Treat the register as the first filter and nothing more. Everything useful happens after it. You can see every approved provider, filtered by standard and location, on our training provider search.

What does an Ofsted grade actually tell you?

An Ofsted judgement is the closest thing to an independent quality signal in this market, and it is still a photograph rather than a live feed. Two things matter as much as the grade itself: the date it was awarded, and what the inspectors actually looked at. A provider inspected four years ago, before it doubled in size or moved into a new sector, is being judged on an operation that no longer exists.

Read the report, not the headline word. Inspection reports break down findings by provision type, so a provider can be strong on adult learning and weak on apprenticeships, or strong on level 3 and thin at level 5. Published reports are searchable on Ofsted's reports site, and the narrative sections tell you more about delivery quality than any single judgement.

Newer providers may have no full inspection at all, only an early monitoring visit. That is not automatically a red flag. It does mean the burden of proof shifts to you: ask for evidence of delivery, retention and completions rather than assuming absence of a grade is neutral.

How should you read an achievement rate?

The achievement rate is the proportion of apprentices who started a programme and went on to complete it and pass end-point assessment, measured across a defined cohort. It is the single most useful number a provider can give you, because it combines teaching quality, pastoral support and administrative competence into one figure that is hard to spin.

It is also easy to misread. Of the 1,000 listed providers with a published rate, 761 (76 per cent) achieve 60 per cent or higher, and the median sits at 68 per cent. So a provider quoting you 70 per cent is doing better than half of the reporting group, not performing miracles. A provider quoting 90 per cent is either genuinely excellent or working with very small cohorts where two withdrawals would move the number ten points.

Ask three follow-up questions. Which cohort and year does the figure cover? How many apprentices were in it? Is it for the specific standard you are buying, or an average across a portfolio? National and provider-level data is published by the Department for Education through Explore Education Statistics, which lets you sanity-check what you have been told against the published series.

The 274 approved providers with no published rate on our listings are not necessarily poor performers. Some are new, some deliver volumes too low to report without suppression. But it means you are buying without the main quality signal, and you should price that uncertainty into your decision rather than ignore it.

How do you check a provider's financial health?

Provider failure mid-programme is rare and genuinely disruptive when it happens. Your apprentices lose continuity, your managers lose weeks to transferring records, and the learners closest to assessment are hit hardest. Fifteen minutes of checking is cheap insurance.

Pull the provider's filing history on Companies House and look at four things: whether accounts are filed on time, whether the balance sheet position is improving or deteriorating, whether there are recent charges registered against the company, and whether directors have churned. Late filings and a rotating board are worth a direct question, not an automatic rejection.

Scale matters too. A provider where your contract would represent a large share of their income is exposed to you, and you are exposed to them. A provider so large that your twelve apprentices are a rounding error may struggle to give you a named point of contact who answers the phone.

What the data will not tell you

Numbers get you to a shortlist of three. The call gets you to a decision. Ask questions that have specific, checkable answers.

• Who will actually deliver, how many apprentices does that person carry, and what happens if they leave?
• How is off-the-job training scheduled? Fixed day release, block weeks, or something the line manager has to organise?
• What does the provider do at week six when an apprentice is falling behind, and who tells you?
• Which end-point assessment organisation do they work with, and what is the typical wait between gateway and assessment?
• What reporting do you get, how often, and can you see a redacted example now?
• Can they give you two employer references in your sector, on your standard, at your volume?

Vague answers to any of these are informative. A provider who cannot tell you their tutor caseload is either not measuring it or does not want to say.

A checklist you can run in an afternoon

1. Confirm the provider is on the APAR (formerly RoATP) and approved to deliver your specific standard.
2. Find the most recent Ofsted report, note the date, and read the apprenticeship section rather than the summary judgement.
3. Get the achievement rate for your standard, with cohort size and year attached.
4. Run a Companies House check on filings, charges and director changes.
5. Take two employer references and ask them what went wrong, not what went well.
6. Compare your shortlist against peers using our provider rankings before you commit.

None of this is complicated. It is just rarely done, which is why so many employers discover a delivery problem in month four rather than week one.

Frequently asked questions

What happened to the RoATP?

The register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP) has been replaced by the apprenticeship provider and assessment register (APAR). It does the same job for employers: it is the government's list of organisations eligible to deliver apprenticeship training funded through the levy or co-investment. Providers apply, are assessed on financial standing, capacity and quality, and are added if they pass. You cannot spend apprenticeship funding with a provider who is not on it.

What counts as a good achievement rate?

Context matters more than the raw number. Of the 1,000 listed providers with a published rate, the median is 68 per cent and 761 (76 per cent) reach 60 per cent or higher. Anything meaningfully above the median is a genuine positive signal, provided the cohort is large enough that a couple of withdrawals would not swing it.

Should I rule out a provider with no Ofsted grade?

No, but ask why. Newer providers may only have had an early monitoring visit, which is normal rather than concerning. What changes is the evidence you should demand instead: delivery volumes, retention figures, tutor qualifications, and employer references from organisations similar to yours. Absence of a grade means absence of independent verification, not a negative finding.

Can I change provider part-way through an apprenticeship?

Yes, apprentices can be transferred to another approved provider, and it happens regularly when delivery breaks down or a provider exits the market. It is administratively messy and unsettling for learners close to assessment, so it is far better to do the due diligence before signing than to rely on the exit route.

How many providers should I shortlist?

Three is usually right. One gives you no comparison and no negotiating position. Five means you run a superficial process on all of them. Three lets you compare achievement rates, inspection history and delivery models properly, and lets you ask each one the awkward questions their competitors have raised.

Does a bigger provider mean lower risk?

Not reliably. Larger providers generally have more resilient finances and better back-office systems. Smaller providers often give you a named contact who knows your apprentices by name. The risk profile differs rather than reduces, so judge each on inspection evidence, achievement data and how exposed your contract is to their overall income.

If you are at the shortlisting stage, start by filtering approved providers for your standard and location in our provider search, then compare the two or three you like against published achievement and inspection data in the rankings. It takes an afternoon and it is the cheapest risk reduction available to you.