Aston repays £1.3 million after breaching apprenticeship rules

Aston University has repaid more than £1.3 million in funding after experiencing issues with its apprenticeships provision.

The Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) said it began an investigation into the West Midlands-based university in October 2024 due to concerns related to the funding it had received from the agency.

Several breaches were identified connected to the validity of some of the funding claims and the accuracy of the data collected to support the claims.

An overpayment of funding of £1,385,504.81 was identified by the ESFA which it said Aston has already repaid.

A report into the investigation published by the Department for Education says Aston has also implemented changes to its apprenticeship management and delivery systems.

It lists 11 breaches related to apprenticeship provision between 2020 and 2024.

The university was found to have failed to “check eligibility of all learners and to retain evidence of the individual’s eligibility” and failed to “submit accurate data in relation to start and end dates for some apprentices”.

Further breaches included a “failure to produce evidence that delivery has taken place, that it is relevant, new knowledge, skills and behaviours”.

Aston was also rebuked over not producing evidence that employer contributions were collected and prior learning and experience were assessed before a candidate started their apprenticeship.

It has been advised by the DfE on what further steps to take to prevent further breaches.

This includes regularly auditing information collected to ensure it is up to date and frequent checks of its monitoring systems, ensuring any errors are identified and corrected.

An Aston spokesperson said the report “concerned legacy issues” and the university had, prior to the review, “commissioned an external audit firm to produce a report and action plan which has been wholly implemented”.

“The university through its own governance, audit and risk processes undertook to rectify all legacy issues by also engaging external expert oversight for transparency and accuracy,” they added.

The spokesperson said Aston was “committed to excellence in all aspects of our degree apprenticeship provision”, pointing to its “good” rating with Ofsted Good assessment and how its digital and technology solutions degree apprenticeship had been awarded tech industry gold accreditation “in recognition of its effectiveness in preparing learners for successful careers in the digital and technology sector”.