Having worked with training providers in the UK for over 12 years I have a good level of insight into how these providers run. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly.

It is no surprise that the majority of people in this space want to work on solutions to improve the quality and volume of apprenticeships in the country.

One of the key issues that has been bugging me and the providers I have worked with over the years is the poor shopping experience when it comes to finding a training provider.

The current route is to use the government's training provider search engine. As you can imagine, this is done at cost and is very basic.

The key issue, however, is the lack of quality. The only way for providers to differentiate themselves is via reviews, which is susceptible to gamification due to lack of checks.

You might think you can differentiate by provision, however in my experience, providers play the system here too, by offering as many services as possible in the hopes it would garner some leads!

The site does not fact check their provision or require any evidence that what they advertise is something they can realistically offer.

The idea is correct though, a system which introduces the best providers to the best employers is exactly what we need.

This is where I saw an opportunity to improve the journey for employers and providers alike.

Unlike other solutions, which are mainly based around learner traffic and generally are job boards, I wanted to create a system designed to educate the decision makers in businesses on what makes a great provider.

Launching a site like this is a big responsibility and one I had to take seriously. Of course this is a commercial venture but I also wanted to stay true to my values.

It was important that the site remain impartial and serve the user first. That means we educate the buyers and provide the path of least resistance to the best providers on the market.

There are of course opportunities for sponsorship, this service needs to be at least self-sufficient! In terms of pricing we opted for a “freemium” model whereby any provider can claim their profile and use it as a marketing tool. Providers who would like a bit more then would pay to add extra detail to their profile and, in turn, be more likely to attract and convert visitors to the site.

However to create equity in the market, this would be scaled to depend on the size of the provider, meaning the big players couldn't dominate the sponsorship by pricing out the smaller organisations.

The training sector is littered with brokers, operating on the fringes of ethical business practices. Over the years, I’d heard so many horror stories that I was keen to avoid the same. We are actively taking feedback from employers and providers to ensure the site is achieving our ambitions.

The roadmap for FindATrainingProvider is bright, we have lots of new features already on the roadmap. We have already released a diagnostic tool which is free to use and allows employers the opportunity to get some feedback on their provision. Coming soon are many more tools and resources to improve quality of provision as well as adding verified reviews for providers to advertise.

I hope this goes some way to providing some transparency on our goals at FindATrainingProvider and what the future holds.

To find out more, reach out on hello@findatrainingprovider.co.uk