On 26 June 2009 there was an Ofsted inspection of A4e's premises in Hull, York, Bridlington, Goole, Grimsby and Scunthorpe (it was during A4e Hull's nightmare week). The full report can be found
here. As with all of A4e's inspections under the current contracts the overall grade is 3 - satisfactory. (There are 4 grades; 1, outstanding, 2, good, 3, satisfactory and 4, inadequate.) The summary says:
Key strengths
Good development of confidence and motivation
Good links to external organisations to provide specialist support
Particularly effective management information system to monitor performance
Good management of subcontractor
Key areas for improvement
Very low progression rates into jobs
Insufficiently individualised target-setting and action planning
Insufficiently thorough quality arrangements
They point out the very low progression rate into jobs of 18% in 2008 / 09, while recognising that "the number of participants joining the programme has increased significantly from 203 participants in the first three months of 2008/09 to 585 in the last three months of 2008/09".
One paragraph which surprised me stated that "Procedures for safeguarding participants do not meet current government requirements. A4e currently does not have a suitable safeguarding policy and procedure. Staff have not had appropriate background checks and have not received training covering safeguarding vulnerable adults."
The report makes interesting reading for anyone who has been on an A4e programme or has worked in the sector.
