How to check a training provider: APAR, Ofqual and Ofsted in ten minutes

Training is a trade where the product is a promise about your future, and where three separate public records exist that most buyers never open. Ten minutes across them settles most provider questions. Here they are in the order they usually matter.

APAR: who may deliver apprenticeships

Apprenticeship training and end-point assessment in England may only be delivered by organisations on the Apprenticeship Providers and Assessment Register, published by the Department for Education and downloadable from the apprenticeships service. If a provider is selling apprenticeship delivery, this is a yes-or-no check. Not on it means the levy funding conversation is over, whatever the brochure says.

Ofqual: whether the qualification is real

For any course sold as leading to a qualification, two searches: the awarding organisation on Ofqual’s register, and the specific qualification on the register of regulated qualifications. Both public. A “Level 3 Diploma” that appears on neither is a private certificate wearing framework language, and the provider should be asked, politely, which it is.

Ofsted: how the teaching actually is

Providers of apprenticeships and funded further education carry Ofsted reports like schools do, searchable on the reports site. Read the latest report’s date, the grade, and what inspectors said about achievement rates and employer engagement. A provider sold to you on quality should not be surprised you looked.

The commercial-course gap

Short commercial courses, a day of leadership training, an online marketing diploma, often sit outside all three records, lawfully. There the checks shrink to the company at Companies House, the trainer’s own verifiable history, and whether “accredited” survives the question “by whom, and where do I check that body?”. CPD badges are marketing until the issuing body turns out to be checkable.

The one-line test

Ask any provider: where, publicly, can I verify what you just told me? Real registers, real reports and real qualifications all have an answer. The pause before the answer is data too.

Corrections and right of reply

If your business is named in this research and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk. We check it against the register, correct it within five working days if we are wrong, and publish your statement alongside if you want us to. Full route: corrections, right of reply and removals.

Questions

Can I trust an AI answer that says a gas engineer is Gas Safe registered?

Treat it as a claim to check. On 3 October 2026, 36 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode in 12

Whito

Whito is an independent UK research publisher. We publish research on how UK businesses are found, trusted and priced: what they cost to market, how their sectors work, and who actually gets recommended. Studies are free to read, every figure carries the date it was checked, and nobody pays to appear.

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