IT training providers demand cash

Training providers have written to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair demanding compensation for the loss of earnings suffered as a result of the Individual Learning Account (ILA) fiasco.

The protest follows the government's announcement that it is withholding £14m worth of funding for claims made by 193 training providers.

The letter, sent on behalf of more than 1,000 training providers, claims that the government's failed scheme, which was stopped across the UK in November because of fraud, has "caused grievous damage" to the sector and had a devastating impact on the number of people taking up IT training.

The complaint was written by Roger Tuckett, head of the Learning Providers Association, who set up a non-profit learning centre in Henley-upon-Thames last June but was forced to close it in December as a result of the failed ILA scheme.

"Put simply, learning providers are now expecting recompense for the damage which the government is now recognising has been caused by the failings of either its staff or subcontractors, and for which it has accepted responsibility," he wrote.

Talking to vnunet.com Tuckett said: "We're looking for payment for training that has already been delivered. We also want compensation to put those companies back in the situation they would have been had the government not acted in a misadministrative manner."

Complaints against 672 learning providers are being investigated, although Tuckett claimed that Downing Street was using trivial complaints as an excuse to put a halt on compensation payments.

"The government is motivated to generate as many complaints and problems as possible to justify closing down the scheme," explained Tuckett, who delivered the letter to 10 Downing Street on Tuesday.

He was accompanied by Shadow Education Minister Alistair Burt, who stated: "The combination of the bungled closure and suspension of ILAs has been devastating for students, learning providers and the government itself, which has lost the credibility and confidence of those needed to make the scheme, or any successor, work.

"No one knows how much this has cost the country, or the extent of the abuse of the scheme."

Tuckett maintained that the withdrawal of the ILA scheme had "paralysed" the training sector, removing an estimated £50m of public funding.

He told the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Select Committee in January that between 25 and 60 per cent of IT training centres would close within six months as a result of the failed scheme, resulting in up to 5,000 job losses across the sector, according to his predictions.

A spokeswoman from the DfES claimed that the government's commitment to replacing ILAs remained cast iron.

"There is no evidence of a significant reduction in the supply of computer training. ILAs were just one of the ways in which people could receive free or low cost computer training and a host of others remain, for example through learndirect and UK Online Centres," she said.