The government’s alleged failure to act in accordance with Cabinet Office guidance “displays a multiplicity of legal errors” and “an abuse of power”, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ lawyers Veale Wasbrough Vizards LLP have said.

In a letter to the Department for Education sent on 27 April, the lawyers set out the reasons why they believe AELP’s members should benefit from supplier relief under government guidance.  

The letter says: “What we can say is that it is apparent that the failure not to provide supplier relief, if persisted in, will be unlawful. This is on each of two broad grounds. First, the failure is not in accordance with, but is contrary to, the guidance. Second, it is discriminatory. Both grounds have a number of aspects.”

Need to know: Government details apprentice provider relief plans

Background: AELP seeks legal advice over plans for provider support

News: DfE: ‘We have complied with Cabinet Office guidelines’

The lawyers say that the failure to provide supplier relief “displays a multiplicity of legal errors”, including the fact that it is “a misinterpretation of the guidance to fail to recognise that the apprenticeships are contracts of services within the guidance”. Equally, they say it is “a misinterpretation of the guidance to suppose that levy funded apprenticeships are excluded by the guidance”.

The lawyers also believe there was “unjustified and unlawful discrimination and/or unequal treatment in at least two respects”, namely “by comparison with suppliers of apprenticeships not funded by the levy (i.e. non-levy contracts) or providers who are funded through grant funding agreements for further education delivery (such as further education colleges and local authorities) for the same types of learners”. The same was the case “by comparison with providers of adult education who are contract funded through the non-devolved adult education budget (AEB)”, they add. 

During a session of the House of Commons Education Select Committee this week, education secretary Gavin Williamson said that the Department for Education “always had complied with Cabinet Office guidelines and always will”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have received the letter from the AELP and we will respond in due course.”

The letter in full