Young & Co's Brewery Plc

Young & Co.’s Brewery P.L.C. Monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Philida Schellekens, Ofsted Inspector

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Address: 26, Osiers Road London SW18 1NH Monitoring visit: Young & Co.’s Brewery P.L.C., 4–5 June 2019

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Context and focus of visit

From October 2018, Ofsted undertook to carry out monitoring visits to all newly directly funded providers of apprenticeship training provision which began to be funded from April 2017 or after by the Education and Skills Funding Agency and/or the apprenticeship levy. This monitoring visit was undertaken as part of those arrangements and as outlined in the ‘Further education and skills inspection handbook’, especially the sections entitled ‘Providers newly directly funded to deliver apprenticeship training provision’ and ‘Monitoring visits’. The focus of these visits is on the themes set out below.

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Context and focus of visit

Young & Co’s Brewery PLC (Young’s) owns over 200 pubs and hotels and has 70 tenanted pubs, predominantly in London and the South East. The company gained a direct contract to offer levy-paid apprenticeships in 2017 and enrolled its first group of apprentices in October of that year. Young’s has one subcontractor, Runway Training, which delivers English and mathematics training. At the time of the monitoring visit, 36 apprentices are on levels 2 and 3 standards programmes in three specialist areas: commis chef, chef de partie and hospitality supervisor. All apprentices are aged 19 or older.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers have a clear rationale to deliver apprenticeships to meet their need for well-trained catering and hospitality staff. The company board and head of operations take an active interest in the apprenticeship programme. They provide strong support and increasingly good oversight. When leaders and managers realised that too many apprentices dropped out in the first year of the programme, they took effective action to review and improve the quality of the provision. They rightly identified key areas for improvement, such as the recruitment of apprentices, the quality of delivery and the monitoring of the provision.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have recruited well-qualified and experienced staff who have a good knowledge of catering. Leaders’ and managers’ action to promote the scheme to line managers has resulted in good support for apprentices in their places of work. Employees are right to see the programme as a valuable addition to the training that Young’s provides. As a result of the improvements, a high proportion of apprentices recruited in the second year have stayed on the programme. Monitoring visit: Young & Co.’s Brewery P.L.C., 4–5 June 2019 The provision meets the apprenticeship requirements. Staff and apprentices have an adequate understanding of the off-the-job training requirement. However, in a small minority of cases apprentices do not get sufficient time, when work is busy, to carry out their off-the-job activities.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers have a good understanding of how to improve the apprenticeship programme. They review progress on a frequent basis. However, in their observations of training sessions managers do not yet focus sufficiently on evaluating the quality of learning and the progress that apprentices make. In too many cases, recommendations for improvement are not clear about how trainers can improve their training and assessment practice.

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Reasonable progress

Apprentices enjoy their learning. Monthly masterclasses and chef forums provide good opportunities for apprentices to learn new skills and knowledge. For example, they learn how to use new ingredients and techniques, as well as the names of cuts of vegetables, such as mirepoix and julienne. Apprentices have access to good training resources, including the kitchen facilities in the food learning development centre.

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Reasonable progress

Apprentices develop the behaviours that they need to meet the apprenticeship standards, such as good communication, steps to minimise waste and teamwork skills. They become valuable members of staff as a result.

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Reasonable progress

Since starting the apprenticeship programme, staff have improved the recruitment process, assessment of apprentices’ prior skills and knowledge, and advice and guidance significantly. This has resulted in the improved selection of apprentices and the proportion who have stayed on programme has more than doubled. Apprentices have a strong commitment to the programme and managers are proud to have apprentices on their team.

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Reasonable progress

Staff and apprentices have high expectations and are keen to do well in their training and careers. Apprentices develop a good understanding of potential career paths. Several have gained promotion to sous chef and head chef since they started their training. Others take more responsibility at work, such as stocktaking and ordering supplies.

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Reasonable progress

Staff use their skills well to support apprentices in the development of catering and hospitality skills. The manager and staff know their apprentices well and monitor their progress frequently. Apprentices appreciate the good support and training that they receive. Trainers provide good support to those who fall behind with their work and those who need extra help. They use one-to-one sessions well to assess the Monitoring visit: Young & Co.’s Brewery P.L.C., 4–5 June 2019 progress that apprentices make and provide helpful information to apprentices on how to prepare for the end-point assessment. They provide useful verbal feedback. However, in too many cases written feedback is not sufficiently specific and as a result apprentices do not know how to improve their work.

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Reasonable progress

Current apprentices have a good understanding of the importance of English and mathematics in their work and training context. A good proportion of the resources for these subjects relate directly to the work context, which helps the apprentices see the relevance to their work. The English and mathematics tutors and vocational assessors work well together to identify and support learners. As a result, many apprentices have passed level 1 English and/or mathematics functional skills qualifications and have moved to level 2.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers have ensured that the company meets safeguarding requirements. All staff, including the designated safeguarding leads, have appropriate training. Managers have put in place a central register which contains clear records of concerns, actions taken and follow-up.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers give a high priority to the care and well-being of their employees. They ensure that all staff are safe to work with their apprentices. Managers have put in place a dedicated phone number and email address, which enables all employees to register any safeguarding concerns that they may have. The analysis of employees’ alerts identified a need for support with personal problems. This has resulted in mental health training for all staff, and a good awareness among the workforce.

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Reasonable progress

Staff cover the principles of safeguarding, British values and the ‘Prevent’ duty well in induction, and during progress reviews. Apprentices feel safe and know who to contact if they have any concerns. They have a good knowledge of health and safety procedures at work. They know what to do should an accident occur. However, apprentices do not understand well enough how safeguarding applies in the work place. Monitoring visit: Young & Co.’s Brewery P.L.C., 4–5 June 2019 the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . Learner View Learner View is a website where learners can tell Ofsted what they think about their college or provider. They can also see what other learners think about them too. To find out more go to

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Reasonable progress

Employer View Employer View is a website where employers can tell Ofsted what they think about their employees’ college or provider. They can also see what other employers think about them too. To find out more go to www.employerview.ofsted.gov.uk .

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