Bishop Fleming Celebrates Outstanding Ofsted Apprenticeship Rating
Bishop Fleming is celebrating triple Apprenticeship success after receiving an Outstanding rating from Ofsted’s first full inspection of its apprenticeship provision, along with a string of other accolades.
The leading audit, accountancy, tax, and advisory firm received its first full inspection in July and is one of only 18 employer providers to have achieved Outstanding status so far in 2024 and only the second Accountancy firm in the UK.
Bishop Fleming’s established apprenticeship programme is varied and enables some apprentices to experience all areas of the business while others develop a deeper specialism in one area. This is supplemented with coaching, mentoring, and study leave.
An Ofsted team inspected Bishop Fleming over three days in July, visiting several offices, meeting with various L&D team members, apprentices and their managers. They examined five areas: quality of education, personal development, behaviours and attitudes, leadership and management, and apprenticeships, grading all as Outstanding.
Partner and Chief People Officer Anna Averis said:
“We are thrilled to receive this recognition for our leading apprenticeship programme, which is now officially rated among the very best in UK. As one of only a few accounting firms to have been awarded Employer-Provider status, we have been able to develop and deliver our own tailored apprenticeship programme, so to have this independent recognition is testament to the hard work of my team and our brilliant apprentices. Our programme is now delivering real results and is integral to our wider business growth ambitions.”
The Outstanding Ofsted rating comes on the back of Bishop Fleming celebrating its recognition among some of the largest organisations in the UK in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers List for 2024.
Co-developed by the Department for Education, the national league table recognises leading apprenticeship employers for their overall commitment to employing apprentices, their creation of new apprenticeships, the diversity of their new apprentices, and the progression of their apprentices onto further apprenticeships and employment. Over 1,500 businesses have entered the rankings, which highlights the very best apprenticeship programmes over the past twelve months.
Placing in the Top 100 for the third year in a row, the firm has seen its ranking increase from 41st to 27th, making it the highest ranked South-West headquartered professional services firm in the Top 100.
This week, the firm will see another cohort of apprentices join its business, taking the number of new apprentices in 2024 to over 70 – making it a fifth successive year of record-breaking apprentice recruitment.
Bishop Fleming’s Managing Partner Andrew Sandiford said:
“To be rated Outstanding by Ofsted and recognised alongside some major employers in the country such as the British Army, BT and Amazon is a fantastic achievement for our business.
Our investment in our own Apprentice programme demonstrates our commitment to attracting the very best talent and the future leaders of our business.”
Anna added:
“Our apprentice programme enables us to offer a variety of routes into a rewarding career in accounting. And as a responsible business, our scheme, together with our commitment to a range of initiatives focused on achieving greater diversity in our workforce and our wider social mobility strategy, is focused on achieving greater diversity in our workforce, whilst improving the many routes available into a career in our business to as many young people as possible.”
In October, the firm has been shortlisted for Employer of the Year at the prestigious Accounting Excellence Awards, alongside three other awards for Large Firm of the Year, ESG Award and Client Service.
Bishop Fleming’s success is also reflected in its recent announcement of another year of double-digit growth, taking revenue to over £43m in the year ending 31 May 2024. The firm is one year into its Better Growth business strategy designed to double the size of its business and transform its operations.
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