The SMB Group

We can inspect further education and skills providers at any time if we have concerns.

Outstanding

Providers judged outstanding are subject to routine inspection. Most providers will be inspected again by September 2025. They may receive monitoring and other visits.

Good

We normally inspect good providers within 5 years. They may receive monitoring and other visits.

Requires improvement

We normally inspect providers that require improvement within 12 to 30 months of the publication of their latest full inspection report. They will normally have a monitoring visit before the full inspection.

Inadequate

If they continue to be funded, we normally inspect inadequate providers within 15 months of the publication of their latest full inspection report. They also receive monitoring visits.

New providers

A new provider whose monitoring visit report was published by 31 March 2022 will normally receive their first full inspection within 24 months of publication.

A new provider whose monitoring visit report was published after 31 March 2022 will normally receive their first full inspection within 18 months of publication.

Notice

We normally give notice up to two working days before the inspection. We can also inspect without notice.