Government behaviour adviser’s company recruited fewer than one seventh of predicted recruits to �1 million training programme

A company run by one of the best-known figures in education recruited fewer than a seventh of the number of participants to teacher training sessions, compared to the total it had stated it hoped to recruit within a near-�1 million contract with the government.

Tom Bennett Training, at the time wholly owned by the Department for Education behaviour adviser of the same name, indicated in a contract document viewable via the government’s “Contracts Finder” website that it was “envisaged” that it would recruit up to 5,400 participants for government-funded courses in behaviour management.

The company secured a contract worth up to £952,430 under the government’s Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund (TLIF), and was eventually paid £922,753 for its work. However, only 756 teachers were recruited, or just 14 per cent of the 5,400 figure, with only 647 completing the training. The cost to the taxpayer was £1,221 per participant recruited.

Tom Bennett Training (TBT) ran courses for the TLIF programme which, according to a report commissioned by the DfE, were generally well-received by its participants: the scheme was one of five funded by TLIF which were said in the official evaluation to have achieved “high levels of participant satisfaction".  

Also, TBT’s courses were subject to an official recruitment target by the DfE which was much lower than 5,400, at only 720, which it achieved.