Our investment
In 2015, then Chancellor George Osborne announced that there would be a significant change to apprenticeship funding in the UK from summer 2016. The government was going to place a levy on companies with a wage bill of more than £3m which could be used exclusively to fund apprenticeship training. We assessed this proposal as a positive regulatory change that would benefit the largest and best run independent training providers and set about seeking the right investment opportunity.
Our team searched for the right business for our fund and bought Lifetime in October 2016. The thesis was to work with the management team to ride through the regulatory change, invest heavily in technology, software and new business development and use the Company’s scale to capture significant market share.
We have grown Lifetime from 700 employees to 1,200 in 3 years, developed a new education curriculum and content and acquired a market leading piece of software. These actions have enabled the Company to win over 240 new and large clients including supermarket giant Tesco, hotels operator Premier Inn, coffee chain Costa, and pub chain JD Wetherspoon.
Lifetime doesn’t just deliver training courses; it has an awarding capability allowing it to assess individuals and award qualifications, maximising its revenue.