PfP Thrive celebrates positive result after first visit from Ofsted

PfP Thrive, part of Places for People, underwent its first visit from Ofsted as part of a New Provider Monitoring Visit. 

PfP Thrive has been established to provide accredited training pathways, from apprenticeships to upskilling opportunities, designed to develop new talent and strengthen the UK housing sector’s existing workforce. 

As a new education and training provider, Ofsted inspected PfP Thrive against the new Further Education and Skills Inspection Toolkit, introduced in November 2025.  

The toolkit is a regulatory framework which evaluates training providers on the quality of teaching and learning, internal processes and culture that leaders champion.  

As part of the inspection, inspectors observed teaching and spoke with learners, employers, leaders, and colleagues from across the organisation. They also reviewed PfP Thrive’s curriculum, internal processes, and procedures. 

PfP Thrive received a judgement of ‘Reasonable Progress’, showing that Ofsted inspectors found PfP Thrive are aligning to the expected standard within the areas they evaluated. 

Lyana Godsell, Head of Apprenticeships at PfP Thrive, said:

“This outcome confirms that we are on the right path and already demonstrating positive impact. Our next challenge is to translate that impact into consistently positive outcomes.” 

The inspection was measured across the following four themes: 

• Leadership and Governance – demonstrating that leaders understand strengths and areas for development, have a clear vision and are taking appropriate action to improve.
• Inclusion – showing that we identify learners' needs, reduce barriers and provide support that enables learners to fulfil their potential.
• Curriculum, Teaching and Training – demonstrating that our curriculum is purposeful, sequenced and supports learners to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need.
• Safeguarding – evidencing a positive safeguarding culture where learners are safe, know who to speak to and where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. 

This milestone reflects how far PfP Thrive has come in a short time. At the point of inspection, PfP Thrive had been delivering high quality housing apprenticeships for only ten months.  

The inspection positively offered early external expertise and provided clarity on whether the systems, culture and approaches that PfP Thrive were establishing aligned with the expectations of the new Ofsted framework, introduced just seven months earlier. 

Inspectors observed caring leaders with clear priorities, high expectations for learners, a culture of shared responsibility for safeguarding and inclusion, honest self-reflection with defined development plans, strong employer partnerships, and apprentices who spoke positively about their experience and support. 

Alongside apprenticeships, PfP Thrive delivers a broad mix of professional development options - from compliance training to leadership programmes - helping to build a strong talent pipeline ready for the current and future needs of the UK’s housing sector. 

Following the successful visit, Tom Arey, Director of PfP Thrive, said: 

"At PfP Thrive, we're delighted with this positive outcome. We're on a mission to provide the housing sector with the highest-quality learning, designed by the sector, for the sector, and this recognition is a fantastic endorsement of that commitment."