Multi-Award Winning Midlands based Entrepreneur Thomas Dunn MBE calls for an end to upfront payments for all UK-based Approved Training Organisations (ATOs). Tom is Chairman & Founder of the UK’s Leading Modular ATO, Aeros Flight Training, and blames the practice of up-front payments as the root cause for the failure of several major ATOs over the past 17 years.

Read Dunn’s statement below:

“I was very sad to hear about the loss of 3 major UK based ATOs in 2023 but then I was disturbed to hear of the £4m lost by unsuspecting students and their families due to the demand for upfront payments followed by large stage payments from their ATO.

This weekend sees Pilot Careers Live North in Manchester and I would strongly urge anybody considering a career on the flight deck to attend this fantastic, inspiring, and highly respected event. However, I would urge extreme caution before signing a contract with any ATO requesting upfront payments followed by large stage payments for services to be delivered sometime in the future. Upon attending the show, you will meet many different ATOs, most of them are highly skilled professionals, who will deliver exceptional quality for the entirety of your course. However, there are some exceptions and they are more interested in your money than you’re training, these could be big flashy outfits or smaller tidy suppliers.

How can I determine the good from the bad?

That’s the easy part if they are requiring you to part with any amount of cash upfront before supplying you with goods or services, be cautious. Last year alone 3 ATOs ceased training causing students to lose millions of pounds which they had that paid up front. In recent months I have met with Parents, Grandparents and Students who have had their lives irreversibly changed following the loss of live savings or after remortgaging their properties to pay upfront fees.

How do I prevent that from happening to me?

The only way you can be certain is please do not pay any money upfront before you have received your training, don’t be fooled by talk of guarantees or refunds, if the ATO ceases trading all guarantees and refunds will be lost. By simply consulting public records held at companies house you can gain valuable insight into a company’s financials, look out for things like deferred income, cash at bank etc. These documents are not easy to read so if you’re unsure of what you’re looking at take financial advice, if you’re considering investing over £100,000 with an ATO it’s a relatively small amount to pay for an independent financial expert to give you an overview of a company’s financials.”

Source: Aeros Flight Training