A2Z School of English has closed due to insolvency, leaving students who turned up for class at its two branches in London and Manchester unable to enter school premises this morning. English UK is working to contact the 250 students who have been affected.
Delayed tuition fee payments of more than £30,000 from the Libyan embassy due to political disruption in the country are partially to blame for the school’s insolvency, according to A2Z director James Taylor.
“We’ve never had to deal with such a big closure before”
In a letter to the school’s creditors, Taylor wrote that payment for courses, which have already been provided to students, has been delayed for over three months.
“The difficult decision to cease all trading activities has been forced upon me so as to comply fully with my responsibilities in law as a company director,” Taylor wrote.
The closure follows that of A2Z’s Dublin branch last month. Directors blamed delays in the accreditation process for Irish quality assurance body ACELS and the publication of the Interim List of approved ELT providers under new legislation for “unexpected and unsupportable financial stress” on the company.
English UK was warned last week that A2Z’s management was trying to find a buyer for its two centres and may close, but has had no further communication from the school since last night’s email confirming the closure.
However, it is understood that the school has yet to appoint a liquidator.
As an English UK accredited school, A2Z’s affected students will be covered by English UK’s Student Emergency Support Fund.
“We’re working on the assumption that the schools have closed and that we will be involved in finding new places for students to complete their courses later in the week,” said Huan Japes, English UK’s deputy chief executive for professional services.
“We are getting phone calls from students every 20 seconds.”
English UK is in the process of contacting students, but its membership manager, Alice Marcolin, told The PIE News that some of the students’ contact details that it was given at the weekend are incomplete.
English UK is urging students to contact the association for assistance.
“We’re trying to gather as much information as possible so as soon as we know more we can start placing the students,” she said.
“We’ve never had to deal with such a big closure before.”
