City & Guilds Reviews 

Long standing relationship with C&G and The Clink Charity to provide our qualifications inside prison and in our community projects. High calibre training and reputable accreditation that makes the difference for those facing the greatest barriers to progressing in their education.

My numerous partnerships with City & Guilds during my many roles, have always been to the very highest professional level. They, particularly Kevin, understand and exemplify quality, integrity and the ability to support new business models. I can’t speak more highly or recommend them with more confidence.

City and Guilds has been a highly rewarding experience. Their commitment to providing exceptional education and training solutions is evident in the quality of their resources and support.

The team is knowledgeable and approachable, ensuring that all participants feel valued and well-informed throughout the process. The variety of courses offered allows for flexibility and caters to diverse needs, making it easy for individuals and organisations to find the right fit for their learning objectives.

Kevin is very approachable and knowledgeable.

The centre manager, Johurul Islam is excellent, any issues, concerns or queries I ring him and his response times are great. He goes over and above to put you in touch with the correct teams and supports until resolved.

Jo helped massively in meeting our and the learners needs, he helped with the booking and uploading to EPA processes

Really good experience with C&G. Jo Islam our business partner is always quick and responsive to any query and is very supportive.

The engagement with Jo Islam is great and the support. He is always on hand to support, find out information and direct. Sometimes we dont get the same support with quality.

Absolute pile of **** and scam company tried doing my assessment via online and because I have a stair case on my third floor with a door that they couldn't see I was unable to take the exam so have to pay again to resit it

I didn't like the fact we were led to believe on there course requirements that you didn't require any prior electrical knowledge on the PAT testing and Inspection 2 day city and guilds course. Just a good level
of English. The course in my opinion is very technical and in depth on the theory side. Especially over 2 days including exams. This should have been communicated before acceptance of funds. On day one we went through the course book sections. We were given online examples to go through that night time consuming and a work book with 50 questions to go through, bearing in mind people had travelled long distances to get there each day and were tired. Some of us over 60 years old. There we're x5 on this course x3 over 60, x2 under 30, one of them at University. The instruction was not effective enough to pass the online exam. Requiring 80% pass. The course is way too short for a chance of passing with no prior good electrical understanding. The theory is above and beyond for what is required on the practical side of PAT testing. In my opinion and an easy money maker for C & G and its providers. This needs to be addressed. Very disappointed with the course and process. Data should be checked on Pass Rates. x3 we're coming back on the second day of our course as they failed the previous course !! The facility was fine, the instructor did what he needed. But didn't effectively prepare for us what was required on the exam. Anyone with no electrical experience think long and hard before attempting this course, and paying for it.

Worthless qualifications.
Don't bother wasting your money with these scammers.
15 years ago I took the 2330 electrical installation course over 3 years.
Fast forward 17 years later and this qualification is now deemed worthless and I now need to spend in excess of £4000 to get other qualifications to prove competence.
City and Guilds sell worthless courses. Don't bother with them. Don't waste your money.

I can not understand why it takes months to send a certificate out

My construction certificate is still not received to my home, i have waited sl long for it i am very disappointed by this seevice

After paying £1734 for health and social care course, SVT under this city and guild
The assessor refused to asses my work and they closed down without prior notice to learners. They informed us to go register with another company and still have to pay them another thousand pounds which is ridiculous and unfair. They are extremely bad, not to be used.

Very bad customer service as I made my payment on 4 of August to receive my certificate. They told me it takes around 8 weeks to get delivered, and today it’s 27 of October and haven’t received it yet. I called them on 13 of October to see what happened and they told me that there was issue in processing your certificate and it needs to be reissued again and you should wait for another 8 weeks.

Couldn’t give my proof of npct! Be vary careful

C&G "Customer service" - wow if that's what C&G think they provide they are delusional, there was no service involved at all! Within a space of 3 minutes I got told by the same C&G person that... they couldn't access records, they could access records, they could only access chainsaw records, that they they won't deal with anyone or any request within 6 months of a course being taken, that they would never not issue a certificate (despite not actually issuing a certificate and admitting that to the training centre) and perhaps best of all I could indeed order a certificate but, they would not be able to issue it. Not sure why they bothered even answering the phone, they had absolutely no intention of wanting to help at all or listening to what the situation actually was. Nice, good work, you must be very proud of your excellent standards.

The C&G own the ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) who are supposed to be one of the leading authorities on leadership development in the UK.

Be warned if you are an SME they are not interested in helping your leaders be the best that they can be. I echo the pervious reviews outlining that they are simply not interested in supporting smaller organisations.

Historically it has been possible to have internally created courses recognised by them as being of a quality standard. It is still outlined as being available on their website (as of 18th August 2025)

However this is not the case and the only route now is to have your internal material 'Assured' which is priced between 10 and 15k. Compared to around 3k in the past for 'recognised' status.

As a small company with only 15 managers this completely restricts the ability to demonstrate the value add of having their seal of approval.

Given the ILM purport to champion Inclusivity (they have a 13 page document outlining how they go about achieving this) They do not live by the standards they have set themselves.

Their Guiding principles open with the statement 'Incorporate insights
from a diverse set of
stakeholders, learners,
educators, communities
and employers. This is to
ensure that learners can
see themselves and their
communities reflected in
the learning.'

This should be reworded to reflect what they actually do which is to incorporate insights from people who work in organisation that can afford the ridiculously high cost of accreditation. This ensures that the only communities that are reflected in their learning are from the more affluent end of the spectrum.

Clearly the ILM simply only want to deal with larger organisations so they can tap in to their larger budgets, rather than providing access to leadership excellence to all.

Not a good look for a C&G organisation at all.

Try not to lose your certificates people biggest scam I’ve ever come across, I paid £50 for them to find my certificates to which they couldn’t find, because they made an error with my name they want another £50 to rectify it then send it to me, pissed off I’ve paid, I’m not paying £100 for a certificate absolute joke.

City and guild online exams - i took passport photo several times - their system did not accept. they did not explain why. ? the lighting was good, internet speed ok.