Several recent pieces in the Jobs and Money Guardian have raised concerns about the Learning Library. (See "Worries raised over owners of Learning Library").

One of the disgruntled learners to contact the paper said she had signed up for a course, and agreed to a credit deal with Empress Finance recommended by the Library.

She was "very disappointed both by the course material and by the responses to my problems with it." She wished to cancel the agreement, but was frightened by Empress' threats of legal action.

But these threats, according to the Guardian, may be empty ones.

To act as a broker for Empress, the Learning Library must hold a consumer credit licence from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

According to the Guardian, the Library (at the time of writing) had only just applied for this licence, and the OFT had said it was "minded to refuse."

The Guardian advised this learner that:
"the agreement cannot be enforced in the courts. Do not pay."

---------------------

This news item can be read online at: www.guardian.co.uk/guardian_jobs_and_money/
story/0,3605,976763,00.html

ODL QC cannot confirm or refute these allegations. We suggest that learners seek clarification about these issues from the Learning Library itself, before entering into any agreement with them.

Nor can we comment on the quality of the Library's courses, as it has not chosen to undergo the ODL QC accreditation process.

On the Courses page you can choose from over 16,000 opportunities offered by accredited oragnisations. These have met our Standards and we guarantee they will provide a good service.