The Institute of IT Training has announced that it has formally applied to the Office of Fair Trading for recognition of its Consumer Code of Practice for the Personally Funded Training (PFT) Accreditation Programme.

The new programme was launched by the Institute of IT Training (IITT) last summer and is aimed at weeding out unscrupulous trainers that hard-sell to the public and damage the reputation of the industry.

Following appearances on the BBC TV's Inside Out and Watchdog programmes last year, Colin Steed, CEO of the Institute of IT Training has pledged to clean up the personally-funded training market.

Steed said: "This market is worth multi-millions of pounds and the less reputable training providers in the market are earning fortunes at the expense of the public and failing to deliver their promises. This is a pity as there is a real need for training of this type - to help individuals change career or get started in the IT industry. And the IT industry needs this influx of new, well-trained staff.

"The intention is to protect the buyer against mis-selling in much the same way as the FSA has cleaned up the financial services industry," he added.

Since the launch of this programme last summer a number of companies have successfully completed the rigorous PFT accreditation audit including Cerco IT Training and Recruitment, Computeach International, Just IT Training, Advent Training, Joskos, LiveTrain and the London School of Accountancy and Management.