The NTO National Council has announced that nto tele.com, the NTO for the telecommunications sector has been placed into administration, leaving a £10m liability for the Department for Education and Employment.

The NTO's problems stem from a contractual arrangements with a training company called Global Business Dimensions Ltd who had been contracted by them to deliver training. The training company went under, leaving ntotele.com with a huge amount of money to recover.

According to the NTO National Council, an Administration Order was been placed on the NTO on 3 November "to maintain the integrity and infrastructure of nto tele.com whilst at the same time maintaining the expertise and knowledge of the employees to continue the activities of nto tele.com”. Accountancy firm Mercer & Hole Chartered Accountants are currently responsible for the financial transactions of the NTO, and plan to report within six weeks to the court and creditors to explain a timescale for the outstanding financial issues to be ironed out.

There's currently no mention of the situation on the NTO's website - in fact, all appears to be business as usual, with details of a skills event due to take place at the end of this month featuring prominently.

TrainingZONE says: It's likely now that as the full range of NTOs comes under close scrutiny by the government through the re-recognition process, tele.com will merge with one or more other NTOs to serve the telecoms sector. £10 million is a lot of money to lose, though, and questions should be asked to establish how this situation was allowed to happen.