About Us

How we started

"Having spent 8 years as the COO of Arch Apprentices, an Ofsted Outstanding training provider I had first hand experience of the frustrations of EPA.

Whether it was the unnecessary admin, long turn around times or inconvenient scheduling, we knew there was an opportunity to do it better, saving time and money for training providers whilst delivering exceptional outcomes for apprentices.

So in 2019, I founded Accelerate People. It was our chance to do this our way, think differently and embrace technology to deliver the best experience for providers, employers and apprentices."

Sam Sawyer

Co-founder and CEO

Accelerate People today

Accelerate People is now the largest end-point assessment organisation for digital skills in the UK, and has expanded into other sectors - Leadership & Management, HR, L&D and more.

We've built deep partnerships with some of the leading training providers in the industry including Multiverse, Cambridge Spark, Decoded and more, and will deliver over 6,000 EPAs in 2025.

At our core is the technology we have developed in-house:

AP: Comply - supporting our admin team to manage EPAs from gateway to grade, all with compliance and data at its core.
AP: Assess - our assessment platform, streamlining assessor time and removing administrative tasks, keeping the focus on the apprentice.
AP: Gateway - our bespoke registration and management tool, allowing partners to register and manage learners directly, and apprentices to upload their own work. All without the need for any 3rd party platform (or fee)!

Thanks to this we've been able to retain the highest level of quality, maximise SLAs and provide better, more detailed access to feedback and data.

Meet our senior team

Co-founder and CEO

Sam Sawyer

Sam has been with the Blenheim Chalcot Group since 2013 and co-founded Accelerate People in 2019. As chief executive officer, she has since strategically guided Accelerate People to become one of the country’s leading EPAOs, achieving consistent financial growth. Her extensive background in further education includes leadership of an Ofsted-outstanding training provider. Leveraging her expertise in skills development and educational technology, Sam attends several strategic advisory bodies, including the St Martin's Group.

Executive Director

Zac Aldridge

Zac is Accelerate People’s executive director, leveraging the experience he gained in senior leadership roles in two north east colleges to bring context to AP’s engagement with providers. Zac has also previously held director level roles at the Awarding Organisation, NCFE. Zac sits on AP’s Board, has senior responsibility for customer engagement, product development, compliance and is the company’s Responsible Officer.

Service Director

Harshada Sawant

Harshada is Accelerate People’s service director holding 12+ years of IT leadership experience. An AP Board member, she plays a key role in driving our business’s software initiatives so that they have impact. Harshada is a service excellence expert, using her skills in project management and resource deployment to make sure our platforms and systems make the difference where it counts: for apprentices.

Director of Assessment Technology

Si Ung

Si is Director of Assessment Technology, where he leads the development of AI-driven platforms to enhance apprenticeship assessments. With a background in quality assurance, edtech innovation, and data science, he brings deep expertise in data analytics and AI across multiple industries, from construction to finance.

This passion spills into his personal life, where most nights, he can be found reading literature on the latest AI advances or continuing his never-ending data learning journey.