A CHARITY boss pulled the plug on a training scheme which required 4,500 pages of forms to be filled in for 89 pupils.

Richard Boyd, chief executive, of Disability Essex – which offers training courses to disabled people – ended a Government contract to provide a £30 basic IT course.

For funding to be released, Mr Boyd was sent the equivalent of 50 pages of forms per student.

Mr Boyd, 65, who has been with the charity for ten years, said: “We piled up all the papers they wanted filled in and it was nine big bundles.

“Another similar course which we ran for 250 people only required one side of A4 information per student.”

The charity, in Rocheway, Rochford, wanted to give eight hours IT training to students and the funding was to be reclaimed through Government body the Skills Funding Agency.

Mr Boyd cancelled the contract before Christmas. He said: “It was ridiculous what was being asked.

“They wanted details of passports and birth certificates and it was very excessive.”

He said it would have taken tutors about two hours to fill in each form.

A company called Tribal, which administered the scheme, said it was only abiding by the requirements of the body providing the funding, but requirements had been scaled back.

A spokeswoman for the Skills Funding Agency said the charity should not have been asked for that volume of paperwork.

She added: “As guardians of public money, the Skills Funding Agency ensures publicly-funded provision meets the needs of learners and employers.

“The only circumstances where we would ask a provider to supply us with a written report was if we were funding a pilot or research project and need to see the impact of it.”