Football academy in forged signatures probe

The Dragon Football Academy was registered at an address in Bird Hall Lane in Cheadle Heath, Stockport

A football academy paid to provide maths training to adults has lost its contract following claims a woman's signature was forged to make it look like she attended.

Dragon Football Academy Ltd, in Greater Manchester, was running a numeracy project called Multiply for people without a maths GCSE.

An investigation was launched after a woman claimed her signature had been forged nine times to indicate she had attended the course.

Dragon did not respond to comment from the Local Democracy Reporting Service, but the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said the complaint was upheld after Dragon failed to provide evidence the woman attended.

'Taken very seriously'

The woman told the LDRS: "In March, I got a letter from a company doing research for the Multiply programme, asking me to fill in a questionnaire.

"[Dragon] had claimed against me for a maths proficiency training programme."

She said the Department for Education (DfE) told her it had paperwork that indicated she had signed something to say she had attended three sessions at Dragon.

The woman said when she asked for any other information held on her, she found a signature, alleged to be hers, had been used nine times.

Dragon, registered in Bird Hall Lane in Cheadle Health, was subcontracted by the Growth Company, which was given the funding by the local combined authority.

A spokesman for the Growth Company said after receiving a complaint in April, the Growth Company "upheld the complaint as there was insufficient additional evidence from the relevant provider to confirm attendance of the complainant on the course".

The spokesman added that "due to the nature of the allegations, we also referred the matter to Action Fraud, in line with our processes".

The contract was ended in July, the spokesman added.

The GMCA said it took "all allegations of criminal activity very seriously" and would work with the Growth Company and DfE to "ensure that all appropriate action is taken".