Last updated: 14 October 2026. Prices, membership terms, accreditation claims and refund policy re-read on John Academy’s site that day. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. See our review methodology.
Quick verdict: 2.5 / 5
John Academy is a real UK company selling very cheap, self-paced CPD courses, and it is fine for learning a topic at your own pace or logging CPD hours. It is not a route to a regulated qualification, even when a course is called a “Level 3 Diploma,” and its certificates cost extra.
- Good for: low-cost personal learning, CPD hours your employer accepts, or trying out a subject before paying for a recognized qualification.
- Not for: a care, childcare, electrician or other job that requires a regulated (Ofqual) qualification.
- Price on 14 October 2026: single courses about US$32 on sale, or £49 a year for every course; certificates and shipping extra; 14-day money-back guarantee.
We earn no commission from John Academy. It is not on any affiliate network we belong to, and the John Academy links on this page are plain links.
Correction, October 2026
Earlier versions of this review said John Academy’s courses were accredited by Edexcel, that it offered a 30-day money-back guarantee and 2,000 courses, and that it was safe to enroll because students got the jobs they wanted. We could not support those claims on 14 October 2026: John Academy now names CPD QS and CiQ as its accreditors, its guarantee is 14 days, it lists 3,000+ courses, and it makes no job promises (its terms say it does not guarantee employment). We have rewritten the review from what the company publishes today.
What is John Academy?
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John Academy is an online course seller based in London. Its terms say it is a trading name of Adams Academy Inc. Ltd, company number 10647280, which Companies House shows as incorporated on 2 March 2017. The site sells more than 3,000 self-paced courses, from Level 3 health and social care and clinical coding to fashion styling, poultry farming and HVAC, and says it has more than 100,000 learners.
The courses are online reading and video lessons with an assessment at the end; some reviewers describe AI-narrated video. Most courses give you 12 months of access. There is an app for iOS, and support is advertised as 24/7.
John Academy prices and membership
Almost every course carries a “was” price of about US$464 and a sale price of about US$32, a 93% to 95% “discount” that was on nearly every course when we checked. Treat the sale price as the real price.
| Option | Price on 14 Oct 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Single course | About US$24 to US$33 (ex VAT) | 12 months of access; certificate extra |
| Career bundle (3 to 11 courses) | About US$36 to US$52 | Includes a student ID card and enrolment letter |
| Half-yearly membership | £33 (listed as £399) | All courses for six months |
| Yearly membership | £49 (listed as £599) | All courses for 12 months, up to 50 active at once; renews automatically |
| Lifetime “Prime” membership | £99 (advertised on John Academy’s Trustpilot profile) | Its lifetime-membership page returned an error when we checked |
From johnacademy.co.uk/membership and the course directory, read 14 October 2026. Prices shown in US dollars or pounds depending on the page.
Certificates are not included in a single-course purchase. You choose a PDF, a hard copy, a framed hard copy or both at checkout. The certificate order form showed a total of £23.98 including VAT for its default option when we checked, with international tracked shipping £10 extra and DHL Express £50 extra. A 20% certificate discount code is advertised on the homepage. The yearly membership includes CPD-accredited PDF certificates.
Is John Academy accredited?
John Academy says all its courses are accredited by CPD QS and CiQ (Centre for International Qualifications). That needs unpacking, because “accredited” means different things to a course seller and to an employer.
- CPD accreditation means a CPD body has reviewed the course and lets the provider award CPD hours or points. It is useful if your profession asks you to log continuing professional development. It does not make the course a qualification.
- Ofqual regulation is what makes a UK qualification “regulated.” We searched Ofqual’s register of recognized awarding organizations on 14 October 2026: John Academy, Adams Academy and the Centre for International Qualifications do not appear. (The same search returned Pearson, NCFE and City & Guilds, so the search works.)
- CiQ: we could not find a working website for it. The ciq.org.uk domain was listed for sale when we checked.
The naming is where buyers get caught. John Academy sells a course called “Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care” for about US$33. Its own page describes it as a “CPD Accredited Online Course” of about 31 hours. A regulated Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care, such as the TQUK Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care (RQF), qualification number 610/0103/6, is an Ofqual-regulated qualification taken through an approved training center, usually while you work in a care role. Care employers who ask for a Level 3 Diploma usually mean the regulated one.
Before you buy any John Academy course for a job, ask the employer or regulator whether a CPD certificate meets their requirement. If they ask for a qualification number, look it up on Ofqual’s register.
Is John Academy legit?
Yes, it is a real, registered company that delivers the courses it sells. On 14 October 2026 John Academy had a Trustpilot TrustScore of 4.2 from 286 reviews, with 69% five-star and 14% one-star. Trustpilot notes that John Academy pays for a subscription, invites customers to review, and had replied to 22% of negative reviews.
The positive reviews mostly praise ease of use, clear lessons and quick certificates. The negative reviews cluster around a few problems:
- Renewals and refunds. One reviewer said John Academy refused a refund despite the money-back guarantee and kept renewing a subscription without consent. Memberships do renew automatically, so cancel in your account if you only want a year.
- Course quality. A reviewer who took the business admin and management diploma found spelling and formatting errors and said it felt like a box-ticking exercise. Another found the AI narrator too fast to follow.
- Platform glitches. One learner said progress did not save, completed courses showed as “0 completed,” assessments meant writing and uploading a PDF, and chat support replied days later.
- Certificate costs and delivery. Several reviews mention paying more for certificates than expected or waiting for hard copies.
Older versions of this page quoted ratings from Reviews.io, LinkedIn and Facebook. John Academy’s homepage still shows a Reviews.io score of 4.7 from 596 reviews, but those figures change, so we cite the Trustpilot numbers we could read and date.
What UK learners say about CPD courses like these
John Academy itself barely comes up on Reddit, but UK threads about online CPD courses from sellers like it are consistent. In r/AskUK and r/UKJobs, the most useful replies make three points:
- CPD is meant for people who already hold a qualification and need to show they keep up to date. Many CPD courses are not regulated by anyone, so “20 CPD hours” does not make a course a recognized qualification.
- An employer who had paid for “80-hour” CPD courses for two staff members said one finished in under an hour and described it as a long PowerPoint with a quiz. Their view was that “CPD Certified” does not mean much.
- Cheap courses are worth it when the goal is the skill itself: one learner was happy with a £20 Excel course because they only wanted to learn Excel for work.
That matches our read of John Academy: buy for the learning, not for the paper.
Student ID card and enrolment letter
Bundles and memberships include a John Academy student ID card and an enrolment letter. The card is issued by John Academy itself. Its homepage says it can be used for discounts at national and private outlets and as photo ID, and its FAQ says it can get you free entry to amusement parks, seminars and exhibitions. John Academy does not list which venues accept it, so check with the venue or retailer before relying on it.
Refunds and cancellations
John Academy’s FAQ offers a 14-day money-back guarantee if you are unhappy with a course; it says you may be offered an alternative course or a full refund. The yearly membership renews after 12 months and can be canceled from your account. Its terms also say it does not guarantee employment to any student.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Very low prices; £49 a year for every course | Certificates and shipping cost extra on single courses |
| 3,000+ courses across trades, care, business and hobbies | “Level 3 Diploma” course names are CPD courses, not regulated qualifications |
| Self-paced, 12 months of access, app available | Accreditor CiQ has no working website we could find |
| 14-day money-back guarantee | Reviews report refund disputes, auto-renewals and glitches |
| Registered UK company since 2017 | Constant “95% off” pricing makes the list prices meaningless |
Alternatives to John Academy
If you want cheap or free learning with a certificate, these are better known. If you need a regulated qualification, go to a college or an approved training center for that qualification instead.
| Option | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| OpenLearn (The Open University) | Free | Short free courses with a free digital badge or statement of participation on most |
| Alison | Free to study | 6,000+ free courses; check certificate fees before you rely on one |
| FutureLearn Unlimited | $244.99 a year on sale (list $349.99) | Short courses from universities, with digital certificates on eligible courses |
| Udemy | Pay per course, frequent sales | Practical skills such as Excel or bookkeeping |
| A regulated qualification | Varies | Jobs that ask for an Ofqual-regulated diploma, such as adult care |
Read our FutureLearn review, our Udemy review, and our guide to free certifications worth adding to a resume. Comparing UK home-learning providers? Note that Oxbridge Home Learning is no longer trading.
Verdict: should you enroll?
Enroll if you want to learn a subject cheaply and you know the certificate is a CPD record, not a qualification. At £49 a year, the membership is good value for someone who will work through several courses. Do not enroll to meet a job requirement until the employer has confirmed in writing that a John Academy CPD certificate counts.
FAQs on John Academy
Is John Academy legit?
Yes. It is the trading name of Adams Academy Inc. Ltd, a UK company registered in 2017, and it delivers the courses it sells. It had a 4.2 Trustpilot score from 286 reviews on 14 October 2026, with complaints about refunds, renewals and course quality.
Is John Academy accredited?
John Academy says its courses are accredited by CPD QS and CiQ. That is CPD accreditation, not Ofqual regulation: John Academy does not appear on Ofqual’s register of recognized awarding organizations, so its certificates are not regulated qualifications.
Is the John Academy Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care a real qualification?
It is a CPD-accredited online course of about 31 hours. It is not the Ofqual-regulated Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care that care employers usually ask for, which is taken through an approved training center, usually while working in care.
How much does John Academy cost?
Single courses were about US$24 to US$33 on 14 October 2026, a half-year membership £33 and a yearly membership £49 for all courses. Certificates cost extra on single courses.
Do you get a certificate from John Academy?
Yes, after you finish a course, but on single courses you pay for it separately, as a PDF, hard copy or both. The yearly membership includes CPD-accredited PDF certificates.
Does John Academy offer refunds?
Its FAQ offers a 14-day money-back guarantee, which may be a full refund or an alternative course. Memberships renew automatically, so cancel in your account if you do not want to renew.
Can you study with John Academy outside the UK?
Yes. The courses are online, and John Academy ships hard-copy certificates internationally for an extra fee.
How long do you have to finish a John Academy course?
Usually 12 months from purchase, according to John Academy’s FAQ, though access can vary by course and membership type.
Sources, all read 14 October 2026: johnacademy.co.uk (homepage, membership, Level 3 Diploma course page, FAQ, terms), Trustpilot, Companies House, Ofqual’s register of recognized awarding organizations and qualifications, openlearn, alison.com, futurelearn.com, and Reddit (r/AskUK, r/UKJobs, r/TeachingUK).