About Continua Learning Group | One partner for your whole workforce

Three specialists. One partner for your whole workforce.

Continua Learning Group formed in September 2026, bringing together three specialists: First Intuition in accountancy and finance, Decoded in data and AI, and SkillsLab in professional and human skills.

Most providers own a single stage of a career, or a single capability. Continua Learning Group spans the whole arc, so organisations can build financial, data and human capability across their whole workforce, developing the same person from entry level through to leadership rather than managing separate suppliers for each stage.

Why we came together

The skills needed by organisations and their people are changing faster than traditional training has kept pace with. Technical knowledge alone isn't enough. Neither is data fluency on its own, or leadership skill in isolation. Organisations now need people who can work across all three, and most training providers still develop those capabilities separately, at different career stages, often for different people altogether.

Continua Learning Group closes that gap. Three specialist brands sit within Continua Learning Group, each strong in its own field: First Intuition for professional accountancy and finance, Decoded for data and AI capability, and SkillsLab for professional and human skills. Together, they let an employer build financial, data and human capability across their workforce from one group, developing the same person from their first apprenticeship or early career through to the leadership team, rather than sourcing each capability from a separate supplier with different standards.

Our leadership

Our leadership brings together Group and brand leadership. Group leadership guides Continua Learning Group and the shared capability behind our three specialist brands, while First Intuition, Decoded and SkillsLab, each retain their own leaders, expertise and identity.

Clients get the depth of a specialist and the breadth of one Group partner.

Martin Taylor

Group Chief Executive Officer, Continua Learning Group and Chief Executive Officer, First Intuition

Martin leads Continua Learning Group as Group Chief Executive Officer whilst continuing to serve as CEO of First Intuition. He brings together First Intuition, Decoded and SkillsLab under a shared ambition: developing professionals across a whole career rather than a single qualification moment.

Richard Peters

Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Decoded

Richard co-founded Decoded and leads it as Chief Executive. He believes data and AI skills can't sit in a silo, and neither can finance or leadership skills, which is why he's excited for what Continua Learning Group can offer clients.

Pete Humphreys

Managing Director, SkillsLab

Pete leads SkillsLab as Managing Director, building the professional and human skills employers say are hardest to develop well, and the ones that take people furthest.

Sarah Mackey

Group Chief Operating Officer, Continua Learning Group

Sarah is Group Chief Operating Officer for Continua Learning Group, leading group operations, governance, strategic planning and business enablement across First Intuition, Decoded and SkillsLab. Having spent her career in professional services and professional education, including eight years at BPP, she is focused on building scalable, high-quality operations that support exceptional learner, client and colleague experiences as workforce needs continue to evolve.

James Morley

Group Chief Learning Officer, Continua Learning Group

James is Group Chief Learning Officer for Continua Learning Group. With over 15 years' experience in professional education, he leads learning strategy, product innovation and learning quality across the group, helping ensure outstanding learner outcomes while embracing data, technology and AI to enhance the learning experience.

Christopher Darlington

Chair

Christopher joined Apiary Capital as a Senior Advisor in 2023 and supports its investment activity in a non-executive capacity. He was a founding member of corporate finance firm Hawkpoint Partners, now Canaccord Genuity, where he spent 30 years advising on acquisitions, disposals, restructurings and IPOs, including as co-head of the consumer sector team.

Backed to grow

Continua Learning Group is backed by Apiary Capital LLP, which first invested in the group in 2023. Apiary backs specialist training providers with a proven commitment to educational quality, strong customer service and long-term client partnerships, and the ability to deliver at scale in a sizeable market with structural growth.

Bringing complementary specialists together builds on those strengths. Employers get a single partner for capabilities they would otherwise buy in pieces, with a growth plan that keeps learner success and service quality at its centre.

Our focus today is the UK market, with a longer-term ambition to support clients globally with a consistent, quality service wherever their people are.