FAQs

Find the qualifications you’re interested in offering on QualHub and add it to your shortlist. Once you’ve added everything you wish to gain approval for, hover over your shortlist and click 'request approval'. You'll then be taken to our online application form.

You can access the qualification codes using our qualification finder. You should be able to locate the qualification by searching using a keyword or course title. When you go to the qualification page, the code will be in the ‘Reference number’ box. Alternatively, expand your search using the advanced search feature.

You can view the qualifications that you’re currently approved for by logging into the Portal. Access the Programmes tab and filter your search to show only your approved programmes.

Please see our latest Fees and Pricing document found in the Policies and Documents section.

We have 2 support documents to help you prepare for your approval visit; 10 Easy Steps to a Smooth Approval Visit and the Approval Checklist.

If you need further support you can speak directly to your Approval Advisor who’ll be appointed once you become an approved centre. We also have a User Guide to the Approval Advisor Visit Report.

Evidence must include at least one of your current centre approval certificates, a letter or email confirming approval or an External Quality Assurer visit report from the current academic session.

You still need to meet our Approval Criteria and agree to our Centre Agreement. Once we receive your form we’ll check the information you’ve supplied. If your application is successful, we’ll add your details to our database and send you confirmation of approval by email.

You’ll need a Portal account to register your learners with us. You can register on the Portal by filling in your information on the Portal registration page.

Once you’re logged in, click the registrations tab and follow the steps to process your registrations. If you need further support, please use the Portal handbook.

We send you a consolidated invoice statement each month, showing all your transactions for that month. You’ll receive this in the first week of each month. For further information see our Invoicing Policy.

Log in to the Portal and click the search tab. You can search using the learner’s forename, surname or date of birth.

You can cancel a registration by sending an email to [email protected]. If the cancellation is made within 5 days of registration, you’ll be refunded the registration fee.

If outside of the 30 days you can withdraw your learners without any charge however the registration fee is not refunded.

The fee for this service can be found in our Fees and Pricing document.

A learner that has previously been cancelled cannot be reinstated and must be re-registered with us.

If the learner has been withdrawn they can be reinstated at any point within their two year registration period. Our customer support team will reinstate the learner for you.

You can amend a learner’s name when you claim their certificate on the Let’s Claim screen of the Online Certification process.

Using this function you can correct a spelling error in the learner’s name.

You can claim certificates online through the Portal, using the Certification menu. The Portal User Guide gives you a step-by-step guide on how to do this.

You can amend a learner’s name in the ‘My learners’ section or when claiming the learner certificate by using the edit learner button next to the learner name.

Contact our Customer Support Team and inform them that you have made an error as soon as you can. We’ll help you rectify the error and recover any invalid certificates that have been issued.

A full claim means that the learner has the required amount of units or credits to qualify for a full achievement and will be issued a Qualification Certificate or Credit Certificate (depending on the type of qualification or award).

A partial claim means the learner doesn’t have the required amount of units or credits for a full achievement and will be issued a Unit Certificate or Credit Certificate (depending on the type of qualification or award).

Yes. When you make a claim the Portal will update the learner status with a ‘full’ or ‘partial’ based on the units you’ve selected for your learners, so please check this before you submit your claim. Please check the qualification specification if you have any initial questions.

Certificates

If we receive a signed off (via Direct Claim Status (DCS) or External Quality Assurer (EQA)) certificate claim before 5pm this will be dispatched the next working day.

Claims received after 5pm will be dispatched on the second working day.

Timescales for dispatching to International addresses will vary.
Certificates for NCFE Level 3 Certificate in Mathematics for Everyday Life will be issued following the conclusion of any Enquires about Results process.

Replacement Certificates

If we can find a record of your achievement we will issue and post a new certificate within ten working days of your payment clearing.

We will issue replacement certificates for the previous 10 academic years.

We will issue a Proof of Qualification for CACHE branded requests from 01 September 1994 until the start of the 10 year period for issuing Replacement Certificates.

If your claim is show as pending this means it is waiting to be signed off by the External Quality Assurer (EQA) if you don’t have Direct Claim Status (DCS).

This could be for a number of reasons:

- an external quality assurance visit hasn’t taken place for this qualification

- the portfolio(s) are not of the required standard and need further work before certification can take place

- the learner(s) haven’t been sampled or are part of a batch that hasn’t been sampled

- the learner(s) have been cancelled, transferred or withdrawn

- the EQA may have picked up on a discrepancy between the claim made and the work presented. There are many reasons why a claim can be rejected but your EQA will support you through what actions need to be completed before certificates can be issued.

DCS is awarded for an individual qualification and is based on quality criteria that are measured and reported on through our external quality assurance visits. DCS can be achieved after one visit or 2 consecutive visits over a maximum period of 18 months.

When you meet the quality criteria we'll automatically award you DCS for that qualification. We'll email the Programme Contact at your centre to inform them that you've been awarded DCS with a copy of your visit report. You don't have to do anything - it's that simple!

For more information about DCS and the quality criteria to achieve it, please refer to the DCS section on our website.

Direct Claim Status enables you to claim certificates for a qualification without needing to have your learners work signed off by your External Quality Assurer.

Yes, we may be able to honour your existing DCS with other AO’s. You can complete our online DCS transfer form, you’ll need to provide one of the following pieces of evidence:

1. Confirmation letter or email from the AO clearly showing the AO’s logo, the qualification name and number, the centre name and number the DCS status and the date DCS was achieved.
2. Visit report from the AO clearly showing the AO’s logo, the qualification name and number, the centre name and number, the DCS status and the date achieved.
3. Screen shot of the AO's website clearly showing the website address, logo of AO, the qualification name and number, the DCS status and the date achieved and the centre’s name and number.

Yes we can remove your DCS approval at any time, but only for the following reasons:

if you don’t meet the DCS criteria during your external quality assurance/verification visit (as detailed above). If this happens we’ll contact you and discuss this with you
in the exceptional circumstance where information from a range of external sources raises concerns, e.g. complaints, suspensions or investigations which may lead us to review of your DCS approval. If this happens, an External Quality Assurance Officer from NCFE or CACHE would contact you to highlight the issues and discuss the concerns.
Once DCS has been lost you will need two consecutive External Quality Assurer visits that meet our quality criteria. This involves being graded as excellent or above average in all categories and to have completed all of the outstanding actions set by the External Quality Assurer.

V Certs is our brand name for the new generation of our qualifications for schools. We developed these new qualifications following government changes to GCSE-equivalent qualifications which came into effect at the end of the 2012-13 academic year.

V Cert qualifications have been developed in-line with the Department for Education (DfE) technical guidance to be equivalent to one GCSE. V Cert qualifications are graded and contain both internally and externally assessed elements. Each V Cert qualification is equivalent to one GCSE. V Certs are recognised by DfE as Technical Awards.

Schools can deliver any existing age-appropriate qualification; see Section 96 for further information. However, if you are looking for qualifications that are included in the Key Stage 4 performance tables then you will need to choose a qualification from the list published by the DfE. Our V Cert qualifications are on the DfE list and each is equivalent to 1 GCSE.

V Certs provide project and theme based learning and assessment which gives you flexibility for teaching and learning options.
They have exemplar internal assessments for the internal units can be customised by you.
V Certs have no mandatory staff training which means flexibility to organise departmental CPD.
They meet all regulatory and DfE requirements for rigour and balanced assessment.
V certs are equivalent to one GCSE in the school performance tables
count as part of the “other approved qualifications” element of Progress 8
are between 120-150 Guided Learning Hours (GLH) so fit neatly into GCSE timetables.
They are supported by a network of External Quality Assurer and examiners.
They aid development of pupils’ Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS).
V Certs allow pupils to further develop and demonstrate Literacy and Numeracy skills.

Current Level 1 V Cert qualifications are internally assessed and External Quality Assured. Level 2 V Cert qualifications have all been developed to have internally assessed units and one externally assessed unit. There is a requirement moving forward that all V Certs at Level 1 and Level 2 must have external assessment.

The qualifications are graded Pass, Merit, Distinction and Distinction*.

Pupils can achieve a Pass, Merit or Distinction for each unit at both Level 1 and 2.The unit grades are aggregated to form the final overall qualification grade. A Distinction* grade will be awarded to learners who have consistently achieved a Distinction grade in every unit which demonstrates the learners’ exceptional knowledge, understanding and skill at either Level 1 or Level 2.

Each qualification specification details how the qualification grade is aggregated. Please see the qualification specifications for each subject on the V Cert Qualifications page.

Current Level 1 V Certs don’t have an element of external assessment. Any new Level 1 qualifications submitted for consideration for the 2017 list will have an element of external assessment.

Level 2 V Certs do have an element of external assessment.

The external assessment is on one unit of the qualification. Please refer to the relevant Qualification Specification to identify the unit that is externally assessed. The external assessment will test learners on their knowledge, understanding and skills.

The unit content must be delivered to learners prior to them sitting the external assessment. Please see section 2 of the qualification specification for subject specific information on the external assessment.

There are 2 marking windows throughout the year.

For guidance on conducting external assessments please refer to the Regulations for the Conduct of External Assessment for V Certs.

Pupils are entitled to one resit for the external assessment. To enter a learner for a resit, centres must enter their learners for the chosen marking window. Only one resit opportunity is allowed.

Pupils are entitled to one resubmission per unit for the internally assessed units. This will need to be assessed, graded and internally Quality Assured. The centre will be required to resubmit the unit grade to us for further quality assurance.

You are entitled to 2 free visits per academic year from your External Quality Assurer. You can request additional visits from your Customer Support Advisor however these are chargeable.

As the external assessments take place within a marking window, it would be down to the school to rearrange the session that was affected. All external assessment sessions would still need to take place within the marking window. If you have any concerns about this please contact the External Quality Assurance team.

You should contact our Customer Support Team as soon as possible or call 0191 239 8000.

The list of all qualifications that attract performance points can be found on the DfE website. These are updated every year, usually in November/December.

Qualifications are assigned a discount code by the Department for Education (DfE) to show where one qualification discounts the other because the content of each qualification is deemed too similar.

If a pupil completes 2 qualifications that have the same discount code, although the pupil still gains both qualifications, only 1 of those qualifications will count towards the Key Stage 4 Performance Tables. For example, if a pupil completes both GCSE Art and Design and the V Cert in Art and Design, only one of these qualifications will count in the Performance Tables.

These are updated by the DfE every year and should be checked at RAISEonline.

See our Subject Areas page and check the relevant subject pages for further information.

Qualifications taken from Year 7 onwards can count in the Key Stage Performance Tables once the pupil reaches the end of Key Stage 4.

However, the early entry policy comes in to effect from Year 9.

This means if a pupil completes a Level 1 qualification in Year 7 or 8 and completes the Level 2 qualification in Year 9 or 10, then the best result from either the Level 1 or Level 2 qualification will count in the Performance Tables.

However, if the pupil completes both the Level 1 and Level 2 qualification in Year 9 or later, then it is the first entry that will be reported in the Performance Tables.

The performance points are assigned to the school where the pupil is enrolled.

Each qualification specification provides guidance on the experience and qualifications needed to deliver and assess the qualification but it isn’t intended to be exhaustive or definitive. Examples of relevant qualifications and occupational backgrounds are given as benchmarks.

Other equivalent qualifications or backgrounds may also qualify prospective staff for delivery or assessment roles. Centres must provide sufficient numbers of suitably experienced Assessors and Internal Quality Assurer to ensure that qualifications are delivered effectively. Staff recruitment should be made at the discretion of centres, and centres should be aware that it’s their responsibility to ensure that all staff involved in the delivery and assessment of our qualifications are suitably qualified.

Each subject specific qualification specification can be found on the qualification pages.

DCS does not apply to V Certs as the assessment methodology is different for these qualifications. It may be something that we consider in future.

Please refer to the our Guide on getting started with V Certs.

The Operational End Date is the last date that we can accept registrations for a qualification. The qualifications will be reviewed before this date with the intention of extending the accreditation period, pending further review of the qualifications by the Department for Education (DfE).

You’ll still have 2 years from the operational end date to claim your certificates.

We also have 5 other Level 1 qualifications in the creative sector which are recognised in the Key Stage 4 Performance Tables. The qualifications listed below will continue to attract performance points until the end of 2015 and will eventually be replaced by new Level 1 V Certs. They are: Level 1 Award in Creative Craft using Art and Design (500/5959/2/Art), Level 1 Award in Graphic Design (500/8454/9), Level 1 Certificate in Interactive Media (500/8053/2), Level 1 Certificate in Performance Skills (500/9177/3) and
Level 1 Certificate in Music Technology (501/1234/X).

We offer a number of free downloadable resources that will help you deliver any of our V Cert qualifications.

All support material for the qualification can be found under the Support Material tab for each qualification.