Direct Claim Status FAQs

For information on DCS, including how it's awarded, which qualifications are eligible and transferring DCS from another awarding organisation, take a look at our DCS page.

DCS is awarded for each individual qualification and therefore the number of learners sampled would be considered per qualification.

It also depends on the status of the centre and how many reviews you need to achieve DCS.

If you’re delivering the qualification for the first time and would like to achieve DCS in one review, then the following criteria must be met in your EQA report:

• exclusively grade ‘1’s 
• no outstanding actions from previous EQA review report 
• a minimum of three learner portfolios sampled, with at least two completed portfolios sampled and marked as ‘final’, other learners sampled can have ‘new’ or ‘mid’ status 
• reliability of assessment graded as A.

If you’re delivering the qualification and would like to achieve DCS over two EQA reviews, then the following criteria must be met in your EQA reports:

• exclusively grade 1s, 2s and 3s; at least one month between the 2 reviews 
• no outstanding actions from previous EQA visit report 
• a minimum of 3 learner portfolios sampled on each visit, with at least 3 completed portfolios sampled over the 2 reviews and marked as ‘final’, other learners sampled can have ‘new’ or ‘mid’ status 
• reliability of assessment graded as A or B. 

If you already have DCS and plan to maintain this, then you must have one review within 12 months of DCS being achieved/maintained meeting the following criteria:

• exclusively grade 1s, 2s and 3s 
• no outstanding actions from previous EQA visit report 
• a minimum of one completed learner portfolio sampled and marked as ‘final’, other learners sampled can have ‘new’ or ‘mid’ status 
• reliability of assessment graded as A or B. 

This means that it’s the first report to meet the DCS criteria on the 2 review pathway. DCS hasn’t been awarded yet but will be achieved if the next visit meets the criteria and takes place within 18 months of the first visit.

DCS Pending will appear on the report when most of the required criteria have been met but sufficient final learners haven’t been sampled to achieve DCS. DCS is therefore pending until correct number of final learner portfolios have been sampled:  

• When achieving DCS in 1 visit – a minimum of 3 learners must be sampled and 2 marked as final;
• When achieving DCS over 2 visits – a minimum of 3 learners must be sampled in the current and previous report and 3 must be marked as final over the 2 reports per qualification;
• When maintaining DCS – a minimum of 1 learner portfolio must be sampled and marked as ‘final’.

Certificate claim forms will only automatically be signed off if a centre has DCS achieved or maintained. For any other DCS outcome, certificate claims will need to be signed off by the EQA. You must ensure that prior to submitting any certification claims, a review must have taken place otherwise the EQA will reject the claim. Our SLA for EQAs to sign off certificate claims is 3 working days. 

Yes DCS can be applied. However, the centre or EQA must request this either in section 10 of the EQA report or by emailing [email protected].

DCS will be updated for a year from the date of the EQA review, whether it is on the day of the expiry or prior. If a review takes place after the expiration date, then DCS will automatically lapse, and the centre will need to work towards achieving DCS again. 

We can remove your DCS at any time, but only for the following reasons: 

• If you don’t meet the DCS criteria during your external quality assurance review. If this happens your EQA will discuss this with you and set an action plan in your report. DCS can be regained in future by meeting the criteria in subsequent reviews. 
• Where information from a range of external sources raises concerns, such as complaints, suspensions or investigations, which may lead us to review your DCS. If this happens, a Quality Assurance Officer (QAO) would contact you to highlight the issues and discuss the concerns. DCS would only be removed in line with JCQ Suspected Malpractice Policies and Procedures document. 

We can remove DCS from a qualification in line with our CASS strategy which would mean it is no longer eligible for DCS. 

If the minimum number of learners have been sampled, you’ll need to check that all other DCS criteria has also been met. 

Learners marked as ‘new’ or ‘mid’ count towards the number of learners sampled however, only learners marked as ‘final’ are deemed as fully completed portfolios. The minimum number of ‘final’ completed portfolios must be sampled to achieve DCS. The EQA will always retrospectively sample learners who’ve been certificated previously via DCS. 

There are a few triggers which will result in DCS being lost for all qualifications in the QA group even if they weren’t sampled on the visit: 

• If section 2 is graded as ‘some actions outstanding’ or ‘no action taken’. 
• Any section containing a grade 4 or 5; Section 7 reliability of assessment graded C or D. 
• Section 10 ‘Do you recommend continued approval for this product?’ is marked no. 

NCFE has set minimum requirements for DCS in order to monitor centre assessment standards. Therefore, if a centre is unable to meet the DCS criteria, this can’t be awarded.