Preparing for an approval review | NCFE

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Preparing for an approval review

When you apply for centre approval, you’ll be asked to give three potential dates for an approval review.

  • For T Level applications, these dates must be within 20 working days of your application.
  • For all other qualifications, this should be within 30 working days of your application.

Following this, an EQA will be allocated.

Once approved, you’ll receive an approval certificate to display at your centre and a welcome email containing lots of information to help you get started.

If you’re not approved first time, don’t worry – your EQA will work with you to discuss the next steps.

If you’re applying for approval for any of our products, except T Levels:

  • Read the qualification specifications for the products you’re applying for approval for
  • Familiarise yourself with our Approval Criteria
  • View our User Guide to our Centre Approval Report to understand the criteria covered as part of the review and the evidence you need to support your application
  • Collate evidence to support your approval review, ensuring you have evidence to meet each criteria in the report
  • Send your evidence at least two working days ahead of review to avoid potential delays to your approval application. Failure to do this will result in your approval review being cancelled. Should the review be cancelled, a new date will be arranged in line with EQA availability.

If during the review the EQA identifies missing evidence, this will be requested during the review, failure to supply this during the review will result in an action on the report

If you’re applying for approval for any of our T Levels:

  • Read the qualification specifications for the qualifications you’re applying for approval for
  • Familiarise yourself with our T Level approval criteria
  • View our User Guide to NCFE T Level Provider Approval to understand the criteria covered as part of the review and the evidence you can collate to support your application
  • Complete the Delivery Staff Qualifications and Experience Template
  • Collate evidence to support your approval review, ensuring you have evidence to meet each criteria in the report
  • Send your evidence at least two working days ahead of the review to avoid potential delays to your approval application. Failure to do this will result in your approval review being cancelled. Should the review be cancelled, a new date will be arranged in line with EQA availability. If during the review the EQA identifies missing evidence, this will be requested during the review, failure to supply this during the review will result in an action on the report.

If you’re applying for approval to deliver the NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma in the Principles and Practice of Dental Nursing (610/3114/8):

Before the review, please ensure you:

  • read the qualification specification available on the qualification page
  • review the mandatory requirements for Dental Nursing approval and external quality assurance reviews on the qualification page
  • familiarise yourself with our Approval Criteria
  • consult the User Guide to our Centre Approval Report to understand the criteria covered during the review and the evidence required to support your application
  • collate all relevant evidence to support your approval review, ensuring it meets both the approval criteria and mandatory requirements for Dental Nursing
  • submit your evidence at least two working days before the review to avoid potential delays. If evidence is not received in time, the review maybe cancelled, a fee may apply, and a new date will be subject to EQA availability.

During the review:

If the EQA identifies any missing evidence, this will be requested during the review. If the required evidence is not provided, an action will be recorded in the report. This may delay approval, and a second (chargeable) review may be required.