Below you will find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the Training Quality Standard for Employers.
What is the Training Quality Standard for Employers?
What’s the purpose of the Training Quality Standard for Employers?
Where did the Training Quality Standard for Employers come from?
What are the benefits of applying?
How much will assessment cost?
What does the assessment process entail?
Who is the corporate customer?
What do I need to do to achieve certification?
How long does certification last?
What is conditional certification?
What is the Training Quality Standard for Employers?
The Training Quality Standard for Employers is an assessment framework that sets out to assess and, where appropriate, certificate organisations’ internal training functions for:
(a) their responsiveness in delivering training and development solutions that meet customers’ needs, and
(b) their expertise in developing and deploying products and services to meet corporate aims and objectives.
What’s the purpose of the Training Quality Standard for Employers?
The Standard was developed with the intention of driving through a cultural change in the delivery of training and development solutions, to improve the quality of provision, increase the impact of training on customers, and create a national mark by which those delivering to a high standard could be recognised.
The Training Quality Standard for Employers provides organisations delivering training and development solutions internally the same opportunity to achieve recognition for their provision and ensures that the best training is recognised wherever it is found.
Where did the Training Quality Standard for Employers come from?
The Training Quality Standard for Employers evolved from the mainstream version of the Training Quality Standard. In June 2007 the Standard was presented to a large group of employers, where it was so well received that the employers expressed an interest in the framework being developed so that it could be used for their own internal training provision.
Given that the purpose of the standard was to drive through a cultural change in the delivery of training and development, it was felt that employers should be given the opportunity to apply the Standard to their own internal training functions.
The framework was then adapted to focus on the ability of an organisation’s internal training function to meet the needs of its customers and the wider organisation.
What are the benefits of applying?
There are numerous benefits to organisations both in the application process and in achieving certification against the Training Quality Standard for Employers. For a list of these benefits please refer to benefits page here.
Any organisation that is engaged in the provision and delivery of training and development solutions to its employees, and can meet the eligibility criteria, is able to apply for the Training Quality Standard for Employers. For a list of the eligibility criteria please refer to the eligibility page here.
We deliver training to employees within the organisation and to external organisations, so which version of the Standard should we apply for?
In these situations it can be difficult for organisations to decide if they should be applying for certification against the Training Quality Standard or the Training Quality Standard for Employers. One of the easiest things you can do is work out your motivations for achieving the Standard.
The headline differences between the two versions are laid out below:
The Training Quality Standard
The Training Quality Standard for Employers
So if you want to use the badge to sell your training offer to people outside of your organisation, the mainstream version of the Training Quality Standard may be more appropriate. However, please see our ‘TQS Vs TQSE Decision Flowchart’ to help you further with this decision, which can be found on the eligibility page here.
Please also remember that dependant on which version of the Standard you decide is more appropriate to you, your organisation must be able to satisfy the eligibility criteria for the Training Quality Standard here, or the Training Quality Standard for Employers here.
We use sub-contractors to deliver our training programmes: can we still apply for the Training Quality Standard for Employers?
Yes, but these arrangements should be explained in your Application and you must be able to show that you manage these contracts effectively to meet the needs of your customers and the wider organisational aims and objectives.
If you are interested in seeking Certification against the Training Quality Standard for Employers, the first step is to register with a licensed Certification Body. This will usually involve filling in a registration form or registering online; the steps you take though will depend on which Certification Body you choose. For more information on how to apply please see the next steps page here.
How much will assessment cost?
For information on costs, please contact one of the Certification Bodies, who will be able to run you through their pricing policy.
Certification Body contact details can be found here.
What does the assessment process entail?
The first step for your organisation is to register for assessment with a Certification Body, and agree a date by which you will submit your Application form. Once you have registered, you will then work towards completing your Application against the Training Quality Standard for Employers framework.
In the meantime the Certification Body will appoint two Assessors, who will make contact with you to arrange a convenient date for a Verification Visit.
After you have completed your Application, the Lead Assessor will begin a review of your Application, scoring it against the assessment framework and identifying issues they would like to check.
Following this, the pre-arranged Verification Visit will take place, where the Lead Assessor, accompanied by a Support Assessor, will visit you to verify the details of your Application. During this visit the Assessors will conduct Customer Feedback, contacting a sample of your internal customers and your corporate customer to obtain their feedback on your internal training function’s services.
After concluding the visit, the Assessors will agree a score and recommendation for your Application, and complete a Feedback Report.
The outcomes of all of these steps will then be moderated before going to Panel Review to make the final decision on Certification. The Panel’s decision will be forwarded to you once it is made, and followed up by a return visit from your Lead Assessor, to present a Feedback Report.
This is an activity conducted by the Assessors on the Verification Visit and is an integral part to the assessment process. The purpose of the activity is to gather feedback from:
This information is then analysed to see if your customers would support a possible Certification.
These are your customers under Part A of the Training Quality Standard for Employers.
The focus of the Training Quality Standard for Employers isn’t on learners; customers are individuals within the organisation who commission training from the training function.
Whilst a customer may sometimes commission training for themselves, they will be individuals who commission training for other learners.
The individuals who make up your customer base will differ between organisations and this is something that should be discussed with your Certification Body for clarification. The training function should have meaningful relationships with its customers right from the commissioning to the evaluation stages of training.
Sometimes a training function will provide training to different departments within the organisation; in this situation departmental managers might constitute as customers.
Another example might be that your organisation has small operations at many different sites, so site managers could make up your customer base.
Who is the corporate customer?
This is your customer under Part B of the Training Quality Standard for Employers.
The corporate customer is an individual within the organisation, who is able to validate the impact that the training function has on the wider corporate aims and objectives of the organisation.
What do I need to do to achieve certification?
To achieve the Training Quality Standard for Employers, you will need to achieve a score of 825 points or more out of the 1500 points available, with no one indicator assessed at below 25% and a recommendation for Certification from your Assessors.
The Certification Panel makes all decisions on certifications, and uses the above achievements as inputs to its deliberations, but the Panel has exclusive authority to certificate, and its decision is final in any case.
How long does certification last?
Certification typically lasts for three years, and will be specified in the Certification Agreement you sign. The three year period will be dated from the date that the Panel reviewed your Application, except if you were certificated before 8th May 2008. In that case your certification period will start from this date.
What is conditional certification?
Conditional certification is a concession offered to allow organisations to achieve the Training Quality Standard for Employers where they have little or no evidence for the results they achieve. In these cases, where a Lead Assessor recommends it, Certification can be offered where an organisation is assessed at over 578 points out of the 1050 not related to results evidence.
If conditional certification is offered, an organisation will have to agree to submit an updated A.0, A.5 and B.3 and host a further visit after 12 months to assess progress; if this is not sufficient, Certification can be withdrawn.