The Conditional Certification concession, which allows high-quality applicants for the Training Quality Standard to gain recognition even where they find it difficult to demonstrate their results, has been made available for a further 6 months. Previously, the concession was time-limited, so that only applications arriving before 31 December 2009 could be certificated under the rule.
The LSC has extended the Conditional Certification concession because, although there are signs of improving standards in performance measurement, the pace is a little slower than anticipated. The LSC is keen that Conditional Certification still reaches an end-point – because high-quality, high-impact training provision should measure results – but also doesn’t want to remove the concession prematurely, when many colleges and training providers are taking steps to improve but are still some distance from where they want to be.
The rules for the Conditional Certification concession remain the same as before, and as presented in Appendix C of the Applicant Guide. The only difference is that the deadline for applications to be received by Certification Bodies is now 30 June 2010, for certification decisions to be made within the following six months.
If you have any questions about the effects this may have on your application or assessment, you should talk to your Certification Body.