Becoming a recognised awarding organisation
Last updated on: 11/03/2008
To become a recognised awarding body and submit qualifications within the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), a two-stage process must be completed:
- the recognition process
- the application for accredition of qualifications.
The recognition process is outlined in The statutory regulation of external qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2004), which can be downloaded from this page. The recognition process is very precise because operating as an awarding body is a specialist function, requiring a high level of governance, experience, expertise, financial stability and quality assurance.
This section provides links to the relevant forms and the steps to achieving recognition.
If, having read about awarding bodies and consulted the Regulatory authorities' accreditation handbook (downloadable from this page), you feel that becoming a recognised awarding body is the appropriate route for your organisation you will need to do the following:
- enter into early dialogue with the Ofqual Recognition and Approvals team
- complete the recognition process.
Early dialogue
Early dialogue refers to the preliminary discussions between the regulator and your organisation. The purpose of this early discussion is to find out more about your organisation, what qualifications you hope to offer within the NQF, and to establish whether becoming a recognised awarding body is the most appropriate route for your organisation.
It is imperative that early dialogue takes place before completing the awarding body recognition application.
The recognition process
Once early dialogue with the regulator has taken place, and it is agreed that becoming a recognised awarding body is appropriate, it is necessary to complete the recognition process. This involves completing the awarding body recognition application form.
To ensure that the form is processed as quickly and efficiently as possible, we suggest that you check that:
- all relevant sections of the application are completed
- any cross-referencing is clear and accurate
- if the same documents are referred to in the application and in the appendices that they have the same titles
- the most current documents are included as appendices.
Once completed, this application should be returned to the Central Recognition team accreditation1@ofqual.gov.uk. This first stage of the recognition process is a review of your organisation's ability to offer its plan of provision. The plan shows the types, levels and subjects/sectors in relation to the information submitted.
Next steps
Organisations that successfully complete this process are recognised by the regulators as being capable of offering qualifications in the NQF to the required standards.
Once recognised, an awarding body may submit qualifications for accreditation. For more information on how to do this, please refer to the 'Getting qualifications accredited' page and consult the Regulatory authorities' accreditation handbook, which is available to download from this page.
The public consultation on The statutory regulation of external qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2004) finished in November 2003 and the NQF came into effect on 1 September 2004. The statutory regulation of external qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2004) replaces Arrangements for the statutory regulation of external qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2000).
Some organisations find the recognition process difficult because of the requirement to demonstrate 'externality' - the separation of training and awarding body functions, where the awarding body is also a training provider.
If your organisation is finding it difficult to complete the recognition process, it is possible to source the required external element from another institution. You may want to research other awarding bodies that offer qualifications in similar sector/subject areas, or awarding bodies that may be similar in form, and discuss the possibility of entering into a partnership.
The Awarding Body Recognition and Approvals team monitors and tracks applications from organisations seeking recognition for the first time, along with extensions to approved plans of provision and updates from recognised awarding organisations. The Awarding Body Recognition and Approvals team can be contacted at partateam@ofqual.gov.uk.