New Opportunities for Small Training Providers

The Training Quality Standard is an assessment framework and an assessment and certification process which has been designed to recognise and celebrate the best organisations delivering training and development solutions to employers. The standard has been designed to reflect employers’ priorities and expectations in sourcing training and development solutions, and the practices of the organisations proven to be the best at delivering them.

The Training Quality Standard is open to training providers of all sizes, but recognises that smaller providers require specific consideration, to make sure that it is accessible to them in terms of cost and the approach to assessment. The Standard is therefore pleased to announce some new opportunities for small training providers who wish to apply for assessment.

The first good news for small training providers is the new reduced price for eligible organisations, representing a saving of at least £1,000 on fees, taking the typical Part A cost down to £4,150.

Eligible providers who apply now will also be able to take part in a new pilot, which will be used to test the assessment process for accessibility, and to generate additional guidance to help small providers plan their application and assessment.

To help develop the guidance, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) are offering reduced assessment fees for the first 75 small providers who register before May 16^th. This means that fully qualifying providers will pay typically less than £2,000 for a Part A assessment rather than the standard £6k that most providers face.

These exciting developments will give a much wider range of organisations the opportunity to show they are among the best in delivering training and development solutions to employers.  Already more than one hundred organisations have registered or applied for assessment under the Standard since it went ‘live’ in June 2007 – including colleges, commercial providers and several large employers – and 35 have now been certificated. The additional small provider guidance is a key objective for the Standard’s long-term development, making sure that it is the mark of the best providers, regardless of their size and shape.

Small providers who wish to take part should click here and download the registration form or call Melanie Blagg on 0116 229 3300 for more information, or email her at [email protected] .