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Approval of Centres and Academies

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Condition C2

  https://theingots.org/community/terms (link to terms and Conditions of Service)

1. In this policy and associated procedures, the term Centre will be used for both Centres and Academies unless stated otherwise. TLM will provide web based support for all Centres to ensure that they 

  1. Can hold and transmit securely, details of assessment outcomes to the Awarding Organisation
  2. Have access to systems that support the assessment of units and the award, accululation and transfer of credit and the recording of exemptions.
  3. Can track the progress of learners towards target awards

If an organisation applies to be a Centre or Academy, it will be approved providing that it fulfils the following conditions:

  1. The Centre agrees to appoint a Principal Assessor who is the single point of contact with TLM. The Principal Assessor will sign an agreement to uphold standards across all assessors in their Centre and they will attend such training as required by TLM to ensure they are fully conversant with the policies and procedures required to carry out their duties in managing assessment of units and qualifications.
  2. The Centre has sufficient working computer equipment to access the support provided from the TLM web site for recording assessment outcomes and transmitting these and any evidence required by TLM securely to the Awarding Organisation.
  3. The Centre has the staff to support the assessment of units and agrees to establish a constructive working relationship with a named Account Manager at TLM. It will  provide access to candidates and their work for the purpose of quality assurance, standardisation and moderation.
  4. Unless the learner chooses not to have one, has arrangements in place to obtain on behalf of its learners a unique learner number (ULN) and a learner record.
  5. Where learner consent is given, uses access to the record of the learner's previous achievements in their learner record to ensure that opportunities for credit ransfer and exemption are maximised.
  6. Has arrangements to allow for the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and agrees that TLM will be given access to this information.
  7. The Centre agrees to allow access to its facilities by officers of The Learning Machine and the Regulatory Authorities for the purposes of quality assurance and verification.
  8. The Centre agrees to maintain the integrity of the programme, supporting the assessment of candidates to a consistently appropriate standard for the particular award and in keeping with the policies of The Learning Machine as published in the handbook and on the INGOTs community website.
  9. Where a Centre acts in partnership with other organisations it documents the roles and responsibilities of each partner.
  10. The centre agrees to TLM general terms and conditions. 

2. The Centre must comply with all relevant government legislation in particular

  • The Equal Pay Act 1970,
  • The Sex discrimination Act 1975,
  • The Disability Discrimination Act 1995,
  • The Employment Act 1989,
  • The Employment Act 2002 (Flexible working regulations),
  • The Employment Relations Act 1999,
  • The Employment Rights Act 1996, Employment Tribunals (Interest on Awards in Discrimination Cases),
  • The Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003,
  • The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003,
  • The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974,
  • The Human Rights Act 1998,
  • The Management of Health and Safety at work Regulations 1999,
  • Maternity and Paternity Leave Regulations 1999,
  • The National Minimum Wage Act 1998,
  • The National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999,
  • The Occupational Pension Schemes (Equal Treatment) Regulations 1995,
  • Part-time Workers Regulations 2000,
  • The Pensions Act 1995,
  • The Protection from Harassment Act 1997,
  • The Race Relations Act 1976,
  • The Sex Discrimination (Questions and Replies) Order 1975,
  • The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992,
  • Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 1986, Statutory Maternity Pay (General) (Modifications and Amendment) Regulations 2000,
  • Working Time Regulations 1998, and any other relevant law required by the Regulatory Authorities.

The Centre pays the appropriate fees as agreed with The Learning Machine Ltd.

3. Procedure for monitoring compliance

The procedure for recognising the Centre is as follows: The Principal Assessor, on behalf of the Centre, confirms compliance with the contractual conditions by signing an agreement on the certifiication web site and provides details of the Centre's internal quality assurance procedures to the satisfaction of the Awarding Body.The continued compliance with the requirements of the Awarding Organisation is verified through an annual audit of the Centre where any deficiencies are noted on the Centre's account together with any actions need to fully meet the requirements.

4. Appeals

Should The Learning Machine Ltd reject an application to become a Centre, it will provide feedback on the reasons why and guidance on what the Centre needs to do for approval. If a Centre is not satisfied with the reasons for rejection it can approach the Certification Board by contacting the Chief Assessor. The Certification Board will consider the appeal and make a ruling normally within 6 weeks of the appeal.

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