Posted on: 15/12/11
The new apprenticeship certification online system for England is scheduled to go live from 19th January. The new service called ACE (Apprenticeship Certificates England) will be run by the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils (Alliance). SSCs will be going live using a phased approach with e-skills UK being included in the week starting Monday 6th February.
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act (ASCL) was enacted in November 2010 and the new certification requirements came into force on 13th April 2011. One of the key requirements of the Act is that only the Certifying Authority for England can issue Apprenticeship certificates to successful apprentices in England. In order to make this happen the Alliance has been designated as the Certifying Authority in England.
The new ACE service is an online system where apprentices, learning providers and employers, who act on their behalf will be able to request Apprenticeship certificates.
e-skills UK (and all other SSCs) will receive requests for certificates from apprentices or from learning providers or employers who act on their behalf via the ACE online system, and will issue Apprenticeship certificates, providing the requirements of the particular Apprenticeship framework have been met.
Apprentices will receive a new certificate approved by the Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, which at his request includes a designation of either, Bronze (Intermediate Apprenticeship), Silver (Advanced Apprenticeship) or Gold (Higher Apprenticeship).
The new online system is a development from MA Online, which is already used for Scottish apprentices by providers through the UK. This online system is popular with users and easy to use. ACE will include a web-based training system and a fully downloadable PDF manual and the system can be used for more than just requesting certificates. e.g. learning providers and employers can put the details of their apprentices onto the ACE online system at an early stage of their training and add evidence of their achievements as they progress. This will prevent people having to put on all the evidence needed to issue an Apprenticeship certificate when apprentices have finished all the elements of the framework. This will support the collation of Labour Market Information and also help us gain a more informed idea of apprenticeship numbers and success rates.
The ACE online system will be used to simplify the current administrative requirements.
ACE will store all the evidence of achievement an apprentice needs to claim an Apprenticeship certificate. Individual apprentices will be able to use the ACE online system to request their own certificates if they want to. The certificate charge will be collected by the SSCs.
Whilst the system is being set up, e-skills UK will continue to check evidence, issue certificates and process payments. If you need a request form for use before 6th February please send your details to jeannette.armstrong@e-skills.com.
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