As we reach the end of June, we have a few updates to share in relation to End-Point Assessment.
- New EPA Standard- Approved!
- Team Leader/ Supervisor Updated Assessment Plan
- Lockdown restrictions – onsite assessments and continued use of alternative assessments
- Hair Professional Standard update
- Children Young People and Families Manager Standard
New EPA Standard- Approved!
We are delighted to confirm that we have last week received ESFA confirmation of our Approval status to deliver End-Point Assessment for the following five standards;
- Level 2 Early Years Practitioner
- Level 2 Healthcare Cleaning Operative
- Level 3 Advanced & Creative Hair Professional
- Level 4 Lead Practitioner in Adult Care
- Level 5 Leader in Adult Care
Please visit our website for more information, including our fees, for these standards. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you wish to discuss these standards in more detail.
Team Leader/ Supervisor Updated Assessment Plan
As you may be aware, we have had the privilege over the last several months to be part of a small working group tasked with revising the assessment plan for this Level 3 standard. The collective work has paid off and towards the end of last week the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education published the updated Assessment Plan.
Development is underway to update support and Mock assessment materials and we aim to have these available by W/C 3rd August 2020.
Question– Which assessment plan will my Apprentice be assessed against?
Answer– Our intention is to transition to the new plan in a timely fashion whilst ensuring Training Providers and Apprentices who have prepared for the existing assessment plan are supported.
From 15th August 2020, the Verve EPA system will support two concurrent standards, reflecting each assessment plan version:
- Team Leader / Supervisor (Legacy)
- Team Leader / Supervisor (New)
From this date, Apprentices will be assessed against the above, associated standard to which they are registered, as submitted for gateway.
All Apprentices currently registered with us will be registered against the Legacy assessment plan.
All Apprentices registered against the (Legacy) version may be associated with the (New) Standard and Assessment Plan using the change of circumstance and start new programme feature. More information and a tutorial will be made available to explain how to complete this process.
The (Legacy) Standard and Assessment Plan will remain available until January 31st 2021, after which all registrations will be automatically updated to the (New) version and gateway submissions for the (Legacy) version will be rejected, other than exceptional circumstances.
Question– Will this change in plan alter the fee TQUK charges for this standard?
Answer– No. The funding band allocation remains the same and upon review of the new assessment plan we feel comfortable that we do not need to alter our EPA fee. Please visit our website for a full breakdown of costs for this standard
Lockdown restrictions – onsite assessments and continued use of alternative assessments
I am sure you have all been following the news and updates from the government in relation to the ease of lockdown restrictions. Whilst this does in the main create greater opportunities for onsite assessments including observations to potentially take place, we would like to confirm that our primary method of assessment remains as remote.
Where this is not possible or you feel onsite assessments would be a better option for your Apprentice, please discuss directly with us. We will in all cases review the individual request and support where we can.
In order to enable us to do so, we will be asking Training Providers to complete a Centre Declaration. This form will be available on VERVE EPA later this week under General Support Materials. The declaration will ask Training Providers to confirm that the assessment location being requested to host the onsite assessment is safe and that all necessary health and safety checks and precautions have been made.
Equally, we will be requiring our End-Point Assessors that are willing to conduct onsite assessments at this time to complete a health declaration, ahead of each caseload allocation.
As per our previous communication, The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education continues to confirm that they currently have no plans to revert back to the sole use of the current published assessment plans and continue to promote the use of remote assessment practice, where possible, and the continuation of the alternative assessment methods. As such, we too continue to offer these alternative assessment methods to be used wherever this is feasible and the best fit for your Apprentices.
Hair Professional Standard update
As per the above, the government have confirmed that Salons can start to reopen their doors from 4th July 2020. This is great news and we look forward to commencing End-Point Assessments for this sector once more shortly.
We continue to work with the other registered End-Point Assessment Organisations and the Employer Group to ensure that we have collectively understood and embedded the safe working practices outlined within the “Closer Contact Services” government guidance, and continue to engage with wider sectors bodies who may provide further enhancement to this guidance.
It is at this stage that we will provide more detailed guidance as to our plans to seek to resume End-Point Assessment for this Standard and if there are any changes to our pre-COVID practice.
In the meantime, please do continue to progress your Apprentices through Gateway to enable us to conduct all Gateway checks and prepare to schedule assessments as soon as we are able to.
Children Young People and Families Manager Standard
Last week we published a joint statement with the NCFE EPA Plus in regards to this standard. Please read this statement in full here. We very much appreciate the frustrations felt by Training Providers, Employer and Apprentices at this time and wish to reassure all that we are working hard alongside NCFE EPA Plus, Ofqual and the Employer Group to seek a speedy resolution to enable Apprentices to be able to advance and undertake their final End-Point Assessment. We will keep all registered centres updated on our progress!
