How to become an IRCA approved
Training Organisation presenting
certified courses
How to become an IRCA approved
Training Organisation presenting
certified courses
Thank you for your interest in becoming an IRCA approved
training provider. To present IRCA certified training courses
you must obtain approval to operate as an IRCA approved
Training Organisation (TO) and IRCA certification for each
training course.
Links to the criteria documents on our website are included
in this information. IRCA/2000 Requirements for Training
Organisation Approval and IRCA/3000 How to apply for
and maintain Training Organisation Approval and Training
Course Certification are essential reading.
Steps & procedures
There is a two-stage application process for IRCA approval
of training organisations and IRCA certification of training
courses which you should expect to take a minimum of eight
weeks, but we would advise you to allow longer.
The process is as follows:
Stage One: application fees
Application fees are charged to cover costs for both training
organisation approval and course certification.
Details can be found in IRCA/151 fees and charges
• Application fee for training organisation approval
(currently GBP 965)
• Application fee for each training course certification is
dependent on the type of course certification applied for
Stage One: Desktop review (twenty working days minimum
from receipt of complete documentation)
• Submit application for training organisation approval and
course certification – see table below
• IRCA reviews your management system documents and
your course materials
IRCA Training Organisation Approval
IRCA Certification of your Training Course(s)
To obtain approval you must demonstrate that your
management system is capable of presenting training
that is:
• consistently controlled
• competently presented
• capable of assessing student performance
• continuously improved and updated
Your course must meet the requirements of the relevant
IRCA training course criteria and is expected to be
designed to include a variety of teaching methods – see the
Training Methods section and Appendix: Notes for Guidance
of the relevant course criteria – note that tutor-led slide
presentations as a sole method to help students learn new
knowledge is not acceptable. Each training course must:
• cover the defined learning objectives
• use appropriate training methods to help students learn
the skills and knowledge included in the learning objectives
• assess whether each student has achieved the learning
objectives
• be delivered by competent tutors
• meet the defined duration and student:tutor ratio
requirements
To begin the application process you must submit the
following:
• completed application form (IRCA 3000, Appendix A)
• training organisation application fee (see IRCA/151 fees
and charges)
• documents for desktop review in order to demonstrate
how you meet the requirements of IRCA/2000 must be in
English:
• your organisation structure
• current list of subcontractors (if appropriate)
• list of proposed tutors
• documented processes for
i. controlling the administration of IRCA certified training
courses
ii. qualifying tutors
iii. assessing student performance and managing
examinations
iv. continuously improving your training
To begin the application process you must submit the
following:
• completed application form (IRCA 3000, Appendix B)
• relevant training course application fee (see IRCA/151
fees and charges)
• minimum materials to be provided for desktop review
in order to demonstrate how your course meets the
requirements of the relevant IRCA training course
criteria:
i. course programme
ii. course notes for students
iii. course notes for tutors, including session plans
iv. any supplementary materials (exercises, etc)
v. p
roposed certificates of successful completion and
attendance certificates
vi. tutor competence/ qualification/ training information
vii. a document which cross-references in which session(s)
each of the IRCA learning and enabling objectives are
met
WWW.IRCA.ORG Page 2 of 3
Stage Two: Initial on-site assessment (after completion
of stage one)
• IRCA completes an initial assessment of your management
system and a presentation of your training course
• If criteria are satisfied, IRCA approves your Training
Organisation and Certification of your training course
Following successful completion of the on-site assessments,
you will be provided with the “IRCA Approved Training
Organisation” mark and the “IRCA Certified Training Course”
mark. Details of their permitted use can be found
in IRCA/2000 section 2.3.
Stage Two: Initial on-site assessment fees and charges
You are required to pay all costs incurred in the initial
assessment of your training course and training organisation
management system. These costs include:
• Training Assessor fees (currently GBP 525/day)
• Training Assessor travel expenses
• Training Assessor accommodation and meal expenses
• Travel day fees if the organisation is based/ course is held
outside of the United Kingdom – see IRCA/151 for details
Annual fees and charges
• Training course annual fee: the fee depends on the course
type. An invoice for the annual fee (pro-rata) will be sent
on confirmation of certification of your training course and
thereafter in January every year
• There is no annual fee for maintaining training organisation
approval
• Levy fee: this fee is charged each time you present an IRCA
certified course. The fee depends on the course type
Subsequent course certification applications
Once you have one five-day lead auditor course certified
the application fee for the certification of other courses is
significantly reduced. Otherwise the process is the same: a
desktop review followed by an initial assessment of a course
presentation.
© Copyright IRCA – 2013
International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA)
2nd Floor North
Chancery Exchange
10 Furnival Street
London EC4A 1AB
United Kingdom
Email: irca@irca.org
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7245 6833
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7245 6844
WWW.IRCA.ORG
Benefits of IRCA course certification
• Recognition from the world’s leader in training course
certification
• Promotion of your courses and your organisation by using
the IRCA Approved TO and Certified course marks
• Help with improving your training through
improvement-focussed assessment
• Clear and flexible criteria to help your course design and
delivery
• Promotion of your organisation and courses on the IRCA
website in the find a course section
• A dedicated IRCA account manager and training assessor
to assist you with your training course certification and
organisation approval.
Maintaining TO approval and course certification
IRCA will carry out regular surveillance visits of your
management arrangements and certified course(s);
frequency of these visits is determined by your organisation’s
size and complexity – see IRCA/3000 Appendix C. We reserve
the right to undertake surveillance of your management of
IRCA certified training and your delivery of IRCA certified
training courses wherever these activities take place.
Surveillance charges
• Training Assessor fees (currently GBP 525/day)
• Training Assessor travel expenses
• Training Assessor accommodation and meal expenses
• Travel day fees if the organisation is based/ course is held
outside of the United Kingdom – see IRCA/151 for details
Information to be provided to IRCA
• data on all certified courses to be provided bi-annually on
dedicated form IRCA/120
• comprehensive list of your approved tutors, updated as
appropriate
• list of your subcontractors and branches, updated as
appropriate
See IRCA/3000, sections 3 and 4.
Training Organisation Approval & Course Certification Process
(Typically not more than 16 weeks maximum)
Approval of Training Organisation
(Typically not more than 8 weeks)
Training Course Certification
(Typically not more than 8 weeks)
Note: Step 2 and 5 (and respective subsequent steps) may be done simultaneously
to expedite the process. This must be agreed with the IRCA Account Manager.
The time frame for approval and certification is dependant on;
a) the number of findings raised and how quickly these can be addressed,
b) the dates that you wish to conduct the Initial Assessment and IRCAs availability to do so.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Contact
IRCA Account
Manager for initial
DiscussionStep
Submission
of Management
System
Documentation
Document Review
of your Training
Organisation
Management
System
Recommended
to proceed
Close out
findings with IRCA
Technical Assessor.
(Submission
of revised
documentation)
All findings must
be closed out prior
to Training
Organisation
Approval or Course
Certification.
This will allow you
to discuss your
requirements with
one of the team
and for you to ask
any questions
you may have
Step 4
YES
NO
Initial Assessment
of your Training
Organisation
Management
System
Close out of findings
with IRCA Technical
Assessor as advised.
Either by submission
of revised materials
or a further
management
system audit.
Approval
YES
Step 5
Step 6
Submission of
Course Materials &
Documentaiton
Document Review
of your Training
Course Materials
NO
All findings must be
closed out prior to
Organisation
Approval or Course
Certification.
Step 7
Recommended
to proceed
YES
Initial Assessment
of your Training
Course
NO
For organisations
applying for an
additional course to
be certified, should
start from step 5.
Close out of findings
with IRCA Technical
Assessor.
(Submission of
corrected materials
(See Additional
information).
All findings must be
closed out prior to
progressing to Initial
Assessment.
Step 8
Recommended
for Certification
YES
Course Certified
(following approval
from HO)
NO
Close out of
findings with IRCA
Technical Assessor
as advised.
Either by
submission of
revised materials
or a further
witnessing of the
course delivery.
(See Additional
information)
All findings must be
closed out prior to
Course Certification.
Additional Information:
• Q) When will IRCA certify a course retrospectively?
(Certification awarded to courses that the Training
Organisation runs prior to Step 8 being reached).
• Q) Why could IRCA require us to revise our course materials
following the Initial Assessment? – If we passed the Document
review stage haven’t our materials satisfied the requirements?
• A) IRCA will typically offer certification to courses
that run following the successful completion
of the document review stage (step 6), so long as
there are no significant findings raised at the initial
assessment. This must be agreed with IRCA after the
desktop review.
• A) The desktop review is an extensive but broad evaluation of the
materials, designed to spot any major deficiencies. For example, topics
not covered, or totally unacceptable timings. The initial assessment is
a demonstration of how the materials work collectively to support the
tutor in delivering the training, and therefore allows the Technical
Assessor to see areas in which the course materials (eg programme,
session plans etc) may need some adjustment.
• Q) Are there any occasions when not all of these steps have to be followed in order to
gain certification?
• A) Yes. We take a pragmatic and reasonably flexible approach to help support your business, whilst
doing what’s needed to maintain the integrity of our decision making. If you already have Training
Organisation approval, then for any course for which you require certification, you only need to start
from step 5 (as the management system will cover all courses). It isn’t always even necessary to
do step 7 either. A typical example would be if a Training organisation already had a QMS Lead
auditor course certified, and wanted to get a QMS conversion course certified. The Conversion
course would typically only have to go through document review, so long as it was an already
approved tutor delivering the course. Should you wish to discuss a scenario like this, please feel
free to contact the account management team who will advise you on the options available.