training providers providing fraudulant qualifications

The country’s exams regulator has begun an investigation into “direct claim status” in an attempt to tackle qualifications malpractice in FE. Last year, Ofqual launched an inquiry into qualifications fraud in the private security sector after a sting by the BBC found staff at Ashley Commerce College, in Ilford, were prepared to sit exams for students training to work as security guards.
FE Week reported in February that following the regulator’s own wider investigation into the misconduct, which revealed some awarding organisations had inadequate arrangements with their training providers, one exam board, Industry Qualifications, was hit with a £50,000 fine in relation to 13 breaches. Now, the regulator says it is researching DCS – a reward system that allows providers to make claims for qualification achievements without external verification from their awarding organisation first. wrote: