Do you know the difference

Do you know the difference between regulated and unregulated first aid training

Do you know the difference between regulated and unregulated first aid training?

Quite a bit has it happens and this is something that comes up quite often in conversations we have with our prospective business partners because some business owners clearly don’t have any idea what the difference between regulated and unregulated is, and what they need to do when working with a provider that offers unregulated first aid training.

This all came about from a change in requirements from October 2013.

Do you know how did this change come about?

Until September 2013 first aid training providers had to be registered with Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to provide HSE standard first aid courses.

But in October 2013 all that changed and the industry was deregulated to offer more choices of first aid training courses from a larger selection of first aid training providers.

What this has actually done is giving the first aid training industry the choice of offering regulated or unregulated first aid training courses, some providers went down the regulated route with Ofqual regulated qualifications, and others went down the unregulated route.

But do you know the difference?

Regulated First Aid Training

You will be surprised how many regulated qualifications are out there, and these are growing all the time as new qualifications come out and also upgraded qualifications too.

But regulated qualifications all have something in common because they are all assessed programs of learning and these have been developed by an awarding organisation and sometimes more than one too.

Awarding organisations need to get approval for their qualification from one or more regulators, in England, the regulator is OFQUAL, in Wales it is Qualifications in Wales, and in Scotland, it is the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Some qualifications have more than one regulator because the qualification is available in other areas of the UK.

Regulated first aid training providers have to meet a set of standards set out by the ‘Awarding Organisation’, these include having a recognised teaching qualification, also having a first aid qualification that meets the requirement to be able to teach the first aid courses they have sought approval for and have a minimum of 35 hours training experience.

They will be externally and internally quality assured during each year to ensure the providers are meeting the ‘Awarding Organisations’ standards and requirements.

Regulated qualifications are designed from the bottom up

Regulated qualifications are typically developed with engagement from employers and other stakeholders to design and develop a qualification that meets best practices or recognised national occupational standards.

With all regulated qualifications they are subjected to internal and external scrutiny and each training provider of that qualification will have to have the internal quality assurance in place to ensure everything meets the criteria given by the awarding organisation to become a first aid training provider offering their qualifications.

This will then be externally quality assured by the awarding organisation and appropriate measures will be taken if the training provider doesn’t meet that given criterion.

We get on average 3 visits a year, usually, 2 announced and 1 unannounced.

How do you know its a regulated qualification certificate?

With ALL regulated qualification certificates, they must include the regulator’s logo(s), these logo(s) are internationally recognised as a sign of quality with regulated qualifications, they must have the awarding organisation logo and have the qualifications specification on the certificates.

These certificates are numbered by the awarding organisation so they can place the holder of that qualification with that number and the qualification number is on a database of the awarding organisation and these can be checked on the awarding organisation’s website.

The holder of the certificate is only allowed to have 1 certificate in circulation at one time and replacements are only issued if the awarding organisation criteria are met and they are satisfied that it has been met.

The regulated qualification is for the person who has met all the criteria required for that qualification and passed a recognised path of learning and has satisfactorily passed the course.

Some employers think the qualification is rightfully theirs but it is not, and we have had a few conversations about this with our customers and on one occasion we had to get our awarding organisation involved so the employer understood.

Is regulated first aid training more expensive?

Pricing is down to the provider whether they offer ‘Regulated or Unregulated’ first aid training.

Whilst it is true a first aid training provider who offers ‘regulated’ first aid training has awarding organisation costs to pay, we would definitely counter this question by ‘How much do you really value your time?’ if you have the time and skills required to complete your due diligence then unregulated may be an option for you.

But a regulated qualification the due diligence is already done for you by the awarding organisation and this meets all HSE criteria in relation to due diligence in regards to first aid training.

An OFQUAL regulated first aid qualification is valid in any workplace and can be taken by the learner to that place of work.

An unregulated first aid course may not be valid in all workplaces and that’s why we always ask ‘do you know the difference’ between the 2 routes of first aid training.

Unregulated First Aid Training

Unregulated first aid courses are different from regulated first aid training courses because they are typically developed and designed by the training provider and are programs of study, although some providers may gain third party recognition for their course they have developed there is no requirement for them to do so and the majority do not.

They also have no requirement for additional quality assurance checks during the design of the said course, the delivery of the course, or the assessment process of the delegates, and the awarding of achievements from the provider to the delegate.

Our thoughts

At the end of the day, it is up to the business owner or the employer to decide whether an unregulated qualification or a regulated qualification meets their needs and requirements.

If they choose an ‘Unregulated’ course then it’s up to the business owner or employer to conduct their own due diligence to ensure it meets their needs and requirements. The provider will usually have to prove that the training offered meets the requirements of the employer or business owner.

However

If they choose a regulated qualification the employer or business owner does NOT need to carry out any further due diligence checks because it already meets the requirements because it’s a regulated qualification delivered through an awarding organisation that is using an approved provider to deliver that qualification.

We often get asked what’s the difference and this is it.

What do we offer

From the outset it was our decision at Warwickshire First Aid Training that all of our first aid training qualifications will be regulated qualifications, we welcome the internal quality assurance and also the external quality assurance audits because this helps us improve our training and delivery to our customers.

We want to give you the best possible training that is ‘up to date, precise, and fit for purpose’ for all of our customers.

Our most popular first aid qualifications with our customers are Emergency First Aid at Work and First Aid at Work which are delivered on our customer’s sites.

We also offer first aid training for schools which include Emergency Paediatric First Aid, Paediatric First Aid, and First Aid at Work & Paediatric First Aid (Combined)

Also specialist short first aid training courses such as Responding to Incidents with an AED, Responding to Anaphylactic Reactions, and Basic Life Support (Adult & Child)

Conclusion

It depends if you want a regulated and accredited first aid qualification that is nationally recognised and follows a path of learning that can be traced back from the accrediting organisation through the training provider all the way back to the person who sat the initial first aid course.

On the awarding organisation’s database, there will be a record of the person’s achievement which can be checked and validated.

All regulated first aid courses are regularly IQAd and EQAd for compliance, unregulated first aid courses have no requirement to do so.

We always ask our partners ‘do you know the difference’ between regulated and unregulated first aid training

The choice is most definitely up to the employer or business owner but now you do know the difference between regulated and unregulated first aid qualifications.

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