The Federation has recently conducted a survey of the service provided by Certification Bodies when processing Apprenticeship Certification claims. Click to download the Summary report. It will help us all develop the service continuously based on what our customers want.

The response rate was around 30% of all ACE users, this 30% were responsible for over 50% of certifications in the past year. Thank you to everyone that took the time to respond, your views are valued in the continuous improvement of the service.

The results were positive with overall ‘Good’ and ‘Excellent’ scores. However even with these high scores there were some issues identified for improvement with some Certification Bodies:

• Slow response to email / phone calls

• Slow dispatch of printed certificates

• Inconsistency in rejection reasons

• Capture of all rejection reasons

Respondents also felt that some Certification Bodies were slow at processing claims, although on further investigation all are well within the 10 working day service agreement (as recorded by ACE).

The results of this survey feed directly into our audit process for individual Certification Bodies, and where required specific corrective actions will be put into place by the end of March 2014.

Thanks again for your support.

Full details of the fantastic workshops which our team will be running on the below dates can be found on our new Events page.

• Leeds Town Hall 20^th February 2014
• Birmingham Edgbaston Stadium 4^th March 2014
• London Emirates Stadium 20^th March 2014

Please see acecerts.co.uk/web/events for full details.

Happy New Year to you all.

The Federation have planned three events in early 2014 specifically for ACE Users. These events will offer you the opportunity to attend a choice of two workshops during the day as well as have the opportunity to network with peers, Certification Body representatives and some of the Federation team. The ACE events will run from 10am until 3pm and will be held in:

• Leeds Town Hall 20^th February 2014
• Birmingham Edgbaston Stadium 4^th March 2014
• London Emirates Stadium 20^th March 2014

The events will provide up to date information and guidance on the certification process and the ACE system, along with the work carried out with Awarding Organisations to improve the certification process. The ACE event workshop sessions will provide you with guidance and up-to-date information in relation to your use of ACE along with regulatory and quality assurance requirements. You will also have the chance to meet representatives from Certification Bodies and to ask questions/discuss your experiences of the Certification processes. Once places have been confirmed, you will be given the opportunity to choose your two workshop choices and further event information will be provided.

These events are on a first come first served basis and there is a limit to two places per organisation to allow as many organisations the chance to attend. There is a nominal charge of £75 per person to attend the event which you will be invoiced for once places have been confirmed.

If you would like to book one of these events please follow this link to the online booking form.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more information please contact us at ace@fisss.org.

Unfortunately due to a system error no automated emails were sent from ACE to system users between 26 December 2013 and midday 7 January 2014.

This error has now been corrected and all automated emails from this period have been sent this afternoon. Please be aware some of the emails received today contain historic information so please check the system directly for up-to-date information, for example, you may receive emails regarding candidate rejections which have now been resolved.

If you have any questions please contact the ACE team at ace@fisss.org.