As you are well aware, the new Apprentice Consent Form process is being implemented tomorrow (1st April 2015). This new process aims to simplify the way Apprentices’ authorise third party claimants to claim for the Apprenticeship Completion Certificate.

You can now download the Apprentice Consent Form and associated Consent Form Guidance V1 effective 1 April 2015 from the Knowledge tab on the ACE website

In order to implement the changes required to ACE, the website will be taken offline at 7pm tonight (Tuesday 31st March) with the aim of being up and running again in the early part of Wednesday.

If you have any further questions in the meantime please do not hesitate to contact the ACE Support Team.

CHANGES TO TRANSFERABLE SKILLS REQUIREMENTS FOR SASE FRAMEWORKS

(ONLY FOR APPRENTICESHIP STARTS FROM 6TH APRIL 2015)

The recent modifications to SASE come into effect on 6th April 2015. The changes ONLY relate to the Transferable Skills requirements of a framework and they ONLY apply to new Apprenticeship starts on, or after, 6th April 2015. Apprenticeships started before this date must continue to meet the 2013 SASE regulations.

The “5 year rule” has been removed meaning that acceptable qualifications, achieved before September 2012, are now back in scope. This includes iGCSEs, A and AS Levels, O Levels and Key Skills. However, there are still minimum grade/level requirements that need to be achieved, depending on the level of Apprenticeship being undertaken. There have also been some minor changes to the minimum grade/level requirements which, in summary are:

Intermediate Apprenticeship:

• GCSE/iGCSE/A and AS Levels – minimum acceptable grade is now E, irrespective of achievement date

(for ALL acceptable GCSEs/iGCSEs/A/AS Levels)

• Key Skills – minimum acceptable is Level 1, irrespective of achievement date

• O Levels – minimum acceptable grade is C, irrespective of achievement date

Advanced Apprenticeship:

• GCSE/iGCSE – minimum acceptable grade is now C, irrespective of achievement date

(for ALL acceptable GCSEs/iGCSEs)

• A/AS Level – minimum acceptable is grade E, irrespective of achievement date

• Key Skills – minimum acceptable is Level 2, irrespective of achievement date

• O Levels – minimum acceptable grade is C, irrespective of achievement date

Higher Apprenticeship:

There remains no mandatory requirement for Transferable Skills to be achieved.

Please note that some frameworks may have stated grade/level requirements that are above the SASE minimum requirements. Please check the framework to ascertain where this is the case and/or check directly with the specific Issuing Authority responsible for the framework.

An updated version of SASE, and guidance documents, can be accessed here: SASE Feb 2015.

Currently the Transferable Skills tables have not be updated so any references to “achieved before Sept 2012 and within 5 years of starting Apprenticeship” or “achieved before September 2012, otherwise at any time prior to starting Apprenticeship” are no longer relevant.

Over the next few months, the Transferable Skills section within AFO will be amended to reflect the SASE modifications and all current frameworks will be updated and reissued to incorporate these changes. In the meantime, if you are in any doubt as to the requirements of any framework then please contact the relevant Issuing Authority.

Congratulations to our week four winners of our Calling all Chocoholics Easter ACE-IT competition.

The winner of the 1st prize, Hotel Chocolat ‘You Crack Me Up’ Easter Egg was won by Victoria West from Mitre Group. Victoria was the first to submit evidence of her 100% ACE-IT score.

Our runner up prizes of Hotel Chocolat Scrambled Egg goodie packs go to:

• Kathryn Parrott – UK Training & Development

• Craig Burley – Ultimate Training

Last week alongside the ACE Centre competition we also ran a competition for Certification Bodies. The winners of the chocolate eggs go to:

• Marina Popova – Skills CFA

• Jeannette Armstrong – The Tech Partnership (formerly e-skills)

Congratulations to all of our winners throughout the past four weeks and thank you to everyone who has taken part.

We would like to wish you all a Happy Easter.

As announced on the 17^th February 2015,  the current Apprentice Declaration and Authorisation form is to be phased out and replaced by the simplified Consent Form.

The new Consent Form process is going to be implemented on 1^st April 2015 and testing is currently underway with both Training Providers and Certification Bodies. All of those testing the system have been asked to provide feedback on the system and the guidance document that has been drafted to support you all in this transition.

However we are keen for you all to see how the new process is going to work. Therefore you can view the Draft Guidance for the Consent Form process and the draft Consent Form itself. Please note that the Consent Form is not for use until 1^st April 2015. In the meantime we will ensure that these documents are finalised and available for you to download from the Knowledge Base Tab on 1^st April 2015.

Another key change that is being implemented on 1^st April is the mandatory requirement for employer email address. We will not be communicating with employers directly but we do need to have this email on file. Please note that we will not be accepting training provider own email addresses or false email addresses in the employer email address field.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the ACE Support Team via the online Helpdesk or phone 0300 303 4444.

Congratulations to our week three winners of our Calling all Chocoholics Easter ACE-IT competition.

The winner of the 1^st prize, Hotel Chocolat ‘You Crack Me Up’ Easter Egg was won by Toni Knowles from YH Training. Toni was the first to submit evidence of her 100% ACE-IT score.

Our runner up prizes of Hotel Chocolat Scrambled Egg goodie packs go to:

• Nick Croucher – Norfolk Training Services
• Bruce Davis – Acacia Training.

Congratulations to all of our week 3 winners.

Don’t forget we have only one more week of the competition left, so for your chance to win one of the last Easter Egg prizes all you need to do is crack ACE-IT.

Good Luck!!

Calling all chocoholics… Week 2 WINNERS have cracked it!!!

Congratulations to Clare Holding from Exeter College who has won this weeks first prize of a Hotel Chocolat ‘You Crack Me Up’ Easter Egg.

Clare was the first person this week to submit evidence of her 100% ACE-IT score.

The two runners up winners for this week are:

• Jessica Fawell – Exeter College
• Jo Pryde – Stephenson College

Who have each won a Hotel Chocolat Scrambled Egg goodie pack.
Big congratulations to all of our week two winners.

Don’t forget we have another 2 weekly competitions in the run up to Easter, one this week and one next week, so go Crack ACE-IT!!!

As of 1st April 2015 ace@fisss.org will cease to function as the main contact address for the ACE System Support Team, and all related queries should be raised via the online Helpdesk. To assist your use of the Helpdesk we have produced a guidance document in support.

Any email sent to ace@fisss.org between now and April 1st will automatically be transferred to receive an automated response containing a Helpdesk Ticket Reference. This Ticket Reference number will help us to track your queries more efficiently and allow us to provide you with a better service. Please be sure to quote this number for any query where continued assistance is required.

 For more information please click on these links:

Accessing the Helpdesk for the first time

Raising your first ticket

Managing my Tickets

Searching Through Your Tickets

Congratulations to Jonathan Kaufman from Bucks Adult Learning who has won the first prize of a Hotel Chocolat Easter Egg.

Jonathan was the first person to submit evidence of his 100% ACE-IT score.

The two runner up winners for this week are:

• Bruce Davis – Acacia Training Ltd
• Clare Holding  – Exeter College

Who have each one of these Hotel Chocolat goodie packs:

A big congratulations to all of our week one winners.

Don’t forget we have another 3 weekly competitions, one this week and one next week, so go ACE-IT!!!