Compliance

First Aid Ta Annual Iqa Check Requirements

It is a requirement for all First Aid Trainer Assessors (TAs) to have at least one annual Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) check completed on them (for both course delivery and assessment.) This is not a new requirement; it is something that has been in place for many years.

The purpose of the check (and submitting it to RLSS UK Qualifications) is to ensure First Aid Trainers are competent in both the training and assessment of First Aid Qualifications.

The check must be completed face-to-face (not remotely or via live video feed) by a suitably qualified person. We adopt and follow the guidance from the First Aid Awarding Organisation Forum for this. They state:

“GIES3, the HSE does specify that each Trainer/Assessor should have at least one IQA monitoring visit per year, which was accepted as the minimum recommendation.”

These checks should be completed on RLSS UK IQA forms, which can be found within the ‘Resource & Document’ tab of a RLSS UK Account of an individual that holds the relevant roles at an ATC/P.

Internal Quality Assurance Assessor Requirements

The forms should be completed with as much detail as possible and conducted by someone who meets the following criteria:

Have attended the RLSS UK IQA Assessor Day (Or one delivered by another First Aid Awarding Organisation) OR

Have a recognised IQA qualification. AND

They must also hold a current and valid regulated First Aid at Work or RLSS UK Qualifications NPLQ Certificate.

If the check does not include the correct detail or has not been completed by a person who meets the criteria detailed above, it will not be accepted. If the check highlights any areas of non-compliance, it will not be accepted. In each instance, you will be informed and request that an IQA check is completed on the next First Aid course.

LOST ACCESS TO YOUR FIRST AID TA RESOURCES?

Where a First Aid TA has not had an annual IQA check submitted, they will lose access to their First Aid resources. If your resources do get restricted, please do not worry! Contact the Compliance team on 0300 323 0096, and they will advise what steps you need to take to regain access. Before making the call, please ensure you have the following information ready:

• The dates of your next First Aid Course

• The ATC/P name and number it will be taking place at

• The name of the Internal Quality Assurance Assessor that will conduct your IQA check.

Submitting Your Annual Check

To ensure that access to your First Aid Resources doesn’t get restricted, upload, and submit a copy of your recent IQA check annually and before your IQA on file expires. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Sign in to your RLSS UK Account

2. Hover over My Details > Additional Information

3. Click on the ‘First Aid TA Annual IQA Form Submission’ link.

How To Check When Your Current Iqa Expires

The easiest way to see if you have sent us your annual IQA check is by looking for the ‘IQA on File Award’ under the ‘Awards & Training’ tab in your RLSS UK Account. It will detail when the check was completed and have an expiry date.

CALLING ALL INTERNAL QUALITY ASSESSOR (IQA) HOLDERS!

To support ATC/Ps and RLSS UK Members, our Compliance team are compiling an Internal Verifiers database of IQA holders who are happy to travel to complete IQAs required for First Aid Trainers delivering RLSS UK First Aid courses. If you’re interested in joining the database, click the link and complete the form. www.rlss.org.uk/iv-database

ATC/P APPROVED TRAINING CENTRE AND PROVIDER GUIDANCE MANUAL AND 2023 AUDITS

You will be aware we have made several changes to our Approved Training Centre and Provider (ATC/ATP) guidance manual.

From 1 January 2023, the new ATC/ATP Guidance Manual became fully enforceable. As such, there will be changes in the areas checked as part of your ATC/P’s External Quality Assurance (EQA) audit. We wanted to give you foresight into some of these changes:

INTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE (IQA)

ATC/P Coordinators must ensure all Trainers and Assessors used to deliver or assess RLSS UK regulated qualifications have an Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) check completed on them annually (JanDec). To achieve this, ATC/P Coordinators should:

Risk- rate all Trainers and Assessors and provide evidence of how they came to their conclusion. We have created a template - available within your RLSS UK Account resource and document area to help you with this.