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HOW-TO GUIDE

Recognition gateway

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Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3

Registration ................................................................................................................ 3

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) ........................................................................ 5

Log in ......................................................................................................................... 7

Change your password or email address ............................................................ 7

Organisation details.................................................................................................... 9

Responses ............................................................................................................... 12

Notifications .............................................................................................................. 13

Apply ........................................................................................................................ 13

What do you want to be recognised by Ofqual for? .............................................. 15

Contact details ...................................................................................................... 15

Legal entity, Company/Charity Number and Date of Incorporation ....................... 16

Criteria A: Identity, constitution and governance .................................................. 17

Criteria B: Integrity ................................................................................................ 17

Criteria C: Resources and financing ..................................................................... 18

Criteria D: Competence ........................................................................................ 18

Conditions of application ....................................................................................... 19

Supporting evidence and checklist ....................................................................... 22

Questions, declaration and submission ................................................................ 23

Support and guidance .............................................................................................. 23

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Introduction

Welcome to the gateway for awarding organisations that want to apply to be recognised by Ofqual. The gateway is an online system that enables you to communicate with us directly and seek information about what it means, and involves, to be recognised and regulated by Ofqual. You can use the gateway to arrange an initial meeting with us to discuss the recognition process. If you decide to apply, you will complete and submit your application and supporting documents to us via the gateway.

Through the gateway you will be able to:

manage key information that we hold about you and your organisation,

arrange a meeting with us to find out what the recognition process involves,

complete and submit an application for recognition,

respond to requests from Ofqual to provide more information to support your application,

track the progress of your application,

be informed of the outcome of your application and our decision on whether to recognise you an awarding organisation.

You will receive a notification to your email account from the gateway each time we send you a communication which will prompt you to log in.

If you wish to offer regulated qualifications in Wales or Northern Ireland, you will need to apply to the qualifications regulator in Wales - Qualifications Wales or the qualifications regulator in Northern Ireland – The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.

Registration

1. To register for a gateway account, open a new browser (it runs best on browsers like Google Chrome or Edge. Browsers like Internet Explorer tend to be more vulnerable to technical glitches.) and go to: https://recognition.ofqual.gov.uk/

2. You will be presented with the following screen and be required to enter your email address and click ‘send verification code’ to confirm that you have access to the specified email account:

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3. You will receive an email from Microsoft which will contain the six digit verification code:

4. Enter the verification code you receive in your email and select ‘verify code’:

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5. Enter the information required in the other fields; ‘new password’, ‘confirm new password’, ‘given name’ and ‘surname’. Then select ‘create’.

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)

To create your account, you will be required to set up Multi-factor Authentication (MFA). It is an additional security measure that verifies a user’s identity by requiring multiple credentials before access is authorised. You might use MFA now on other Gov.UK services, when requesting services from your GP, for online banking, or when accessing some social media applications.

You will need to verify your identity through MFA in order to access the gateway in order to keep your data secure. We recommend that you use your mobile phone to receive a text message or call when setting-up MFA. The mobile does not need to be a smart phone device and could be your work or personal mobile number. You could use a landline, but this would have limitations if you wanted to access the gateway from a different location as you need to be able to access the landline to verify your identity.

The phone number you provide will only be used by Microsoft to verify your security information. It is not used for any other purpose and Ofqual will not have sight of the number that you provide. Setting up MFA is relatively straightforward and please be assured this is about keeping your data secure and it should take no more than a couple of minutes to set up.

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To set it up you will be prompted by Microsoft to enter your telephone number. You can opt to either have a code sent to you by text or press the # key after listening to an automated message from Microsoft:

For the code sent via text, you will be prompted to enter it on screen:

Microsoft will store your telephone number associated with your gateway account so you won’t have to re-enter it each time you log in:

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To change the telephone number associated with your account, please contact us at: portalsupport@ofqual.gov.uk

Log in

To log into your account, open a new browser (preferably Chrome) and enter: https://recognition.ofqual.gov.uk/. You will be required to enter your email address and password and select ‘sign in’:

Change your password or email address

To reset your password or email address click the ‘Forgotten your password?’ text underneath the password text box which will redirect you to the following screen where you will be prompted for your email address:

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After clicking ‘send verification code’ you will be sent an email containing a six digit code which you will need to enter on screen and select ‘verify code:

You will then be asked to confirm your email address. Should you want to change the email address you use to log in and receive notifications to, please enter the new email address and select ‘continue’. You will then be able to set a new password for your account on the next screen:

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You will be promoted to log in with your email address and password to access your account.

Organisation details

You will be required to read and accept the data protection and privacy policy before entering your organisation details. After reading the policy, click on ‘I have read and accept the data protection and privacy policy’:

You can then proceed with entering your organisation and contact details:

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For the field ‘Type of legal entity’, you can multi-select all that apply to your awarding organisation:

Please note that should you select ‘registered charity’, the field marked ‘charity number’ will become mandatory:

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The address and telephone number of your awarding organisation are required:

The information you enter as part of the registration process will be automatically transferred to the relevant fields in the ‘Contact details’ section and you will be able to add your title, phone number and the role you hold within your awarding organisation. Click ‘Save’ upon completion:

Upon clicking save, the information entered will be validated and you will be presented with a pop-up notification following successful registration:

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The status update will be reflected in the Responses area, to the top right of your screen:

Responses

Ofqual will communicate with you via the Responses area located at the top right of the screen. You can send and respond to a message from Ofqual using the ‘Responses’ area - enter your message and click ‘send’. Ofqual will use this area to set up a meeting with you, contact you about any queries in relation to your application and update you on the status of your application. You can also upload documents by clicking the paperclip icon, selecting the required document and clicking ‘send’. Each communication is date and time stamped.

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Notifications

An email notification will be generated to alert you when you have been sent a communication in the Responses tab and when an action or update has occurred. For example, to inform you of the outcome of your application for recognition. Email notifications will be sent to the email address you provided as part of your registration.

Apply

Following a meeting with Ofqual, if you wish to proceed with an application for recognition, an email notification will alert you that the application form has been released to you. The status will be updated in the Responses area:

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The application form can be accessed from the navigation pane to the left hand side of the screen:

At the start of your application you will be required to confirm that the information you submit to us is accurate and that you have read and accept the privacy statement. To agree to those terms, click the tick box and then ‘save and continue’.

You can save your progress and continue with your application at any point by clicking ‘Save and continue’ at the bottom of any page of the application form. You can also return to the preceding page of the application form by clicking ‘previous’.

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What do you want to be recognised by Ofqual for?

Contact details

You are able to edit the information in these fields by amending the information entered on the Organisation Details page. You access this by clicking Organisation Details on the navigation pane to the left of the screen.

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Legal entity, Company/Charity Number and Date of Incorporation

Should you need to amend any of the details entered please do so by returning to the Organisation Details page:

For the field ‘date of incorporation’ please note that this should be either the date of when you registered with Company House if that applies to you or the date your company was formed.

Once you have confirmed that this information is accurate and correct, click ‘save and continue’ to proceed with your application.

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Criteria A: Identity, constitution and governance

Criteria B: Integrity

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Criteria C: Resources and financing

Criteria D: Competence

For each of the Criteria, provide a summary of how you believe you meet that Criteria and reference the documents in which the evidence can be found. You will be able to upload the supporting documents that you have referred to throughout your application as part of the ‘supporting evidence and checklist’ section of the application.

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Conditions of application You will be required to read and accept the terms of application set out and click the tick box at the bottom of the page before clicking ‘save and continue’:

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Supporting evidence and checklist To upload the supporting documents that you have referred to throughout your application, under the ‘upload documents’ header click ‘choose files’. You will be presented with a pop-up window where you can select your chosen documents. The title of each file will be displayed after uploading it. Please ensure that the number entered corresponds with the number uploaded.

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Questions, declaration and submission Prior to submitting your application you will be required to answer two questions and provide an electronic signature for the proposed responsible officer, who will be declaring that the information in the application is complete, true and accurate. The date field is automatically date and time stamped upon submission. Click ‘submit’ to complete the online application. After pressing ‘submit’, you will receive an acknowledgement that your application has been submitted successfully and the status will be reflected in the Responses area. Should Ofqual need to contact you in relation to your application, this will be done via the Responses area.

Support and guidance

The support and guidance page can be found on the navigation pane on the left hand side of the screen:

Helpful information, guidance and supporting documentation can be found on our website to support awarding organisations applying for recognition. The guidance should help you to understand our recognition requirements.

If you require support please send a message through the Responses area on the organisation details page.

For technical IT queries email us at: portalsupport@ofqual.gov.uk

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©️ Crown Copyright 2019 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit or write to Published by:

Earlsdon Park 53-55 Butts Road Coventry CV1 3BH 0300 303 3344 public.enquiries@ofqual.gov.uk www.gov.uk/ofqual

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/

Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU

September 2019 Ofqual/19/6541