Accreditation Newsletter

Better Regulation - Proportionality

In terms of its definition, proportionality means that Regulators should intervene only when necessary. Remedies should be appropriate to the risk posed, and costs identified and minimised.

With regards to our auditing activity, our Accreditation Committee has agreed that each approved awarding body must be audited at least once every three years, with the frequency of audit being determined by a risk score. Those awarding bodies that have a low-risk score will be audited once every three years. Those that have a high-risk score will be audited every year. The regular reviews of the risks scores may mean that the frequency of audit could change for example a medium risk score that moves to a low risk could mean that the audit due for that awarding body could be pushed back a year. 

In a similar manner, we allocate a risk to the issues identified at awarding body audits and provider monitoring visits. Some time ago, we decided that awarding bodies should be responsible for determining the actions needed to be taken to address the issue and that it should do so on the basis of the risk allocated to the issue, rather than us determining what action needed to be taken. This also allows awarding bodies to determine a cost effective solution based on their particular circumstances.