Service Standards

Service Standards

OCN London aims to offer a service for its members which is responsive, effective and efficient. We are committed to continuously reviewing and improving the quality of our service. If you have comments about our service, or a complaint, we would like to know. Please contact the OCN London office.

General

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Respond courteously to general queries within five working days
2. Provide up to date information through published materials and the OCN London website
3. Publish the Annual Accounts within ten months of the end of the financial year
4. Distribute a charging structure to all centres by June each year to be effective from 1 August
5. Acknowledge a formal complaint within five working days of receipt and respond, detailing the resolution, or outlining a course of action, within fifteen working days
6. Undertake an annual customer survey and report to centres on the outcomes.

Quality and Standards

New centres

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Send information in response to enquiries about centre approval / recognition, quality marking or any other potential working relationship within five working days of receipt
2. Provide support through the appropriate approval, recognition or evaluation process
3. Inform applicants of the outcome within two weeks of completion of the approval, recognition or evaluation process.

Associate members and other stakeholders

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Send information in response to enquiries about associate membership, admission to the Access to HE register or any other form of stakeholder relationship; within five working days of receipt;
2. Inform applicants of the outcome of their application within two weeks of a decision by the Board of Trustees.

Quality assurance – OCN London qualifications & bespoke provision

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Assign a named Centre Moderator to provide external moderation and associated support for each approved centre;
2. Carry out an Annual Centre Review and other quality engagements as required
3. Provide a report to centres within 4 weeks of each annual review or other significant quality engagement;
4. Provide a report to centres within four weeks of each annual review or other significant quality engagement
5. Provide a facility for centres to evaluate and give feedback on their experience of quality engagements and of OCN London qualifications, and respond to and/or act on information so received.

Quality assurance – Access to HE Diplomas

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Appoint a Lead Access Moderator and notify the centre of the appointment by the end of September
2. Carry out an annual centre review, final external moderation, AVA Awards Board and any other quality interventions as required
3. Provide overall centre and individual course moderation reports to centres by the end of August
4. Provide a facility for centres to evaluate and give feedback on their experience of external moderation and of OCN London Access to HE Diplomas, and respond to and/or act on information so received.

Validation and course recognition – Access to HE Diplomas

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Provide support and guidance for centres developing submissions for course recognition, extension to recognition and unit development and assign a Curriculum and Relationship Development Manager to be responsible for contact with each approved centre
2. Provide feedback on draft course recognition submissions and new units within four weeks of receipt
3. Provide Diploma and unit validation panel members with relevant documentation at least one week before the panel date
4. Send validation panel reports to participants within three weeks of the panel date
5. Send confirmation of Diploma validation and course recognition to centres within two weeks of approval by the Quality and Standards Committee
6. Advise centres of the expiry or withdrawal of Diploma validation at least six months before the end of the validation period.

Curriculum Development and Qualifications

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Assign a named Curriculum and Relationship Development Manager to provide curriculum support for each approved centre
2. Confirm approval of bespoke units within ten working days of receipt of the final agreed unit documentation
3. Confirm approval to deliver a new course or new qualification within seven working days following receipt of a correctly completed Additional Qualification Approval and New Course Notification Form.

Registration and Certification

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Assign a named Centre Support Officer to provide customer support for each approved centre
2. Issue all approved centre Administration Contacts with a user account for the QuartzWeb registration and certification system following course approval
3. Process learner registrations received via QuartzWeb within five working days so that Electronic Recommendation for the Award of Credit (ERAC) forms are available to be downloaded and completed before final moderation
4. Issue certificates, accompanied by a credit details report, no later than fifteen working days from receipt of correctly completed and authorised ERAC forms (during the peak summer period this timescale may be extended)
5. Access to HE Diplomas so that they are received by centres on or before the ‘A’ Level Results Day which is usually the third Thursday in August.

Finance

OCN London undertakes to:

1. Process all suppliers’ invoices within ten working days of receipt. Payments are made by BACS and by cheque fortnightly
2. Process and send out invoices within five days of the month end
3. Return all telephone messages within forty-eight hours
4. Answer all correspondence within five working days of receipt.