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When a centre has delivered a verified qualification for approximately 12 months and, in that time, has consistently met all the required criteria they may be eligible for direct claim status (DCS).
This is when a centre can claim their candidates' achievements in between their quality assurance visits. DCS is only awarded for those qualifications that are externally verified (see the vocational qualifications entry codes booklet for an up-to-date list of verified qualifications).
If your centre meets the following criteria, the External Quality Assurer (EQA) may recommend your centre for direct claim status in their external quality assurance report.
The following diagram shows the admin process for DCS approval:
Once you have received your confirmation letter, and candidate work for completed unit(s) has been assessed and internally quality assured, you can make claims in the usual way:
These claims will be automatically processed and certificated. All claims made via DCS are subject to external quality assurance. Therefore:
Centres will need to prepare for their quality assurance visits in the usual way. They must provide their EQA with the information they request, which includes details of any DCS claims made since the last quality assurance visit.
We have introduced an additional quality assurance process for direct claims status (DCS) claims. This will allow us to check that your certification claims are correct and for us to work with you to resolve any issues in between your quality assurance visits. From 1 September 2021, you'll need to complete and maintain a candidate claims record – you may want to use our template.
See our subject information update for further details.
Direct claim status will be removed if:
If DCS has been withdrawn, the EQA may recommend that OCR:
The route for reinstatement will depend on which of the DCS/OCR criteria resulted in DCS withdrawal. OCR will make the final decision on whether DCS will be reinstated or not.
OCR reserves the right to remove or refuse to award/reinstate DCS.