News & Updates

Following the STA 2023 Conference presentation and recent events, STA is notifying Approved Training Centres (ATC) on new sanctions that will be applied from 2nd January 2024, if results are not submitted within the required timeframes.

As a reminder, upon completion of a course, ATCs are required, as stated within the STA Approved Training Centre manual, to submit all learner results within 10 working days from the assessment date. Following the submission of results and when required, ATCs must also upload all required paperwork for moderation within 10 working days. This allows STA to complete the moderation of paperwork to ensure all work has been completed to the qualification assessments standard before the qualification certificates are released.

It is crucial the stated timescales and procedures are adhered to. The qualifications are licence to practice qualifications, which means learners should not be teaching / lifeguarding or acting as a lifesaver, first aider or pool plant operative as they do not have a qualification certificate. Delays on submitting results and paperwork also mean these learners are potentially unable to gain employment as they do not have their certificate. If an ATC is not adhering to the reasonable timeframes, they are disadvantaging the learners and hindering them from gaining employment, which is not acceptable. For these reasons, this is why STA has the 10-working day timeline in place. When these dates are not met, we are required to act accordingly to protect learners; therefore, from 1st January 2024, STA is implementing new automated processes to prevent these situations occurring.

Process and sanctions:

• Outstanding results 28 days after an assessment date:
  • ATC will receive an STA Online notification and an email reminder about the outstanding results. The ATC will be required to submit the results within 5 working days; if this is not adhered to course registrations will be suspended. The ATC’s risk rating will be reviewed.

• Outstanding results 28 days + 5 working days after an assessment date:
  • ATC will receive an STA Online notification and email reminder about the outstanding results, and notification that course registrations have been suspended. The ATC will be required to submit the results immediately. Course registrations will be suspended until outstanding results are submitted and course paperwork completed. The ATC’s risk rating will be increased.

Should an ATC repeatedly submit results outside the required timeframe or fail to respond to the requests, STA may undertake a maladministration / malpractice investigation where further sanctions may be applied.

Due to the nature of the qualification, STA would like to remind ATCs that if there are significant delays to the submission of results and therefore certification of learners, STA may require the learners to be reassessed to ensure competency. This will be at the expense of the ATC.

STA is always here to support and work collaboratively with ATCs; therefore, should an ATC be unable to submit the results within the specified timeframe, please contact us and we will work together to action this.

If you have any questions regarding this update, please do not hesitate to contact us.