Direct Claim Status (DCS) or Centre Managed Assessment status (CMA) allows a centre to receive
certification for a completed internally assessed qualification once their own IQA has taken
place. Prior to the award of DCS/CMA, a centre would request certificates for their learners and
a member of our EQS team would review the portfolios that have been completed by learners
at the centre either remotely or at the centre’s premises. Our EQS officer would recommend
certification upon completion of a successful review of these portfolios.
Each status is normally awarded to a centre once several compliant reviews have been
completed. The two names (DCS and CMA) are used within Highfield to denote processes
relating to certain qualifications or assessment types but ultimately affect your centre in the
same way as follows:
After the award, a centre may receive certification for their learners without an EQS engagement
taking place first. It is important to note that EQS engagements will still be scheduled for your
centre once you have achieved DCS or CMA status and as such we expect all centres to keep
learner portfolios until each engagement has taken place. Maintaining the status will rely upon
your centre continuing to maintain the same standards for delivery, assessment and internal
quality assurance and being able to evidence this during review.