Direct Claim Status (DCS) or Centre Managed Assessment status (CMA) allow 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 2 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. In addition, DCS and CMA status will only be maintained if the centre continues to claim for certification within a 12-month period.