Question time:
Can I get a government-approved qualification in Detailing and/or Valeting in the UK?
Answer: No.(not yet)
Short and simple – but if that answers your question, albeit rather bluntly, you can leave it there.
We explain why below if you’d like to know more, and why some providers may make you think you can…
Regulated Qualifications – What is available?
There are various bodies around the country which accredit a module on care and maintenance as part of an overall larger certification. For example, City and Guilds did offer – though we believe no longer offer since 2017 – a valeting module within their larger vehicle maintenance and repair course. But this alone is not a detailing qualification, only part of a larger set of modules which contribute to a larger qualification – in this case; that to become a mechanic/technician.
Similarly, some courses are centred around more general business skills, but with a module or two on vehicle care to appear relevant. The sexily titled “Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board” offered, until its recent amalgamation, a 42-hour module on both interior and exterior cleaning, but focuses on a more corporate level of paperwork, safety and business management for a large cleaning business setup – fairly irrelevant for a small car care business – and it’s a qualification in Business Management, rather than car care.
What do we mean when we talk about a “qualification…”
Qualifications can open doors to funding, apprenticeships and more in the UK. They can be a route to a career, or a demonstration of knowledge to prospective employers in a competitive job market.
In order to be a recognised qualification in the UK, the delivery centre, assessment, and syllabus need to be regulated by an Awarding Organisation (AO) who have in turn been appointed by OFQUAL – that’s the government quango OFfice of QUALifications. And this isn’t as easy as sending them your syllabus and them saying “yep, looks good!”.
You probably recognise some of these AOs from school – EDEXCEL, OCR, AQA, WJEC, SQA – these are all bodies which set their standards around a general curriculum and examination model, which schools then set their courses to teach.
An accredited awarding body creates a course or qualification, then sends it to OFQUAL for approval.
This doesn’t necessarily mean OFQUAL check the information is correct. Their job is to check that the course:
- Meets a need,
- That the framework complies with their policies,
- and that assessment, traceability of certification, appeals process, etc is all in place.
Once checked, a course is added to the Regulated Qualification Framework (RQF) list and can be offered as a qualification by any company who are both approved training centres for that particular awarding body, and has the skillset to deliver it.
Important note: Just because a course is listed as “approved” by an Awarding Organisation (i.e. not OFQUAL/RQF), that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a qualification.
Many awarding bodies also earn money by rubber-stamping non-regulated courses, to give them the appearance of a qualification, but based only on their AO reputation.
Generally this means a company has paid for someone to read the course and say it meets certain internal standards, such as spelling, font size, reader clarity, course length etc. Nothing more though. If it doesn’t say it’s an “OFQUAL regulated qualification” look closer, as you may just be paying for a meaningless stamp.
For the avoidance of doubt, no OFQUAL regulated certificate in detailing and valeting currently exists on the RQF. Any you see promoted will just be “approved by X” and are ultimately only a valuable as the skills you learn on the course.
This is something UK Detailing Academy have been working towards, and may soon become a reality. At the time of writing though, this is very much in-progress.
What about professional body certificates?
Absolutely, these are a great personal development option. They are still self-certified, and the two which are relevant to our industry – PVD and the IDA are both great to give you confidence in your knowledge and a nice badge of self-investment and professional development to demonstrate a level of professionalism to your customers – it’s why we’re a UK assessment centre for both.
Other, more tertiary bodies, go as far as to ratify various training courses, as mentioned previously – though it’s important to reiterate that no actual qualification comes from these. We discounted the use of these ourselves as they offer little to no benefit, and add significant cost for what is not an actual qualification, just a company charging money for saying they have seen the course. They will often need to receive ongoing payments to “keep certificates current”. How much use these are depends on what you want from the piece of paper…
What would a “qualification” offer me?
This is the question that we ask anyone who wants to be “certified”. What are you hoping a certificate will do for you in this industry?
Each time a course is passed here – such as our Level 1 for new businesses – we give a certificate out so people can prove they’ve been to us for their education, but people don’t come to us for a bit of paper, they come for the knowledge leading up to this.
Unless it’s discretionary funding, you won’t be able to use grants, such as ELCAS or Regional development funds for a detailing course – because they’re not regulated. Discretionary funds can be used, generally if the centre is on the government’s list of Regulated Training Providers – which UK Detailing Academy are.
A certificate won’t make your insurance cheaper, or get you more customers instantly. It won’t mean you can gain government contracts, or increase your earning potential just by “being qualified. All it will do is validate your training to you.
So, what should I look for in a training academy?
We’re obviously a bit biased to answer this question, but having been in the sharp end of the industry for a long time we built UK Detailing Academy around everything we saw was missing from existing training available.
The important points for us were:
- Structured learning – Not just winging it based on what’s available to clean that day, and a detailed skillset for a student to leave with.
- Support – For as long as a student needs it based on what they learn with us.
- Confidence – Which comes from not only learning but proving you know the answer to any issues which may arise, in the form of coursework and assessment prior to certification.
- Relevance – We tie all our subject matter to a foundation of what you need to know, taking training beyond practical skills to give you the background knowledge to problem solve and find logical solutions to issues you will experience.
Realistically, a qualification is a certificate for you, and you alone. What you want out of a course is; the knowledge to complete the job, the backup to ask questions as you’re learning, and the course delivered in a manner which will most effectively assist you in building a business.
Anyone can print a piece of paper off, it’s useless without the paper meaning something to you.
