Operational support

Find out how to register, enter and result your candidates in order to ensure accurate and timely certification.

Adding a candidate

To register a candidate you must provide:

• the candidate's name
• date of birth
• gender
• address (where the certificate will be delivered)

Once we have this information we will allocate a Scottish Candidate Number (SCN). A candidate should only ever have one SCN where their achievements will be recorded. If when registering your candidate we find a candidate with similar details already on our database we will report this back to you as a possible match. You will then be responsible for checking if the candidate record we already hold is or is not your candidate.

If you find a candidate on our database with more than one SCN you can request that these records are merged.

• Complete our merge request

Adding a candidate under 16 years old

All candidates going through the Scottish education system are allocated a Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) from Primary 1.

Between 12 and 16 years old (excluding primary school candidates)

For candidates under 16 years of age who have never gone through the Scottish education system and want to undertake an SQA qualification at your centre, please contact candidate.records@sqa.org.uk.

Once the candidate is registered, you can process entries and results in your normal way.

Under 12 years of age (primary school candidates)

Contact the school the candidate is attending for the SCN allocated to him/her, then complete a Candidate Registration Update Form and send it to candidate.records@sqa.org.uk for us to process. We will activate the SCN which will then appear on SQA Connect Candidate Services/Navigator.

Updating candidate details

It is important that candidate details are kept up to date as these will affect the certificate. Changes to a candidate's first name, surname or address can be done via SQA Connect Candidate Services or your MIS system. If the address the certificate is to be sent to is at the centre, it is the centre's responsibility to amend the address back to the candidate’s home address.

Other changes that can be made on SQA Connect Candidate Services include:

• date of birth
• gender

Adding a qualification to a candidate

Adding qualifications can be done on both SQA Connect and on college MIS systems.

All SQA qualifications are allocated a six digit code broken into the code and level (4+2) – eg G7F5 22. The first 4 digits identify the subject and the last 2 digits refer to the level.

When adding a group award to a candidate’s record you must also include the units the candidate is doing that make up this award.

When adding qualifications you will be asked to supply a completion date. This is an estimated date of when the candidate is expected to complete. It can be extended at a later date.

The maximum completion dates are:

• units – two years
• group awards – four years
• SVQs – five years

The completion date does not affect certification or go on the actual certificate.

Adding a lapsed or finished qualification to a candidate

Lapsed awards

This refers to Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) only.

Entries during this period cannot be made via SQA Connect or the college MIS system and you should complete an EC02 and e-mail this to candidate.records@sqa.org.uk.

Before submitting your request, please ensure that the candidate has been entered for the mandatory units.

You must provide the following information in your email:

• details of when the candidate started the award
• the reason why the candidate was not entered prior to lapse date

Finished awards

Any request to enter a finished qualification must be made on the form EC02 .

Before submitting your request, please ensure that the candidate has been entered and resulted for every unit required to gain this qualification. Once completed please e-mail it to candidate.records@sqa.org.uk.

You must provide the following information in your email:

• details of when the candidate started and finished the award
• the reason why the candidate was not entered prior to the finish date
• confirmation that the college still has the candidate portfolio available for external verification

For finished SVQs we will present this information to our regulatory body and inform you of their final decision.

If you require information on the currency of SVQs please refer to http://accreditation.sqa.org.uk

Enterting candidate results

Results can be made via SQA Connect or your college MIS system.

Valid results include:

• P – Pass
• F – Fail
• W – Withdraw
• A, B, C, D for graded units
• Distinction and Merit for some units

Results are only required for the individual units, not the group award. Once all the contributing units have been achieved we will evaluate the group award and issue a certificate.

Results can be made via SQA Connect or the college MIS system.

Amending a result

Where a result or withdrawal has been input in error and the candidate has not yet been certificated, this can be updated on the Candidate Entries page of SQA Connect.

Where a result has been processed in error and has resulted in a certificate being produced, the amendment can be requested on the Candidate Entries page of SQA Connect. An email is automatically sent to SQA Candidate Records to review and action.

Certification

Certification takes place continuously throughout the year as follows:

See the full certification timetable.

Replacement certificates

We offer a replacement certificate service.

The cost of this service is £38 (per candidate).

It is important to ensure your candidate’s details are up to date. If a replacement certificate is required because the candidate’s name is incorrect or address has not been updated, the centre will be invoiced the charge of £38.

• Replacement certification (for centres)
• Replacement certification (for candidates)