The Mayor's Skills Academies Programme Quality Mark
The Mayor's Skills Academies Quality Mark identifies and recognises high-quality skills training providers in London. The Quality Mark will set a high bar for skills training in London that responds to the needs of sectors key to London’s recovery.
The Mayor's Skills Academies Quality Mark builds on the Mayor’s Construction Academy Quality Mark and will only be awarded to training providers who deliver high-quality provision which meets our assessment criteria.
The Quality Mark covers six priority sectors that are key for London’s recovery:
- creative industries
- digital
- green
- health and social care
- hospitality
- construction.
How to apply for the Mayor's Skills Academies Quality Mark
An application window for MSA hub training providers is currently open and will close on Friday 20 October. Please contact your hub coordinator for the application forms.
If you are not a MSA hub training provider, please submit your details on our Mayor's Skills Academies Programme Quality Mark application form. We will contact you when the application window opens in Spring 2024.
Mayor's Skills Academies: Current Quality Mark holders
The Quality Mark application is awarded to training providers who have demonstrated high-quality skills provision within a key sector for London. Each year the scoring and moderation process is undertaken independently by the Association for Accredited Learning (AAL).
Currently, 58 Quality Marks are held by 31 training providers across London. For further details, please see a breakdown by sector and organisation.
Provider list
By sector
- Barnet and Southgate College
- Capital City College Group (CCCG)
- Harrow and Uxbridge College (HCUC)
- Lewisham College – NCG
- London South East Colleges (LSEC)
- MIT Skills Limited
- New City College
- Newham College
- South Thames Colleges Group
- The Skills Centre
- Training Skills UK
- Waltham Forest College
- Westminster Adult Education Service
- Capital City College Group (CCCG)
- East London Advanced Technology Training Group (ELATT)
- Fashion Retail Academy
- Firebrand Training Ltd
- Harrow and Uxbridge College (HCUC)
- Let Me Play
- London South East Colleges (LSEC)
- Merton Adult Learning
- New City College
- Newham College
- QA Ltd
- Waltham Forest College
- Wandsworth Council Lifelong Learning
- Westminster Adult Education Service
By organisation
- Construction
- Creative
- Health and Social Care
- Creative
Capital City College Group (CCCG)
- Construction
- Creative
- Digital
- Green
- Hospitality
City Literary Institute (City Lit)
- Creative
- Health and Social Care
- Creative
- Digital
- Health and Social Care
- Creative
- Digital
- Heath and Social Care
- Construction
- Hospitality
London South East Colleges (LSEC)
- Construction
- Digital
- Health and Social Care
- Hospitality
- Digital
- Health and Social Care
- Construction
- Creative
- Construction
- Creative
- Digital
- Health and Social Care
- Hospitality
- Construction
- Digital
- Green
- Health and Social Care
- Digital
- Construction
- Health and Social Care
- Construction
- Construction
- Construction
- Creative
- Digital
- Green
- Health and Social Care
- Hospitality
Westminster Adult Education Service
- Construction
- Digital
Worker’s Education Association (WEA)
- Health and Social Care
Further information about the Skills Academies Quality Mark
The objectives of the Quality Mark are to support the FE sector to deliver industry-relevant provision and to:
-
incentivise accessible, industry-relevant provision that gets Londoners into jobs
-
raise the profile of good provision to employers and Londoners looking for good work
-
provide a network of training providers with specialisms to deliver industry-related provision.
The statement of requirements pertains to the Skills Academies Quality Mark and invites applications from training providers covering the following sectors:
-
creative industries
-
digital
-
green
-
health and social care
-
hospitality
-
construction.
Training providers applying to receive a Quality Mark, can only be assessed for training provision they deliver which is publicly funded and delivered predominantly to London residents. This can include training provision offered by a further education college, independent training provider, local authority, Institute for Adult Learning and university.
Training providers also need to have received a full OFSTED inspection and hold a minimum grade of 2 (Good) to be eligible.
Training providers are able to apply to be assessed and accredited for more than one key sector per application round. The GLA would like to highlight and recognise those training providers who are delivering high quality provision across multiple sectors and the application process is designed to enable this.
To successfully achieve the Quality Mark, training providers must demonstrate for their chosen sector(s):
- how skills training provision is industry-relevant, helping to tackle skills shortages
- the strength of employer links, including specific engagement with SMEs, where relevant
- how activities promote and support the creation of good work opportunities, particularly for underrepresented groups
- evidence of positive learner journeys and destinations, and how effective Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) supports this process
- evidence of existing markers of quality in skills provision, such as sector kitemarks and relevant assessments.
Please refer to the full Statement of Requirements for further details.
This Statement of Requirements sets out further details of the Quality Mark application process including eligibility criteria and evidence requirements.
Quality Marks are awarded for a 2-year period. Accredited Quality Mark training providers will be subject to a light touch review after the first year to ensure high quality is maintained.
The 2022 Statement of requirements is available here for reference:
If you have any questions about the Skills Academies Quality Mark application process please contact [email protected].
Please note answers to the 2022 application FAQs are included. While some question numbers may have changed between the 2022 and 2023 application forms, the answers are still relevant for 2023 applicants.
Find out more about the Skills Academies Quality Mark application by searching the FAQs.