NPTC UA Certificate of Competence – reminder of changes to re-certification.

Date: 21st November 2011

City & Guilds NPTC Level 3 Certificate of Competence in Utility Arboriculture (AUA10) Recertification

Reminder of changes to current system from June 2010

Following the review of the Level 3 Certificate of Competence in Utility Arboriculture, it was agreed by industry that the units will only be valid for 3 years from the date of certificate issue and candidates will need to undergo updates and be re-certificated every 3 years. This is clearly a change from the previous process and so candidates will need to be advised of this at point of registration.

The usual expectation will be that candidates will take all the units they need before they claim a certificate, therefore the expiry date will be the same for all units. However, if additional units are taken within the 3 year expiry date of the original certificate(s) the ID card will be updated to show the revised expiry date for all units as being 3 years from the latest unit achievement date.

If a candidate is assessed and is competent in UA1 on 1st June 2010, their ID card will show the Qualification Expiry as 1st June 2013. If they then come back and are assessed on units 2.1 and 2.2 on 1st October 2010, the Qualification Expiry date will then be updated to 1st October 2013 and their ID card amended accordingly.

UA Certificate holders prior to 1 June 2010 have no expiry date on their certificate and ID Cards. However, it is expected that certificate holders will go through the recertification process to prove their ongoing competence. Therefore existing UA Certificate holders will all have 3 years from the 31 May 2010 to take their recertification training and assessment (although each company must determine its own priorities regarding recertification of existing certificate holders prior to 1 June 2010). All certificates for recertification purposes will have a three-year expiry date (even if the original certificate was achieved before 1 June 2010).

To ensure that candidates can receive and hold the correct supporting documentation, we have made the ID card a mandatory requirement and so a photo must accompany any requests for certification (unless already held on the City & Guilds NPTC database).

Re-assessment process

Candidates will need to be updated every three years and the process for achieving this will be to re-take the assessment in the highest unit that they hold, with clarification as follows:

Candidate’s highest Unit = UA1: Recertification on ‘revised’ UA1 (2010)
Candidate’s highest Unit = UA2.1: Recertification on ‘revised’ UA1 (2010), (note: UA2.1 does not contain the necessary G55/2 detail, therefore candidate takes UA1)
Candidate’s highest Unit = UA2.2: Recertification on ‘revised’ UA2.2 (2010) (note: candidate will have to demonstrate felling and the use of insulated rods which both form part of the unit)
Candidate’s highest Unit = UA2.3: Recertification on UA2.3R (recertification unit), (note: candidate will have to demonstrate climbing, felling and the use of insulated rods)
Candidate’s highest Unit = UA 5.1 or 5.2: Recertification on ‘revised’ UA 5.1(2010) (note: candidate will have to prepare ‘line survey’ as UA5.2 is only underpinning knowledge)

PLEASE NOTE: Unit UA5.1 & 5.2 are in a different discipline to UA 2.1, UA 2.2, UA 2.3, therefore the candidate will have to be re-assessed in the highest unit held in each discipline.

You will now have to register all candidates according to the table below for a recertification. A charge will only apply to units being re-assessed. When registering a candidate for a recertification, you will see that there are some units with NC on the end i.e. UA2.1(R) (NC). This stands for Non- Chargeable.

Unit previously assessed (3+ years ago)	Highest unit to be reassessed and charged for	Unit(s) to be registered
UA1	UA1 (R)	UA1 (R)
UA1 UA2.1	UA1 (R)	UA1 (R) (NC) UA2.1 (R)
UA1 UA2.1 UA2.2	UA2.2 (R)	UA1 (R) (NC) UA2.1 (R) (NC) UA2.2 (R)
UA1 UA2.1 UA2.2 UA2.3	UA2.3 (R)	UA1 (R) (NC) UA2.1 (R) (NC) UA2.2 (R) (NC) UA2.3 (R)
UA1 UA2.1 UA5.1	UA2.1 (R) UA5.1 (R)	UA1 (R) (NC) UA2.1 (R) UA5.1 (R)
UA1 UA2.1 UA2.2 UA5.1	UA2.2 (R) UA5.1 (R)	UA1 (R) (NC) UA2.1 (R) (NC) UA2.2 (R) UA5.1 (R)
UA1 UA2.1 UA2.2 UA2.3 UA5.1 UA5.2	UA2.3 (R) UA5.1 (R)	UA1 (R) (NC) UA2.1 (R) (NC) UA2.2 (R) (NC) UA2.3 (R) UA5.1 (R) N.B. re-certification for UA5.2 is included in UA5.1 (R)