Mini-makeover = Regulatory review

Regulatory reviews might be planned, random or non-existent. The planned approach identifies areas of the business or operations to be scrutinised and compliance checked. The ideal plan would cover all aspects of the AO’s activities over time, often with any areas where there might be some issues or concerns coming to the front of the queue for a review. I liken these reviews to mini beauty treatments, like a massage, facial or pedicure they aim to help keep areas in check, loved and in good working order.   

Governance arrangements, qualification development and reviews, security arrangements, results monitoring and certification processes, also centre monitoring are amongst some of the many areas that may be prime for a review and compliance checked against the relevant Conditions of Recognition.

Random regulatory reviews can often arise because of some hiccup or malfunction. They are not part of any regular programme of activity and a dangerous strategy if you then find the area is in real crisis. The non-existent approach is the ultimate head in the sand strategy.

The rapid workout of an urgent regulatory review and quick fixes often happens where an area comes under the spotlight from a planned Ofqual audit, a malpractice case or some other integrity issue. The problem with these are they tend to be rushed, or too little time to properly evaluate and fix problem areas.

My guidance is try and do some kind of regulatory review at least quarterly. Depending on how at risk of non-compliances you think an area may be, this should dictate the areas to evaluate first. The problem of course when you are busy is time. It's an easy thing to put off but then nothing then gets looked at in any depth. This is about time management and putting time aside for particular activities. 2 or 3 days put aside each quarter for a review – does that sound a lot?

For me thinking that the regular team meetings are sufficient for monitoring compliance, to throw up potential or real non-compliances and that regulatory reviews are a luxury, think again. How often do those meetings get over-crowded, cut short, someone is on leave, etc? Too often they deal with the day to day issues and short horizons, not a deep cleansing review.

Particularly if you don't have a planned approach to regulatory reviews – a solid self-evaluation exercise is critical before thinking about any upcoming statement of compliance declaration. This is the big (compliance) health check for the year and my tip is get your self-evaluation exercise in the diary now.

I'm going to explore self-evaluation more in my next blog post on 8th April.

After some experimentation I'm going to go back to writing a blog every two weeks. Please let me know what you think of my blogs, or what you would like to read about, heather@awardingfirst.co.uk