For Life and Living Skills and Careers qualifications, you need to obtain approval for each qualification.

You need to follow the JCQ General Regulations and, where relevant, the JCQ instructions and guidance, available from the JCQ website.

For Careers qualifications, which are verified, you also need to follow the Cambridge OCR criteria for verified qualifications.

Please read the following guidance before applying for centre approval:

To apply, complete the following form and email it to ocrvocationalapprovals@ocr.org.uk

Depending on your circumstances we may contact awarding bodies for references, arrange for a representative to visit your centre or carry out a credit check.

Visiting your centre

A visit from one of our team will be required if you are seeking approval to offer verified qualifications.

See the fees list for details of fees charged for approval visits.

We have a credit checking process in place to help us verify your credit worthiness.

You need to have been established, and trading on credit terms, for a minimum of six months.

If you cannot satisfy these requirements, we will be unable to process your application.

We can, however, review your application after six months of trading.

If you cannot meet these criteria but think there are extenuating circumstances, please email us at centre.approval@ocr.org.uk.

Approval is subject to continued centre activity; if there are no entries or certification claims for a qualification for two consecutive years, your centre approval will automatically lapse.

In addition, your full vocational centre approval will lapse if you have not made any entries or certification claims for any vocational qualification for two years.

Get in touch with our customer support centre.