Products & Services

What is Skillsmark?

Skills for Justice has developed a quality mark for learning and development in the justice sector, called Skillsmark. Launched in March 2006, 10 organisations, have now successfully been through the application process and are now Skillsmark recognised providers. Several of them have also successfully submitted programmes for endorsement. Skillsmark is awarded to learning providers who have gone through a rigorous assessment process and have been recognised as providing high quality learning programmes, relevant to the needs of the justice sector.Skillsmark has two parts:

• Recognition - awarded to learning providers at an organisational level
• Endorsement - awarded to individual learning programmes

What is Skillsmark for?
Skillsmark has three main purposes:

1. Provision of information - Skillsmark is designed to provide employers with information about the best courses for their employees

2. Accountability - the justice sector spends a great deal on education and training. Demonstrating that it is fit for purpose helps show that value for money is being ensured.

3. Enhancement of provision - all quality mark schemes enable good practice to be shared, and Skills for Justice will enable this wherever possible. The focus on occupational standards will enhance courses that are designed to meet employment needs.

Key Principles of Skillsmark
Skillsmark is based on 5 key principles, developed by Skills for Justice:

• to provide a quality mark for use within the justice sector
• to embrace all providers of education and training
• to develop a two-step licensing framework: recognition and    endorsement
• to ensure the process is evaluative and based on evidence presented
• to keep bureaucracy to a minimum by using third party quality assurance reports wherever applicable

National Occupational Standards (NOS)

What are National Occupational Standards?
National Occupational Standards (NOS) describe competent performance in terms of outcomes. Together with a defined assessment strategy, developed in parallel with the standards, they allow a clear assessment of competence against nationally agreed standards of performance, across a range of workplace circumstances for all roles. Today, National Occupational Standards are viewed by modern managers as an indispensable tool for managing a highly skilled workforce. They are used widely to support individual and organisational development and quality assurance at all levels. They provide benchmarks of good practice across the UK.National Occupational Standards also form the basis of qualifications, most commonly National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs). The Standards1 are also used in the Integrated Competency Framework(ICF).|Skills for Justice regularly undertake projects to develop new NOS and review existing ones to ensure they are up-to-date and relevant. Draft standard unit codes (identifier) are subject to change when approved by UKCG and final codes are allocated in accordance with the Skills for Justice Functional Map.

Useful links

Access the full range of National Occupational Standards, both for the Justice sector and other sectors, using the links below.

• The National Occupational Standards for the Justice sector
• The Drugs and Alcohol National Occupational Standards (DANOS)
• The National Occupational Standards Directory for all NOS
• National Occupational Standards for Policing and Law Enforcement (bilingual)|
• Common Standards for the Justice sectorProjects and Consultancy
As part of the Skills for Justice subscription package, we provide bespoke advice and guidance to employers and employees within the Justice sector. In addition, we can help drive forward specific projects, securing funding if available. Examples of current pieces of work are included in this section of the website.

Current projects taking place are:
• APEL (accreditation of prior experience and learning) Consultation|
• The Police Assessment Support Project
• Substance Misuse Project
• Childrens Workforce Network
• Unified Assessment Protocol Consultation