CUSTOMER SERVICE
Our Customer Relations team is open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. During that time, we will provide an immediate resolution to your enquiry or we will give you a Service Request ID and seek a resolution, normally within five working days. We will respond to emails, letters and faxes within three working days of receipt and acknowledge complaints within two working days. Mercurius Politicus will also resolve your complaints, or you will receive an action plan informing you of progress, within 8 working days, and we will ask you for feedback on our customer service.
APPROVAL AND EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE
We will provide a decision, in relation to centre and/or qualification approval requests, within 30 working days of receipt of a completed application. We will process and action your external quality assurance report within 10 working days of the visit/activity.
We will deliver all examination materials within a stipulated time frame in advance of the scheduled date providing a correctly validated order is received by us before the advertised entry closing date. We will process and confirm all candidate registrations within stipulated time frame of receipt. We will publish all centre assessed results within stipulated time frame of receipt of a valid result submission. We will publish all online multiple choice exam results within 48 hours and all online examiner marked results within stipulated time frame , following successful upload of the completed test. We will publish all examiner marked results on our website within a stipulated timeframe, and all multiple choice results within stipulated time frame following receipt of correctly packaged and completed materials where such results are authorised for release. We will print and despatch certificates within stipulated time frame of all results publications. We will provide a decision within stipulated time frame of receipt of application for a stage 1 enquiry about an examination result.
EXAMINATIONS, REGISTRATIONS AND CERTIFICATES
Mercurius Politicus is committed to providing assessment material in English and Welsh according to demand and consideration may be given to other languages. Event bookings will be confirmed no less than 15 working days prior to the event. We will review and publish our fee information annually to our centres. We will pay invoices and claim forms in line with the terms and timescales agreed with our Finance Department. More information on complaints, appeals and quality assurance can be found on the Mercurius Politicus website, along with our Equality of Opportunity in Access to Qualifications and Assessment policy, fee information and events calendar.
Mercurius Politicus – Group Policy – September 2005
Images of minors (those under 18 years) being used as evidence for a qualification Except where the assessment strategy/qualification criteria for a specific qualification states otherwise, videos or photographs of minors could be used as the medium to present evidence as part of a portfolio for an N/SVQ or other vocational qualification. In these cases both the approved centre and the candidate have responsibilities in terms of meeting any child protection legislation and seeking to safeguard the interests of the minor.
As a minimum, the approved centre must inform the candidate that he/she must:
• obtain written permission from the minor’s parent/guardian prior to collecting the evidence and include this permission in the portfolio
• have a valid reason to use photographs or video recordings as part of the evidence in the portfolio
• keep photographs or video recordings secure from unauthorised access, whether stored electronically or in hard copy.
The approved centre must retain sufficient written records of compliance with the above. It is the responsibility of the approved centre to ensure that candidates who use images of minors as evidence for an N/SVQ or other vocational qualification meet the requirements of child protection legislation. As a minimum requirement, the approved centre should stipulate the need for the candidate to obtain the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian prior to collecting the evidence. It is important that it is clear that this is simply guidance as to best practice.
This is not advice as to how to ensure compliance with legislation
It is our aim to treat each case fairly and consistently. However, if you disagree with a decision we have made, you can appeal against that decision.
There are three stages:
• Enquiry – Stage 1
• Mercurius Politicus Review Board – Stage 2
• Independent Appeals Board – Stage 3
Stage 1 – Enquiries about examination results
A centre can ask for a candidate’s exam result to be reviewed, alternatively a candidate can request this directly. Mercurius Politicus will arrange for the candidate’s answers to be remarked.
In the case of assessment decisions made by centres, candidates must go through the centre’s own internal appeals procedure.
Related documents
• Candidate appeal against exam result
• Enquiries about results
• Form (Stage 1 – centre enquiry)
Stage 2 and 3 – Reviews and Appeals
You can ask us to look at:
• an enquiry about an examination result (Stage 1)
• centre/qualification approval or certification status
• a sanction/decision as a result of a malpractice investigation
• access arrangements or special consideration
ocumentation on equal opportunity policy and age discrimination legislation.
Age Discrimination update
Age discrimination legislation Impact on assessment strategies and Mercurius Politicus documentation Age discrimination legislation came into force on 1 October 2006. As a result, City & Guilds has been reviewing its internal processes and documentation. Mercurius Politicus would like to make it clear that this will not affect qualifications or assessments. It may, however, impact on the interpretation of what is meant by ‘occupational expertise’ in relation to assessors, internal verifiers and external verifiers for N/SVQs. The legislation suggests that it is discriminatory to make reference to the number of year’s experience expected of N/SVQ assessors, internal verifiers and external verifiers. Mercurius Politicus has been proactive in responding to this challenge and in the spirit of the legislation has produced an alternative statement. This standard approach is transparent and conveys the meaning of occupational expertise without the need to state the number of years’ experience needed to become an assessor, internal verifier or external verifier. This will be shared with our awarding body and partner organisations when agreeing on future N/SVQ assessment strategies. This requirement applies to current, as well as new documentation. Mercurius Politicus will not, however, be making immediate changes to current documentation, such as the N/SVQ Standards and assessment requirements and Qualification handbooks. New developments and subsequent assessment strategies will contain the new statements, and existing Mercurius Politicus documents will be amended as necessary through a phased process.
Version 2 March 2014 Page 1 of 2 Owner: Regulation and Audit. This is an electronic document. The latest version can be accessed electronically. All printed copies are not controlled. Equality of opportunity in access to products and services This document sets out the Mercurius Politicus policy for ensuring equal opportunities and access to products and services.