About SQA Accreditation

This website relates to the Accreditation function of SQA. If you are a candidate and wish to contact SQA Awarding Body about eg a replacement certificate then please go to https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/141.html. 

This section of the website has general information on who we are and how we carry out our work. As you read this, we will direct you to more specific information. To go straight to the specific information you need, please use the menu on the left.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has two distinct and autonomous parts:

• SQA Accreditation

Under Scottish Government legislation, SQA Accreditation quality assures qualifications offered in Scotland by approving awarding bodies and accrediting their qualifications. We do this by regulating awarding bodies and their qualifications against published regulatory requirements.

• SQA Awarding Body

SQA Awarding Body is one of the awarding bodies that we regulate. They are therefore subject to the same processes and regulation as any other approved awarding body.  If you are interested in SQA Awarding Body’s services and qualifications please visit their website.

SQA Accreditation’s work

Our work is underpinned by our Regulatory Requirements which define the standards awarding bodies must meet in order to be compliant.

Our work is directed by the Accreditation Committee (AC) whose members are from industry and training providers independent of SQA Accreditation. Decisions on approval of awarding bodies and accreditation of qualifications are devolved by AC to the Accreditation Co-ordination Group (ACG), which meets weekly to consider submissions.

A brief introduction to us can be found at An Introduction to SQA Accreditation.

For further information on the work we do and our activity over the past year, please see our Annual Review 2022-23.

Customer Charter

We aim to provide an effective and efficient service to our customers.  Our Customer Charter sets out our service levels.

Who audits us?

SQA Accreditation has been certified by NQA as meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2015.  Our scope of approval is “The approval and subsequent monitoring of awarding bodies. The accreditation, and (when required) credit rating for inclusion on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) of qualifications, other than those conferred by Higher Education Institutions.

Our certificate identity number is 186046.