The Quality in Careers Standard is the single national quality award for overall careers education and guidance provision in secondary and special schools, colleges and Independent Training Providers.
In England, all state-funded secondary and special schools, academies, sixth form colleges and further education colleges are “strongly recommended” by the Department for Education in its May 2025 updated Statutory Guidance to work towards, achieve, and maintain the national Quality in Careers Standard as part of its careers strategy.
The Standard is fully aligned with the updated Gatsby Benchmarks for “Good Career Guidance” and complies with the DfE’s updated Statutory Guidance.
Following the review of the Benchmarks in 2024 and the publication of an updated set, we have fully reviewed our national criteria for the Quality in Careers Standard. We have now published an update of our Guide to the Standard, including the updated national assessment criteria, which we will implement for all Quality in Careers Accreditations from September 2025.
As the country’s dedicated national quality award, the Quality in Careers Standard, through external assessment, uniquely accredits the four components of overall careers education and guidance provision:
- Careers Education
- Careers Information
- Careers Advice
- Careers Guidance
The Quality in Careers Consortium owns the copyright for the Standard.
The Consortium has appointed a range of Licensed Awarding Bodies to act on its behalf, providing national coverage throughout England. Some Awarding Bodies also offer services in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and to overseas British Schools.
Our Awarding Bodies are authorised under licence to assess, accredit and award the national Standard. Some operate nationally, others are more regionally/locally based. They may award the Standard for a set period of up to 3 years, to be determined by each Awarding Body.
Schools, colleges and other learning providers are free to choose which Awarding Body to work with. Here’s our advice on Getting Started with the Standard.
To hold our licence, Awarding Bodies must demonstrate to the Consortium how they meet our national requirements covering:
- How they assess our national accreditation criteria* addressing the content and coverage of careers provision in secondary schools, colleges and other learning providers
- The competence of their assessors, the detailed assessment processes they apply and, critically, how they secure consistency in the judgements their assessors make
- How their own management systems ensure that they fulfil all the requirements we set.
*The national accreditation criteria for the Standard are set out in the Guide to the Quality in Careers Standard: they fully incorporate the Gatsby Benchmarks, and require evidence concerning reports from the Compass self-assessment tool.
Our Assessment Guide shows what our assessors require as additional evidence from secondary schools, colleges and other learning providers of impact upon students’ career-related learning outcomes.
To gain the national Standard, secondary schools, academies, colleges, and other learning providers must supply sufficient current evidence to demonstrate that they meet our national accreditation criteria for their overall careers provision.
Accreditation assessments are carried out by external specialists who are occupationally competent Careers Education and Guidance (CEG) professional assessors. Nationally, our Awarding Bodies have over 100 CEG assessors – no other assessment force exists of its kind, dedicated to the accreditation of the highest quality careers provision in our country.
Our website includes details of all schools, colleges and other learning providers who currently hold the national Standard. These are published on the National Register of Award Holders.
