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Certifying a Learner using RPL
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Written by Richard Fleetwood
Updated over a week ago

It's important to note that if you do not have the Reg & Cert folder on your account, you will need to contact your Centre Coordinator to request permission to be added to your account.

If you are certificating a learner on a Non-Graded Qualification or Graded Qualification please click on the article listed above.

To certificate a learner select 'Reg/Cert' from the top navigation bar

Then select 'Certification' from the tiles

You will now be displayed with a candidate search. Please locate the learner by using the fields below and select ‘Search’.

The learner and all associated registrations will then appear in the ‘Search Results’

Choose the qualification that you would like to claim and select ‘Get Claim Details for the Candidate’

Please check under ‘Learner Details’ that all the learners personal details are correct as the First name, Middle Initials and Surname will appear on the EAL certificate and a replacement certificate fee will apply if the learner has been certificated in the wrong name.

(Please see our certification policy for further details).

Once the learner details have been checked and you are happy to proceed you will first need to select the Main IV. Please select the name from the drop-down list.

Please note: If the IV name does not appear in list, please check that the IV has been linked to the qualification in Smarter Touch – Guidance is available to download from the Smarter Touch documents library.

If the IV has already been added and not appearing, please allow overnight integration for the IV to appear in Online Services from Smarter Touch.

Expected Claim Type: this can be left blank as the system calculates the claim automatically.

Once you have selected the IV, you can now move onto ‘Other Details’ you will need to select one of these options if you are creating a unit claim only.

Please note: If you are processing a full claim please leave this blank.

Chargeable Certificate Not Required: this means you are processing a partial unit claim in the system however not expecting a certificate to be issued.


Chargeable Certificate Required: this means you are processing a partial claim in the system however require a certificate to be printed. Please check the EAL price list for chargeable certificate fees.

Once you have completed the above (if applicable) you can now move onto ‘Qualification Unit Details’.

To navigate through the list of units, please select one of the options highlighted below.

To claim a unit that the learner has achieved through RPL, please check the box in the ‘RPL’ Column.

The following pop-up window will appear, and you must enter the Awarding Body, Certificate Number and Certificate date in the fields below. The comment field is optional however please enter any comments that may be relevant to the claim.

Once you have entered the detail for the unit you can select the ‘X’ in the right-hand corner of the field to close the RPL window for that unit.

If you would need to go back and make any changes to the RPL detail, then you can select ‘Details’ against that particular unit in the ‘RPL Detail’ column.

Please note: If you need to RPL a unit which includes an online exam from another EAL qualification however the learner has not been certificated, you can use the learner CQN and exam date in the RPL fields.

Once you have claimed all units you can now move onto the disclaimer; by ticking this box you understand that: All claims must be an accurate reflection of the learner achievement. Any Claims made incorrectly are considered as maladministration under EAL’s maladministration and malpractice policy.

Once the disclaimer has been ticked you can then validate the claim by clicking the ‘Validate Claim’ button at the bottom of the screen.

If the claim validates without any errors, you will see the following message at the top of the screen confirming It has validated successfully and you are free to move onto the next step.

If the claim validates with an error, you may see one of the following messages:

This means you have not selected enough units to meet a full claim therefore you need to check the claim again. If you are processing a unit claim you will need to select a chargeable option under: ‘Other Details’

This means you have not selected a Main IV under the section ‘IV Details’. You will need to select the IV before continuing.

This means you have selected an option under ‘Expected Claim Type’ which does not match the units that have been claimed. You can either leave this field blank and allow the system to calculate the claim or check the units that you are claiming meet the rule of combination.

Once all errors have been resolved and you are ready to process the claim you can now select ‘Add to Basket’

You will receive confirmation that the claim has been added to the basket.

If the ‘Add to Basket’ button is greyed out this means that you have not ticked the ‘Disclaimer’

One the learner has been added to the basket you can now go ahead and claim any additional learners and add them to the basket. Once all learners have been added to the basket you can proceed to ‘View Basket’

You will now see each learner in the basket, to double check the certificated units please select the down arrow in the ‘Units’ column and you will see the list of units for each learner.

If you need to edit a claim or delete a claim from the basket, please select the learner, and choose one of the options below.

Save Claims: If you are happy with the based and would like to continue, please proceed with selecting ‘Save Claim(s)’ - without selecting this the certification claim will not save.

Once you have selected ‘Save Claim’ a green tick confirming the claim was saved will appear at the top of the screen.

If you navigate away from the screen without saving the claim you will need to start again.

Please note: If you RPL'ed a unit, it won't appear on their certificate. This is because RPL means they've already achieved the unit and have a certificate for it.

If you have direct claim status then the e-Certificate will be available to download within 1 working day however if you do not have direct claim status then you will need to contact the EQA linked to the qualification on your Smarter Touch remit.


Need more help? If you need further assistance, we suggest taking a look at the range of articles available in our Knowledge Hub. You may find the answers to your queries in these resources.

Alternatively, if you require additional support, contact our friendly Customer Experience Team who will be more than happy to assist you.


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