Supporting good providers.
Giving buyers confidence.
IVOSA helps training providers evidence that they meet the standards that matter, without unnecessary bureaucracy, while helping employers make and document a confident, well-informed choice.
Regulatory fit for purpose
Standards tested against legislation, regulation and recognised national guidance before they become mandatory.
Low-cost, practical support
One standard for every provider size, without escalating fees or box-ticking paperwork.
Clear buyer assurance
A straightforward way for employers to evidence due diligence when appointing a provider.
Standards without unnecessary barriers.
A fairer model for providers. Clearer assurance for buyers.
Providers need affordable, practical support rather than escalating fees. Buyers need a straightforward way to evidence due diligence. IVOSA — independent and not-for-profit — brings the two together.
IVOSA sets standards aligned with applicable law, regulation and recognised national guidance, and does not add cost or restriction beyond that without a clear evidence-based reason.
Our ethos
No mandatory products whose main purpose is income generation. IVOSA does not compete with registrants or force them to buy related commercial products.
What IVOSA registration actually means.
Three clearly separated layers — so improving beyond the legal baseline is always optional, never a quiet way to make registration more expensive or exclusive.
Verified against the legal baseline
IVOSA verifies and organises evidence that a provider meets the applicable requirements in legislation, regulation and recognised national guidance. IVOSA does not create additional compulsory requirements simply because they may represent good practice.
Help if you want it
Templates, tools, examples and guidance that help providers improve — always optional, never a condition of registration unless the underlying requirement is itself mandated.
Paid for by the buyer who wants it
Where a buyer needs deeper assurance, that buyer commissions an independently scoped review at transparent cost — never a blanket condition of registration.
Assurance without conflicting incentives.
IVOSA is designed so that registration income does not materially influence decisions about whether a provider continues to meet the published requirements. Core registration is intended to be free or genuinely low-cost. Where a buyer needs deeper assurance, that buyer can commission a separately scoped independent review.
- Schemes dependent on substantial recurring provider fees can face an inherent tension when auditing, sanctioning or removing those same providers.
- IVOSA minimises that tension through low-cost registration, not-for-profit governance and no material dependence on registration income.
- Enhanced audit work is paid for by the buyer requesting it, not by the provider being assessed.
Not an invented category
HSE guidance explicitly identifies what HSE calls “voluntary accreditation schemes”, including trade and industry bodies, as one route available to first-aid training providers — and explains that such schemes can help employers select providers and meet their own legal responsibilities.
These extracts describe such schemes generally. They do not constitute HSE approval or endorsement of IVOSA.
HSE approval of first-aid training providers ended in 2013; employers remain responsible for their own due diligence. IVOSA is designed to make that diligence easier to do and to evidence, not to replace it.
Tools that help you succeed — not products you're forced to buy.
We intend one registration model for every provider — independent trainers, SMEs, charities, and national and multi-site organisations alike: plain-language standards, practical templates, and a public register entry that gives your customers confidence at a glance.
Free or low-cost
Genuinely low-cost core registration (our intention, not yet final), for providers of every size.
Plain language, real tools
Clear standards in plain language, plus templates and practical compliance tools.
Evidence buyers trust
Buyer-ready due-diligence evidence and a public register entry, ready to hand to a customer.
- Guidance and product access without forced purchasing
- One registration standard for every provider size, from independent trainers to national organisations
- A voice in how the body develops its standards
- A published complaints and appeals process
Confidence for the organisations that appoint providers.
An IVOSA registration mark is designed to make supplier due diligence easier — it does not replace your organisation's own legal responsibility to check a provider is right for you.
Qualification & delivery evidence
Instructor and assessor qualification evidence, plus syllabus and contact-hour mapping.
Certificate & record standards
Certificate-content standards and record-keeping expectations you can check.
Clear registration status
Class-size and delivery-model controls, and a clear, checkable registration status.
- Quality-assurance responsibility set out clearly, not buried in small print
Building an independent founding council.
IVOSA is assembling a multidisciplinary council bringing together clinical, legal, educational, compliance and provider perspectives. Roles below are proposed and under discussion — no appointment is confirmed, and no names or photographs are used in this draft.
Founder
Paramedic & first-aid sector professionalPractising clinical and sector background informing the founding proposition.
ProposedIndependent lawyer
Governance & regulatory perspectiveIndependent legal perspective on governance structure and regulatory positioning.
In discussionDoctor
Clinical & medical perspectiveClinical perspective on standards that affect patient and casualty outcomes.
In discussionServing head teacher
Education, safeguarding & buyer perspectiveRepresents the organisational buyer's viewpoint — safeguarding, procurement and due diligence.
In discussionRetired Head of Training Compliance
Training quality & compliancePrior professional experience in first-aid training compliance, including at British Red Cross UK — named for background only; not a British Red Cross endorsement of IVOSA.
In discussionIndependent non-executive adviser
Finance, governance & digital productPotential adviser bringing SME finance, governance and digital-product experience.
PotentialMentions of prior employers or professional affiliations describe individual career background only, and do not imply that any named organisation endorses, partners with or is affiliated with IVOSA.
Governance principles
- Company limited by guarantee / not-for-profit intent
- No shareholder extraction from the body
- Transparent conflicts-of-interest policy
- Published standards-development process
- Complaints and appeals process
- Registrant representation and consultation
- Separation between IVOSA and any related commercial product company
More assurance, only where a buyer asks for it.
Routine, costly on-site audits are not a compulsory condition for every registrant. Enhanced assurance is commissioned, scoped and paid for by the buyer who wants it.
Requested, not required
Initiated by the provider or its customer — never a blanket condition of registration.
Scope agreed in advance
A defined scope is agreed before any assurance work begins.
Transparent cost
Charged at cost or on a transparent cost-recovery basis — proposed, not yet final.
Proportionate methods
Document review, course observation, certificate sampling or quality-system review.
A proposed service, not yet operational. Results are reported factually and proportionately — never as a marketing grade.
A public register you can search — and evidence you can trust.
A public register of IVOSA-registered providers, and a due-diligence pack that maps a provider's evidence to what your organisation actually needs to check.
Search the public register
This is a draft placeholder component. It does not query real data and no search terms are stored.
Buyer Due-Diligence Pack — sample
A fictional registrant record and the dated due-diligence pack it produces — showing how the real pack will map a provider's evidence to the requirements a buyer needs to see.
Model document library
Six core and three conditional model policies, plus a combined handbook — editable and white-label, free for a registered provider to adopt directly or use as a benchmark for its own equivalent arrangements.
Register your interest as IVOSA develops.
IVOSA is not yet accepting registrations. If you're a training provider, an employer, or a prospective council member, register your interest and we'll be in touch as the body develops.
Prefer email? Write to hello@ivosa.org (placeholder address, not yet monitored).