The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) is launching a new quality award in a bid to simplify the confusing array of coaching and mentoring qualifications.

The new Quality Standard Awards aim to act as assurance to both those taking the qualifications and those looking to hire them.

EMCC Standards committee chair Gil Schwenk said: "At the moment it's not always easy to tell how well qualified a coach or mentor is unless you are an expert on the many different training courses available.

"This scheme is an independent quality award given to training providers to make the qualifications they offer widely and immediately recognisable. It's great news for the industry because it will help raise standards and will also make choosing a coach or mentor easier for clients."

The first pilot organisations are currently working their way through the assessment process, and the first set of awards will be announced in March.

Gil Schwenk added: "The award offers substantial advantages for organisations that go through the process. It provides an audit check on quality, allowing an organisation to reflect on its processes, procedures and outputs."

The EMCC says all organisations training coaches/mentors or running in-house coach/mentor programmes are eligible to apply for the award.