The Alliance will sit in the middle of a hub and spoke model where the Sector Skills Councils SSCs and Sector Bodies SBs will receive requests for certificates from apprentices or from learning providers or employers who act on their behalf via the ACE online system and also issue Apprenticeship certificates, providing the requirements of the particular Apprenticeship framework have been met.


Apprentices will receive a new certificate approved by the Minister of State for further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, which at his request includes either bronze, silver or gold foil seals:
 

• Bronze: this seal appears on the certificate issued to apprentices who completed an Intermediate Apprenticeship
• Silver: this seal appears on the certificate issued to apprentices who completed an Advanced Apprenticeship
• Gold: this seal appears on the certificate issued to apprentices who completed a Higher Apprenticeship

The ACE online system is a development of the MA Online, which is used by Scottish apprentices and providers throughout the UK. This tried and tested online system is both popular with users and easy to use and will include a web-based training system and a fully downloadable PDF manual.

The ACE online system can be used for more than just requesting certificates. Learning providers and employers can put the details of their apprentices onto the ACE online system at an early stage of their training and add evidence of their achievements as they progress. This will prevent people having to put on all the evidence needed to issue an Apprenticeship certificate when apprentices have finished all the elements of the framework. This will support the collation of Labour Market Information and also help to gain a more informed idea of apprenticeship numbers and success rates. The ACE online system will be used to simplify the current administrative requirements.

ACE will store all the evidence of achievement an apprentice needs to claim an Apprenticeship certificate. The ACE online system means the days where SSCs and SBs had to store paper evidence and the costs associated with this are over and Individual apprentices will be able to use the ACE online system to request their own certificates if they want to. A certificate charge will be collected by the SSCs and SBs. This charge is being finalised and will be used to cover SSC and SB costs to issue certificates and Alliance costs to run the certification service.