In my last blog I explained a little of the background to my career so far and my ownership of businesses over the past 25 years or so. In this blog I would like to tell you a little about Specialist Vocational Training Ltd and the people who I work with. I am of course the Chairman, a Chartered member of IOSH, CMIOSH and a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management. With more than 25 years in Occupational Safety and Health and Management and real work experience in many differing sectors including Chief Executive of Humber Community Partnership and having owned and operated many businesses I am reasonably well placed to lead SVT Ltd. It must be noted that I also hold the relevant qualifications to hold the awarding bodies accreditations that allows me and my business to operate Centre Approval for NEBOSH, IOSH, OCR, City & Guilds and the Institute of Leadership & Management. I also hold qualifications that allow me to Train, Assess and act as an Internal Verifier for NVQ Diplomas up to level 7. I am explaining this because either you or someone in your organisation must hold this type of background and qualifications or similar to gain Centre Approval from the above awarding bodies. Other awarding bodies are out there to be considered of course however we choose these because of their professional status and that's where we started some 15 years ago with SVT Ltd
With all of this in mind lets briefly start to gain an understanding of what you would need to do to start a business and hold Centre Approval from the above awarding bodies.
One important matter you should be aware of is that Specialist Vocational Training Ltd SVT Ltd hold direct claim status with the awarding bodies. This means that we do not have to wait for the External Verifiers from the awarding body visits to claim our students certificates. This is important because those Centres who do not hold this status can be waiting for up to 12 months for the External Verifier to say yes this student has passed the qualification.
In the first instance you will need to establish a company that has a legal status meaning that when you complete your application for Centre Approval the awarding body can see that you and your company actually and legally exist. There are many resources with regards to business start up so I wont go into that here. However the type of business you choose to start must be considered carefully. I chose a Limited Liability company Ltd because this is the most common in the UK and the rules of ownership and operating are relatively simple. One of the advantages of a Ltd company is that for the most part other companies prefer to deal with Ltd companies as they are transparent meaning that each year you must publish your accounts and show who owns and operates them.
The form filling is relatively simple for applying for Centre Approval for your chosen Awarding Body and you will have to pay a fee both for the approval process and annually.
In terms of ownership at SVT Ltd I have set things up relatively simple. Cheryl and myself hold 80% of the shares and I gifted 10% to Mandy Pickard and 10% to my son Tim Watson. Each of us are Directors and each of us hold key positions within the company. Why would I gift shares, In my opinion it is better to have ownership of something as you will treasure it. In terms of who is responsible for what: I run the business from a strategic basis and also have a role as Assessor having 100 NVQ Diploma level 5 and 7 students in both OH&S and Management who I mentor. I also write courses and lead the Directors. Cheryl who is also my wife is the Director of Finance and looks after everything in terms of monies and she is also an Assessor at level 5 for our Management students. Tim is our Commercial Director meaning that he leads a team of sales staff and ensures that our marketing and sales strategy is operating successfully. Mandy Pickard is our Managing Director and Head of Compliance and Operations. This is a most important role in the company as Mandy is responsible for quality and compliance of delivery across everything the company does. Mandy also has a role as Assessor and Internal Verifier. Collectively we have 55 years experience of operating SVT Ltd.
Specialist Vocational Training Ltd is set up in the following way: SVT Ltd is the main business and holds shares in SVT Care Ltd which is our Care NVQ Diploma company and SVT & Management Ltd which is our NEBOSH eLearning and NVQ Diploma Management company. SVT Ltd also has Associate companies who through licence with us market and sell our courses. We also operate a Management Consultancy for companies that want to set up a business and hold Centre Approval this includes the student study materials for NVQ Diplomas and NEBOSH eLearning. I have set the business up in this way as it gives each of the Directors a distinct area of authority and responsibility.
In my next blog I will discuss our team who are employed by SVT Ltd, The Care Bears, the Sales Team and our Safety and Management team.
Mike Watson CEO SVT Ltd Dip RSA CMIOSH MIIRSM FinLM