The QAS was established in 2016 and is an accreditation scheme for Organisations (or teams or departments within Organisations) that demonstrate a commitment to meeting the QAS Outcomes.
QAS offers Organisations the opportunity to gain recognition for high-quality standards and provides a framework for your actuarial work. Accreditations are used by Organisations to denote commitment, compliance, and to celebrate the process of continuous improvement.
The Outcomes are Professionalism, Development & Training and Organisational Culture. Each Outcome has a number of Sub-outcomes and positive indicators relating to it.
They are set out in section 2 and the Appendix of APS QA1 and more detail is provided in the QAS handbook.
Any organisation, or identifiable part of an organisation, that employs IFoA Member(s) carrying out actuarial work can apply.
The accreditation involves assessment of an organisation’s policies and procedures relating to the QAS Outcomes, to ensure that a high level of quality is embedded in the working environment. Assessments will involve interviews with employees as well as a review of the policies and procedures in place.
As well as ensuring that an organisation has in place appropriate policies and procedures, the assessors will establish whether they are embedded within the organisation’s culture and are being applied by employees. A likely outcome of the assessment is recommendations being made which should help improve these policies and procedures.
A monitoring assessment will take place in year 3 or 4 of your accreditation and each year you’ll complete an annual return to enable the IFoA to ensure that you continue to meet the outcomes.
Accreditation lasts for six years, and Members are encouraged to apply for re-accreditation.
Simply complete the application form and send it to qas@actuaries.org.uk. The process will involve arranging an assessment visit and then referring your application (comprising your application form and the assessment visit report) to the QAS Committee.
Please feel free to get in touch to discuss your application so that we can answer any questions you might have and provide you with support during the process.
It generally takes around four months to complete an accreditation process, depending on availability for assessment and the timing of the QAS Sub-Committee meetings, which take place every quarter. We’ll keep in touch with you throughout the process.
In the UK there is an annual fee payable and the band of fee (there are four) will depend on the size of your organisation.
It is necessary to charge a fee in order to ensure that the QAS is an effective accreditation scheme that provides real benefits for those who participate in it and an annual fee is seen as the most simple and straightforward approach.
The fee structure has been designed to be fair as possible and to make the QAS as accessible as possible for all potential applicants.
When you apply for QAS accreditation you will need to nominate at least one Senior Quality Assurance Representative (SQAR). SQARs carry out specific responsibilities on behalf of their organisation and should be of sufficient seniority, knowledge, and experience that they have direct access to the decision-making function/board of your organisation.
If there is a group of SQARs, they should be prepared to explain how they will work together as part of the application process and a Lead SQAR must be nominated. Section 13 of the QAS handbook contains more information and sets out the SQAR responsibilities.
The SQAR Forum is a series of events, an online community, and network. Through the Forum, SQARs benefit from access to a range of speakers and sessions and have the opportunity to network and share good practice on processes and procedures as well as discuss issues.
Special seminars, discussions, and training events will be open to SQARs on current hot topics.
There are a number of benefits to membership of the QAS, they include:
Quality Assurance Scheme
QAS Team, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Level 2 Exchange Crescent, 7 Conference Square, Edinburgh, EH3 8RA
