Supplier and Delivery Partner Management Policy

How Xcademia selects, briefs and monitors specialist partners and associate trainers, and why we stay responsible to our customers for their work.

Policy details

Version: 1.0
Effective date: 20 October 2026
Next review: October 2027, or earlier following material change
Owner: Management
Supports ISO 9001:2015 clauses: 8.4

Xcademia's quality management system is aligned with ISO 9001. It is not independently certified.

Purpose and scope

Some of our training is delivered with the help of specialist partners and associate trainers, and some services we rely on are provided by suppliers such as learning platforms and venues. This policy explains how we make sure that anything provided by an external party meets the same quality expectations as our own work. It supports clause 8.4 of ISO 9001:2015, control of externally provided processes, products and services.

Our responsibility to customers

When a partner or associate trainer delivers part of a programme for us, Xcademia remains responsible to the customer for the quality of that delivery. Customers deal with us, and we put things right if something falls short.

Selecting partners and trainers

Before we engage a specialist partner or associate trainer, we consider:

relevant subject expertise and current practical experience;
delivery and assessment experience;
the status of any qualifications or approvals that we cite to customers;
ability to meet the requirements of the programme, including accessibility and support needs;
suitable arrangements for protecting information.

We keep a trainer suitability record for each trainer. It captures their expertise, delivery experience and the status of qualifications cited in customer proposals.

Defined responsibilities and quality expectations

Specialist partners have defined responsibilities and agreed quality expectations. These are set out in writing before work starts and cover, as relevant:

what is to be delivered, to whom and when;
the approved programme, materials and assessment criteria to be used;
assessment and marking arrangements, including sample review where more than one assessor is involved;
records to be kept and passed to us;
how concerns, incidents and complaints are reported to us;
our expectations on safeguarding, equality, health and safety and professional conduct.

Data protection and confidentiality

Partners and associate trainers who handle personal data or customer information must do so only as agreed, keep it secure and return or dispose of it securely when no longer needed. They must report any suspected incident to us promptly. Our approach is described in our Information Security Policy Statement and our privacy policy.

Monitoring and review

We monitor external delivery through learner and employer feedback, observation of sessions, assessment and review records, and any support or complaint records. We confirm delivery readiness before each programme, including platform access, resource availability and venue suitability.

If monitoring shows a problem, we agree actions with the partner or trainer, record them and check they have been completed. Where the problem is not resolved, we may substitute another trainer or end the arrangement. Performance of partners and suppliers is considered at management review.

Quality Policy: How Xcademia plans, delivers and improves its training, and the quality objectives we measure under our ISO 9001 aligned system.
Complaints and Appeals Procedure: How to raise a complaint or assessment appeal with Xcademia, the stages and timescales we follow, and where to go if you are still not satisfied.
Learner Support and Reasonable Adjustments Policy: How learners can ask for support or reasonable adjustments at Xcademia, how we agree them, and how we keep your information confidential.
Assessment and Certification Policy: How we design and mark assessments, quality assure decisions, and issue Xcademia completion and achievement certificates you can verify online.

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