The training company Training for Success has been working to provide the Community Safety for Accredited Person Scheme (CSAS) training for staff at Transport for London (TfL).
Transport for London’s revenue protection staff cover the red buses, the London Underground and Docklands Light Railway, and the ferries navigating the Thames. Ensuring that fares are paid is vital. However this front-line role can bring the revenue protection inspectors into conflict with the public. TfL saw a need to safeguard their teams and improve their confidence in handling difficult situations. Equally, an understanding of the law by which the teams perform their role was an important part of up-skilling the staff.
TfL wanted the training to be a blend of in-house and on-line. They had noted that many staff regularly work on their own so bringing them together and building a team was an added benefit of the face to face training. The conflict management part of the course was given face to face; this allowed staff to practise in a safe classroom. Senior TfL managers were able to critically review the staff at first hand.
Revenue protection inspectors also need to develop good working relationships with the Metropolitan Police (Met) and the CSAS course allowed for this with the assessment of certain skills, for example traffic management, dome alongside the Met. A spin-off of the training was that it cultivated a positive platform for such partnership working.
Rob McHarg, Operations Director at Training for Success, said: “The week-long programmes engage with a number of key operational issues that will equip revenue protection inspectors with the skills necessary to undertake an array of legislative responsibilities and enforcement actions, including the issuing of fixed penalty notices and the monitoring of anti-social behaviour.”
And the lead trainer Michael Clyne added: “The inclusion of elements facilitated by the Metropolitan Police demonstrates a firm commitment to partnership working within the Capital.”
Transport for London were keen to see the training accredited, seeing the value this would add to the training and give the trainees a certificate from a nationally recognised awarding body. In selecting Industry Qualifications (IQ) as the awarding organisation to accredit the CSAS training, Training for Success pointed to IQ’s growing prominence in providing a range of qualifications for work in the private security sector. Their commitment to partnership working, as evidenced by their mutual model was also a factor.
The qualification is based on the national standards developed in consultation with representatives of Association of Chief Police Officers, ACPO CPI, the Home Office and Skills for Security in 2007. In preparation for its accreditation IQ required that Training for Success update the content to ensure it met the latest standards. During the accreditation IQ was instrumental in supporting Training for Success to design clear assessment processes, which reflect the practical and operational nature of the course.
The qualification sits in IQ’s customised framework and has been approved as an IQ Organisation Award at level 2. It should be noted that a learner holding the qualification is not deemed an accredited person, nor do they necessarily hold any specific “powers”, as under the Police Reform Act that remains at the discretion of a chief constable.
