MALPRACTICE & MALADMINISTRATION POLICY

MALPRACTICE & MALADMINISTRATION POLICY

Version NO: 1.1
Last reviewed: 14th of July 2025
Next Review: 14th of July 2026

Statement and purpose of policy

Scope of the policy

This policy applies to all TIDAL GLOBAL LTD (TIDAL GLOBAL LTD) funded qualifications including apprenticeships, work-based learning, and further education programmes, and applies to all learners, delivery staff, assessors, internal quality assurers, and administrative teams who are using, managing, assessing or delivering the qualifications and courses and who are involved in suspected or actual malpractice and/or maladministration.

Purpose of the policy

The purpose of this policy is to set out the steps to follow when reporting suspected or actual cases of malpractice and maladministration. It is also in place to review those processes which led to the suspected or actual case of malpractice and/or maladministration and to support any investigations.

Responsibilities

TIDAL GLOBAL LTD accept that they have a professional responsibility to report non adherence to this policy to our relevant awarding organisations, the Department for Education. (DFE), and other regulatory or funding bodies such as Ofsted and local authorities.

TIDAL GLOBAL LTD is also responsible for ensuring that all related investigations are conducted by individuals who have no personal interest in the issue and have appropriate competence and understanding of the parameters of the regulation.

TIDAL GLOBAL LTD accept that they are required to follow the related procedures to deal with suspected and/or actual malpractice and maladministration as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Where an associated investigation leads to the discovery of a failure in a TIDAL GLOBAL LTD’s assessment and quality assurance process on DfE- or council-funded provision it will take all reasonable steps to identify affected learners, correct the failure or mitigate any loss or risk as far as possible and apply steps to ensure the failures doesn’t recur in the future.

Location of the policy

This policy is available for all staff members, third parties, subcontractors, and learners on funded provision to access electronically.

Communication of the policy

It is important that staff involved in the management, assessment and quality assurance of our qualifications and learners undertaking funded programme with TIDAL GLOBAL LTD are fully aware of the contents of the policy.

Review of the policy

TIDAL GLOBAL LTD will review the policy annually and revise it as and when required in response to student and stakeholder operational feedback, changes in practices or changes in legislation. Our review will ensure that our procedures continue to be consistent with the regulatory criteria and are applied properly and fairly in arriving at judgements.

V1.1 14.07.2023 LP

Statement of Principles

Definitions of Malpractice

‘Malpractice’, means any act, default or practice which is a breach of Regulations or which:

gives rise to prejudice to candidates;

compromises public confidence in qualifications;

compromises, attempts to compromise or may compromise the process of assessment, the integrity of any qualification or the validity of a result or certificate;

damages the authority, reputation or credibility of any awarding body or centre or any officer, employee or agent of any awarding body or centre.

Malpractice will generally involve some form of intent. It may also include circumstances where an individual has been negligent or reckless as to the consequences of their actions. Bias or discrimination could also lead to malpractice.

Malpractice includes maladministration and instances of non-compliance with the regulations, and includes activities such as; Failure to adhere to the regulations regarding the conduct of assessments, coursework, or failures of compliance with TIDAL GLOBAL LTD’S requirements in the conduct of assessments and/or the handling of assessment papers, candidate case studies, Plagiarism of any nature by learners; Exam irregularities of any nature by learners, Submission of false information to gain a proxy or a qualification, Discriminatory, bullying or harassing behaviour, Unprofessional conduct, Behaviour likely to endanger the health or safety of the public, Breach of confidentiality including, staff members, learners or TIDAL GLOBAL LTD information, Failure to meet regulator’s requirements, Falsifying assessment and/or exam records, Falsifying administration records. This list is not exhaustive.

Process

Any person may identify a matter that they may believe could amount to malpractice and maladministration however this will usually be a member of staff, a learner, a contractor or potentially an external agency. TIDAL GLOBAL LTD itself may identify cases of malpractice or maladministration through its routine work or when considering more extraordinary circumstances such as appeals against results.

Reporting Procedure

Any person identifying cases of malpractice and/or maladministration should report them as soon as possible for investigation; this can be done by emailing and failure to report either suspected or actual malpractice or maladministration may result in TIDAL GLOBAL LTD applying sanctions on the individual.

TIDAL GLOBAL LTD have to investigate all cases of malpractice and maladministration in liaison with any parties concerned. If an investigation finds evidence of malpractice or maladministration, we will have to take the necessary steps to ensure that the learners’ interests are protected as far as is reasonably possible.

Reports into malpractice and/or maladministration must include:

The learner’s name

TIDAL GLOBAL LTD staff member details (name, job role) if they are involved in the case

The title of the qualification affected or nature of the service affected

The date(s) suspected or actual malpractice and/or maladministration occurred

The full nature of the suspected or actual malpractice and/or maladministration

We will acknowledge reports received within 3 working days of receipt.
We will arrange for appropriate personnel to review the report and commence the investigation.
We will aim to action and resolve all investigations within 7 working days of receipt of the report.
We will advise on the outcome of our investigation within 2 working days of making our decision.

V1.1 14.07.2023 LP

We will report any suspected or actual incidents of malpractice and/or maladministration to our relevant awarding organisation and, where appropriate, notifying the DFE, Ofsted, or local authority funding body.

When we receive a report of malpractice and/or maladministration, we will allocate a panel comprising senior TIDAL GLOBAL LTD staff members to investigate. The panel will review the report and supporting evidence and carry out the investigation.

Anonymity and Whistleblowing

Sometimes a person making an allegation of malpractice or maladministration may wish to remain anonymous. An informant who is concerned that possible adverse consequences may occur if their identity is revealed to another party must notify TIDAL GLOBAL LTD and TIDAL GLOBAL LTD will aim to the keep the whistleblowers identity confidential, although it cannot be guaranteed.

The Investigation Process

During the investigation the panel’s review may involve:

A request for further information

Interviews (face to face or by telephone) with personnel involved in the investigation

We will make informed decisions based on the evidence.
We will protect the identity of the ‘informant’ if required.

If issues regarding malpractice and maladministration are reported directly to a regulatory body, TIDAL GLOBAL LTD must allow the regulatory body access to the centre, including staff members, learners, learners work and third party information (as required) in order to fully investigate any issues.

Learner Malpractice

If the investigation confirms that learner malpractice has taken place, TIDAL GLOBAL LTD have no alternative but to impose one or more of the following sanctions on the learner. Please note that this list is not exhaustive:

Disallowing all or part of the learner’s assessment evidence

Disallowing a learner to undertake an exam

Disallowing all or part of the learner’s external assessment marks

Disallowing a learner to undertake a qualification or course with TIDAL GLOBAL LTD

Disqualification from the qualification

In cases of malpractice and/or maladministration by learners, TIDAL GLOBAL LTD will make learners aware that their results may be void if the case is proven. Any certificates which have already been issued may be deemed to be invalid. Certificates may need to be returned to the awarding body.