how long to wait for DSC2?

Mungo

Well-Known Member
What's the usual length of time to expect to wait between completion of Level 2 portfolio and (i) contact from the assessor; and (ii) issue of the certificate?

Paperwork completed and sent off mid Dec, not a peep since.

Even Edinburgh University admin is quicker than that...
 
As an AW this really frustrates me, I have had portfolios go through for candidates as quick as 4/6 weeks and the longest wait was 11 months.

If you have not heard within 6-8 weeks get on the blower. I always ask my candidates to call me if they have not heard anything bar their letter of reciept from DMQ for 8 weeks, then I start to chase them up.
 
What's the reason for the slow turnaround?

I get in serious trouble if I turn anything around in more than 14 days, regardless of how busy I am or how many scripts come in.
 
What's the reason for the slow turnaround?

I get in serious trouble if I turn anything around in more than 14 days, regardless of how busy I am or how many scripts come in.

Most people are paid on results.

I don't know what (if anything) the Assessors or Admin are paid for their work on DSC2 portfolios, but presumably if it is largely voluntary - or has to be fitted in around their "real" jobs - it isn't necessarily at the top of the priority list.

Given DMQ is not for profit, and BASC and BDS provide a lot of the support, how much would candidates be willing to pay in order to guarantee a 14 day turnaround on portfolios?
 
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I'm not sure there's a strong case for increasing the fee to ensure rapid turnaround: you already pay £150 or so to register, and it's unclear to me that you're really getting £150 worth of anything for that.

The bulk of the time consuming work is conducted by the AW (who will either be doing it as a favour or as part of a bought stalk, and so doesn't cost the DMQ or assessment centre anything). The Assessment centre just processes the paper, and even the most ludicrously ineffecient goverment departments would be expected to do something that simple for a tiny fraction of the cost.

It is really unclear why the system is so slow and expensive (and here I am specifically criticising the certification process, not the witnessing).

Other than (at most) half an hour of an administrator's time to process the paperwork and do the mailing back and forth, plus the cost of the bits of paper themselves, every other part of the system is either free or paid for by the candidate.

Am I missing something?
 
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Am I missing something?

Possibly not, but my guess - and it is just that, a guess, so others on here may be able to enlighten us with the facts - is that the delay comes from two things; first the review of the portfolio and questioning of the Candidate by an Assessor, of which there are a limited number, and second, that the completed certification then needs to be signed off, as my guess (there's that word again) is that this is done remotely in batch, rather than on-site and on an individual basis.

The admin may be centralised, but I doubt all of the relevant staff are located in the same physical location, so it's probably not that they are all sitting in the same room (or even county) waiting for a completed portfolio to drop through the letter box.

Stuff gets sent around - remember it's a physical portfolio, not electronic - and because none of the staff are likely to be full-time salaried DMQ employees they have to fit this work in around their real jobs.
 
Mine took a couple of months, I did call up the assessment centre and I did telephone tag with the assessor for a few days as both of us were busy.
 
Possibly not, but my guess - and it is just that, a guess, so others on here may be able to enlighten us with the facts - is that the delay comes from two things; first the review of the portfolio and questioning of the Candidate by an Assessor, of which there are a limited number, and second, that the completed certification then needs to be signed off, as my guess (there's that word again) is that this is done remotely in batch, rather than on-site and on an individual basis.

The admin may be centralised, but I doubt all of the relevant staff are located in the same physical location, so it's probably not that they are all sitting in the same room (or even county) waiting for a completed portfolio to drop through the letter box.

Stuff gets sent around - remember it's a physical portfolio, not electronic - and because none of the staff are likely to be full-time salaried DMQ employees they have to fit this work in around their real jobs.

This explains the slow, but not the expensive!
 
Mungo, this has been done many many times before and £150 is absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. These things have to be checked and re-checked to ensure that it has been completed within the rules. If I remember correctly, the Assessor is paid something like £20. Out of that comes the postage to send it back (possibly more than once if it has to go back to the candidate as well?) phone calls and time. I doubt the time spent equates to the minimum wage after the postage for what is a large document comes out? Would it be at the top of your priority list for that money? I appreciate that to us candidates it is hugely important but to the assessor it's just a hobby. Sorry but that's how it is. Patience is a virtue!
 
Thinking about this, it is exactly the sort of process that would benefit from being digitised. This would doubtless help from both a cost and a time perspective.

My guess, though, is that many prefer the physical paper version, as not everyone (stalkers and DMQ included) may be sufficiently computer literate.
 
When you use BASC the one that deals with it is Mary so when you send in your portfolio just hope she is not on sick or holiday as it will postpone the paperwork. They say it is up to 12 weeks from sending in the forms. That is if Mary is at work!
 
considering that DSC2 is now being used by others as a std needed for certain things possibly with time limitations (Police , Forestry commission , Syndicates, Insurance companies etc ) then Months waiting for issue is getting unacceptable.

maybe they need to look at he process and get it to work efficiently as the push is to get more and more volume People thro it and DSC1 etc
 
Mungo, this has been done many many times before and £150 is absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. These things have to be checked and re-checked to ensure that it has been completed within the rules.

Sorry, but I mark upwards of 500 undergraduate scripts every year, almost all of which are orders of magnitude more complex than the DSC2 portfolio. It is not a complex document, with a very small number of variables that need to be checked. If I were to have to mark something like that, I would probably be allowed 10 minutes a script.

Moreover, the primary assessment is really done by the AW: there is very little genuine assessment that the Assessor can actually do (they rely entirely on the perception and honesty of the AW). The assessor, as far as I can tell, is really just there to make sure the stalks actually happened.

It ocurrs to me that we're often very critical of the Police for being very slow with FAC variations and the like, but we are, if anything, worse!

As for patience being a virtue: why? Why should it be a virtue? Never understood this.
 
considering that DSC2 is now being used by others as a std needed for certain things possibly with time limitations (Police , Forestry commission , Syndicates, Insurance companies etc ) then Months waiting for issue is getting unacceptable.

maybe they need to look at he process and get it to work efficiently as the push is to get more and more volume People thro it and DSC1 etc

If that's the case, then I am afraid the cost will inevitably rise. Unlike the DSC1, which is largely the "push" style of training where it can effectively be delivered to a large number of attendees, DSC2 is far more labour intensive, with candidates being dealt with on an individual case-by-case basis.

Be careful what you wish for.
 
As for patience being a virtue: why? Why should it be a virtue? Never understood this.

Good things come to those who wait?

Act in haste, repent at leisure?

Prior preparation prevents pi55-poor performance?

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread?

I'm sure there are others that also have more than a grain of truth in them ;)
 
3 weeks door to door recently for me with Barony College... Not sure that helps the OP but I was very pleased after all the stories I'd heard of months and months.
 
I've put vocational qualifications into previous companies and to be honest the portfolio assessment took similar timescales. Folk forget that after a portfolio leaves your clammy grasp it passes through a lot of other hands. Nothing to do with DMQ, its all part of the vocational qualification process. If its not spelt out as clear as glass how every one of the criteria are met then there is inevitable to-ing and fro-ing to resolve and get the candidate through.

There are faster alternatives, but for each of them quality suffers. In competence based qualifications, the UK process really can't be beat.
 
Good things come to those who wait?

Act in haste, repent at leisure?

Prior preparation prevents pi55-poor performance?

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread?

I'm sure there are others that also have more than a grain of truth in them ;)

But except for the first one, these are all situations where the ACTOR is in control, and where the advice is essentially 'make sure you consider all the variables and possible outcomes before acting'. I have no problem with this.

What we're talking about here is a situation where someone ELSE is in control, and where a degree of impatience is almost ceratinly to your advantage.
 
But except for the first one, these are all situations where the ACTOR is in control, and where the advice is essentially 'make sure you consider all the variables and possible outcomes before acting'. I have no problem with this.

What we're talking about here is a situation where someone ELSE is in control, and where a degree of impatience is almost ceratinly to your advantage.

I am only offering an opinion - you have to decide what's right for you.

What I'm suggesting is that it sometimes does us well to remember that this isn't some automated, robotic, system that we are dealing with, but rather living, breathing individuals who are probably not entirely unlike you and me.

I feel the same is true for SGC/FAC renewals.
 
If that's the case, then I am afraid the cost will inevitably rise. Unlike the DSC1, which is largely the "push" style of training where it can effectively be delivered to a large number of attendees, DSC2 is far more labour intensive, with candidates being dealt with on an individual case-by-case basis.

Be careful what you wish for.


I dont wish for anything I dont particularly intend to do DSC2 unless I hit an area i really wish to go into and not having it barrs the way dead

if it moves up a pace then they will have to do something how long is ok 6-8weeks not a real problem however 6mths, 1yr , 2yrs after taking 3yrs to do the portfolio
 
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