The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers (WCSM) has surrendered its status as an Ofqual-recognised awarding organisation.

WCSM informed Ofqual on 15 March 2019 of its intention to surrender recognition and to transfer any outstanding learners studying for a Level 4 qualification to the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO).

The surrender took effect as of 1 September 2021. From this date, no qualifications offered by WCSM are regulated by Ofqual.

WCSM previously had 38 regulated qualifications and issued 14 certificates in the last year. All outstanding learners studying for a Level 4 qualification were transferred to ABDO in June 2021. We understand no learners are affected negatively by this surrender.

When awarding organisations are considering surrendering their recognition, we stand ready to discuss the options for proceeding whilst ensuring learners are protected.

A full list of currently recognised awarding organisations and regulated qualifications can be found on the Register of Regulated Qualifications.

Under the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26, Homes England is committing almost £5.2bn in affordable housing grant to 31 strategic partnerships with 35 organisations.

These strategic partners include a broader range of organisations than ever before, with four for-profit providers, including one developer, as well as a number of housing associations. Together, they will deliver nearly 90,000 grant-funded affordable homes that are much needed across the country.

Peter Denton, Chief Executive Officer at Homes England, said:  

“These strategic partnerships give our new partners the funding, flexibility, and confidence they need to build much needed affordable homes across the country, it also establishes a large network of organisations looking to share their skills and capabilities to expand the affordable housing sector and transform communities.

“By forming strategic partnerships with a wide range of public and private organisations, we are creating the conditions needed for institutional investment to catalyse affordable housing supply and in future give local authorities more of the tools they need to plan and act strategically, shaping their communities and building new homes.”

This strategic partnership funding is part of the broader £8.6bn affordable homes funding announced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Details of Homes England’s latest strategic partners can be seen below.

As the United Kingdom seeks new trade and investment opportunities in high-growth markets, this project aims to enhance the UK’s understanding of the practices, processes and governance of Halal regulations in Malaysia. It also aims to contribute to reducing market-distorting policies and practices, whilst ensuring open and fair competition. The UK is committed to work together with governments, civil society, research-based organisations, academia, multilateral partners and the private sector to support this effort.

Objectives

This Research project will:

• enhance the UK’s understanding on the technicalities, practices, processes and political-economy in developing and applying the Halal regulations across various sectors
• identify existing and potential economic or trade tools that could contribute to enhancing the implementation of Halal regulations without inadvertently causing the existence of non-tariff measures, and towards achieving standards harmonization
• engage with various stakeholders (governments, regulators, businesses, multilaterals, civil societies etc.) to identify the technicalities in standards development and implementation gaps
• identify key actors that shape the Halal regulations and its enforcement
• produce documents reporting on the findings of the project for the attention of the British High Commission Malaysia
• organise at least two in-house webinars or policy dialogues to discuss the findings of this research

Application process

EOI needs to be delivered latest by 11:30pm (local Malaysia time), Wednesday, 15 September to:

Assessment criteria

EOI will be assessed against the following criteria:

• alignment with the above mentioned objectives, detailed in the Terms of Reference
• outcomes are achievable within the funding period (by end of March 2022)
• project design includes clear monitoring and evaluation procedures
• risk and financial accountability procedures
• the organisation’s safeguarding policies that ensure protection of beneficiaries
• feasibility of project delivery under current circumstances (COVID restrictions)
• overall value for money of the budget and delivery approach

September is always a busy time with many companies due to file accounts with Companies House before the end of the month.

We’re continuing to follow government guidance for working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19). This means it could take longer than usual to process paper documents sent by post.

Our online services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – and there are inbuilt checks to help you avoid mistakes.

It can take as little as 15 minutes from start to finish and you’ll know your accounts have been delivered on time. We’ll send you an email to confirm we’ve received your accounts, and another email when we’ve registered them.

To file online, you’ll need your company authentication code. If you need to request a new code, you should allow up to 5 days for this to arrive at the company’s registered office.

You should only send paper accounts if your company cannot file online. Accounts filed on paper need to be manually checked and processed by our teams during office opening hours.

If you need to file your accounts on paper, you should send them to us well before the deadline. This will give you plenty of time to correct your accounts and resend them if they are rejected. You should also consider using a guaranteed next day delivery, but we cannot accept postal delays as an excuse for filing late.

It’s the directors’ responsibility to file a company’s accounts. You could get a criminal record, a fine and disqualification if you do not deliver your accounts on time.

Register for email reminders to know when your accounts are due. You can also check your filing deadline on Companies House service.

Join our directors’ responsibilities webinars.

Watch our YouTube videos for guidance on how to use our online services.

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