Become an approved training centre
BETA does not deliver training. Approved centres run the courses and the tests. BETA sets the standard, checks the results and issues the cards.
What you need
- A registered business
- With employer's liability, public liability and professional indemnity insurance in force.
- A safe training area
- Enough room, a suitable surface and the right loads for each machine you want to teach.
- Machines in good order
- Each with inspection and maintenance records, and a current thorough examination report where the law requires one.
- Approved instructors
- At least one BETA-approved instructor for every machine category you apply for.
- Someone who checks quality
- A named person who reviews your own training and paperwork before it reaches BETA.
- Written policies
- Health and safety, equality, complaints, appeals, malpractice and data protection.
How approval works
Apply
Send your application with evidence for each requirement above.
Desk review
BETA reads the evidence and tells you if anything is missing.
Approval visit
An assessor inspects your site and machines and talks to your instructors.
Decision
You are approved, approved with actions to complete, or refused with reasons.
Agreement
You sign the centre agreement and receive your centre number.
Approval lasts 12 months and is renewed after an audit. Centres outside the UK meet the same requirements, using the local equivalent of each UK legal duty.
Once you are approved
- Tell BETA about each test
- Before a test, you give the instructor, the place, the date and time, and the machine. An auditor may turn up to watch.
- Send in the results
- After the test you record the scores and upload the signed test sheet. BETA's system works out the result.
- Expect questions
- If something is missing or unclear, the submission comes back to you with a query. Nothing is issued until it is answered.
- Expect visits
- Every centre is audited at least once a year. Some visits are arranged and some are not.
Instructors
Each instructor is approved by BETA in their own right and holds a Gold card. Approval is given one machine category at a time, after BETA has seen an instructor qualification and evidence that the instructor can operate the machine.
An instructor may test only in the categories they are approved for. A test outside those categories is refused.
Apply or ask a question
Ask BETA for the application pack and the current fees. The same fees apply to every centre.