Accreditation Terms

Last updated: 4 October 2026

About these terms

These terms apply to organisations that apply for National Mentoring Standards (NMS) accreditation. They form the agreement between your organisation and National Mentoring Day Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 09805316), of 11 Parkwood Close, Tunbridge Wells, South East England, TN2 3SX, United Kingdom, together with our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The person who applies confirms they have authority to accept these terms for the organisation.

How accreditation works

1. Your organisation registers on our website and completes a self-assessment of its mentoring programme against the seven pillars of the Standards, providing evidence.
2. Our assessors check your self-assessment against your evidence. Assessments are sampled and reviewed by our quality assurance team before accreditation is awarded.
3. Judgements are made on a "best fit" basis. To be awarded a level, at least six of the seven pillars must be rated at that level or higher.
4. We tell you the outcome and, where possible, how your programme could reach a higher level.

Accreditation is awarded at Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum level, is awarded to a named programme, and lasts for one year from the date it is awarded. To keep it, you will need to be re-assessed before it expires.

Fees

Any fees are shown before you submit your application and must be paid before the assessment is completed. Fees cover the assessment, not a particular outcome, so they are not refunded if your programme is awarded a lower level than you hoped, or is not accredited.

Your responsibilities

• The information and evidence you give us must be accurate, complete and your organisation's own (or used with permission).
• Do not include personal information about individual mentors or mentees in your evidence unless it is necessary - and if you do, make sure you have the right to share it. Please remove names and contact details where you can.
• Tell us promptly if your programme changes significantly during the accreditation year, or if there is a serious safeguarding incident connected with it.

Using the award

While your accreditation is valid, you may use the award logo for the level awarded to promote the accredited programme - for example on your website, marketing materials, bids and tenders. Please:

• only use the logo for the level and programme actually accredited, and only while the accreditation is valid;
• do not change the logo's design, colours or wording;
• do not suggest that your whole organisation, or other programmes, are accredited if they are not.

When accreditation expires or is withdrawn, you must stop using the logo and remove it from your materials within 30 days.

Withdrawing accreditation

We may suspend or withdraw accreditation if the information or evidence you gave us was false or misleading, the award logo is misused, the programme no longer meets the Standards, or there are serious concerns about the safety of participants. We will normally explain our concerns and give you the chance to respond first, unless people may be at risk.

Appeals

If you disagree with an assessment outcome or a decision to withdraw accreditation, you can appeal within 28 days by contacting us by email to chelsey@nationalmentoringday.org, using our contact form or by post to National Mentoring Day Ltd, 11 Parkwood Close, Tunbridge Wells, South East England, TN2 3SX, United Kingdom, explaining why. Your appeal will be reviewed by someone who was not involved in the original decision, and we will give you our decision within 28 days.

Confidentiality and your information

We keep the evidence you submit confidential and only use it to assess your programme and for quality assurance. With your agreement, we may list accredited programmes and their award level on our website. How we handle personal information is explained in our Privacy Policy.

Our responsibility

Accreditation confirms that, at the time of assessment and based on the evidence provided, a programme met the Standards. It is not a guarantee of the programme's future quality or of how it is run day to day, which remains the responsibility of the organisation running it. As far as the law allows, we are not responsible for losses arising from an organisation's mentoring programme.

Changes and law

We may update the Standards and these terms; the version in place when you apply applies to that assessment. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.