Build your practice. Earn your next step.

A 12-week programme for adults supporting children and families, focused on sensory inclusion, reflective practice and consistent support across settings. Successful completion leads to awarded ANCHOR Practitioner Certification, a provider-issued professional development credential. It is not a public professional title, regulated qualification or permission to provide clinical treatment.

Allow 45 learning hours across 12 weeks, averaging 3 hours 45 minutes a week. The programme combines guided learning, four shared live webinar hours, a 15-minute small-group competency conversation, reflective practice and assessment. The detailed timetable, submission deadlines and results date are provided after enrolment and successful payment.

The programme combines self-directed learning with scheduled live online sessions. It runs in a fixed cohort, rather than being entirely self-paced. Before paying, confirm that you can protect the stated weekly study time and meet the live-attendance requirement. The detailed timetable is provided after enrolment and successful payment; discuss access needs and reasonable adjustments with ANCHOR before enrolling.

Complete the required learning, knowledge checks, practice records, final reflection and competency conversation to the required standard. Attendance or payment alone does not award certification. Assessment materials and the framework remain private to authorised learners.

The course includes catch-up time. Ordinary extension requests can be made from two working days before the deadline until the deadline. Short-term illness requests can be made from two working days before to two working days after it for a 14-working-day extension. Serious circumstances have a separate evidence-reviewed route. Read the extension page before requesting support.

Shared certification terms: school and independent routes

Titles are protected: see Professional standards.

Practitioner Certification Terms and Conditions

No. Certification does not grant a licence to reproduce the framework, share protected materials, train others or deliver ANCHOR parent workshops. Separate facilitator approval and written permission are required.

Applicants must be 18 or over. Relevant backgrounds include education, childcare, fostering, family support, youth work, coaching and appropriately qualified allied professions. The standard recent-experience route requires a listed role with children under 13 during the last 12 months, for at least two months and more than ten hours weekly, supported by a reference or payslips.

Yes. Twelve months of experience is not required to enter the course. For the register, applicants without qualifying experience may apply for the separate ANCHOR-supervised route. Supervision, references, compliance documents and suitability review are still required, and training does not promise a placement, employment or access to families for practice.

Yes. Adults with relevant voluntary, self-employed or lived experience can request individual consideration through the Alternative Entry Pathway. See the dedicated page for application requirements, references, fees and outcomes.

Explore the Alternative Entry Pathway

Only where relevant to your professional role. Statutory registration and voluntary professional membership are different. Many teaching assistants, lunchtime staff and coaches have no applicable professional register. ANCHOR will consider their role and evidence rather than requiring an unrelated membership.

Applicants aged 18 or over may discuss supported entry and suitable partner programmes. We welcome developing experience, but essential competence, safeguarding and register requirements still apply. Completing training does not guarantee employment or self-employed income.

Ask info@anchorinclusion.co.uk for a private eligibility discussion. Do not send criminal-history statements, medical records, identity documents or information identifying children in ordinary enquiry forms. Relevant disclosures require a restricted human review before approval.

Complete ANCHOR Practitioner Certification, provide two professional references and submit the required compliance documents. The standard route uses 12 months of relevant experience. Applicants without qualifying experience may apply for the £550 ANCHOR-supervised route. ANCHOR reviews competence and suitability before deciding whether to activate registration. A school or SENCO does not mark or sign off the certification assessment. Approval is not automatic and cannot be bought by paying a fee.

Normally identity and address evidence, relevant experience and references, appropriate Enhanced DBS and Update Service evidence, current safeguarding and paediatric first aid, relevant childcare learning or equivalent knowledge, and the required scope and conduct agreements. Professional registration is checked where applicable. Insurance cover must be operational before listing.

A trainee has completed certification and is developing assessed practice on the register route. Trainee work requires separate approval, a responsible adult present in the room throughout and the agreed supervision arrangements. Full registration follows all additional learning, observed practice, competency and compliance requirements.

The ANCHOR-supervised route requires six one-hour observations across six different families: one agreed session per family, observed by an ANCHOR Lead Practitioner Trainer. These six hours support competency assessment and quality assurance. Families give prior consent, and a responsible adult remains present throughout. Sessions are never recorded; observation stops if the child is distressed. Any incomplete observation is reviewed before being counted.

Allow approximately six to eight weeks for compliance review after all required evidence is received. This is additional to completing the training and observed-practice pathway. Missing evidence or clarification can take longer. No profile becomes active before approval and operational safeguards.

The annual membership offer includes six remote group supervision and CPD sessions each year, alongside public listing, profile marketing, compliance support and framework updates. For registered practitioners, participation is a continuing register requirement. These sessions are professional reflection and development, not clinical supervision authorising therapy.

You can request a pause when unavailable. Listings may also be suspended if checks, insurance, supervision or suitability requirements are not met. Serious safety concerns may require precautionary suspension. Conduct decisions follow a documented review, written outcome and independent appeal route.

Certification is £600, paid upfront or in two £300 instalments. The first follows eligibility approval and the second is due one calendar month later on the agreed schedule. The optional ANCHOR-supervised register route costs £550, making £1,150 including individual certification. The supervised route is £450 for school-funded graduates, in two monthly £225 PayPal instalments. External compliance costs may be additional.

Training-material access is suspended until payment is completed. Up to one calendar month is allowed to clear arrears, with up to one month of additional training time. The final payment schedule, notices and access conditions must be accepted before purchase.

Yes. The first full membership year begins when full register activation is approved. The free year does not waive the £600 certification fee, any applicable ANCHOR supervision fee, external checks or the 10% commission on ANCHOR bookings.

Subsequent membership is £399 annually. The offer includes six remote supervision and CPD sessions, public register listing, profile marketing, compliance support and framework updates, with ANCHOR-arranged insurance subject to the policy being in place and covering the agreed work. It does not guarantee clients, prominent search placement or earnings.

The family sees the complete block price before paying. Ten per cent of that price is allocated to ANCHOR and 90% to the practitioner, subject to refunds and final payment terms. For a £300 delivered block, that is £30 and £270. Commission funds booking and payment administration, support and the platform’s review system; it does not purchase favourable reviews.

The planned schedule pays weekly in arrears for delivered sessions after attendance and dispute checks. The full 90% is not an immediate upfront payout when a family purchases a block. Payment-provider arrangements, refunds and any safeguarding holds must be confirmed before live bookings open. Join the priority list and we confirm places in enrolment order.

Verified experience, continuing supervision and authentic feedback from completed blocks can help families assess your profile. Registered practitioners choose their final rates; higher reviews do not automatically create competence, change your approved scope or guarantee higher rates or bookings. Reviews must never be pressured, fabricated or bought.

Build a pattern of work that fits your life: a few regular hours alongside another role, or a larger caseload as your practice develops. Once registered, you choose your rate and availability and accept work within your approved scope. Trainee rates remain capped at £35 an hour. When you accept a six-week block, families should be able to rely on your consistency, punctuality and follow-through. If illness, safety concerns or a change in circumstances prevents this, contact ANCHOR promptly to arrange the appropriate next step.

For an independent learner choosing the ANCHOR-supervised register route, certification and supervision total £1,150 (£600 + £550). At the trainee cap of £35 an hour, you retain £31.50 after 10% commission: 37 delivered, paid hours generate £1,165.50. At an illustrative registered rate of £50, you retain £45 an hour: 26 paid hours generate £1,170. These are alternative fee-coverage calculations, not forecasts of how long you will remain a trainee or how quickly bookings will arrive. They exclude tax, travel, other business costs and compliance costs; full business break-even takes those into account.

Assume two paid hours a day, two days a week, with every offered hour booked, delivered and paid. The £35 trainee-rate example reaches 37 hours on the 19th working day, during week 10 (about 2.3 months). The £50 registered-rate example reaches 26 hours on the 13th working day, during week 7 (about 1.6 months). In an illustrative 40-week, 80-working-day plan counted from the first paid booking, that leaves 61 or 67 scheduled working days respectively. These are potential diary slots, not secured income. Training, approval, gaps in bookings and the transition to full registration add calendar time. First-year registered membership is free; £399 renewal must be budgeted for later years.

Yes. For example, 36 paid trainee hours at £35 produce £1,134 after commission. Once full registration is approved, a further paid hour at £50 produces £45, bringing the combined amount to £1,179. That covers £600 certification plus £550 ANCHOR supervision before tax and other costs. Earning those amounts does not itself complete the observed-practice or registration requirements, and the example does not predict a date for approval.

Accept a block only when you can realistically deliver the agreed hours and support. Be punctual, communicate clearly and provide continuity so the child can become familiar with you. Complete the agreed booking unless the first-session exit, illness, safeguarding or another agreed cancellation arrangement applies. Never continue unsafe or unsuitable work simply to complete a block, and never leave a family without prompt notice and a clear handover or remedy.

All ANCHOR-branded family work must be booked and paid through ANCHOR. You may run a separate practice outside the ANCHOR name, subject to your own obligations. Off-platform payments cannot be refunded through ANCHOR’s payment system and may fall outside its insurance or contractual protections. ANCHOR can still receive safeguarding concerns about its practitioners.

Yes, subject to entry requirements. It is designed to help adults coordinate everyday support within their existing roles. Certification does not replace a teaching qualification, mandatory SENCO qualification, school safeguarding training or the school’s policies.

Relevant professionals may apply and discuss the appropriate context route. ANCHOR services support children from pre-school age to 12. Training does not automatically approve childcare registration, personal care or unsupervised practice. Duties and insurance must be checked separately.

Relevant staff and carers may discuss a setting-specific route. Learning must fit the care plan, employer or agency policies and delegated authority. Certification does not confer fostering approval, residential-care registration or permission to provide services outside the person’s existing role.

Relevant experience may support an application, but the employer must agree how learning is used. ANCHOR certification adds educational professional development; it does not confer clinical credentials, extend a protected professional scope or permit treatment in a hospital or therapy practice.

Yes. A club or provider can complete the six-hour organisation route at £55 per participating person or £700 for a staff team of up to 20. The organisation may then receive ANCHOR Inclusive Children’s Activity Provider certification for three years. The training must be completed again when certification expires. This award does not place individual staff on the practitioner register or replace activity-specific safety, rescue, first-aid or safeguarding requirements.

Relevant tutors can discuss entry and the learning’s fit with educational support, transitions and participation. ANCHOR does not award qualified teacher status or guarantee subject-specific tutoring competence. Independent family work requires the separate register route and approved scope.

Yes. Investing in your professional development and achieving Registered ANCHOR Practitioner status can open local opportunities for six-week family-support bookings, bringing your expertise into the community while building an additional income stream. ANCHOR supports your public profile, booking arrangements and continuing development. You choose a schedule that fits around school, subject to employer rules, conflicts of interest and your approved scope. Paid work can contribute towards recovering your training fees; see the worked examples on the fees page. Opportunities develop with local demand and a suitable match between you and each family.

Only where the particular arrangement falls within the practitioner’s verified competence, agreed scope, insurance and any applicable service requirements. Trainees always require the responsible second adult. Registration alone does not authorise personal care, clinical care, overnight care, transport or every form of respite.