Companion Animals revalidation

What does the OCQ(V) - CAr (Companion Animals revalidation) involve?

To complete the revalidation process for Companion Animals, you will be required to:

1. Enrol on the revalidation course from your Personal Training Dashboard. This will cost £99 + VAT.
2. Complete the pre-course self-evaluation.
3. Complete the online training course on Moodle. This equates to eight hours of CPD.
4. Complete the post-course self-evaluation.
5. Nominate an invigilator, who must then accept their role.
6. Pass the online examination. This will comprise of ten multiple choice questions to be completed in 30 minutes.
7. Complete three certification exercises. The CPD for these is included in the course CPD allowance
8. Sign the final declarations.

Companion Animals revalidation timings

• Revalidation for the OCQ(V) - CA (Companion Animals) qualification is due every four years.*
• You will begin to receive email reminders from six months before your revalidation due date. It is your responsibility to ensure that your email address is kept up to date so that you will receive these reminders.
• You may enrol on the revalidation course and start the revalidation process at any time. There will be a six-month window before the revalidation due date, in which you can complete the revalidation (by signing the declarations) without changing your future revalidation date.
• If you do not revalidate by the revalidation due date, your authorisation will be suspended for up to six months, during which time you must not use the qualification but may still revalidate.
• If you do not revalidate within the six months after your revalidation due date, your authorisation will be expired and you will have to complete the full qualification if you wish to regain your authorisation.

Useful facts for OCQ(V) - CAr

• You are required to complete three certification exercises for this revalidation course.
• If your OCQ(V) - CA is expired or suspended, you must not use it until authorisation has been granted again.
• The cost of the revalidation course is £99 + VAT.
• Should you fail the online examination, you will have two opportunities to retake it. The cost of each retake is £49 + VAT.
• There is a process of internal verification for 10% of candidates. ISVPS will conduct this within one month of completion of revalidation requirements.
• If you currently hold the OCQ(V) - SX (Small Animal Exports) and relevant prerequisite courses – OCQ(V) - ES and OCQ(V) - EX – and you wish to complete the OCQ(V) - CAr (Companion Animals revalidation) instead, you may do this if it meets the requirements of the work you carry out. Please call the office on 0330 202 0380 or email enquiries@improve-ov.com with your request. Please note that if you do revalidate CA and later return to doing commercial small animal export work, you would be required to complete the full ES, EX and SX courses to regain these qualifications.
• Any time this course is revalidated, OVs who also hold OV66 authorisation will need to reapply for this authorisation using the OV65 form. Further information about this process can be found in Briefing Note 33/24.

* The only exceptions to the four-year revalidation cycle are those who had 'grandfather rights', or who had already studied and been awarded the OCQ(V) - CA before 30th April 2019, whose revalidation will be due five years from the date that they passed the online exam and completed the declarations. However, for those who were awarded or have revalidated the OCQ(V) - CA since 30th April 2019, your first revalidation will be due four years from the date that you passed your online exam and completed your declarations.