FAQs

SFEDI has a long standing history of developing and providing high quality business support solutions to encourage the start up, survival and growth of businesses both within the UK and internationally.

As such we are providing the Directory free of charge for use by organisations wishing to search for and validate the credentials and experience of business and enterprise support professionals they are already engaged with or are considering working with in the future.

Accredited professionals should ensure that they have all relevant legal and insurance policies in place prior to delivering business and enterprise support services, for example professional indemnity insurance should be held by the organisation supplying the support service.

It is the responsibility of accredited professionals and/or their organisation to ensure that appropriate insurance and other legal requirements are in place to carry out their business practices.

No liability can or will be inferred to SFEDI as a result of the accredited professional and/or their organisation not holding the required insurance or having any and all other legal requirements in place.

The SFEDI Directory provides a listing of business and enterprise support professionals and, as such, accredits their knowledge and skills within the support role and does not provide guarantees on the operations of the individual or organisation providing the support.

The SFEDI Directory is a listing of business and enterprise support professionals and as such does not say whether an individual and/or organisation can charge for their services or what price should be charged.

It is the responsibility of the individual and/or organisation to ensure that, if they charge for services, then this is clear to those engaging with them and they are made aware of any and all costs prior to commencing the agreed services.

You should ensure you are aware of all costs associated with the support service prior to contracting.

During our consultation period we listened to feedback and it became clear that the market place and industry placed great importance in the provision of a Directory that could provide confidence to those that used it to validate the credentials and experience of the business and enterprise support professionals that have been accredited.

By accrediting individual professionals we are able to validate and accredit the credentials and experience of each professional and so provide increased confidence to the market place of the standard of support provided by those on the Directory, a confidence that could not be provided to the same level by taking an organisational view.

To gain access to the SFEDI Directory you must have achieved one of the SFEDI qualifications on the approved list available here.

If you do not hold one of the approved qualifications please contact one of our Customer Support staff members to discuss how you can work towards one of the qualifications listed.

Those that achieve one of the approved qualifications will be required to apply to be listed on the SFEDI Directory, due to privacy and data protection laws, individuals will not be listed automatically.

Those wishing to apply to the SFEDI Directory using the Qualification Accreditation process must have achieved either a SFEDI qualification or a SFEDI Awards regulated qualification.

To see if the qualification you hold is eligible for access to the SFEDI Directory click here.

If you do not hold an eligible qualification you can apply to the SFEDI Directory under the Experiential Accreditation process.

Unfortunately, the SFEDI Directory is only available to those that have achieved one of the approved qualifications listed here.

As we are unable to verify the content and delivery methods of qualifications offered by alternative providers we are not able to accept them for entry to the SFEDI Directory.

To be listed on the SFEDI Directory you must have achieved one of the SFEDI Awards qualifications on the approved list available here and provide evidence of up-to-date CPD. The annual approval fee is £95+vat. Annual approval is required to ensure that business support professionals are maintaining their professional development and have ongoing experience in assisting small businesses.

Those that achieve one of the approved qualifications will be required to apply to be listed on the SFEDI Directory, due to privacy and data protection laws, individuals will not be listed automatically.

Approved status on the SFEDI Directory lasts for 12 months and renewal is completed on a rolling 12 month basis.

To renew your directory status, the support professional is required to submit up-to-date CPD for the previous 12 month period.

You will receive a renewal notification via email 4 weeks prior to your status expiring and a further email notification 2 weeks prior to expiry.

These emails will provide details of how you can renew your directory status for a further 12 month period.

At the time of re-accreditation you will be required to submit evidence on CPD activities which could include:

• Shadowing other delivery staff
• Observing a visiting expert
• Carrying out action research
• Standardisation meeting activities
• Contributing to or reading professional publications
• Attendance at conference and training days
• Peer to peer mentoring and support
• Undertaking relevant qualifications
• Delivery across a wide range of types of business

Submission of your CPD records and payment of the renewal fee will be via the SFEDI Directory website.

Accredited professionals should ensure that they have all relevant legal and insurance policies in place prior to delivering business and enterprise support services, for example professional indemnity insurance should be held by the organisation supplying the support service.

It is the responsibility of accredited professionals and/or their organisation to ensure that appropriate insurance and other legal requirements are in place to carry out their business practices.

No liability can or will be inferred to SFEDI as a result of the accredited professional and/or their organisation not holding the required insurance or having any and all other legal requirements in place.

The SFEDI Directory provides a listing of business and enterprise support professionals and, as such, accredits their knowledge and skills within the support role and does not provide guarantees on the operations of the individual or organisation providing the support.

The SFEDI Directory is the national directory of accredited business and enterprise support professionals.

It is provided for use by business and enterprise support organisations and businesses who wish to verify the credentials of support professionals they are already working with or considering working with and, as such, does not provide a recruitment service for accredited professionals.

The SFEDI Directory is a listing of business and enterprise support professionals and as such does not say whether an individual and/or organisation can charge for their services or what price should be charged.

It is the responsibility of the individual and/or organisation to ensure that, if they charge for services, then this is clear to those engaging with them and they are made aware of any and all costs prior to commencing the agreed services.

Failure to do so may result in your accredited status being terminated and any paid fees being forfeited.

You can edit your profile listing at any time by logging into the website, accessing your profile and clicking the option to Edit at the beginning of the profile page.

As the SFEDI Directory is a register of accredited business and enterprise support professionals there are certain sections of your profile that are subject to quality assurance and so you are required to submit changes for validation prior to the information being published.

If you wish to update a quality assured section of your profile you can do so by clicking the 'assured profile field change request form' option on your profile once you have clicked the Edit button.

Please note you must be logged in to the website prior to making any changes to your profile.

Once you have completed a successful application to the SFEDI Directory you will be able to make use of the SFEDI Directory Accredited Professional logo.

Brand guidelines are provided so that you are able to use the logo appropriately to support you in marketing your support services.

You will not be able to use the SFEDI logo as this is reserved for use by SFEDI only.

If you are unable to remember your username and/or password complete the lost username and password request on the login screen.

If you are still unable to login to the SFEDI Directory please contact a member of the team who will be happy to support you

To make an application to the SFEDI Directory you will require certain information.

Qualification Accreditation Application

• Name
• Username
• Email
• Password
• Telephone
• Address
• Name of SFEDI qualification(s) or SFEDI Awards regulated qualification(s) held
• Unique identification number found on the qualification certificate
• CPD records

During our consultation period we listened to feedback and it became clear that the market place and industry placed great importance in the provision of a Directory that could provide confidence to those that used it to validate the credentials and experience of the business and enterprise support professionals that have been accredited.

By accrediting individual professionals we are able to validate and accredit the credentials and experience of each professional and so provide increased confidence to the market place of the standard of support provided by those on the Directory, a confidence that could not be provided to the same level by taking an organisational view.

The SFEDI Directory is an independent national open access directory run by the SFEDI Group to provide both public and private organisations with the ability to search for accredited business and enterprise support professionals.

In order to meet the needs and demands of the organisations that make use of the Directory there are certain eligibility criteria in order to be considered for inclusion.

Individuals are not automatically listed due to simply being a member of another organisation as industry has requested that the Code of Professional Ethics and the quality frameworks developed and administered nationally by SFEDI underpin the accreditation process used.

Individuals who have achieved one of the approved qualifications listed here are welcome to make an application for inclusion within the open access Directory.

SFEDI has a long standing history of developing and providing high quality business support solutions to encourage the start up, survival and growth of businesses both within the UK and internationally.

As such we are providing the Directory free of charge for use by organisations wishing to search for and validate the credentials and experience of business and enterprise support professionals they are already engaged with or are considering working with in the future.

Accredited professionals should ensure that they have all relevant legal and insurance policies in place prior to delivering business and enterprise support services, for example professional indemnity insurance should be held by the organisation supplying the support service.

It is the responsibility of accredited professionals and/or their organisation to ensure that appropriate insurance and other legal requirements are in place to carry out their business practices.

No liability can or will be inferred to SFEDI as a result of the accredited professional and/or their organisation not holding the required insurance or having any and all other legal requirements in place.

The SFEDI Directory provides a listing of business and enterprise support professionals and, as such, accredits their knowledge and skills within the support role and does not provide guarantees on the operations of the individual or organisation providing the support.

The SFEDI Directory is a listing of business and enterprise support professionals and as such does not say whether an individual and/or organisation can charge for their services or what price should be charged.

It is the responsibility of the individual and/or organisation to ensure that, if they charge for services, then this is clear to those engaging with them and they are made aware of any and all costs prior to commencing the agreed services.

You should ensure you are aware of all costs associated with the support service prior to contracting.

During our consultation period we listened to feedback and it became clear that the market place and industry placed great importance in the provision of a Directory that could provide confidence to those that used it to validate the credentials and experience of the business and enterprise support professionals that have been accredited.

By accrediting individual professionals we are able to validate and accredit the credentials and experience of each professional and so provide increased confidence to the market place of the standard of support provided by those on the Directory, a confidence that could not be provided to the same level by taking an organisational view.