CiLCA
Certificate in Local Council Administration
What is CiLCA?
Certificate in Local Council Administration (CiLCA) is a Level 3 accredited and recognised qualification for the Local Council Sector, designed to test basic levels of competence for the role of parish clerk. CiLCA has been designed to cover all aspects of the clerk's role and learners are required to compile a portfolio of evidence to show they fully understand their job.
There are 30 Learning Outcomes within the 5 units covering the following topics:
1. Core Roles in Local Council Administration
2. Law and Procedure for Local Councils
3. Finance for Local Councils
4. Management for Local Councils
5. Community Engagement
Who Benefits from CiLCA?
The Council, the Clerk and your community.
CiLCA is vital criteria for a council wishing to claim General Power of Competence and to achieve higher levels of the Local Council Award Scheme accreditation.
Who Can Apply?
Anyone can undertake the Certificate in Local Council Administration. Although it is has been designed for parish and town clerks, it can be undertaken by assistant clerks, aspiring clerks, councillors or any other person interested in local council administration.
It is recommended you have been in post a minimum of 12 months to gain the knowledge required for the role and the qualification. If you wish to start your CiLCA journey sooner than this, please give us a call to chat it over.
Ascentis, the awarding body, recommends that you attend training to assist you in completing your qualification.
NB: if you're not a clerk, it would be helpful if you were working for, or have close links with, a parish or town council, as you will need access to documents for your portfolio.
How Much Does CiLCA Cost?
CiLCA training costs £350 for member councils per learner, payable to Derbyshire ALC.
Registration with the SLCC is an additional fee of £450.
CiLCA Registration
After you start training, you will apply and pay the registration fee via the SLCC website.
You do not need to be an SLCC member but you will need a log in to the SLCC website in order to apply. You can apply on the website at anytime however, registrations on the dedicated 'EMMA' system are bi-monthly.
IMPORTANT: payment for CiLCA must be received by the intake date for the learner to be set up on EMMA. If payment is not received by the intake date then the learner will not be set up on EMMA until the following intake.
Learners will still have one year to complete their CiLCA qualification starting from the date of registration on EMMA.
CiLCA Training Dates
What's Involved?
CiLCA Training consists of 5 sessions of 3 hours, totalling 15 hours of training delivered across 5 months, with additional one-to-one support when required. This training is done by a CiLCA registered trainer.
Each session will cover Learning Outcomes within the Units of CiLCA. You will need to ensure you are available to attend each session.
Having attended each session, you then start to compile your portfolio of evidence. It is highly recommended to build your portfolio alongside the training.
Once you have attended all sessions, you will have completed the CiLCA training and you now finalise your portfolio ready for submission.
You have 12 months to submit your portfolio once you are registered for EMMA. It is recommended that you submit one unit at a time. It can take up to 2-6 weeks for assessors mark your work and give feedback.