You usually find out at the worst moment. A client asks for the VCA diplomas of the crew starting on Monday, or a technician is stopped at the gate and his diploma turns out to have lapsed a few months ago. At that point you want to know two things: how do I fix this now, and how do I stop it happening again.
How long is a VCA diploma valid?
A VCA diploma, both B-VCA (basic) and VOL-VCA, is valid for ten years. That is what SSVV, the body that manages the VCA scheme, says, and exam providers such as PBNA confirm it. The rumour that validity would drop to five years is not true. Some clients and companies do require their people to retake the exam sooner. That is their own rule, not a VCA rule.
Two things matter here:
- There is no renewal. After ten years you sit the exam again. There is no refresher course that moves the date and no grace period.
- Nobody warns you. SSVV says it plainly: you have to keep track of when your diploma expires yourself. The exam centre records the diploma in the Central Diploma Register (CDR), but the register sends no reminder.
What to do today when a VCA has expired
- Check the date in the CDR. Look up what is actually registered in the Central Diploma Register. Sometimes the copy in your own records is out of date and the person has already resat the exam.
- Check what the client requires. Ask whether the job requires a valid VCA diploma, and at which level: B-VCA or VOL-VCA. Supervisors on site usually need VOL-VCA.
- Book the exam as soon as possible. There is no renewal, so the only way back is a new exam at a recognised exam centre. Ask for the earliest date and whether an online or classroom option fits.
- Deploy the employee elsewhere for now. Work for which the client requires a valid VCA is better handled by a colleague until the new diploma shows in the CDR. Agree this in advance so you are not improvising on the day.
- Look at the rest of the crew straight away. Where one diploma has lapsed, others are often close. Diplomas obtained around the same time expire around the same time.
Why it keeps going wrong
Ten years is a long time. Whoever arranged the diploma may no longer work there. The date sits in a spreadsheet, a folder of PDFs or the personnel file, and nobody looks at it until it is too late. A date in a cell does nothing. It reminds no one, and it does not know who should act on it.
It helps to treat the list as a register with an owner, not as an archive. Per employee: which diploma, which level, obtained on, expires on, and who arranges the renewal.
How to see the next one coming
- Count back from the expiry date. Booking an exam, taking the course and getting the result into the CDR takes time. A warning three months ahead leaves room, even if the first exam date is full.
- Set a second warning closer to the date. For example one month ahead, in case the first one was left lying.
- Do not let the warning depend on one person. If the only person who maintains the list is on holiday or has left, the whole overview stops.
- Record who picks it up. A warning sent to "everyone" is picked up by no one. One name per diploma works better.
- Put the new date in the list right away. As soon as the new diploma shows in the CDR, move the expiry date ten years on and the next warning is already set.
With OwndUp
In OwndUp you build a list with your own columns, or import the spreadsheet you already have. On the expiry date column you set a reminder, for example 90 days ahead. OwndUp then emails everyone the list is shared with and keeps reminding until someone has handled it. Every list has one owner, and if they leave, you transfer ownership and the register stays in place.
You can try it free for 30 days, no credit card needed. Your crew's VCA still expires after ten years. The difference is that you now know three months in advance.