Assessment fees are directly influenced by the number of people involved in delivering the advice service. This will include both employees and volunteer resources and extend to the roles of Managers, Supervisors, Advisers, and administration support.
From 1st April 2024, the following fees will apply to all scheduled assessment activity: AQS Pricing Schedule April 2024
| Size Banding (People) | 1-3 | 4-10 | 11-15 | 16-30 | 31-50 | 51-100 | 100+ |
| New Applicants-Desktop Audit | £475.00 | £475.00 | £475.00 | £475.00 | £475.00 | £475.00 | £475.00 |
| New Applicants-Initial Assessment | £816.55 | £1147.50 | £1275.00 | £1457.50 | £1787.50 | £2088.75 | POA* |
| Existing Holders – Monitoring Audit (Bi-annual) | £816.55 | £1147.50 | £1275.00 | £1457.50 | £1787.50 | £2088.75 | POA* |
AQS License Fee:
In addition to the assessment fees quoted above, a license fee will be applied to the total assessment cost, which is payable to Advice Services Alliance (ASA) as the owners of the Standard. License fees will be charged in addition to Initial Assessment and Monitoring Audit assessment fees. The license fee is payable annually, however for ease, will be invoiced for the full 2-year duration of your AQS accreditation certificate. Recognising Excellence will collect the license fee as part of the AQS assessment fee and make payment to ASA on your behalf. License fees are calculated on the number of full-time equivalent advisers. The following fees will apply:
| No. of FTE Advisers | Annual License Fee | Total License Fee for Accreditation Period |
| 1-5 Advisers | £125.00 | £250.00 |
| 6-10 Advisers | £130.00 | £260.00 |
| 11-20 Advisers | £160.00 | £320.00 |
| 21+ Advisers | £170.00 | £340.00 |
Full Time Equivalent (FTE definition): The calculation of full-time equivalent is an employee or volunteers scheduled hours divided by the employer’s hours for a full-time workweek. E.g., Individual works 16 hours per week. Full time working week is 37.5 hours. FTE equivalent is 0.4
Staff to include are volunteers, interns and employees who are undertaking tasks involved in providing bespoke social welfare legal advice to clients. This includes specialist staff (such as debt advisers, immigration advisers) and generalists as well as supervisors and mentors/trainers who are involved in making decisions regarding a client case.
The calculation does not need to include administrative, reception or other members of the team who do not give advice. It also does not include pro-bono legal advisers or student placements where supervision and client decision making functions are carried out by another organisation (i.e., university or law firm)
Example Assessment Cost from April 2024 :
Advice Agency A has total of six people, of which there are 3 FTE Advisers.
• Assessment cost £1147.50
• License Fee Cost £250.00
• Total Cost for 2-year accreditation £1397.50 + VAT
All prices quoted do not include VAT which will be charged at the prevailing rate.