Spirits Industry Vocational Qualification (SIVQ)

This qualification can only be offered by members of the Scotch Whisky Association.

The Spirits Industry Vocational Qualification (SIVQ) is a competence-based qualification that has been developed and endorsed by the Scotch Whisky Association and is awarded by SQA. It assesses the skills and knowledge you need to perform your job effectively. It has been created to meet the skills needed in the spirit industry, and covers:

• Malting
• Mashing
• Distilling
• Warehousing
• Bottling
• Effluent Control
• Health and Safety

The qualification is made up of units, which you can customise for your workforce. The options available include specific competences for producing and finishing malt whisky, grain whisky, gin, vodka, and blended drinks.

Benefits

As an Employer: This qualification can help you to increase skills levels in your workforce and allow you to demonstrate that your people are competent. It will help formalise procedures, strengthen employee confidence, and strengthen relationships between workforce and management, providing a positive experience and formal recognition for staff.

As an Employee: This qualification has been designed for people who work in the spirits industry who have already developed valuable skills but who may not have had these formally recognised. People who complete the qualification will receive a certificate awarded by SQA.

Delivering the SIVQ

If you would like to offer this qualification to your employees you will either need to become an SQA approved centre or work with an already established SQA approved centre.

The role of the centre is to ensure that the correct management structure is in place to support the delivery, assessment and internal verification of the qualification.

If you’re interested in becoming an approved centre, SQA will ensure that support is available throughout your journey. This includes having a dedicated Business Development Manager, to guide you throug the process, ensuring the process is simple and straightforward for you.

Assessment and Internal Verification is an integral part of the delivery of the qualification. For the SIVQ, assessors and internal verifiers are required to have occupational expertise in the parts of the qualification they are assessing/verifying. They should also, preferably, have or be working towards a recognised assessor/verifier qualification.

Qualification content and delivery tools

Information about the qualification(s)

Information about delivery, assessment, quality assurance and support material