Appointments and Membership
There are 3 roles, all are appointments, and should follow POR (Appointments Chapter). The roles are explained on the TSA website.
Role | Minimum membership | Getting Started training | Training Obligations | Mandatory Ongoing Learning |
SAS Manager | Full | 1, SAFE, SFTY, GDPR, 4 and 2 | Requires a WB | Requires refreshers |
SAS Co-ordinator | Associate | None | 1, SAFE, SFTY and GDPR | REQUIRES REFRESHERS |
SAS member | Associate | None | 1, SAFE, SFTY and GDPR | REQUIRES REFRESHERS |
In the POR changes in September 2020, module 1 was split into 3 (1, SAFE and SFTY). The biggest change introduced for SAS was the new requirement for SAS Co-ordinators and SAS members to now complete refreshers of SAFE and SFTY every 3 years.
Associate members do not make the promise but may wear the uniform (POR 3.1). They are not entitled to wear the purple membership badge as they are not full members. They can become full members by making their promise and this should be recorded by the SAS Manager. Permits can be held, awards can be recommended, and service is accrued by both Full and Associate members.
All roles require a DBS. The SAS Manager and SAS coordinator appointments need to be approved by the relevant appointments committee, but the member appointments are nominated by the SAS manager and require no approval. (See POR appointments Table 2.)
Understanding SAS roles and their training
The SAS Manager role will stay in provisional status until they have done their Getting Started training (module 1, SAFE, SFTY, GDPR, 4 and 2). Whilst the SAS Co-ordinator and members also do similar training (module 1, SAFE, SFTY, GDPR), they complete it after their role has gone to Full as it is a training obligation. All these modules need to be completed by all roles within 5 months of the role being assigned (note, not the approval date).
Note, it is harder to track the training of roles that have gone to Full so the Training Assistant Report should be used and can be obtained from the Local Training Manager.
The SAS manager is expected to achieve a wood-badge within 3 years of assignment.
How their initial training can be done
Learning
For those that are ok doing online learning, they can access the relevant modules here and send their certificates to their LTM.
There will be some people in some SAS units who aren’t ok with online learning, please ask them to talk to their SAS manager or their LTM.
Validation
The modules 1, SAFE, SFTY and GDPR all have assessments at the end then produce a certificate which counts as validation. The certificates should be emailed or shown to the SAS Manager or their LTM.
SAS Managers require validation for module 4 and this can be explained by their training adviser.
Module 2 – Personal Learning Plan
SAS Managers require a Personal Learning Plan and this is the outcome of an explanation of the process and discussion of the learner’s needs. Whilst the learning can be done online, many training advisers opt to do this as a one-to-one.