I can hopefully shed a bit of light on this. They also envisage a lift in pay for techs, and garages should able to charge accordingly for the level of tech working on their car. Who knows, maybe we'll finally get paid for what we can do. No disrespect to plumbers but they have a bag of tools that barely change from one end of their careers to the other, while we reinvent ourselves every few months and are scratting for recognition on the pay ladder. Ooops, got upset there !! There is also the issue of insurance. The ATA will most likely become driven by this being a requirement, especially in the courtroom. This may well attract higher insurance costs if garage owners use 'unlicensed' techs. If your in the Preston College area there is an open night this Thursday ( 16th Feb ) inviting the trade in for an insight to the scheme. The IMI will be there doing a presentation and the college is putting on a display of mock practical tests from different levels. I will ask the college if I can post an example of one of the practical tests for the group to see ( the bit the assessor uses to grade the candidate ). Dave F
The IMI are currently all over the country opening new centres for ATA training, and in time ( they seem confident of this ) it will bring about a national standard.
Although we already have NVQ and City & Guilds, many of you already know it can be difficult to know just how good someone is 'on the job' 
until they touch a spanner.
ATA will be similar to the old RTITB national craft certificate where the tech is set a series of practical tests with assessors watching. There is a timeframe for each task and the pass criteria is quite detailed. This is supported by an online knowledge test. The whole thing takes a day.
The ATA should give employers a guide as to who can actually walk the walk, thus weeding out those who have only read the book so to speak.
This all sounds big, but it's happening.
