CfA

About the sector

Consultancy and Business Support services cover a range of functions, but share a common aim of providing support to organisations and businesses through the use of expertise in one form or another.

To fully develop the business skills of individuals and organisations within the UK, the skills of business support professionals and consultants also need to be world class. The CfA and SFEDI work together to ensure the standards and qualifications suitable for business support professionals and consultants reflect industry need and are fit for purpose.

Responsibility for the area of Business Support and Consultancy is split between the CfA and SFEDI. The CfA oversees the consultancy activities undertaken by the partnership, whilst SFEDI oversees the Business Support activities that fall under the partnership’s remit.

National Occupational Standards

SFEDI is responsible for maintaining and developing National Occupational Standards in enterprise and business support (see section on enterprise for more details of this area). A number of suites of standards have been developed by SFEDI covering business support, as follows:

• Business support
• Business link broker
• Business link gateway
• Business information

A suite of standards also exists which is overseen by the CfA directly, covering management and business consultancy.

Qualifications

A number of vocational qualifications are available within the UK and internationally covering business support, including a number of NVQs (see below).

• NVQ in Business Start-up at level 3
• NVQ in Business Advice at level 4
• NVQ in Business Information at level 3
• NVQ in Business Support at level 4

Further information on a range of enterprise and business support related qualifications can be found on SFEDI’s website directly.

Contact

For more information on business support activities undertaken by the CfA and SFEDI, please contact SFEDI at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 01325 328306.

For more information on consultancy support work undertaken by the CfA, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or call on 020 7091 9620.