CIWM (WAMITAB) Continuing Competence

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Continuing Competence – Maintaining your knowledge

To fulfil the requirements of the CIWM/WAMITAB Operator Competence Scheme, technically competent people must take the Continuing Competence (CC) test to demonstrate their knowledge and skills have kept pace with changes made across the waste management industry in e.g. legislation, technologies and/or techniques.

If you achieved your Operator Competence certificate after 29th February 2012 , you must update your qualification via the new 2 year rolling programme.

The new certificate clearly states expiry two years from the date you passed your test. For example, if you passed on 5th March 2014 the certificate will state an expiry date of 5th March 2016.

A new syllabus and questions came out on the 03.04.2023:

The CC test has two components, both of which must be taken together:

Generic Knowledge Test (GKT) (‘generic’) comprising questions on Legislation, Health and Safety and Environmental Protection; and
Activity-Specific Test (AST) (or ‘option’) which comprises questions on the specific competence or competencies which need to be maintained for your waste operation to be legal

There are 18 multiple-choice questions for the GKT and a further 12 multiple-choice questions for each AST taken. There are 60 minutes allowed for the generic section and the AST option/s.

To achieve an overall Pass grade, you must achieve:

A minimum of 70% overall (21/30). AND

A minimum of 50% of the marks available from each of the three Generic Knowledge Test (GKT) sections (i.e. 3/6). AND

A minimum of 50% of the marks available from each Activity Specific Test (AST) taken (i.e 6/12).

Each activity is scored individually alongside the generic sections, and all three elements above must be met to achieve a Pass grade.

The test costs £184 and is not administered through Leppitt Associates. You will need to book and pay for the test online

We recommend you book your test as close to the training day as possible. That way you are more likely to remember new information.

Training for Continuing Competence

Leppitt Associates provides bespoke continuing competence training for those wishing to refresh their knowledge before undertaking the WAMITAB CC test. We provide a folder for each learner, which is tailored to your requirements. Training notes are updated for each new period of the rolling programme, supplemented by sample questions. Glyn sits most of the CC tests in each period so that your training is as up to date as possible.

We are now in the sixth period of CC testing (April 3rd 2023 to 2025)

Depending on the number of tests to be taken and the previous experience of the candidate training normally takes from between 5 and 7 hours. We can accommodate groups of up to five persons from the same organisation training simultaneously or, where feasible, individuals from different businesses but with similar requirements.

Training Costs:

£550 for one training session (up to 5 people), plus £100 per folder provided to each learner at the start of the session plus travel and mileage

Planning ahead

Everyone is busy!! It is easy to let the expiry date for your competence sneak up on you and before you realise, you are no longer legally competent. The training centre is always booked ahead for 10-12 weeks. Please understand that unless we have a cancellation we probably won’t be able to provide training at short notice, so it is advisable to plan well ahead for your test if you think you need a refresher course.

Even if you achieved your original WAMITAB award(s) through our centre, we are not able to remind former clients that their competence is close to expiry and that they must take the CC test. Maintaining competency is the responsibility of the certificate holder.