The award, operated by the Skills Fund Agency, recognises and celebrates the best organisations delivering training and development solutions. It emphasises quality and high impact training by looking at organisations' responsiveness, flexibility, expertise and commitment to continuous improvement.
Trevor Matthews, CEO at Friends Provident said: "We are committed to developing the best learning and development practice in everything we do and have continuously sought to improve and push the boundaries which support professionalism.
"This is a great achievement and reinforces our efforts to provide good quality training giving our distribution partners confidence that the people they deal with at Friends Provident have been trained by the very best in the financial services industry. I am personally committed to raising standards in our industry, be that out in the field or across our operations."
Pauline Jamieson, Policy Advisor and TQS Lead at the Skills Funding Agency said: "I am delighted to see the first financial services organisation achieve TQSE certification. Friends Provident's certification demonstrates once again that the Standard is appropriate for all organisations that deliver training; not just FE (further education) colleges or those organisations funded by the Skills Funding Agency. Due to the rigour of the assessment process, achieving the Training Quality Standard for Employers is a real endorsement of Friends Provident's internal training function and, as a result, all those involved in the assessment process should be extremely proud of their success."
