Virtual College

Virtual College Helping over 5 million learners to reach their potential with high-quality online training.

Helping over 4.7 million learners to reach their potential, we create online training and learning management software for organisations world-wide. We were awarded 'Learning technologies supplier of the year', two years running.

Myth: The Renters’ Rights Act pet rules apply to housing associations. ❌Much of the coverage of the Act has focused on p...
14/10/2026

Myth: The Renters’ Rights Act pet rules apply to housing associations. ❌

Much of the coverage of the Act has focused on private renting, and plenty of it doesn’t apply to social housing, including pet requests, the new landlord database and the new Landlord Ombudsman.

If your staff are getting their information from the headlines, tenants may be getting the wrong advice. Our 30-minute course separates fact from fiction for PRP teams before the October 2027 changes land.

🔗 https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/courses/renters-rights-compliance-training

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and a good moment to ask: when did your team last have cyber security trainin...
13/10/2026

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and a good moment to ask: when did your team last have cyber security training?

According to the UK Government’s latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey:
📊 43% of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack in the past year
🎣 Phishing was by far the most common attack, and the most disruptive
📉 Yet only 19% of businesses provided any cyber security training for staff

Most attacks target people, not technology. The habits that stop them are simple:
🔐 Strong, unique passwords and a password manager
📱 Multi-factor authentication wherever it’s available
🎣 Recognising and reporting phishing and vishing attempts
🔄 Keeping software and devices updated
🚨 Reporting quickly and calmly if something goes wrong

Read our guide to making the most of Cyber Security Awareness Month https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/workplace-cyber-security-awareness-month

Source: DSIT Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026

Awaab Ishak was two years old when he died in December 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s social hom...
12/10/2026

Awaab Ishak was two years old when he died in December 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s social home. His family had reported the damp and mould repeatedly.

Awaab’s Law came into force on 27th October 2025. It sets legal deadlines for how social landlords in England respond to hazards, and those deadlines start the moment your organisation becomes aware of a problem. That could be a single phone call, a contractor’s report, or something a housing officer spots on a visit.

Do your front-line teams know when the clock starts?

Our new CPD-certified Awaab’s Law Training for Social Housing helps staff:
✅ Recognise when the organisation has become aware of a hazard
✅ Tell an emergency hazard from a significant hazard, based on who lives in the home
✅ Understand the working-day timescales for investigating, writing to tenants, making safe and preventing recurrence
✅ Keep records that show reasonable endeavours
✅ Understand why damp and mould must never be blamed on a tenant’s “lifestyle”

Designed for contact centre staff, housing officers, repairs operatives, surveyors and compliance managers. Around 45 minutes to an hour, fully online.

Training a team? Volume discounts start at 10 courses.

🔗 https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/courses/awaabs-law-compliance-training

Your accident book shows what went wrong. What shows the incidents you prevented?Most organisations can evidence their i...
08/10/2026

Your accident book shows what went wrong. What shows the incidents you prevented?

Most organisations can evidence their incident reports and corrective actions. Far fewer can point to the near-misses, hazards and warning signs they acted on before anyone was hurt. That's the difference between a reactive safety culture and a proactive one.

A proactive culture treats safety as something managed every day, not only after an event. In practice, that means:
🔹 Welcoming near-miss and hazard reports, and treating them as valuable information rather than criticism
🔹 Risk assessments that are genuinely reviewed and acted on, not filed away until the next audit
🔹 Visible, consistent leadership commitment, starting at board level
🔹 Training that builds real competence and judgement, not just certificate completion
🔹 Learning loops built into routine briefings and toolbox talks

It takes time and trust to build, but it means your culture is doing the work before harm happens, not after.

Read our guide to leading a proactive safety culture 👉 https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/leading-a-proactive-safety-culture

Poor information sharing shows up in almost every serious case review into child abuse and neglect. It's one of the hard...
06/10/2026

Poor information sharing shows up in almost every serious case review into child abuse and neglect. It's one of the hardest parts of safeguarding to get right — and KCSIE 2026 and Working Together 2026 have both raised the bar again.

What's changed: file transfers between schools, the DSL's role in coordinating information, and how referrals align with the new Family Help model.

We break down what it means in practice: https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/information-sharing-in-safeguarding-what-s-changed-

01/10/2026

Where does your organisation's own training content live?

For many teams, bespoke induction material, internal policies and site-specific procedures end up scattered across shared drives, intranet pages and email attachments, with no reliable way to see who has actually read or completed them.

Content Creation in our Enable LMS changes that. You can upload your own material and track it alongside your compliance courses:

📦 SCORM packages built in tools like Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate or iSpring, or migrated from a previous LMS

📄 Documents, including PDFs, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, for policies and procedures staff need to read and acknowledge

🎥 Video, from induction content to toolbox talks and leadership briefings

The result is one platform, one learner record and one set of reports, with timestamped completions and built-in version control that make audits and inspections far simpler.

Find out how flexible content uploads work 👉 https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/flexible-content-uploads-for-your-lms

KCSIE 2026 came into force on 1 September, bringing some of the most significant safeguarding changes in recent years. I...
29/09/2026

KCSIE 2026 came into force on 1 September, bringing some of the most significant safeguarding changes in recent years. Is your setting fully on track?

Our 8-point checklist helps school leaders and DSLs make sure nothing has slipped through the cracks, including:
✅ Re-issuing Part One in full, now that Annex A has been removed and all staff are expected to read the complete guidance
✅ Updating safer recruitment, with the supervision exemption for volunteers' DBS checks removed
✅ Refreshing information-sharing procedures, including safeguarding file transfers between settings
✅ Aligning with local Family Help arrangements
✅ Updating online safety policies to cover mobile phones and AI
✅ Making sure all staff training reflects KCSIE 2026 and Working Together 2026

Read the full checklist: https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/back-to-school-safeguarding-checklist-2026

Procuring through a framework enables our customers to easily access the products and services they require without a le...
27/09/2026

Procuring through a framework enables our customers to easily access the products and services they require without a lengthy, costly procurement process.

We’ve been accepted onto several national and regional Frameworks and Dynamic Purchasing Systems to ensure it is as easy as possible for you to purchase from Virtual College by Netex.

Find out more:
https://heyor.ca/y4LYp5

A staff member's safeguarding certificate might still say "valid" — but if they've been on leave for a year, how much do...
20/09/2026

A staff member's safeguarding certificate might still say "valid" — but if they've been on leave for a year, how much do they actually remember?

Research on the "forgetting curve" shows procedural knowledge fades fast without reinforcement. Add a change in guidance while someone's away, and returning staff can be working from an outdated understanding without anyone noticing.

A simple fix: build a refresher into your return-to-work process, not just an expiry date check.

Read why it matters 👉 https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/refreshing-training-after-long-breaks

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