If you have been successfully allocated to the post of an English Language Assistant, you are required to apply for an International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) from ACRO which is in accordance with the British Council’s Child Protection policy. An approved ICPC certificate will allow you to work with young people under 18 in your host country.
ACRO Criminal Records Office is a national police unit working for safer communities and is responsible for issuing ICPCs to English Language Assistants.
You will be withdrawn from the programme if your ICPC is not received by the deadline.
Your ICPC may also be required to apply for a visa for your host country and it is essential you adhere to the required deadline.
There are six stages to successfully applying for an ICPC:
Step 1: You receive your allocation email from the Language Assistants Team - this is required as part of the application process for an ICPC which costs £75 (as at May 2021)
Step 2: You will receive an email from the Team in early June advising you on the process with guidance, your deadline and links to relevant sites including ACRO. An ICPC costs £75.
Step 3: Log onto www.acro.police.uk/icpc
Step 4: Follow the guidance on both the ACRO website and our own guidance to apply for an ICPC
Step 5: ACRO will process your application and send the certificate to your current address
Step 6: Please email the scanned copy/photograph of the ICPC certificate as an attachment in PDF format (please note that we can only accept coloured quality scans with the hologram clearly visible in the bottom right hand corner) to ICPC@BritishCouncil.org by the deadline specified in your initial email.
Please ensure that you provide the following details in your email:
a. Subject line: Please write ICPC followed by your host country, e.g. 'ICPC France'
b. Certification text: Please self-certify the ICPC by writing the following in your email:
I, [INSERT YOUR NAME], certify the attached ICPC certificate to be a true copy of the original seen by me.
Please note that the British Council will be working with ACRO to determine if the ICPCs have been tampered with or edited.
Your ICPC will be processed by the Language Assistants Team and approved or followed up if required.
You will still have to apply for an ICPC if you have applied for a consecutive year or returning to the programme as a former ELA. ICPCs are only valid for one year.
Watch this short video by the ELA team which explains the ICPC process.