FAQs

What are Imperial Essentials, and why do I need to complete them?

Imperial Essentials training cover the critical areas of safety, information security and the working environment for all core staff to equip them with the information and awareness of their responsibilities and expected behaviours whilst working at the College.

What Imperial Essentials training do I need to complete as a new starter?

All College staff are required to complete the following six Imperial Essentials training courses:

  • Data Protection - (Approximate time to complete: 90 minutes)
  • Equality, diversity and inclusion at Imperial - (Approximate time to complete: 60 minutes)
  • Fire Safety and Awareness training - (Approximate time to complete: 60 minutes)
  • Information Security Awareness - (Approximate time to complete: 60 minutes)
  • Month One Safety Training (MOST) - (Approximate time to complete: 90 minutes)
  • Safeguarding at Imperial College London - (Approximate time to complete: 60 minutes)

These courses can be accessed from the Imperial Essentials web page.
Please note that specific roles/staff groups may have additional ‘compliance’ training to complete as part of their roles which will be managed locally.

What happens if I cannot complete all the required Essentials training in my first six months?

Please discuss any mitigating circumstances with your line manager.
Successful completion of your probation and any related pay increment may be delayed until all the required training has been completed.
This will depend on individual circumstances.

What Imperial Essentials training do I need to complete as an existing member of staff?

Each of the Imperial Essentials courses (except Month One Safety Training (MOST), which only needs to be undertaken once) will need to be completed every two years. This is to ensure that your knowledge and understanding are up to date.
You can check if your training is up to date on the Imperial Essentials dashboard.

You should only need to complete this course once. If you completed the course before September 2015, you are expected to do it again.

How do I know what training I’ve already completed and when?

Everyone can access their compliance training records from the Imperial Essentials dashboard.
Local departments; Senior Managers, admin and data specialist roles have been given access to a dashboard with the compliance records of their departments.
If you are a manager and have any queries related to your team training records, please contact your relevant department representative(s) from the Departmental contacts list (shown on the left-hand side of this page).

How do I book the training?

All Imperial Essentials courses can be completed online and accessed via the Imperial Essentials web page.

I am very busy and don’t have time to do this training?

New starters: It takes approximately one day to complete all six compliance training courses. You have six months to complete the required training. You can spread this out or complete it in one go. Managers have been made aware of their responsibility to provide you with the time and support to complete the training.

Existing staff: You only need to complete the courses you took more than two years ago (See the Imperial Essentials dashboard to check your training status).
Please discuss with your line manager or HR partner if you have any issues.

How will Imperial Essentials be monitored?

Regular reports on training compliance across each Faculty and Directorate will be presented to President’s Board on a termly basis.
Audit and Risk Committee are also monitoring the compliance training gaps.
The Provost and HR Director are the senior sponsors of Imperial Essentials.

I am a line manager and one of my team has not completed all the Imperial Essentials courses. What do I need to do?

Please discuss this with your team member to understand if there are extenuating circumstances.

For staff in their first six months, Line managers must alert the Staff Hub via the Probation Review form or a simple email to staffhub@imperial.ac.uk if a new starter has not completed the training.

How accurate are the training records on the dashboard?

The accuracy of training records depends on the correct CID numbers being provided by staff when taking the courses assessments. There have been instances where incorrect numbers have been entered, and the completed training cannot be identified.
If you have entered your College ID incorrectly, please get in touch with the compliance topic owner (List shown on the left-hand side of this page), who may be able to recover the training record.
When taking an end of course online assessment, your results will be automatically emailed to you. We recommend you save these emails in case there is an issue with your training records on the Imperial Essentials dashboard.
In some instances, you may need to retake the training.

Why can’t I find my Imperial Essentials training records on ICIS?

The different training courses of Imperial Essentials sit across multiple platforms, and not all of them automatically upload to ICIS.
Therefore the records on ICIS will not reflect all completed training unless it is manually entered. The dashboards have been specifically created to capture and record Imperial Essentials training.

I’ve just completed some of the courses, tests, and passed, but it is not showing on my dashboard.

The dashboard is refreshed every 24 hours. If you complete a course, the results will be available on the dashboard the following day. The results will not show on the dashboard if the CID has been inputted incorrectly as part of a course. If you have entered an incorrect CID, or if you have a query about training you have completed but cannot view, please contact the relevant Essentials course owner directly, who will correct your CID number. In some cases, you may need to retake the course.

Your CID number should be inputted as, e.g. 00321561 - numbers only, no letters.

Compliance Topic Owners

Compliance topicTopic ownerContact
Fire Safety  Darran Hickey  d.hickey@imperial.ac.uk
Safeguarding  Safeguarding Committee  hrsafeguarding@imperial.ac.uk
EDIC (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion)  Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre  equality@imperial.ac.uk
MOST  Safety training team  safetytraining@imperial.ac.uk
Information Security  Thomas Willson  t.willson@imperial.ac.uk
Data Security  Robert Scott  robert.scott@imperial.ac.uk
POD © 2023
contact details of Compliance Topic Owners

I’m having difficulty accessing Imperial Essentials despite using the correct username/password.

Please contact the course topic owner if you have difficulty accessing any Imperial Essentials courses. If you have difficulty accessing the Imperial Essentials dashboard, please contact the ICT helpdesk and raise an ASK ticket.

I need Operational/Strategic access to the dashboard; how can I get this?

Please email your request or query to HR Report Request and your Strategic HR Partner for any access queries related to the strategic or operational dashboards.

I’m from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and have completed the faculty DPA training, do I still need to complete the DPA course in Imperial Essential

The College’s Protection Officer, Robert Scott, has confirmed that colleagues from the Faculty of Natural Sciences will still need to complete the Data Protection course on the Essentials list.

I took the Information Security Awareness & Data Protection test. I received a pass score, but it still doesn’t show on my dashboard after 24 hours

We have a known issue that, on rare occasions, your Information Security Awareness test result may not fully upload to the dashboard.

We are working to resolve the underlying cause. If your successful test result (90% or above for a pass) does not show up on your dashboard after 24 hours, please share a screenshot of your successful result and send it to the Essentials course owner, and we will update it for you.

I have concerns about completing some of the courses. English is a second language for me, and I do not have regular access to a laptop or PC.

Due to the nature of some roles across College, accessing or completing courses may be more difficult.

Should you experience difficulty completing or re-passing an Imperial Essentials course test, please discuss it with your line manager. You may wish to also contact the Imperial Essentials Topic Owner, who will support you.

I’ve recently changed my last name, can you let me know what I need to do to ensure my details are up to date on the dashboard?

Please complete any name changes via the Staff hub self-service. Last name changes will need to be evidenced.

You can also contact the Staff Hub if you cannot change certain details.

I have a team member whose Imperial Essentials records are not shown. Please let me know how we can go about updating their records.

Please provide the evidence and share it with the relevant Essentials topic owner who will update the records.

 

I need to access to the dashboard to view completion rates for my team.

For any access queries related to the strategic or operational dashboards, please contact HR Report Request.

I’m on a temporary contract and cannot see my results on the PowerBI dashboard.

The dashboard reports on core employees, e.g. contingent or casual workers or honorary staff have access to the training but not the dashboards. Do keep evidence of your training completion for sharing with your line manager.

Some of my team and I do not have access to a PC or laptop; how do they complete the Imperial Essentials?

Due to the nature of some roles across College, accessing or completing courses may be more difficult. Please discuss with your line manager if you or anyone in your team experiences difficulty completing or re-passing an Imperial Essentials course test. As a manager, you may wish to also contact the Imperial Essentials Topic Owner, who will support you.

I have members of staff on Maternity leave, sabbatical or long-term sick, do they still need to complete Imperial Essentials?

If staff leave the College more than one month from the date of your query, they will still need to complete the training.

If a member of staff is planning to return to College in some capacity within three months, they will need to complete the training. If the period of absence is longer than three months, they will need to complete the training upon their return.

I have a question. Who can I ask?

Please contact the course topic owner if you have difficulty accessing any Imperial Essentials courses.

If you have difficulty accessing the Imperial Essentials dashboard, please contact the ICT helpdesk and raise an ASK ticket.

If you need access to the Operational/Strategic Imperial Essentials dashboard, please email your request or query to HR Report Request and your Strategic HR Partner.

I am a casual worker. Am I required to complete the Essentials Training?

No, casual workers are not required to complete the Imperial Essentials training courses.
However, as good practice, if you wish to complete a specific training, you are welcome to do so.
It will not be recorded on PowerBi, but you can inform your manager.