Why are there no outcome-contingent fees?
AIRS-J/1 does not allow any assessor, delivery partner, trainer or licensee to be paid on a basis that varies with candidate outcomes. This page sets out the rule, what it guards against, the rules beside it and what it does not cover.
AIRS-J/1 · SECTION 4.4
AIRS-J/1 does not allow any assessor, delivery partner, trainer or licensee to be paid on a basis that varies with candidate outcomes. This page sets out the rule, what it guards against, the rules beside it and what it does not cover.
The question
Judgment is how well a person decides once AI has given the answer. AIRS-J/1, the Standard for Judgment in AI-Enabled Work, sets the rules by which AIR APAC certifies people. An outcome-contingent fee is a payment that goes up or down with a result. A person who relies on a certification result may ask whether an assessor, delivery partner, trainer or licensee was paid more because the candidate certified. Section 4.4 of the Standard answers that question.
What is the rule?
Section 4.4 is headed "No outcome-contingent fees". Its first sentence reads:
"No assessor, delivery partner, trainer or licensee is paid on a basis that varies with candidate outcomes."
The same section also says:
"No trainer, delivery partner or licensee receives a fee or referral payment that varies with whether a participant presents for, or obtains, certification."
The first sentence covers payment that varies with candidate outcomes. The second quotation covers trainers, delivery partners and licensees, and names two moments: a participant presents for certification, and a participant obtains it. Referral payments are included.
What does the rule guard against?
A plain reading, not the Standard's text: a person who is paid more when people sit, or when they certify, has a reason to act on that pay. That person might press people to sit or promise results. Section 4.4 removes the reason, because no trainer, delivery partner or licensee is paid that way.
Which rules sit beside it?
Section 4.4 sits beside other rules that bear on the same question.
- Outcomes follow the rules alone. "Certification outcomes are decided by the rules in Section 12 alone, never by what a candidate or employer bought. The owner of AIR APAC takes no part in any individual result." (Section 4.3)
- No sole assessor with a financial interest. Some observations are scored or confirmed by a human assessor. No individual may then act as sole assessor "where they hold a financial interest in the outcome" (Section 4.6).
- No criteria written by customers. Delivery partners and licensed trainers "may not vary, extend, reweight or supplement" the dimensions, anchors, thresholds or decision rules (Section 4.5).
- Scoring by published rules. Every reading is scored by published rules and traces to what the person did. No model's opinion stands alone as a reading (see Section 11.4).
- No promise of a result. A trainer may tell participants that certification is open to them and where to book it. A trainer "may not say or imply that attendance raises the chance of certifying" (Section 20.2).
- Sponsors do not reward release. A sponsor pays for a person's Assessment without commissioning it. The sponsor "does not require or reward the release of a sponsored candidate's result" (Section 12.11).
- A breach can end a facilitator certification. AIR APAC may suspend or revoke a facilitator certification where the holder breaches Section 4.4 (Section 20.6).
- Appeals go to a reviewer outside Exeter Labs. The appeals reviewer was not involved in the original decision or delivery. The reviewer is "not employed by or paid through Exeter Labs" (Section 17).
What is the declared interest?
Built by Exeter Labs
Certifying Assessments run on StepSim (Sections 4.9 and 16.3). Exeter Labs builds and operates StepSim, AIR APAC's official assessment instrument. The owner of AIR APAC also owns Exeter Labs.
What this does not claim
- This page does not claim that Section 4.4 covers the income of AIR APAC or of Exeter Labs. The list in Section 4.4 is assessors, delivery partners, trainers and licensees. Section 4.3 separately says how outcomes are decided.
- This page does not claim that any audit has checked that the rule is followed.
- This page does not claim that AIR APAC and Exeter Labs have separate owners. The interest is declared above.
- This page states no fee. Fees are confirmed at registration. Verification is free.
AIR APAC publishes the standard for judgment in AI-enabled work, certifies people against it through its official instrument, and stands behind every result.