Policies

1. What the SS-Credit Gate Pass purchases

• The current Gate Pass price is 15 SS-Credits per attempt, as displayed before confirmation. It purchases entry into the verification queue, not a credential, employment, queue priority or any guaranteed outcome. Live verification is charged separately at 20 SS-Credits per 5 minutes and requires a balance of at least 120 SS-Credits before admission. These live-session charges are disclosed before admission; there is no subscription. Paid attempts are served in order of queue entry, subject to assessor availability. A refused application is not a refundable event except as set out in the Refund Policy.
• One free attempt every six months per skill (live verification), under approved standard version 1. A candidate may instead request a paid attempt using SS-Credits without waiting for the next free cycle, including after an unsuccessful attempt. The pass mark is 85% and assessments are scored against rubric SS-RUBRIC-2026.1. No fixed expiry; each credential is scheduled for review every 24 months and its current status is authoritative.
• The fixed reference is 1 USD = 4 SS-Credits. The minimum wallet purchase is 20 SS-Credits ($5.00); this is a wallet top-up minimum, not the verification fee. Local-currency checkout amounts depend on the published exchange rate and are shown before payment. The applicable service price is shown before credits are spent.
• The amount shown at checkout is the full amount charged. SkillSignature does not currently add sales tax or VAT at checkout. Your bank, card issuer or PayPal may apply its own currency-conversion or cross-border fees, which SkillSignature does not receive or control.

2. Qualification stages

Applications pass through automated qualification stages (profile and evidence completeness, role fit, and a free skills assessment) before entering human verification. Progression is determined by published thresholds which we may tune to maintain standard validity.

3. Assessment conduct

Assessments must be completed by you alone, within the stated time limit, without third-party assistance, and without copying, distributing or publishing assessment content. Attempt limits apply. Breaches result in a void attempt and may result in refusal or revocation.

4. Automated and human scoring

Responses may be scored by automated rubric-based systems including machine scoring with a confidence measure. Where confidence is below our published threshold, or the result is borderline, the result is referred to a human reviewer. Human reviewers record recommendations; software may issue the credential from those finalised recommendations and the applicable pass threshold. Automated confidence is not evidence of scoring validity or freedom from bias. ISO benchmarks inform review of the process; no ISO conformity is asserted.

5. Decisions and validity

A verification decision is final subject to the Appeals Policy. Credentials state the skill, level, score, issue date and review date, and remain valid until expiry, suspension or revocation. Credential status is authoritative only as published on our verification pages.

1. Authorship and originality

You confirm that all evidence you submit is your own work, that your contribution is accurately described, and that any collaborative or employer-owned work is submitted with the rights necessary to share it.

2. Accuracy

You confirm that your profile, employment history, years of experience, qualifications and links are accurate and current, and you will update them when they change.

3. Assessment integrity

You will complete assessments personally and without prohibited assistance, and will not share assessment content. You accept that attempts may be voided where integrity is in doubt.

4. Consent to review

You consent to your evidence being reviewed by independent reviewers and our verification staff, to reasonable verification checks with third parties you have named, and to the publication of your credential status on our verification pages.

5. Consequences of misrepresentation

Material misrepresentation, plagiarism or assessment breach results in refusal, suspension or revocation, forfeiture of fees, and may result in permanent exclusion from the platform. Records of integrity decisions are retained.

1. Permitted use

Profile and credential data may be used solely to evaluate and contact candidates for genuine roles within your organisation. It may not be used for training datasets, marketing lists, background-screening products or any resale.

2. Outreach conduct

Contact requests must describe a genuine role, must be professional, and must not be automated bulk outreach. Candidates may decline. Repeated unwanted contact results in loss of contact access.

3. Non-discrimination

You will not use platform data to discriminate on grounds protected by applicable law, and will make hiring decisions on lawful, role-relevant criteria.

4. No scraping or resale

Automated extraction, crawling, mirroring, or redistribution of platform data is prohibited. Access may be revoked and pursued as a breach of contract.

5. Data protection

You act as an independent controller of candidate data you receive. You are responsible for ensuring a clear rationale for assessments and that results are used only for the work-related purposes for which they were intended, as described in ISO 10667-1:2020.

1. Independence

Reviewers assess evidence against the published standard, free from commercial influence. Reviewers are not paid on the basis of outcomes and may not be directed to reach a particular decision.

2. Conflicts of interest

Reviewers must decline any assignment involving a current or former colleague, employee, employer, client, relative or close associate, or any case where impartiality could reasonably be questioned. Declared conflicts trigger reassignment.

3. Confidentiality

Candidate evidence, identities, scores and reviewer notes are confidential. Reviewers may not copy, retain, publish or reuse candidate material, and must delete local copies after review.

4. Scoring obligations

Reviewers must apply the published rubric, record structured reasons for each score, request further evidence rather than inferring it, and complete assignments within agreed timeframes.

5. No solicitation

Reviewers may not solicit candidates for employment, consultancy, tuition or services arising from a review assignment.

1. What cookies we use

• Strictly necessary: authentication and session cookies, security tokens and load balancing. These cannot be disabled without breaking the platform.
• Preference: interface settings such as theme and saved filters.
• Analytics: aggregated usage measurement to understand how pages and flows perform.

2. Retention

Session cookies expire when you close your browser. Persistent cookies last no longer than 12 months unless a shorter period is set by the provider.

3. Managing cookies

You can clear or block cookies through your browser settings. Blocking strictly necessary cookies will prevent sign-in. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

1. Refundable circumstances

• You cancel your application before a reviewer has been assigned.
• A duplicate or erroneous charge occurred.
• We are unable to deliver the verification process for a reason within our control.
• An administrative error on our part materially affected your application.
• Any SS-Credit service, such as a Gate Pass or an employer service, whose action fails to complete is returned to your wallet automatically. Employer service prices are shown in the employer workspace before each paid action.

2. Non-refundable circumstances

• A completed review that results in refusal, since the fee purchases the process and not an outcome. Fees are also non-refundable where an application is refused or voided for integrity breach, or where you fail to submit required evidence within the stated window.
• Live verification is charged 20 SS-Credits for each 5-minute interval once a session starts. Intervals already started are not refunded. If a candidate does not join within four minutes, only the first 20 SS-Credits are charged.
• Employer services that were delivered (a message sent, a request sent, a credential issued) are not refunded.

3. How to request a refund

Email support@skillsignature.com with your application or transaction reference within 30 days of the charge. Approved refunds of verification charges paid in SS-Credits are returned to your SS-Credit wallet within 10 business days. Approved refunds of direct monetary payments are returned to the original payment method within 10 business days. Refund decisions may be appealed under the Appeals Policy.

1. Grounds for appeal

Procedural error, evidence that was not considered, misapplication of the published rubric, bias or undeclared conflict of interest, or material new evidence that existed at the time of submission.

2. How to appeal

Submit an appeal to appeals@skillsignature.com within 30 days of the decision, stating the grounds and attaching supporting material. Disagreement with a correctly applied rubric is not on its own a ground for appeal.

3. How appeals are decided

Appeals are decided by reviewers and staff who had no part in the original decision. We acknowledge within 5 business days and decide within 20 business days, extending only where further evidence or an additional reviewer is required, with notice to you.

4. Outcomes

An appeal may uphold the original decision, substitute a new decision, order a fresh review at no cost, or reinstate a suspended credential. The appeal outcome is final within the platform.

1. Grounds

Plagiarised, fabricated or misattributed evidence; impersonation or assessment breach; material misrepresentation of experience or identity; credible third-party evidence contradicting verified claims; or misuse of the credential or badge.

2. Suspension pending investigation

Where there is credible evidence of a breach, a credential may be suspended immediately. A suspended credential displays as suspended on its verification page while the investigation proceeds.

3. Investigation

We notify the holder of the allegation, provide a reasonable opportunity to respond, and assess the case with staff and reviewers independent of the original decision. Investigations normally conclude within 30 days.

4. Outcome, publication and reapplication

Outcomes are reinstatement, continued suspension, or revocation. Revoked credentials remain publicly resolvable as revoked so third parties relying on them are not misled; the reason is not published. Revocation may be appealed under the Appeals Policy. Reapplication is permitted no earlier than 12 months after revocation, and never where impersonation was established.