Clarification re reference letters

Stage 1
1

The guidance for the mandatory criteria states that ‘evidence of recognition, such a Reference Letters, provided by an immediate colleague, manager, or friend are not sufficient.’

  1. Does this means that such letters are not considered as a good piece of evidence, or that they are not sufficient on their own and that other types of evidence would be needed in addition to satisfy this criteria?

  2. Does this guidance specifically apply to reference letters in support of the mandatory criteria, and not to the optional criteria or the three letters of recommendation?

I was also hoping to provide reference letters from customers/partners in support of OC1. Would it be allowed to combine three separate one page letters from different customers/partners and submit them as one piece of evidence?

Thanks for any help!

2

“Would it be allowed to combine three separate one page letters from different customers/partners and submit them as one piece of evidence?” I think this mets the OC3 requirement for impact, you can merge three letters as a single document as long as it doe not exceed three pages.