Regulatory framework for apprenticeship assessment

Ofqual is the independent regulator for qualifications in England. Ofqual’s statutory objectives include securing the standards of, and promoting public confidence in, regulated qualifications. Our role is to steward the qualifications system, taking a whole system, long-term, proactive approach to protect the value of qualifications for students and apprentices and to support economic growth. 

Ofqual’s rules, which awarding organisations (AOs) must follow, are designed to achieve this. Ofqual monitors the application of these rules, supporting compliance and taking regulatory action where necessary. 

Ofqual currently regulates the assessment of more than 580 apprenticeship occupational standards, set by Skills England, including through specific rules in relation to end-point assessments (EPAs). 

In February 2025, the Department for Education (DfE) published its Apprenticeship Assessment Principles. These principles set out a range of changes to the current EPA approach to assessment. They will apply to all apprenticeships, at all levels, and will apply to foundation apprenticeships as well as to specialised apprenticeships. 

Through its principles, DfE intends to streamline the assessment process for apprenticeships by enabling more design and delivery flexibility, so that:

• assessment is more proportionate to the competency being tested and duplication is removed
• assessment can happen on programme
• training providers can deliver and mark elements of the assessment, with appropriate oversight 

To reflect these changes, the existing assessment plans on which all EPAs are based will be streamlined, on a phased basis, by Skills England. Employers’ views on assessing the competence of apprentices will continue to be important, but much of the detail included in the existing assessment plans will be removed, with AOs given more flexibility when designing and delivering assessments that meet the employer-set occupational standard. 

The implementation of DfE’s principles in the new simplified arrangements represents a significant change from the current EPA assessment approach, where all assessment happens at the end of the apprenticeship after a gateway process and is independently marked by the AO. In achieving greater design and delivery flexibility for AOs, it is likely that the new arrangements will lead to greater diversity of approach between AOs. Our priority is to ensure that Ofqual’s regulation reflects DfE’s policy while also mitigating risks as far as is reasonably possible and so maintains public and employer confidence in the results achieved by apprentices under the new arrangements.

The overall aims of our new rules for apprenticeship assessment are therefore to:

• embed DfE’s Apprenticeship Assessment Principles in Ofqual’s regulation
• secure AOs’ compliance with the new streamlined apprenticeship assessment plans
• specify key requirements for the design of apprenticeship assessment to ensure their validity 
• enable Ofqual to hold AOs to account for the design and delivery decisions they have made

This consultation is an opportunity for interested groups to comment on the way Ofqual proposes to regulate the new apprenticeship assessments. It is not a consultation on DfE’s principles, as their introduction is not a decision for Ofqual. It is a consultation on how we will reflect DfE’s principles in our regulatory framework, in line with our statutory objectives.