Guidance
File format
Updated 21 September 2026
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| Name | Description | Position | Description of Regular Expression | Validation Regular Expression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting date | Date the file was due to be submitted to Ofqual regardless of when it was actually uploaded (this date will be made available by Ofqual) | 1 | The date in the following format: year (four digits), a dash, month (two digits), a dash, day-of-month (two digits). Format accepted: yyyy-mm-dd | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
| Exam Series | Exam series data relates to, for example June 2024 | 2 | Full month name of exam series and year | ^(January|March|November|June)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$ |
| Awarding organisation | Awarding organisation acronym as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated organisations | 3 | Valid awarding organisation acronym. 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| Malpractice case identifier | Unique case identifier assigned by the awarding organisation. See general completion guidelines for more detail | 4 | 1 to 25 characters accepted | ^.{1,25}$ |
| Centre No. | Centre’s National Centre Number as allocated by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). Higher NCN code not accepted. Must be provided for GCSE, AS and A level. -2 accepted for Project qualifications if NCN code is not available | 5 | Valid NCN code. 5-digit integer accepted. Higher NCN code not accepted. Must be provided for GCSE, AS and A level. -2 accepted for Project qualifications if NCN code is not available | ^(?:-2|\d{5})$ |
| CentrePostcode | Postcode of the centre. Must be provided for Project qualifications if NCN is not available. -2 accepted where valid NCN has been provided in ‘Centre No.’ | 6 | Valid postcode. 1 to 10 characters accepted. -2 accepted where valid NCN has been provided in ‘Centre No.’ | ^.{1,10}$ |
| Type of malpractice | To indicate type of malpractice. See Appendix A for guidance | 7 | Accepted values: Candidate, Centre, Centre staff. See Appendix A for guidance | ^(Candidate|Centre|Centre staff)$ |
| Unique Candidate Identifier | Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI) Must be provided for GCSE, AS and A level student malpractice. -2 required for centre and centre staff malpractice. -2 accepted for Project qualifications if UCI is not available | 8 | Alpha numeric 13 characters accepted. Must be provided for GCSE, AS and A level student malpractice-2 required for centre and centre staff malpractice. -2 accepted for Project qualifications if UCI is not available | ^(?:-2|.{13})$ |
| UniqueLearnerNumber | Unique Learner Number (ULN) provided by the Learning Records Service. -2 required for centre and centre staff malpractice. -2 accepted if valid UCI is provided | 9 | Valid ULN. 10 digits accepted. -2 required for centre and centre staff malpractice. -2 accepted if valid UCI is provided | ^(?:-2|\d{10}) |
| CandidateIdentifierOther | Any other unique student number allocated by individual awarding organisation. Must be provided for Project qualifications if UCI and ULN are not available. -2 required for centre and centre staff malpractice. -2 accepted where at least one of UCI or ULN have been provided. | 10 | 1 to 20 characters accepted. -2 accepted where at least one of UCI or ULN have been provided. -2 required for centre and centre staff malpractice. -2 accepted where at least one of UCI or ULN have been provided. | ^.{1,20}$ |
| Staff identifier | Identifier to uniquely identify each individual member of staff involved in the malpractice allegation (assigned by the awarding organisations). Please do not provide staff names. | 11 | 1 to 25 characters accepted. -2 accepted for student or centre malpractice, or where the investigation is ongoing and the number of staff members involved in the allegation is unknown | ^.{1,25}$ |
| QAN | This should be the unique identifier for the qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications, for example, 123/1234/1. -2 accepted for systemic cases or for Northern Ireland data where the student is not certificating and the unit can be used against either AS or A level specifications | 12 | Valid qualification number. 10 characters accepted. -2 accepted for systemic cases or for Northern Ireland data where the student is not certificating and the unit can be used against either AS or A level specifications | ^(?:-2|.{10})$ |
| Specification title | Specification title, also known as subject title. Must be provided if specification code is provided. ‘Non-assessment specific’ accepted for systemic cases. -2 accepted for Northern Ireland data where the student is not certificating and the unit can be used against either AS or A level specifications | 13 | 1 to 150 characters accepted. ‘Non-assessment specific’ accepted for systemic cases. -2 accepted for Northern Ireland data where the student is not certificating and the unit can be used against either AS or A level specifications | ^.{1,150}$ |
| Specification code | Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code. -2 accepted for systemic cases or for Northern Ireland data where the student is not certificating and the unit can be used against either AS or A level specifications | 14 | 1 to 7 characters accepted. -2 accepted for systemic cases or for Northern Ireland data where the student is not certificating and the unit can be used against either AS or A level specifications | ^.{1,7}$ |
| Unit code | Unit or component identifier. If a unit has sub-components, they should be identifiable from a unique value within the unit code, for example MA02 1, MA02 2. -2 accepted where not available or not applicable, for example in systemic cases. | 15 | 1 to 10 characters accepted. -2 accepted where not available or not applicable, for example in systemic cases | ^.{1,10}$ |
| Qualification level | Type of qualification. -2 accepted for systemic cases. ‘A level’ also accepted for Northern Ireland data where the student is not certificating and the unit can be used against either AS or A level specifications | 16 | Accepted values: GCSE, AS, A level, Project L3. -2 accepted for systemic cases. ‘A level’ also accepted for Northern Ireland data where the student is not certificating and the unit can be used against either AS or A level specifications | ^(GCSE|AS|A level|Project L3|-2)$ |
| Assessment type | To indicate type of assessment, internal or external. Internal assessment means set and/or marked by centres. External assessment means that the assessment is externally set and marked by the awarding organisation or another independent body. -2 accepted for systemic cases. | 17 | Accepted values: Internal, External. -2 accepted for systemic cases | ^(Internal|External|-2)$ |
| Type of offence | Description of offence. The list of offences is given in Appendix B. Please choose the most appropriate one. | 18 | See Appendix B for accepted values | See Appendix B for accepted values |
| Type of penalty issued | Description of penalty. The list of penalties is given in Appendix C. Please choose the most appropriate one. | 19 | See Appendix C for accepted values | See Appendix C for accepted values |