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Statistics: malpractice in vocational and technical qualifications

Statistics on the number of cases of malpractice in selected vocational and technical qualifications in England.

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Overview

A breach of an awarding organisations’ regulations that might undermine the integrity of an assessment may constitute malpractice. This can include, for example, acts of plagiarism committed by students while completing non-examination assessment, as well as failures by school or college staff to comply with awarding organisation instructions.

Note that from the 2024 to 2025 report onwards, figures relate to the number of malpractice cases which resulted in at least one penalty. This is different from releases published prior to 2024 to 2025, where the number of penalties applied were reported (more than one of which may have resulted from a single case). Due to this change in methodology, direct comparisons between the 2024 to 2025 report and earlier reports should not be made.

For related statistics, see our statistics at Ofqual page.

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Updates to this page

Published 5 May 2026