Consultation outcome

Legal establishment and location of awarding organisations

Applies to England

This consultation has concluded

Download the full outcome

Detail of outcome

We have decided to adopt all our consultation proposals unchanged. This means that:

• awarding organisations can continue to be located in the UK and Gibraltar, as well as in EU and EFTA countries

• being legally established in the UK, Gibraltar, or an EU or EFTA country is no longer sufficient to meet our requirements for either new or existing awarding organisations. Awarding organisations must now be either ordinarily resident, or have a substantial presence, in one of those countries.

Feedback received

Detail of feedback received

We received 14 responses to our consultation. Thirteen were official responses from organisations, and one a personal response from an individual.

Of the 13 official organisation responses, 12 were from Ofqual-regulated awarding organisations, and one from a representative group for awarding organisations.11 were from organisations based in England, with 1 based in Wales and 1 in a non-EU country.

The personal response was from an individual working for a regulated awarding organisation.


Original consultation

Summary

Consultation on the legal establishment and location of awarding organisations regulated by Ofqual.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

We are seeking views on our proposal to change our requirements about the location of the awarding organisations we regulate.

Our proposals are intended to address two matters:

  • the UK’s new relationship with the EU during the transition period following the UK’s exit from the EU; and
  • to remove the possibility that we might recognise an awarding organisation which, although legally established in the UK, Gibraltar or in an EU or EFTA country, does not have a substantial presence in any of these countries.

We are seeking views on our proposals to change:

  • our Criteria for Recognition (the Criteria), which we use to determine whether we should recognise an organisation to offer regulated qualifications; and
  • our General Conditions of Recognition (the Conditions), with which awarding organisations, once recognised, must comply.

Documents

Legal establishment and location of awarding organisations

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Published 31 January 2020
Last updated 19 May 2020 + show all updates
  1. Updated page to include consultation outcomes and responses.

  2. First published.