Regulation

Accreditation criterion

Updated 10 July 2024

Applies to England

Introduction

About this document

This document sets out the accreditation criterion which applies to all qualifications which are subject to an accreditation requirement under section 138(1) of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (‘the 2009 Act’). 

Where it is not already in force, this accreditation criterion comes into effect at 12:01am on Saturday 1 November 2014. It replaces all previous accreditation criteria for the qualifications which are currently subject to an accreditation requirement under section 138(1) of the 2009 Act. 

In particular, this document replaces the following documents which came into force on 19 June 2014: 

• GCSE (9 to 1) Accreditation Criterion (Ofqual/14/5472); 

• GCE Accreditation Criterion (Ofqual/14/5473); and 

• GCSE (A* to G) Accreditation Criterion (Ofqual/14/5474).

About accreditation

Section 138(1) of the 2009 Act allows us to specify qualifications, or descriptions of qualifications that are subject to an accreditation requirement. 

If a qualification is subject to an accreditation requirement, then – under section 132(5) of the 2009 Act – an awarding organisation may not award or authenticate that qualification until it has been accredited by Ofqual. 

We accredit qualifications against accreditation criteria which we set and publish under section 140(1) of the 2009 Act. We will accredit a qualification submitted to us by an awarding organisation if:  

• that awarding organisation has been recognised in respect of that qualification or type of qualification, and 

• the qualification submitted to us meets the relevant accreditation criteria.  

The accreditation of a qualification has effect from such a date as we may specify.

Qualifications subject to an accreditation requirement

With effect from 12:01am on Saturday 1 November 2014, the following descriptions of qualifications are subject to an accreditation requirement under section 138(1) of the 2009 Act: 

• GCSE Qualifications:
  • In this document a ‘GCSE Qualification’ is a GCSE qualification, a GCSE short course qualification or a GCSE double award qualification. It includes both qualifications graded A* to G and qualifications graded 9 to 1
• GCE Qualifications:
  • In this document a ‘GCE Qualification’ is an A level or an AS qualification

Some awarding organisations are also subject to an accreditation requirement under section 138(1) of the 2009 Act in respect of some or all of the qualifications (or descriptions of qualifications) they award or authenticate.  

Qualifications accredited against previous criteria 

Whenever we revise the accreditation criteria for a qualification (or description of qualification), we must either: 

• set a date on which accreditations against previous criteria cease to have effect (section 140(6) of the 2009 Act); or 

• determine that accreditations against previous criteria will not cease to have effect (section 140(8) of the 2009 Act). 

We explain our decisions for all qualifications accredited against previous criteria in Appendix 1.

Accreditation criterion 

For a qualification which is subject to an accreditation requirement, the following criterion must be met: 

An awarding organisation must demonstrate to Ofqual’s satisfaction that it is capable of complying, on an on-going basis, with all of the General Conditions of Recognition that apply in respect of the qualification for which it is seeking accreditation, including all relevant Qualification Level Conditions and Subject Level Conditions. 

For the purposes of accrediting a GCSE Qualification (graded from A* to G) in a particular subject, the ‘relevant Qualification Level Conditions and Subject Level Conditions’ include: 

• the GCSE (9 to 1) Qualification Level Conditions and Requirements; and 

• any GCSE Subject Level Conditions and Requirements which apply to a GCSE Qualification (graded 9 to 1) in the same subject

Appendix 1 – Qualifications accredited against previous criteria 

Whenever we revise the accreditation criteria for a qualification (or description of qualification), we must either: 

• set a date on which accreditations against previous criteria cease to have effect (section 140(6) of the 2009 Act); or 

• determine that accreditations against previous criteria will not cease to have effect (section 140(8) of the 2009 Act), 

We set out below our decisions for the following descriptions of qualifications: 

• GCSE Qualifications (graded from 9 to 1); 

• GCSE Qualifications (graded from A* to G); 

• GCE Qualifications; and 

• all other qualifications. 

Where appropriate, for example to provide re-sit opportunities for candidates, we will make saving and transitional provisions in connection with the cessation of the previous accreditations of any of these qualifications.

GCSE Qualifications (graded from 9 to 1) 

The accreditation criterion set out in this document has applied to all GCSE Qualifications (graded from 9 to 1) since 19 June 2014.  

This means all GCSE Qualifications (graded from 9 to 1) which were accredited prior to 1st November 2014 will remain accredited. 

GCSE Qualifications (graded from A* to G)  

When we first published this document, we used our powers under section 140(6) of the 2009 Act to set an end date for existing accreditations of GCSE Qualification (graded from A* to G).  

We have since used our powers under section 140(7) of the Act to vary the accreditation end date for a number of those qualifications. The accreditation end date for all GCSE Qualifications (graded from A* to G) are now as set out in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Accreditation end dates for GCSEs (graded A* to G)

Subjects	Accreditation end date
• Applications of Mathematics • English • English Language • English Literature • Mathematics • Methods in Mathematics	31 August 2016
• Additional Applied Science • Additional Science • Art and Design • Biology • Catering • Chemistry • Citizenship Studies • Classical Greek • Computer Science • Computing • Dance • Design and Technology: Food Technology • Digital Communication • Drama • Expressive Arts • French • Further Additional Science • Geography • German • History • Home Economics: Food and Nutrition • Hospitality and Catering • Human Health and Physiology • Humanities • Latin • Music • Performing Arts • Physical Education • Physics • Religious Studies • Science • Spanish	31 August 2017
• Ancient History • Applied Business • Applied Information and Communication Technology • Arabic • Astronomy • Bengali • Business • Business and Communication Systems • Business Communications • Business Studies • Business Studies and Economics • Chinese • Chinese (Mandarin) • Classical Civilisation • Design and Technology (all other routes) • Dutch • Economics • Engineering • Electronics • Environmental and Land-Based science • Environmental Science • Film Studies • General Studies • Geology • Greek • Health and Social Care • Home Economics (all other routes) • Hospitality • Information and Communication Technology • Italian • Japanese • Law • Leisure and Tourism • Manufacturing • Media Studies • Modern Hebrew • Panjabi • Polish • Psychology • Russian • Sociology • Statistics • Urdu	31 August 2018
• Biblical Hebrew • Gujarati • Persian • Portuguese • Turkish	31 August 2019

GCE Qualifications 

When we first published this document, we used our powers under section 140(6) of the 2009 Act to set an end date for existing accreditations of all GCE Qualifications accredited prior to 19 June 2014. 

We have since used our powers under section 140(7) of the Act to vary the accreditation end date for a number of those qualifications. The accreditation end date for all GCE Qualifications accredited prior to 19 June 2014 are now as set out in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Accreditation end dates for AS and A level qualifications accredited prior to 19 June 2014

Subjects	Accreditation end date
• Art and Design • Biology • Business Studies • Chemistry • Computing • Economics • English Language • English Language and Literature • English Literature • History • Physics • Psychology • Sociology	31 August 2016
• Applied Art and Design • Applied Business • Classics: Classical Greek • Classics: Latin • Dance • Drama and Theatre Studies • Economics and Business • French • Geography • German • Human Biology • Music • Performance Studies • Performing Arts • Physical Education • Religious Studies • Spanish	31 August 2017
• Accounting • Anthropology • Applied Information and Communication Technology • Applied Science • Archaeology • Chinese • Citizenship Studies • Classics: Ancient History • Classical Civilisation • Classics • Communication and Culture • Creative Writing • Critical Thinking • Cymraeg Ail Iaith (Welsh 2nd language) • Cymraeg Iaith Gyntaf (Welsh 1st language) • Design and Technology • Dutch • Electronics • Engineering • Environmental Studies • Film Studies • Further Mathematics • General Studies • Geology • Global Development • Government and Politics • Health and Social Care • History of Art • Home Economics • Home Economics (Food, Nutrition and Health) • Humanities • Information and Communication Technology • Irish • Italian • Law • Leisure Studies • Mathematics • Media: Communication and Production • Media Studies • Moving Image Arts • Music Technology • Philosophy • Pure Mathematics • Quantitative Methods • Russian • Science • Science in Society • Statistics • Travel and Tourism • Use of Mathematics • World Development	31 August 2018
• Arabic • Bengali • Biblical Hebrew • Greek • Gujarati • Japanese • Modern Hebrew • Panjabi • Persian • Polish • Portuguese • Turkish • Urdu	31 August 2019

All other qualifications

To the extent that this document revises the accreditation criteria for any qualification which is not a GCSE Qualification or a GCE Qualification, we have, in accordance with section 140(8) of the 2009 Act, determined that the provisions of section 140(6) of the 2009 Act do not apply to this revision of those accreditation criteria.

This means all qualifications (except GCSE Qualifications and GCE Qualifications) which were accredited prior to 1 November 2014 will remain accredited.

Appendix 2 – Revisions to this document

The table below sets out all revisions made to this document since it was first published, and the dates on which those revisions came into force.

Revisions	Date in force
Updated Appendix 1 following decisions to revise accreditation end dates for legacy GCSEs, AS and A levels.	8 June 2016
Updated to reflect our decision to make Technical Qualifications subject to an accreditation requirement.	12 December 2018
Updated to reflect decision to remove the accreditation requirement for Technical Qualifications. Converted to HTML format.	10 July 2024