Awarding data: guide to the data submission process
Updated 21 September 2026
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2026
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/awarding-data-guide-to-the-data-submission-process/summer-awarding-data-guide-to-the-data-submission-process
Introduction
In order to fulfil our regulatory and accreditation functions as set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, we require awarding organisations to provide the following data for regulated qualifications.
This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities, publish reports and to fulfil our responsibility as a government department. In particular, this data is used in the publication of the following reports:
- Statistics: annual qualifications market reports
- Statistics: summer qualification results in England
This data is also used in the following interactive visualisations:
- Summary statistics for GCSE, AS and A level
- Map of GCSE grade outcomes by administrative areas in England
- GCSE subject combinations and outcomes
- Variability in GCSE results for schools and colleges
- GCSE outcomes by centre type
- Map of A level grade outcomes by administrative areas in England
- A level subject combinations and outcomes
- Variability in A level results for schools and colleges
- A level outcomes by centre type
- Equalities analysis interactive report
- All Regulated Qualifications Landscape
Northern Ireland data will also be shared with CCEA regulation to fulfil their own purposes as a regulator.
What data will be collected?
Data should relate to grade boundary information as well as results at both component and qualification level.
This collection consists of multiple templates:
- Template 1ab: Grade boundaries at component level for all qualifications in scope
- Template 1c: Grade boundaries at qualification level for all qualifications in scope
- Template 2: Student qualification-level results data
- Template 3: Student component-level results data
Below is general guidance for the collection overall, which is then followed by specific guidance for each template.
Qualifications in scope
The following qualification types are in scope of this collection:
- GCSE (including GCSE short course)
- AS
- A level
- Project L3
- Advanced Extension Award (AEA)
Data should include both exam and non-exam assessments, including endorsements.
The General Completion Guidelines section below further details the qualifications in scope of each template.
Countries in scope
Data should be included for all students in centres in:
- England
- Northern Ireland (also on behalf of CCEA regulation)
- Wales
- Other UK regions
- Non-UK
Time period in scope
Data is collected at multiple points during the year for the summer, January and November exam series. For detail on the exam series in scope of each return please see the reporting schedule.
When data will be collected
Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is updated regularly.
For each exam series in scope of this collection, there will be more than one reporting deadline in order to capture the progress of the data at different points in time. These are indicated by the ‘collection number’ field in the reporting schedule. The data submitted should reflect the current status of all data for the relevant time period at the cut-off point stated. For example, the data given at the 2nd reporting deadline should still include the data from the 1st reporting deadline point but updated to reflect the current status of the data and with new rows added for any new records.
How to submit your data
Your data must be submitted to us in CSV format. Please refer to the Connecting to Ofqual’s data portal and uploading data document for more information. If you need to ask us about a data submission, please contact the Data Services team.
Please do not send your data files via email or via Contact the Regulator in the Portal.
Uploaded data
Once files have been successfully uploaded, the data will be validated against a set of validation rules.
If validation is successful, the data is automatically transferred into Ofqual’s internal systems, and you will receive email confirmation. If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it.
The specific validation rules which are in place for this template are detailed in the ‘validation rules’ and ‘file format’ sections below.
Amendments to data
Errors or omissions in the data
Once the data has been successfully uploaded, it will be checked by Ofqual staff. If an error or omission is spotted, the data may be queried, and you may be requested to resubmit it. We will need to reject your existing submission ahead of a resubmission.
If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please notify data services by email. We need to reject the existing submission before you can upload a new file.
If you wish to see your latest submission of a data return, for example to check the submission if it has been queried, please know it is available to download in the data portal.
Scheduled revisions of data
Each submission of this data is intended to show a snapshot in time. Therefore, there will be no resubmissions required to reflect any further updates to the data already submitted, unless an error or omission is spotted.
General completion guidelines
Please provide data as detailed in the table below:
| Type of qualification | Subject | Template 1ab: Grade boundaries at component level | Template 1c: Grade boundaries at qualification level | Template 2: Student qualification-level results data | Template 3: Student component-level results data (all students expected to achieve their qualification result in the current academic year, regardless of the result achieved) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS | All subjects | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AEA | All subjects | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| A level | All subjects | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GCSE | All subjects (including GCSE short course) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Project L3 | Not applicable | No | Yes | Yes | No |
- Numeric values must not have any formatting.
- All fields are mandatory unless otherwise specified.
- For each template, submit only one file containing data for all qualifications, specifications and all exam series in scope.
- Submit data in the following order: Template 1ab, Template 1c, Template 2, Template 3.
- Specification codes must be consistent with those submitted in the Specification code data collection. Where specification codes include an option or tiering code (for example, J567F, 4000GU, 4365H), this value can be repeated in the certification code field where appropriate.
- For Template 2 and Template 3, the exam series should correspond to the series in which the student was completing their qualification during the current academic year. Some exceptions apply to Template 3, please see the Specific Completion Guidelines for Template 3.
- If middle name cannot be separated from first name, provide both names in the FirstName field and leave the MiddleNames field blank.
- Where the same field appears across multiple templates (for example SpecificationCode and UnitOrComponentCode), the values entered must be consistent across templates.
Template 1ab - Grade boundary information at component level
Specific Completion Guidelines
- For unitised specifications (for qualifications available in Northern Ireland), Template 1ab should include all grades (except U). For linear specifications (for qualifications available in England) only key grade boundaries should be included.
- Template 1ab should include grade boundary information for both exam and non-exam assessments, including A level Science Practicals and GCSE English Endorsements. For endorsement, enter ‘-2’ in both the Grade and Boundary fields.
- The last field in Templates 1ab, CarryForward, only applies to Pearson and OCR - other awarding organisations should submit a blank column with just the column header CarryForward.
File format
The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.
| Name | Description | Position | Description of Regular Expression | Validation Regular Expression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ReportingDate | 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 (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted yyyy-mm-dd |
^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
| ExamSeries | Exam series data relates to, for example June 2025 | 2 | Full month name of exam series and year | ^(January|November|June)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$ |
| AwardingOrganisation | 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}$ |
| QualificationLevel | Type of qualification | 4 | Accepted values: • GCSE • AS • AEA • A level • Project L3 |
^(GCSE|AS|AEA|A level|Project L3)$ |
| UnitOrComponentCode | Unit or component code as designated in the specification | 5 | 1 to 10 characters accepted | ^.{1,10}$ |
| SpecificationCode | Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code. | 6 | 1 to 7 characters accepted. | ^.{1,7}$ |
| SpecificationTitle | Specification title, also known as subject title | 7 | 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| Tier | To indicate the tier if applicable F for Foundation H for Higher |
8 | Accepted values: • F • H -2 accepted where not applicable |
^(F|H|-2)$ |
| MaxUniformMark | Maximum uniform mark available for the unit in unitised specifications (for qualifications available in Northern Ireland). Where units may contain multiple components, only provide the unit maximum mark. | 9 | Up to 3-digit integer accepted. -2 accepted for non- Uniform Mark Scale specifications |
^(?:-2|\d{1,3})$ |
| MaxRawUnweightedMark | Maximum raw unweighted mark available for the component | 10 | Up to 3-digit integer accepted | ^\d{1,3}$ |
| WeightingFactor | Multiplier applied to the component mark to determine the contribution to the qualification mark. | 11 | Up to 3-digit integer or a decimal number consisting of up to 3 integer digits followed by a decimal point and up to 3 fractional digits -2 accepted if not applicable |
^(-2|\d{0,3}|\d{0,3}\.\d{0,3})$ |
| Grade | Component grade | 12 | One of the following list: • A* to G • Distinction • Merit • 7 • 4 • 1 • 7-7 • 4-4 • 1-1 -2 also accepted for unknown value |
^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|Distinction|Merit|7|4|1|7-7|4-4|1-1|-2)$ |
| Boundary | Raw mark grade boundary (or A level A* conversion point) | 13 | Up to 3-digit integer accepted -2 accepted where not applicable |
^(?:-2|\d{1,3})$ |
| CarryForward | To indicate if the row of data relates to a carry forward option | 14 | For OCR and Pearson: accepted values: • 1 for yes • 0 for no For all other awarding organisations: blank |
^(1|0|^$)$ |
Template 1c - Grade boundary information at qualification level
Specific Completion Guidelines
- Template 1c should include qualification‑level grade boundary information for all grades for linear specifications and for Project L3 qualifications.
- The last field in Templates 1c, CarryForward, only applies to Pearson and OCR - other awarding organisations should submit a blank column with just the column header CarryForward.
File format
The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.
| Name | Description | Position | Description of Regular Expression | Validation Regular Expression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ReportingDate | 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 (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted yyyy-mm-dd |
^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
| ExamSeries | Exam series data relates to, for example June 2025 | 2 | Full month name of exam series and year | ^(January|November|June)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$ |
| AwardingOrganisation | 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}$ |
| QualificationLevel | Type of qualification | 4 | Accepted values: • GCSE • AS • AEA • A level • Project L3 |
^(GCSE|AS|AEA|A level|Project L3)$ |
| CertificationCode | Certification code also known as Entry or Option code for which a qualification result is to be reported | 5 | 1 to 7 characters accepted | ^.{1,7}$ |
| SpecificationCode | Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code | 6 | 1 to 7 characters accepted | ^.{1,7}$ |
| SpecificationTitle | Specification title, also known as subject title | 7 | 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| Tier | To indicate the tier if applicable. F for Foundation H for Higher |
8 | Accepted values: • F • H -2 accepted where not applicable |
^(F|H|-2)$ |
| MaxSpecificationMark | Maximum mark available for the qualification (scaled, if appropriate) | 9 | Up to 3-digit integer accepted | ^\d{1,3}$ |
| Grade | Qualification grade | 10 | Accepted values: • A* to G • Distinction • Merit • U • 9 to 1 • 9-9 to 1-1 -2 also accepted for unknown value. |
^(A\*|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|Distinction|Merit|U|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|1-1|2-1|2-2|3-2|3-3|4-3|4-4|5-4|5-5|6-5|6-6|7-6|7-7|8-7|8-8|9-8|9-9|-2)$ |
| Boundary | Raw mark boundary | 11 | Up to 3-digit integer accepted | ^\d{1,3}$ |
| CarryForward | To indicate if the row of data relates to a carry forward option | 12 | For OCR and Pearson: accepted values: • 1 for yes • 0 for no For all other awarding organisation: blank |
^(1|0|^$)$ |
Template 2 - Student qualification-level results data
Specific Completion Guidelines
- For each qualification, provide the student-level data for all students completing the qualification in the relevant exam series for the current academic year, including those who were absent from the assessments or whose results were queried.
- Submit 1 row of data per student per qualification.
- For project qualifications, valid UCI or ULN and valid NCN should be provided where available. Where not available “-2” is accepted. If neither UCI nor ULN are available, provide a unique student identifier in ‘ CentreCandidateNumber’. Where NCN is not available, provide the centre postcode in ‘CentrePostcode’.
File format
The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.
| Name | Description | Position | Description of Regular Expression | Validation Regular Expression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ReportingDate | 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 (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted yyyy-mm-dd |
^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
| ExamSeries | Exam series data relates to, for example June 2025 Exam series should correspond to the series in which the student is completing their qualification during the current academic year |
2 | Full month name of exam series and year | ^(January|November|June)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$ |
| AwardingOrganisation | 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}$ |
| QAN | The unique identifier for the qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications, for example, 123/1234/1c | 4 | Valid qualification number. 10 characters accepted |
^.{10}$ |
| QualificationLevel | Type of qualification, for example GCSE | 5 | Accepted values: • GCSE • AS • AEA • A level • Project L3 |
^(GCSE|AS|AEA|A level|Project L3)$ |
| CertificationCode | Certification code also known as Entry or Option code for which a qualification result is to be reported | 6 | 1 to 7 characters accepted | ^.{1,7}$ |
| SpecificationCode | Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code | 7 | 1 to 7 characters accepted | ^.{1,7}$ |
| SpecificationTitle | Specification title, also known as subject title | 8 | 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| CentreNo | Centre’s National Centre Number (NCN) as allocated by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) | 9 | Valid NCN code 5-digit integer accepted Higher NCN code not accepted -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. |
10 | Valid postcode. 1 to 10 characters accepted -2 accepted where valid NCN has been provided in CentreNo |
^(?:-2|{1,10})$ |
| PartialAbsence | To indicate a partial absence | 11 | Accepted values: • 1 for yes • 0 for no -2 accepted if not available |
^(1|0|-2)$ |
| CentreCandidateNumber | Student number as supplied by the centre Must be provided for Project qualification students if UCI and ULN are not available |
12 | 1 to 10 characters accepted | ^.{1,10}$ |
| UniqueCandidate Identifier | Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI) | 13 | Valid UCI. Alpha numeric 13 characters accepted -2 accepted if not available |
^(?:-2|.{13})$ |
| ULN | Unique Learner Number (ULN) provided by the Learning Records Service | 14 | Valid ULN. 10 digits accepted -2 accepted if not available |
^(?:-2|\d{10})$ |
| FirstName | Student’s first name. If middle name cannot be separated from first name, please provide both names in the FirstName field and leave the MiddleNames field blank |
15 | 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| MiddleNames | Student’s middle names | 16 | 0 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{0,150}$ |
| Surname | Student’s surname or family name | 17 | 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| Sex | Student’s sex | 18 | Accepted values: • M for male • F for female -2 accepted for other or not stated |
^(M|F|-2)$ |
| DOB | Student’s date of birth | 19 | The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted yyyy-mm-dd 2999-12-31 accepted if DOB unknown |
^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
| SubjectLevelGrade | Qualification grade | 20 | Accepted values: • A* to G • Distinction • Merit • 9 to 1 • 9-9 to 1-1 • U • X • Q -2 also accepted for unknown value |
^(A*|A|B|C|C*|D|E|F|G|U|X|Q|Distinction|Merit|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|1-1|2-1|2-2|3-2|3-3|4-3|4-4|5-4|5-5|6-5|6-6|7-6|7-7|8-7|8-8|9-8|9-9|-2) |
| SubjectLevelUniformMark | Qualification level uniform mark total -2 for qualifications that do not use uniform mark scale |
21 | Up to 4-digit integer accepted -2 accepted for qualifications that do not use uniform mark scale |
^(?:-2|\d{1,4})$ |
| SubjectLevelScaledMark | Qualification level scaled mark. Total mark after scaling or weighting has been applied – applicable for linear qualifications and any qualification that does not use uniform mark scale. -2 accepted for qualifications that use uniform mark scale |
22 | Up to 3-digit integer accepted -2 accepted for qualifications that use uniform mark scale |
^(?:-2|\d{1,3})$ |
| PrivateCandidate | To indicate if the student is a private candidate. | 23 | Accepted values: • 0 for no • 1 for yes -2 accepted if not available or unknown |
^(1|0|-2)$ |
Template 3 - Student unit or component-level results data
Specific Completion Guidelines
- For each qualification, provide the student-level data for all students completing the qualification in the relevant exam series for the current academic year, including those who were absent from the assessments or whose results were queried.
- Submit 1 row of data per component result per student per qualification. Include all components within the qualification for which the result is reported.
- For unitised qualifications available in Northern Ireland, include results of units taken in previous exam series if those contribute to a qualification result reported in Template 2. Report each unit results using the ExamSeries value corresponding to the series in which the student took the unit assessment rather than the series in which the final qualification result was received.
- For linear qualifications, report each component result using the ExamSeries value corresponding to the series in which the final qualification result was due to be received. This also applies to carry-forward NEA results.
- Include non-exam assessments including endorsements.
- Include component outcomes for absent students or where the component outcome is still to be determined with RawUnweightedMark equal to -2.
File format
The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.
| Name | Description | Position | Description of Regular Expression | Validation Regular Expression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ReportingDate | 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 (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted yyyy-mm-dd |
^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
| ExamSeries | Exam series data relates to, for example June 2024 | 2 | Full month name of exam series and year | ^(January|November|June)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$ |
| AwardingOrganisation | 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}$ |
| QAN | The unique identifier for the qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications, for example, 123/1234/1 | 4 | Valid qualification number. 10 characters accepted | ^.{10}$ |
| QualificationLevel | Type of qualification | 5 | Accepted values: • GCSE • AS • AEA • A level • Project L3 |
^(GCSE|AS|AEA|A level|Project L3)$ |
| UnitOrComponentCode | Component or unit code as designated in the specification | 6 | 1 to 10 characters accepted | ^.{1,10}$ |
| CertificationCode | Certification code also known as Entry or Option code for which a qualification result is to be reported | 7 | 1 to 7 characters accepted | ^.{1,7}$ |
| SpecificationCode | Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code | 8 | 1 to 7 characters accepted | ^.{1,7}$ |
| SpecificationTitle | Specification title, also known as subject title | 9 | 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| CentreNo | Centre’s National Centre Number as allocated by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) | 10 | Valid NCN. 5-digit integer accepted Higher NCN code not accepted |
^\d{5}$ |
| CentreCandidateNumber | Student identifier as supplied by the centre | 11 | 1 to 10 characters accepted | ^.{1,10}$ |
| UniqueCandidate Identifier | Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI) | 12 | Valid UCI. Alpha numeric 13 characters accepted -2 accepted if not available |
^(?:-2|.{13})$ |
| ULN | Unique Learner Number (ULN) provided by the Learning Records Service | 13 | Valid ULN. 10 digits accepted -2 accepted if not available |
^(?:-2|\d{10})$ |
| FirstName | Student’s first name. If middle name cannot be separated from first name, please provide both names in the FirstName field and leave the MiddleNames field blank |
14 | 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| MiddleNames | Student’s middle names | 15 | 0 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{0,150}$ |
| Surname | Student’s surname or family name | 16 | 1 to 150 characters accepted | ^.{1,150}$ |
| Sex | Student’s sex | 17 | Accepted values: • M for male • F for female -2 accepted for other or not stated |
^(M|F|-2)$ |
| DOB | Student’s date of birth | 18 | The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted yyyy-mm-dd 2999-12-31 accepted if DOB unknown |
^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
| RawUnweightedMark | Final raw unweighted mark for the component before any weighting has been applied | 19 | Up to 3-digit integer accepted -2 accepted for absent students or where raw marks are still to be determined |
^(?:-2|\d{1,3})$ |
| UniformMark | Uniform mark for the unit (for unitised qualifications available in Northern Ireland) | 20 | Up to 3-digit integer accepted -2 accepted for qualifications that do not use Uniform Mark Scale |
^(?:-2|\d{1,3})$ |
| UnitGrade | Grade for the component or unit, where available | 21 | Accepted values: • A* to G • U • X • Q • 9 to 1 • 9-9 • 8-8 • 7-7 • 6-6 • 5-5 • 4-4 • 3-3 • 2-2 • 1-1 • Pass • Merit • Distinction • Not Classified -2 accepted if unknown |
^(A\*|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|U|X|Q|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|9-9|8-8|7-7|6-6|5-5|4-4|3-3|2-2|1-1|Pass|Merit|Distinction|Not Classified|-2)$ |
| PrivateCandidate | To indicate if the student is a private candidate. | 22 | Accepted values: • 0 for no • 1 for yes -2 accepted if not available or unknown |
^(1|0|-2)$ |
Validation rules
A data submission is only considered complete once it has successfully passed the validation rules.
If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it. A file may be successful but with warnings. Warnings will not cause failure in the validation process but will highlight entries which may need to be checked. You will receive an email with details of the warning in an attached “Data Validation Warnings Report”. If you receive this, please review the report and contact Ofqual Data Services should the data require any amendment.
The validation rules for this template check that each field is correctly formatted. The correct formatting of the fields are detailed in the ‘file format’ section. Failure to format the fields in line with the validation regular expression will result in unsuccessful validation. Additional validation rules are also in place for this template and may include cross-referencing with other templates. These validation rules along with whether they result in failure or a warning are detailed in the following table.
| Template | Validation rule | Result if not met |
|---|---|---|
| Templates 1ab, 1c, 2 and 3 | ‘AwardingOrganisation’ value is a valid awarding organising acronym from Ofqual register | Fail and rejected |
| Template 1ab | ‘Boundary’ value in template 1ab does not exceed the ‘MaximumRawUnweightedMark’ | Fail and rejected |
| Templates 1ab and 1c | ‘Boundary’ values in templates are in a correct order (i.e., A grade boundary higher than B grade boundary, etc.) | Fail and rejected |
| Template 1c | ‘Boundary’ value in template 1c does not exceed ‘MaxSpecificationMark’ value | Fail and rejected |
| Templates 1ab and 1c | ‘CertificationCode’ value is a valid certification code value as provided in the Specification code data collection | Fail and rejected |
| Templates 2 and 3 | ‘CentreNo’ is a valid reference number in the NCN register. If ‘QualificationLevel’ is Project L3 value for ‘CentreNo’ can also be -2 | Fail and rejected |
| Template 2 | A value other than -2 is submitted for ‘CentrePostcode’ field if ‘CentreNo’ is -2 | Fail and rejected |
| Templates 2 and 3 | ‘CertificationCode’ value is consistent across templates | Pass with warning |
| Templates 2 and 3 | ‘DOB’ value is no less than 5 and no greater than 80 years | Pass with warning |
| Templates 2 and 3 | ‘QAN’ value is a valid qualification number from Ofqual register | Fail and rejected |
| Templates 2 and 3 | ‘QualificationLevel’ value in templates is a valid value for associated QAN | Fail and rejected |
| Template 3 | ‘RawUnweightedMark’ value does not exceed ‘MaximumRawUnweightedMark’ value for the ‘SpecificationCode’ and ‘ComponentCode’ provided in template 1ab | Fail and rejected |
| Template 3 | ‘RawUnweightedMark’ value is within the ‘GradeBoundaryMark’ range provided for the ‘SpecificationCode’ and ‘ComponentCode’ in template 1ab | Pass with warning |
| All templates | ‘ReportingDate’ value matches the 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) | Fail and rejected |
| All templates | ‘SpecificationCode’ value is a valid specification code value as provided in Specification code data collection | Fail and rejected |
| Template 1c | ‘SpecificationCode’ value used in template 1c has a single ‘MaxSpecificationMark’ value | Pass with warning |
| Template 1ab and 1c | ‘SpecificationCode’ value is associated with a valid ‘Tier’ value | Pass with warning |
| All templates | ‘SpecificationCode’ value is consistent across templates | Fail and rejected |
| Template 3 | ‘SpecificationCode’ value and every combination of UCI and ‘CertificationCode’ values in template 3 also exist in template 2 | Pass with warning |
| Template 2 | ‘SubjectLevelGrade’ value is appropriate for the associated higher tier subject. | Pass with warning |
| Template 2 | ‘SubjectLevelGrade’ value of passing grades is associated with ‘SubjectLevelScaledMark’ value that is not equal to zero. | Pass with warning |
| Template 2 | ‘SubjectLevelScaledMark’ value does not exceed the ‘MaximumSpecificationMark’ value for the associated ‘Grade’ as provided in template 1c | Fail and rejected |
| Template 2 | ‘SubjectLevelScaledMark’ value is within the range of associated ‘GradeBoundaryMark’ values provided in template 1c | Pass with warning |
| Templates 1ab and 1c | ‘Tier’ value of -2 is provided for a qualification level that is not GCSE. | Pass with warning |
| Template 3 | ‘UniformMark’ value is no greater than the associated ‘MaximumUniformMark’ value | Fail and rejected |
| Templates 2 and 3 | ‘UniqueCandidateIdentifier’ value is associated with the same ‘Surname’, ‘Sex’ or ‘DOB’ value in the same template | Pass with warning |
| Template 3 | ‘UniqueCandidateIdentifier’ value is associated with the same ‘Surname’, ‘Sex’ or ‘DOB’ value across templates 2 and 3 | Pass with warning |
| Template 1ab | ‘UnitOrComponentCode’ value in template 1ab is associated with a single ‘MaxRawUnweightedMark’ value in the same template | Pass with warning |
| Template 1ab | ‘UnitOrComponentCode’ value in template 1ab has a valid ‘Tier’ value in the same template | Pass with warning |
| Templates 1ab and 3 | ‘UnitOrComponentCode’ value does not have generic values of 01,02,03,04 | Pass with warning |
| Template 3 | ‘UnitOrComponentCode’ values in template 3 are consistent with those in template 1ab | Pass with warning |
Recent changes to this guidance
| Date of change | Description of change |
|---|---|
| 21/09/2026 | Changed validation for ‘CentreNo’ field to accept 5 digits only (or -2) and added validation rule for valid NCN. Changed validation for ‘UniqueCandidateIdentifier’ to accept 13 characters only (or -2) in line with the expectation for a valid UCI. Changed validation for ‘ULN’ to accept 10 digits only (or -2) in line with the expectation for a valid ULN. Added ‘CentrePostcode’ field and validation rules to Template 2. |
| 29/06/2026 | Change fieldname from ‘Gender’ to ‘Sex’. |
Contacts
For all queries or feedback relating to the data collection process, amendments to data previously provided, or for general guidance, please contact:
Data services
Ofqual
2nd floor, 1 Friargate
Station Square
Coventry
CV1 2GN