Guidance

Delivery of Results: guide to the data submission process

Updated 1 May 2026

Applies to England

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.

What data will be collected?

Data should relate to VTQ results planned to be issued or that have already been issued in the summer.

Qualifications in scope

The following qualification types are in scope of this collection:

Vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) that are included in the Department for Education’s performance tables (PTQs) for the academic year being submitted. These are:

• technical awards
• technical certificates
• tech levels
• applied generals

TQs within T levels

Additional Level 3 qualifications with a minimum of 180 guided learning hours and a minimum of 16 UCAS points awarded, which are taken instead of, or alongside AS and A levels in schools and colleges and are used for progression to further or higher education, or training.

Countries in scope

Data should be included for all students in centres in:

• England

Time period in scope

Data on students expecting results issued for the summer exam series.

When data will be collected

Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is updated regularly.

For the time period 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 second reporting deadline should still include the data from the first 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

1. Numeric values must not have any formatting.
2. All fields are mandatory unless otherwise specified.
3. Submit one row of data per student per centre per qualification.
4. Commas must not be present in any field, unless the text is enclosed by speech marks.
5. Submit UniqueCandidateIdentifier and UniqueLearnerNumber where available. Where UniqueCandidateIdentifier and UniqueLearnerNumber are not available, submit a CandidateIdentifierOther, which is any other unique student number allocated by the awarding organisation.
6. Submit CentreNCN and CentreURN where available. Where CentreNCN and CentreURN are not available, submit a CentreIdentifierOther, which is any other unique centre number allocated by the awarding organisation.

Further part guidance

Part One - Student and centre details, term time checkpoint and SDC information

All AOs in scope for Ofqual’s delivery of results monitoring activity must submit this data. This information will need to be included with each data submission. The submission should include the names of students that centres have confirmed as part of your term-time checkpoint that they are expecting to receive a result by level 2 or level 3 results day in order to progress.

Students should not be removed from the data if they are no longer expecting a result, but this information should be recorded on your later submissions. Students may be entered in subsequent submissions in the case of a late entry or claim.

Any late entry or claim should be indicated as such in the ‘AdditionalInformation’ column and any results issued to students not included in the term-time checkpoint should be identified as ‘AdditionalCertification’ in the ‘ResultIssued’ column.

Values in ‘ExpectingResult’ are required and -2 is not allowed.

A value for ‘AdditionalInformation’ is required and -2 should be entered if no additional information is submitted.

A value for ‘ResultStatus’ and ‘ResultIssued’ is required and -2 should be entered as data will not yet be available.

For the deadline for this submission please see the reporting schedule.

Part 2 – Progress towards results

Only AOs who have been selected for closer monitoring will submit the progress towards results data. Each data submission should be received by the deadlines stated on the reporting schedule. Each deadline date is a Tuesday.

A value for ‘ResultStatus’ is required and -2 is not allowed.

A value for ‘AdditionalInformation’ is required and -2 should be entered if no additional information is submitted.

A value for ‘ResultIssued’ is required and -2 should be entered as data will not yet be available.

For deadlines for this submission please see the reporting schedule. Please note that the last date of this collection overlaps with Part 3. On this date, please ensure that ‘-2’ is entered for any L1/2 and 2 results but ‘ResultIssued’ values are entered as part of the guidance for Part 3.

Part 3 – Results issued

Only AOs who have been selected for closer monitoring will be expected to submit the results issued to students.

This data collection will also capture any results that were late, not issued or of a different qualification to that which was originally expected.

This data collection will also capture any students who received a result in addition to those listed in the term-time checkpoint due to a late claim or entry.

A value for ‘ResultStatus’ is required and -2 will not be accepted.

A value for ‘AdditionalInformation’ is required and -2 should be entered if no additional information is submitted.

A value for ‘ResultIssued’ is required and -2 will not be accepted.

For deadlines for this submission please see the reporting schedule. Please note that the last date of this collection overlaps with Part 2. On this date, please ensure that ‘-2’ is entered for any L1/2 and 2 results but ResultIssued values are entered as part of the guidance for Part 3.

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])$
CentreURN	Centre’s Unique Reference Number as assigned by the Department for Education -2 accepted where centre does not have a URN	2	Valid Centre URN. 6-digit integer accepted. -2 accepted where centre does not have a URN	^(?:-2|.{6})$
CentreNCN	Centre’s National Centre Number as allocated by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) -2 accepted where centre does not have an NCN Higher NCN code not accepted	3	Valid NCN code. 5-digit integer accepted. -2 accepted where centre does not have an NCN Higher NCN code not accepted	^(?:-2|.{5})$
CentreIdentifierOther	Any other unique number allocated to the centre or assessment venue by individual awarding organisation at the time of data submission. Must be provided where CentreURN and CentreNCN are not available. If more than one identifier is available please provide as many as possible. -2 accepted where at least one of CentreNCN, CentreURN or UKPRN have been provided or for students who are not registered to a centre	4	1 to 15 characters accepted. -2 accepted where at least one of CentreNCN or CentreURN have been provided or for students who are not registered to a centre	^.{1,15}$
Centre_name	Name of the centre -2 accepted for students who are not registered to a centre at the time of the data submission	5	1 to 255 characters accepted. -2 accepted for students who are not registered to a centre at the time of the data submission	^.{1,255}$
Postcode	Postcode of the centre -2 accepted for unknown	6	1 to 10 characters accepted. -2 accepted for unknown or students who are not registered to a centre at the time of the data submission	^.{1,10}$
Country	The country where the centre is located	7	Accepted values: • England -2 accepted for unknown	^(?:-2|England)$
CentreType	To indicate centre type based on centre codes	8	A numeric value between 0 and 9 See Appendix A for centre type codes	^[0-9]$
UniqueLearnerNumber	Unique Learner Number (ULN) provided by the Learning Records Service. -2 accepted if not available	9	Valid ULN. 10 digits accepted -2 accepted if not available	^(?:-2|.{10})$
UniqueCandidateIdentifier	Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI) -2 accepted if not available	10	Valid UCI. Alpha numeric 13 characters accepted. -2 accepted if not available	^(?:-2|.{13})$
CandidateIdentifierOther	Any other unique student number allocated by individual awarding organisation. Must be provided where UCI, ULN, are not available. If more than one identifier is available, please provide as many as possible. -2 accepted where at least one of UCI or ULN have been provided	11	1 to 20 characters accepted. -2 accepted where at least one of UCI or ULN have been provided	^.{1,20}$
FirstName	Student’s first name(s) If middle name cannot be separated from first name please provide both names in the FirstName field and leave the MiddleNames field blank	12	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
MiddleNames	Student’s middle name(s), if able to separate out from first names. Can be left blank if not known or unavailable, or if middle names cannot be separated from first names	13	0 to 150 characters accepted Can be left blank if not known, unavailable, or if middle names cannot be separated from first names.	^.{0,150}$
Surname	Student’s surname or family name	14	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
DateOfBirth	Student’s date of birth 2999-12-31 accepted if date of birth not known	15	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	^(19|20|29)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$
Sex	Student’s sex	16	Accepted values: • M • F -2 accepted for other or not stated	^(M|F|-2)$
QualificationNumber	The unique identifier for the qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications for example, 123/1234/1.	17	Valid qualification number. 10 characters accepted	^.{10}$
QualificationTitle	Title of qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications	18	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
QualificationLevel	Level of qualification	19	Accepted values: • L1/2 • L2 • L3	^(L1/2|L2|L3)$
AdditionalInformation	Any useful or pertinent additional information about the student, centre or qualification -2 accepted if no additional information	20	Up to 255 characters -2 accepted if no additional information	^.{1,255}$
ExpectingResult	Status of student expecting a result and whether this is late (YL)	21	Accepted values: • Y • YL See Appendix B for more information on how to categorise this.	^(Y|YL)$
SeniorContactConfirmed	Confirmation that the AO has senior designated contact details and has processes to ensure such contacts are kept up to date when key centre staff change	22	Accepted values: • Y • N • NCN • NCNA See Appendix C for more information on how to categorise this.	^(Y|N|NCN|NCNA)$
ResultStatus	Status of a student’s result at the time of reporting the data. Required for Part 2 for all close monitoring AOs. -2 accepted at Part One of the collection.	23	Accepted values: • S1 • S2 • S3 • S4 -2 accepted at Part One of the collection. -2 also accepted at Part 3 if AO was not selected for close monitoring See Appendix D for more information	^(S1|S2|S3|S4|-2)$
ResultIssued	Status of result issued at the time of reporting the data -2 accepted only at Part One and at Part 2 of the collection	24	Accepted values: • RE • NW • NN • NDE • NPM • NP • RDF • RI • AC • NPM -2 accepted only at Part One and at Part 2 of the collection See Appendix E for more information	^(RE|NW|NN|NDE|NPM|NP|RDF|RI|AC|NPM|-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.

Validation rule	Result if not met
‘ReportingDate’ values match 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
‘CentreNCN’ code is in the NCN register, or the value is -2	Pass with warning
‘QualificationNumber’ is a valid qualification number in Ofqual register	Fail and rejected

Appendix A: Centre Type Codes

Centre Type Code	Centre Type Description	Notes
0	Free school	Free schools are DfE-registered and funded by the government but are not run by the local authority. They’re ‘all-ability’ schools, so cannot use academic selection processes like a grammar school. They do not have to follow the national curriculum. Special schools and PRUs/alternative provision with free school status should also use this category, as should University Technical Colleges and studio schools.
1	LA maintained secondary comprehensive schools	LA maintained secondary comprehensive schools are DfE-registered and state-funded schools for children of all abilities above the age of 11. They do not select their intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. Foundation schools, community schools and voluntary-aided schools are included in this category. LA maintained special schools and PRUs/alternative provision should also use this category.
2	Grammar schools	Grammar schools are DfE-registered and state-funded schools that admit students above the age of 11 on the basis of academic selection criteria. They may be run by the local authority, a foundation body or an academy trust.
3	Secondary modern schools	Secondary modern schools are DfE-registered non-selective schools that recruit students above the age of 11 from the same neighbourhood as a grammar school. They may be run by the local authority, a foundation body or an academy trust.
4	Independent or private school including city technology colleges (CTCs)	Independent schools, also referred to as private schools, are DfE-registered but are not maintained by a local authority or state-funded, and provide full-time education (a) for five or more pupils of compulsory school age or (b) for at least one pupil of that age who is looked after by a local authority (within the meaning of section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or has a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan. City Technology Colleges and independent special schools should use this category. Independent establishments that are not DfE-registered should use the ‘Other’ category (code 8).
5	Further education establishment	Further education establishments are DfE-registered and state-funded, offering study after secondary education that’s not part of higher education (that is, not taken as part of an undergraduate or graduate degree). Courses range from basic English and maths to Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) and include technical and applied qualifications for 16 to 19-year-olds.
6	Sixth form college	Sixth form colleges are DfE-registered and state funded, offering qualifications to students between the ages of 16 and 19, typically to allow them to progress to higher education. Sixth forms which are attached to a school should not use this category.
7	n/a	No longer in use. Centres that previously used this category should select the ‘further education establishment’ category (code 5).
8	Other	This should be used by establishments for which the other categories do not apply. This includes, but is not exclusive to, prison/hospital schools, language schools, tutorials centres, higher education institutions, providers providing part-time teaching only and private examination centres accepting private candidates who they have not taught. Please note that all non-DfE registered centres should use this category.
9	Academies	Academies are DfE-registered and receive funding directly from the government and are run by an academy trust. Academies do not charge fees.

Appendix B: Further guidance for completing the ‘ExpectingResult’ field

• At Part One of the collection, all candidates would be expecting a result. Your checkpoint activities with centres should have enabled you to identify which students are expecting a result in August for the purposes of progression. This means that all students at this stage should have a ‘Y’ for this field.
• As progression towards results takes place, the status of individual learners may change and this will be captured in data returns for Part 2 (if you are selected for the close monitoring activities) and/or Part 3 of the data returns.
• For AOs selected for close monitoring only: if a centre confirms additional students will be expecting a result in August after the checkpoint activity has taken place, these students can be added to this field during the close monitoring submissions. Please submit YL (Yes Late) for these students. Please also ensure that you add a note in the ‘AdditionalInformation’ field to identify these students as late entries. These students’ results should be categorised along with the others from the checkpoint activity and not categorised as AC (Additional Certification)
• When submitting data returns for Part 3 (Results Issued) please include any additional students who were not included in the checkpoint submission in Part One B in this field and identify them as YL (Yes Late). Please also ensure that you add a note in the ‘AdditionalInformation’ field to identify these students as late entries. These students’ results should be categorised as AC (Additional Certification)

Appendix C: Further guidance for completing the ‘SeniorContactConfirmed’ field

The ‘SeniorContactConfirmed’ field is confirmation that the AO has senior designated contact details and has processes to ensure such contacts are kept up to date when key centre staff change. It does not matter if this has been collected through a collaborative process or at AO level. This field is intended to provide Ofqual with assurance that you are confident you could contact an appropriate senior member of centre staff in the event that this becomes necessary.

• AOs who have their SDC details collected for them via the NCN process only should submit ‘NCN’ in this field.
• AOs who have their SDC details collected for them via the NCN process and collect their own SDC data for all their centres in addition to NCN, should submit ‘NCNA’.
• Where an AO collects SDC data through the NCN process for most centres, they should submit NCN for the centres where the data is collected through NCN and for the centres where the AO collects SDC data through their own processes, they should submit a ‘Y’ (yes) or ‘N’ (no).
• All other AOs should submit a ‘Y’ (yes) or ‘N’ (no).

Appendix D – Result status values

-2 is only allowed when submitting Part One data collection

Accepted values	Description
S1	On track to receive result all assessments marked and or moderated: The candidate has all the evidence required for certification to take place and for the result to be issued. All examinations have been marked and moderation has taken place. Any EQA reports have been received and the marks for each unit have been agreed so that results can be issued and certification can take place.
S2	On track to receive result all evidence received: All evidence other than examination scripts required for a certification has been received. Moderation and EQA visits are not yet complete. Any EQA visits should have been booked by centres. If any of this evidence is missing, not yet received or EQA visits not confirmed then the student should be considered as ‘StatusNotConfirmed’. Please note, in the case when a student who previously had all evidence received (S2) but is subsequently subject to a malpractice or maladministration investigation, they should be categorised as StatusNotConfirmed (S4) in further data submissions until the issue is resolved.
S3	No longer expecting result: The candidate is no longer expecting a result. The centre has confirmed that this candidate is no longer expecting a result. The centre may have withdrawn the candidate or have decided not to certificate at this time.
S4	Status not confirmed: There is insufficient evidence for the AO to award a result. The AO is unable to award a result as there may be insufficient evidence as there are units still to be sat or evidence still has to be received, and the centre has not confirmed its intentions or booked an EQA visit. It could also be the case that the student is subject to a malpractice or maladministration investigation, therefore their status is not confirmed.

Appendix E – Result issued values

-2 is only allowed when submitting Part One and Part 2 data collections as well as Part 3 when L1/2 and L2 progress data overlaps with L3 results issued data collections (see reporting schedule for more information).

AOs selected for close monitoring who included additional students in the progress towards results data collections in Part 2 should continue to submit results data for those students in these fields and not as an additional certification.

Accepted values	Description
RE	The student received the result as expected at the term-time checkpoint.
NW	Centre has withdrawn student from the qualification (e.g. student has changed courses or left centre.) Please note, in this field, the student has not received a result because of an action or decision made by the centre.
NN	Centre deferred or confirmed its intention not to claim/cash in certification for student. Please note, in this field, the student has not received a result because of an action or decision made by the centre.
NDE	AO did not certificate student because the centre did not confirm its intention or did not submit sufficient evidence for the AO to be able to certificate. This would also include where a student was absent without good reason or where the reason has not been shared by the centre. Please note, in this field, the student has not received a result because of an action or decision made by the AO (which could be due to lack of engagement from the centre).
NPM	The student has not yet had the result or had the result issued late due to ongoing malpractice/maladministration investigations. Please note, in this field, the student has not received a result because of an action or decision made by the AO (which could be due to lack of engagement from the centre).
NP	The candidate has not yet had the result or had the result issued late due to reasons other than ongoing malpractice/maladministration for example, late claims. Please note, in this field, the student has not received a result because of an action or decision made by the AO (which could be due to lack of engagement from the centre).
RDF	The student has certificated for a different course to that expected at the term-time checkpoint. They may have achieved better than expected results or a greater number of units and were able to ‘top up’ to a larger qualification than expected or may have had lower results, or fewer units completed than expected and therefore ‘stepped down’ and claimed for a smaller qualification.
RI	The student received an incorrect result. This could have been due to an error in processing the candidate results by the AO or an error by the centre, for example submitting results incorrectly. Please note, this is not an attempt to collect information relating to reviews of marking or other items subject to BAU processes for example, late special consideration requests.
AC	The student received a result but was not included in the term-time checkpoint or in the progress towards results data (close monitoring group only). They were not expected at the time of the term-time checkpoint to receive a result, but the centre has made a late claim. Any student that was added during the Part 2 data submission (Progress Towards Results – close monitoring group) should NOT be included as an additional certification.

Recent changes to this guidance

Date of change	Description of change
01/05/2026	Updated the document template and clarified aspects of the text. Updated centre type codes to align with NCN centre types. Also made changes due to non-close monitoring AOs no longer being required to submit data for Part 3.
27/03/2025	Updated the data guidance to add all further explanations of data validation into appendices. Also added the value of “NPM” into the data collection to be an accepted value of ‘ResultIssued’.

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

Email data.services@ofqual.gov.uk