Guidance

E-assessment / Errata: Guide to the data submission process

Updated 21 September 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.

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 all assessments for the qualifications, countries and time periods in scope and capture delivery types, errors in assessment materials and errata.

Qualifications in scope

The following qualification types are in scope of this collection:

• GCSE (including short course)
• AS
• A level

Data should include both exam and non-exam assessments, including endorsements.

Countries in scope

Data should be included for all learners in centres in:

• England
• Northern Ireland (on behalf of CCEA Regulation)

Time period in scope

Data is collected for the summer 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.

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 1 row of data per delivery type per assessment material per component assessment. For unitised qualifications available in Northern Ireland, submit 1 row of data per assessment material per unit.
4. Include all papers and components, even if there have been 0 entries.
5. Accepted values for the AssessmentMaterialsType are described in Appendix A.
6. DeliveryType refers to the way the assessment material is presented not necessarily how students respond to the assessment. Accepted values for the DeliveryType field are described in Appendix B.
7. Errata and errors captured in fields ErrataIssuedBeforeStartOfExam and ErrorIdentifiedAfterExamStart, should be at component level.
8. For rows relating to standard, online or onscreen assessments, fields IssuedFreeFromError, ErrataIssuedBeforeStartOfExam and ErrorIdentifiedAfterExamStart are binary fields (1 or 0) indicating whether the assessment had any errata notices issued, or any errors identified after the exam started. For instance, if an assessment had 3 separate errata notices issued, a value of 1 would be expected, not 3.
9. For rows of data relating to modified papers, fields IssuedFreeFromError, ErrataIssuedBeforeStartOfExam and ErrorIdentifiedAfterExamStart (fields 14, 15 and 16) should total up to the value in field TotalNoOfVersionsPerDeliveryType (field 13). For example, TotalNoOfVersionsPerDeliveryType having value of 10 would indicate that 10 different modified versions were created. If 4 of the 10 different modified versions had errata notices issued, the value 4 should be entered for ErrataIssuedBeforeStartOfExam. If another 1 of the 10 different modified versions had an error identified after the exam started the value 1 should be entered for ErrorIdentifiedAfterExamStart. This would mean that the remaining 5 of the 10 different modified versions were issued free from error and the value 5 should be entered for IssuedFreeFromError.

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|March|June|November)([ ][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 100 characters accepted	^.{1,100}$
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}$
SpecificationTitle	Specification title also known as subject title	5	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
SpecificationCode	Specification code also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code	6	1 to 7 characters accepted	^.{1,7}$
CertificationCode	Certification code also known as cash-in or entry code	7	1 to 7 characters accepted	^.{1,7}$
QualificationLevel	Type of qualification	8	Accepted values: • GCSE • AS • A level	^(GCSE|AS|A level)$
UnitOrComponentCode	Unit or component code as designated in the specification. If a component has sub-components, they should be identifiable from a unique value within the unit code, for example MA02 1, MA02 2	9	1 to 10 characters accepted	^.{1,10}$
UnitOrComponentTitle	Unit or component title	10	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
AssessmentMaterialsType	Type of assessment material as described in Appendix A	11	See Appendix A for accepted values	^(QP|Supporting materials|NEA)$
DeliveryType	Type of delivery for the assessment material as described in Appendix B	12	See Appendix B for accepted values	^(Standard|Modified|Online|On-screen)$
TotalNoOfVersionsPerDeliveryType	Number of assessment versions per delivery type	13	Up to 3-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,3}$
IssuedFreeFromError	For standard, online and on-screen assessments (per the values given in DeliveryType), to indicate if assessment materials were issued without error. For modified assessments, provide the number of versions issued without error	14	For rows with DeliveryType other than ‘Modified’: • 1 for Yes • 0 for No For rows with DeliveryType equals ‘Modified’: • Up to 3-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,3}$
ErrataIssuedBeforeStartOfExam	For standard, online and on-screen assessments to indicate an errata was issued for the assessment. For modified assessments, provide the number of versions for which errata was issued	15	For rows with DeliveryType other than ‘Modified’: • 1 for Yes • 0 for No For rows with DeliveryType equals ‘Modified’: • Up to 3-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,3}$
ErrorIdentifiedAfterExamStart	For standard, online and on-screen assessmentto indicate if an error was identified after the assessment had started. For modified assessments, provide the number of versions for which an error was identified after the assessment had started	16	For rows with DeliveryType other than ‘Modified’: • 1 for Yes • 0 for No For rows with DeliveryType equals ‘Modified’: • Up to 3-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,3}$
ErrorIntroducedByCentre	Binary value to indicate if an error was introduced by the centre during the modification process	17	Accepted values: • 1 for Yes • 0 for No -2 accepted where not applicable	^([0|1|-2)$
NumberOfCandidates	Number of students taking specified assessment type	18	Up to 7-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,7}$

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
Exam Series values in scope of the return	Fail and rejected
ReportingDate’ matches 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
Awarding Organisation is valid acronym in Ofqual register	Fail and rejected
QAN is a valid qualification number in Ofqual register	Fail and rejected
QualificationLevel and QAN match Ofqual register	Fail and rejected
Where DeliveryType is equal to ‘Modified’, the sum of fields IssuedFreeFromError + ErrataIssuedBeforeStartOfExam + ErrorIdentifiedAfterExamStart equals the value in TotalNoOfVersionsPerDeliveryType	Fail and rejected
Where DeliveryType is not equal to ‘Modified’, fields IssuedFreeFromError, ErrataIssuedBeforeStartOfExam and ErrorIdentifiedAfterExamStart are a binary value of 0 or 1	Fail and rejected
Where DeliveryType is not equal to ‘Modified’, ErrataIssuedBeforeStartOfExam and ErrorIdentifiedAfterExamStart are 0, if IssuedFreeFromError is value 1	Fail and rejected

Appendix A: Accepted values for AssessmentMaterialsType field

Accepted values	Description
QP	Question paper (QP) is defined as any written timetabled exam paper
Supporting materials	Supporting materials are defined as any materials that accompany the examination paper, for example, resource booklets, CDs, materials for language orals. For language orals, any booklet providing instructions to teachers/centres is counted as supporting materials. However, student language oral cards should be recorded under NEA.
NEA	Non-exam assessments (NEA) are defined as any type of assessment that is not externally set and taken by students at the same time under controlled conditions, for example, coursework, practicals, performances or orals.

Appendix B: Accepted values for DeliveryType field

Accepted value	Description
Standard	Paper-based assessment materials that are not delivered with modifications, online or on-screen.
Modified	Assessment material that has been modified to provide a reasonable adjustment, including enlarged or coloured paper, enlarged font, braille font and tactile diagrams, modified language, non-interactive electronic question papers and other modifications.
Online	Assessments taken with a live connection to the web and awarding organisations online assessment systems.
On-screen	Assessments taken on-screen without a live connection. This does not include assessment material that was modified to be delivered on-screen as part of a reasonable adjustment (which should be categorised as ‘Modified’ instead).

Recent changes to this guidance

Date of change	Description of change
21/09/2026	Updated the document template and clarified aspects of the text. No changes to requirements.

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