Corporate report

​​Equalities report 2022 to 2023​

Published 19 July 2023

Applies to England

Introduction

This report summarises how Ofqual has fulfilled its equality duties both as a regulator and an employer. The report covers the period from April 2022 to March 2023. Ofqual’s previous Equalities report covered the period January 2021 to March 2022.

Ofqual’s approach to regulating qualifications has fairness for students and apprentices at its core. This means thinking about how Ofqual’s regulation might affect all students taking regulated qualifications – including those who share particular protected characteristics and those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

As we explain later in the report, Ofqual’s equality objectives for 2023 to 2025 align with our corporate plan, demonstrating that Ofqual has made equality, diversity and inclusion part of our strategic approach.

Ofqual’s equality duties

As a public body, Ofqual is required under the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act) to meet the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). This means Ofqual must give due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

Ofqual is required under The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/353) to publish one or more equality objectives at least every 4 years. Ofqual also has a duty under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (the ASCL Act) to have regard to the reasonable requirements of students and apprentices who take regulated qualifications and National Assessments, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), as well as to the reasonable needs of employers, higher education institutions and the professions. We must consider our equality duties alongside our other statutory objectives, including our objectives to maintain qualification and assessment standards.

In 2019 Ofqual set the following equality objectives as priorities for how we carry out our public functions (as a public authority) and how we treat our staff (as an employer).

Ofqual’s 5 equality objectives for 2019 to 2023 were:

1. To develop, consult on and publish new statutory guidance for awarding organisations on designing valid and manageable qualifications that are as accessible as they can be to all learners who would likely benefit from gaining the qualification

2. To encourage awarding organisations to recognise the relationship between validity and equality

3. To collect more, and more accurate, data on the number and nature of the reasonable adjustments being made for disabled learners taking a wide range of regulated qualifications

4. To evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the most frequently used forms of reasonable adjustment, such as extra time and the use of assistive technology, for learners taking the qualifications we regulate

5. To implement our new diversity and inclusion strategy with the aims of increasing the representation of currently under-represented groups at all levels within Ofqual and strengthening our culture and reputation as a great place to work for everyone

Public authorities are required to publish annually how they demonstrate their compliance with the general PSED. This report sets out Ofqual’s work to achieve these objectives, as well as our broader work towards the PSED.

Ofqual’s role

Ofqual is the independent, expert regulator of qualifications and assessments for England. Ofqual regulates on behalf of students of all ages and apprentices to make sure that qualifications, apprenticeship End-Point Assessments (EPAs) and National Assessments are good quality. Considering the potential equality impacts of our work is a central part of our approach to policymaking and stakeholder engagement.

Ofqual regulates 236 awarding organisations (as of May 2023). In the 2021 to 2022 academic year, these awarding organisations together offered 11,400 active qualifications for which 11 million certificates were issued. Qualification types include GCSEs, AS and A levels, and a broad range of vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs). Ofqual’s Annual qualifications market report for the academic year 2021 to 2022 provides further detail. Ofqual also regulates National Assessments taken by primary school pupils in England.

Ofqual is independent of ministers and is accountable to Parliament. Independence is important for securing confidence in the standards and validity of qualifications for students of all ages, apprentices, and those who use and rely on qualifications. At the same time, Ofqual provides government with expertise in assessment and has a key role in enacting government policy in relation to qualifications. Ofqual works in partnership with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) on technical qualifications and apprenticeship EPAs.

Parliament created Ofqual to:

• secure standards in qualifications, including apprenticeship EPAs
• promote public confidence in qualifications, including apprenticeship EPAs, and National Assessments
• oversee National Assessments and assure their validity
• improve public awareness and understanding of the range of qualifications available to support clarity of choice in the market
• secure that qualifications are provided efficiently and that their price represents value for money
• raise awareness of benefits of regulated qualifications and of being a regulated awarding organisation

Ofqual regulates to make sure that a qualification gives a reliable indication of a person’s knowledge, skills and/or understanding. This means only a person who has been able to demonstrate the required knowledge, skills and/or understanding for a qualification should be awarded that qualification. For example, if the purpose of a qualification is to test a person’s ability safely to build a wall, it should only be awarded to someone who can safely do so. A person, perhaps because of their disability, might not be able to build a wall safely, even with reasonable adjustments, in which case they should not be awarded the qualification. It would not be appropriate for Ofqual to intervene to change this because, by doing so, the qualification would not be valid. In this way, Ofqual needs to balance its statutory objectives with its PSED.

Regulating on behalf of students and apprentices

In all our work, we have committed that students and apprentices will be our compass – their collective interests will shape the approach we take, our decisions and our focus. We pay close attention to the implications of our decisions for teaching and learning, for equality, and for public confidence in qualifications.

Equality objective 1: Publish new guidance on designing and developing accessible assessments

This objective was to develop, consult on and publish new statutory guidance for awarding organisations on designing valid and manageable qualifications that are as accessible as they can be to all learners who would likely benefit from gaining the qualification.

As reported in our Equalities Report 2021 to 2022, Ofqual published statutory guidance on designing and developing accessible assessments in May 2022. As there were no changes to Ofqual’s rules, the guidance took immediate effect and awarding organisations were required to have regard to it straight away. Ofqual expected awarding organisations to reflect the guidance in the production of any new assessment materials commissioned more than 6 months after the date of publication and to be able to demonstrate this. Ofqual committed to monitoring how awarding organisations responded to the guidance and to evaluating its impact.

In December 2022, Ofqual reminded all awarding organisations that they must have regard to the guidance. In early 2023, Ofqual worked with a small sample of awarding organisations to understand the early impact of the guidance, and what they have done in response since its publication. The findings were broadly positive and suggested the awarding organisations sampled were having regard to the guidance and were reflecting it in their processes and training. Ofqual will share the evaluation findings with all awarding organisations to support good practice.

The guidance focuses particularly on written exams or assessments. Respondents’ feedback to Ofqual’s consultation on designing and developing accessible assessments suggested demand for more guidance on practical and performance-based assessment. There were also requests for further guidance on digital (delivered on-screen and online) and remote assessment, and use of assistive technology in assessment. Ofqual is considering whether further guidance that addresses these aspects of assessment is feasible.

Equality objective 2: Encourage awarding organisations to recognise the relationship between validity and equality

The relationship between validity and equality is an important part of Ofqual’s guidance for awarding organisations on designing and developing accessible assessments. Ofqual makes clear the importance of this relationship in its work with awarding organisations. Ofqual has continued to encourage regulated awarding organisations to recognise the relationship between validity and equality. We do this through our ongoing communications and engagement with them, such as at the VTQ Awarding Organisation Equalities Forum and through workshops at the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) Conference 2022 on the theme of equity, diversity and inclusion in qualifications and skills. We have also considered this as we evaluate awarding organisations’ response to the guidance on designing and developing accessible assessments.

Equality objective 3: Collect more data on reasonable adjustments

This objective was to collect more, and more accurate, data on the number and nature of reasonable adjustments being made for disabled learners taking a wide range of regulated qualifications.

For the qualifications Ofqual regulates, we define a reasonable adjustment as ‘an adjustment made to an assessment for a qualification so as to enable a disabled Learner to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding to the levels of attainment required by the specification for that qualification.’ Reasonable adjustments are a legal requirement under the Equality Act. Ofqual’s rules require awarding organisations to have in place, and publish, clear arrangements for making reasonable adjustments for disabled students taking their qualifications. Ofqual’s guidance to awarding organisations suggests that collecting and analysing data on reasonable adjustments would be a positive indicator of likely compliance with these rules. The awarding organisations that offer GCSEs, AS and A levels (also known as exam boards) jointly publish guidance on Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments through the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).

Ofqual has been reviewing the data on reasonable adjustments that we collect from exam boards to consider how the quality of the data can be improved and whether we should collect additional data.

Ofqual collects data from the exam boards about reasonable adjustments made for GCSEs, AS and A levels. Exam boards submit this data as part of their access arrangements data, which includes both data on reasonable adjustments and some types of special consideration (such as changes to the way assessments are taken for students with temporary injuries or illnesses). The data covers only those arrangements granted through Access Arrangements Online (JCQ’s centralised system used by schools, colleges and other exam centres to request access arrangements). This data informs Ofqual’s official statistics reports. The latest Access arrangements for GCSE, AS and A level report, published in November 2022, provides information about the number of access arrangements (including reasonable adjustments) approved for GCSEs, AS and A levels in England during the 2021 to 2022 academic year. This showed:

• There were 512,085 approved access arrangements – up by 14.4% compared to the previous academic year. The upward trend seen before the 2020 to 2021 academic year continued (note in 2021, the decision to cancel the summer exams was announced before the deadline for submitting applications for access arrangements).
• 5,485 centres (92.9% of all exam centres) had approved access arrangements for one or more of their candidates, compared to 5,175 centres (88.2% of all centres) in the previous academic year.
• Among the types of access arrangements approved, arrangements for 25% extra time made up 65.3% of all approved arrangements, compared to 65.8% in the previous academic year.
• There were 61,125 requests for modified papers, up 4.9% on summer 2019. The report compares the numbers against summer 2019 since no GCSE, AS and A level exams took place in summer 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, and therefore data on modified papers was not collected.

In the official statistics, Ofqual uses aggregated data submitted by the exam boards. We also started collecting candidate-level data from the exam boards in 2020. This year, we have been exploring whether this candidate-level data could provide more insight into the use of access arrangements and reasonable adjustments.

Some arrangements – for example, supervised rest breaks – are decided by the student’s school or college, as set out in JCQ’s Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments guidance. Exam boards do not collect data on these centre-delegated arrangements.

Ofqual has gathered information from a sample of VTQ awarding organisations to explore how they administer and monitor requests for reasonable adjustments, including those delegated to schools and colleges. This has improved our understanding of the challenges and potential burden for awarding organisations and schools and colleges of additional data reporting. We will share the findings with all awarding organisations and will reflect on the findings as we consider whether data collection in this area would be proportionate.

Ofqual collects data on the numbers and types of reasonable adjustments made in the National Reference Test (NRT). The NRT provides additional information to support the awarding of GCSEs in England, specifically in English language and maths. Ofqual has contracted the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to develop, administer and analyse the NRT. Students who take the NRT may have the same reasonable adjustments as they will have for their forthcoming GCSE exams. We use the data collected by NFER to monitor patterns in the numbers and types of reasonable adjustments provided. Information about the number and types of reasonable adjustments in the NRT gives us insight to trends of reasonable adjustments in the year 11 cohort.

Equality objective 4: Evaluate the most frequently used reasonable adjustments

This objective was to evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the most frequently used forms of reasonable adjustment for students taking Ofqual-regulated qualifications.

Ofqual resumed research started before the COVID-19 pandemic into the use, management and perceptions of 25% extra time, the most frequently allocated reasonable adjustment in England (as demonstrated by Ofqual’s access arrangements official statistics for 2021-22). Following interviews conducted with GCSE and A level students, teachers and special educational needs coordinators (SENCos) in autumn 2019, around 400 students completed a survey in late 2022 and 15 of them participated in follow-up interviews. Survey participants were predominantly GCSE and A level students, although some were taking vocational and technical qualifications.

Ofqual shared preliminary findings of this research with some awarding organisations at the Ofqual Assessment Seminar in March 2023 and is aiming to publish this research later in the year.

Ofqual will continue research into the allocation and effectiveness of reasonable adjustments, including 25% extra time. This includes using available data to gain a better understanding of reasonable adjustment requests.

Ofqual will also continue to seek the views and experiences of stakeholders about the use of reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates taking exams and other assessments, including through discussion at the Access Consultation Forum and the VTQ Stakeholder Equalities Forum.

Equality objective 5: Implement our diversity and inclusion strategy

This objective was to implement our new diversity and inclusion strategy with the aims of increasing the representation of currently under-represented groups at all levels within Ofqual and strengthening our culture and reputation as a great place to work for everyone.

Ofqual developed and launched its 2022 to 2025 People Strategy in April 2022. The People Strategy contains four priority areas of work, one of which is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

Ofqual’s staff take part in the annual Civil Service People Survey, which asks a range of questions about being treated fairly at work, feeling valued for their work and respecting individual differences. Ofqual’s inclusion and fair treatment score in the annual People Survey 2021 increased from 85% to 90% against the Civil Service benchmark of 81%. This is the fourth-highest inclusion and fair treatment score across the 104 participating UK departments, and the highest score of all participating departments in England.

The percentage of staff reporting discrimination fell by 1 percentage point to 3%. The percentage of staff reporting bullying and harassment remained at 3%. Both of these results are below the Civil Service benchmarks of 7%.

Over the past 12 months, Ofqual has delivered on EDI commitments set out in our People Strategy. These include publishing a new Health and Wellbeing policy and introducing a workplace adjustment passport. We have also appointed a Carers Champion and launched the Ofqual Carer’s Passport. Ofqual’s 2022 Gender Pay Gap Report was published in March 2023.

Recruitment

Ofqual continues to advertise and promote jobs across a range of platforms to encourage more diverse applicants. We have used a positive EDI statement in our job adverts and introduced a targeted positive action statement where there is under representation.

Between April 2022 and March 2023, 39.6% of all applicants to roles at Ofqual came from an ethnic minority background. 19% of overall applicants declared a disability. 29% of candidates interviewed were from ethnic minority backgrounds and 23.8% of candidates interviewed declared a disability. 22% of employment offers were made to candidates from an ethnic minority background and 23% of employment offers were made to candidates declaring a disability. Ofqual monitors recruitment data monthly to analyse trends and check that we are reaching and attracting diverse audiences and under-represented groups.

Staff profile

Ofqual is committed to recruiting and retaining expert, engaged people and we continue to develop a more diverse workforce to reflect the communities we serve.

As of March 2023, 98% of Ofqual employees declared their ethnicity. 95.1% of colleagues declared their disability status, up from 75% in 2022.

As of March 2023, Ofqual’s headcount was 347 and the proportion of staff in all 4 of the following equality monitoring categories has increased. Just over a fifth (21.4%) of staff were from an ethnic minority background, 63.7% of staff were female, 14.5% had a declared disability and 4.5% identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other (LGBO). The median age of our workforce was 42.

Declared ethnicity

Ethnicity	2023 Ofqual	2021 Census
Ethnic minority	21.3%	18.3%
White	74.8%	81.7%

Declared gender

Gender	2023 Ofqual	2021 Census
Male	36.3%	49%
Female	63.7%	51%

Declared disability

Disability	2023 Ofqual	2021 Census
	14.1%	17.7%

Identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other (LGBO)

Sexual orientation	2023 Ofqual	2021 Census
	4.5%	3.2%

Declared religion

Religion	2023 Ofqual	2021 Census
Christian	33.9%	46.2%
Religious minority	12.3%	16.6%
No religion	43.2%	37.2%

Average age

Average age	2023 Ofqual	2021 Census
	42	40

Over the next 12 months Ofqual will continue work towards the EDI priority objectives set out in our People Strategy. This includes seeking carer accreditation (in line with the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy) and continuing to improve EDI data and reporting capability, for example reporting social economic background.

Ofqual will again take part in the annual Civil Service People Survey in 2023 which provides valuable insight into how colleagues feel about inclusion and fair treatment at Ofqual.

Other equalities work

This section explains other equalities work that contributes to Ofqual’s PSED.

Arrangements for exams and assessments in 2022

Summer 2022 saw a full exam series for GCSE, AS and A level qualifications delivered for the first time since 2019. This was a significant achievement for all in the sector, particularly in light of the various changes to exams to recognise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The assessment arrangements for these qualifications followed joint public consultation with the Department for Education (DfE). There was an unprecedented package of support for students taking exams in 2022. This included:

• changes to non-exam assessment in many subjects to take account of public health restrictions at the time students were completing the work

• some choice of content taught in some GCSE subjects

• production of advance information
• formulae and equation sheets for students to use in class and during their exams in GCSE maths, physics and combined science
• more generous grading of exams

Ofqual regulates the exam boards that deliver GCSEs, AS and A levels and they also made changes to the way they delivered exams, working collectively through JCQ. These included changing the exam timetable to reduce the likelihood of students who were ill or required to self-isolate missing all assessments in a subject, and changing the minimum threshold required for students absent from exams with good reason to receive a grade.

In September 2021, Ofqual confirmed the approach to grading for GCSEs, AS and A levels as a transition year to return to pre-pandemic grading arrangements, reflecting the impact of the pandemic. This meant that GCSE, AS and A level results were higher overall than in 2019 when exams last took place, and lower than 2021 when a completely different method of assessment was used. 2022 marked a welcome return to formal exams that are set, marked and graded by examiners. All students take the same assessments at the same time, under the same conditions and they are marked anonymously, giving students a fair chance to show what they know, understand and can do.

The academic year 2021 to 2022 also marked a return to large-scale exams and formal assessments in vocational and technical qualifications and other general qualifications for the first time since 2019. Ofqual worked with DfE to publicly consult on the assessment and awarding arrangements for VTQs. These arrangements enabled awarding organisations to make adaptations to their assessments and qualifications to assist in mitigating the ongoing impact of the pandemic. Following this consultation, DfE confirmed its policy position that exams and other assessments should go ahead and the permitted scope of adaptations for VTQs used in performance tables, Functional Skills and T Levels. Ofqual confirmed details of its rules, the Vocational and Technical Qualifications Contingency Regulatory Framework (VCRF), which gave awarding organisations flexibility to successfully award hundreds of thousands of VTQ certificates during 2021 to 2022.

A summary of Ofqual’s role in overseeing delivery of exams and formal assessments in 2021 to 2022 can be found in GCSE, AS and A level summer report 2022 and Delivery and award of vocational and technical qualifications in 2022.

Ofqual carried out equality impact assessments as part of its public consultations on assessments arrangements for 2021 to 2022 to consider the potential impact of the proposals on students with particular protected characteristics.

Equalities analyses 2022

In autumn 2022, Ofqual published equalities analyses for GCSEs, A levels and VTQs taken in schools and colleges and included in DfE’s performance tables. The details of the analyses are included in our report, Student-level equalities analyses for GCSE, A level and VTQ - 2022. Our aim was to investigate whether differences in results between groups of students with different protected characteristics and socio-economic status changed in 2022 compared with previous years.

Ofqual produced equalities analyses for the first time in 2020, and again in 2021, when exams did not take place. We did this to examine whether the exceptional arrangements in those years introduced systematic bias in outcomes that could be attributed to students’ protected characteristics or socio-economic status. The analyses controlled for several factors, including prior attainment, as prior attainment is the strongest predictor of a student’s results. The analyses looked at changes in attainment between years because there are existing differences across groups of students that may affect results, in other words differences in attainment by student characteristic are long-standing, rather than arising from the way in which that attainment is measured (so the exams or assessments students take).

The detailed reports for 2020 and 2021 showed different changes in attainment including in relation to sex, centre type, SEND in both years, but did not indicate a clear pattern by characteristic across qualification type. Overall the findings in 2020 and 2021 (GCSEs and A levels and VTQs) found no evidence of systemic bias.

In reporting the small, relative changes in overall outcomes in the 2021 analyses, which included both widening and narrowing of gaps, we noted this could reflect the impact of the pandemic on students’ education and the impact of the change in assessment arrangements. It is impossible to disentangle the two sources of impact.

Despite the return to exams in 2022, Ofqual again produced this equalities analyses (it was not produced in exam years prior to 2020). We did this to provide the sector with an additional source of information about educational attainment by pupil characteristic. Ofqual’s analyses account for prior attainment, which data published by DfE does not. Stakeholders welcomed this additional information to allow them to consider changes over time for students with different characteristics.

The 2022 analyses considered gender, ethnicity, and SEND, free school meal eligibility (FSM), and socio-economic status (SES). In addition, the analyses for GCSEs and A levels considered English as an additional language (EAL). We evaluated the impact of each demographic and socio-economic characteristic on students’ results, once other factors, including prior attainment, were controlled for. We compared the 2022 results, when exams took place, with the 2021 results, when grades were determined by teachers for GCSEs, A levels, and many VTQs, and with the 2019 results, the last year exams took place before the pandemic.

The majority of analyses comparing groups of students showed no notable change in attainment gaps in 2022, compared with both pandemic and pre-pandemic years. ‘Notable changes’ refer to changes in attainment gaps that are considered to go beyond normal year-on-year variation, as some degree of minor fluctuation is always expected. Attainment gaps and notable changes over time varied across qualifications. Full details are available in the report.

To summarise, for GCSE, the analyses showed only a small number of notable changes in attainment gaps. In relation to ethnicity, there was a narrower gap in the attainment of Gypsy and Roma students compared to White British students. Notable changes in attainment gaps in relation to school and/or college type and socio-economic background were varied, with some attainment gaps narrowing and others widening. For A level, the analysis showed some notable changes in results in relation to gender: male students had higher outcomes than female students, similar to pre-pandemic years. The analyses also identified notable changes in attainment gaps in relation to ethnicity and school and/or college type, with some attainment gaps narrowing and others widening.

For VTQs, findings varied across the different groups of qualifications considered. Overall, the analyses identified fewer notable changes in attainment gaps compared to those observed for GCSEs and A levels and these were in relation to ethnicity and students’ prior attainment levels only.

In autumn 2023, we plan to repeat this equalities analyses for summer 2023.

Information for students and parents

It is important that students of all ages, apprentices and their parents have access to information about the regulated qualifications they take so they can be confident in them. Ofqual has continued to provide information for students and their parents about the arrangements for regulated qualifications. This included an Ofqual Student Guide 2023, with a summary PDF version.

As in other years, we directed students seeking information and support after receiving their qualification results to the Exam Results Helpline run by the National Careers Service. We briefed the helpline team about the arrangements in place for regulated qualifications in 2022 to 2023 so they could provide information and support for students. Within the student guide, we signposted students who had concerns about possible discrimination to the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). EASS briefed us on its remit to support with the signposting of students to its helpline, and we briefed EASS about the assessment arrangements for 2022 so that they could support any students who contacted them.

Working with stakeholders

Ofqual works with stakeholders with an interest in equalities to help us understand the equality impact of our work and to inform our regulatory approach. This year we spoke regularly with a range of stakeholders, including groups that represent the interests of, or teach, students who share particular characteristics, including disabled students. We also spoke with officials at DfE and IfATE – about areas of mutual interest that concern the accessibility of assessments to students.

Ahead of the release of summer 2022 exam results Ofqual met with equalities stakeholders, to support their understanding of the exam arrangements – such as advance information in GCSEs, AS and A levels, and adaptations in vocational and technical qualifications. As well as discussing the package of support for students, we emphasised Ofqual’s statutory responsibility to ensure that qualification results remain a reliable measure of students’ knowledge, skills and understanding.

In November, Ofqual held a stakeholder briefing for the publication of the summer 2022 student-level equalities analyses for GCSE, A level and vocational and technical qualifications.

Ofqual attended Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) Conference 2022 on the theme of equity, diversity and inclusion in qualifications and skills to deliver workshops on reasonable adjustments with FAB. The sessions were well attended and sought to increase awarding organisations’ understanding of reasonable adjustments and their responsibilities in this area.

Ofqual responded to concerns from Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) about the availability of modified past papers for blind and partially-sighted students taking GCSEs, AS and A levels. We worked constructively with RNIB and the exam boards to confirm current practice and to explore whether more could be done to improve access to and understanding of the current arrangements.

Ofqual has also worked with Colour Blind Awareness, a non-profit organisation offering help and advice on colour blindness. In February, Ofqual hosted a meeting with exam boards and Colour Blind Awareness to discuss the challenges of developing assessments that are as accessible as possible to colour blind students. Ofqual will raise awareness of accessibility for colour blind students with awarding organisations more widely.

Ofqual has worked with IfATE to consider compatibility of the IfATE EDI strategy, employer EDI toolkit and Reasonable Adjustments guidance, with awarding organisations’ responsibilities under Ofqual’s General Conditions of Recognition.

Ofqual continues to engage with a range of organisations with an interest in equalities, such as offering meetings during consultations, including Level 3 and 2 VTQ qualification reforms.

Access Consultation Forum  (ACF)

Ofqual organises and hosts the ACF to bring together organisations that represent the interests of disabled students with awarding organisations and other qualifications regulators. The forum discusses issues that affect the accessibility of the qualifications and assessments we regulate. The focus is primarily, although not exclusively, on the accessibility of general qualifications for disabled students. ACF also considers accessibility issues relating to vocational and technical qualifications and National Assessments and can consider issues affecting students with other protected characteristics.

We make meetings of the ACF as inclusive as possible, making arrangements to accommodate any access needs of attendees. During the reporting period, we briefed ACF attendees on our Equalities Analyses 2022 and the evaluation activities following the publication of Ofqual’s statutory guidance on designing and developing accessible assessments. We provided an overview of Ofqual’s equality objectives 2023 to 2025, highlighting our approach to integrating the equalities objectives into our corporate plan.

VTQ Awarding Organisation and Stakeholder Equalities Forums

Ofqual’s VTQ Awarding Organisation Equalities Forum gives Ofqual and awarding organisations an opportunity to share current practice, ask questions or raise concerns relating to equalities in VTQs. This includes awarding organisations solely offering End-Point Assessments. The Forum also provides opportunities to discuss data and research and gather feedback from attendees about Ofqual VTQ programmes of work or consultations.

Ofqual’s VTQ Stakeholder Equalities Forum operates in a similar way. It helps us better understand centres’ experience of equalities issues, such as the provision of reasonable adjustments. This Forum is mainly attended by centres with an interest in equalities, including training providers, colleges and alternative provision or hospital schools.

We have used the meetings to share work on the link between equality and validity as well as covering:

• Ofqual’s statutory guidance on designing and developing accessible assessments, evaluation of the early impact of the guidance, and understanding demand for further guidance that addresses practical, performance based and digital assessment
• reasonable adjustments, including consideration of the data awarding organisations and centres collect; their policies and procedures and their interest in guidance materials produced by Ofqual, IfATE or FAB
• an overview of the summer results’ Equalities analysis 2022

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

Ofqual has continued to engage with EHRC at both senior and policy level to discuss equality-related matters of shared interest. EHRC attended our briefing in August 2022 on the publication of our equalities analyses 2022.

As reported in our Equalities report 2021-2022, Ofqual made EHRC aware of some centres charging disabled private candidates (students who have not studied with the school or college where they take their exam or assessment) for reasonable adjustments. EHRC decided to produce guidance on meeting the costs of reasonable adjustments for private disabled exam candidates. The guidance will set out the relevant legal framework to help organisations, including Ofqual-regulated awarding organisations and exam centres understand their relative responsibilities. Ofqual is speaking with EHRC about this guidance and supporting EHRC’s consultation engagement with stakeholders.

Enquiries and complaints

Ofqual has improved the accessibility of its public enquiry services during the reporting period, building on previous improvements for people wanting to raise concerns through our complaints service. This reflects our commitment to review and update our services to meet public sector accessibility requirements.

We continue to encourage people to contact us by whichever communication method is appropriate for them and are mindful of any support needs. We communicate with our customers through a range of channels, including online, by phone, and by letter. If people are unable to access our web pages or digital services, our accessibility statement explains how we will support them to resolve this. Our staff are trained to identify and support vulnerable people’s needs, engage with advocates who support vulnerable people, and flexibly respond to individual needs. When responding, we aim to use plain, accessible language.

We have designed our services to capture and share information about the enquiries we receive. This means we can identify trends, for example about the numbers of enquiries related to reasonable adjustments or special consideration.

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, 159 of the 3,956 public enquiries we handled (around 4%) were logged as relating primarily to reasonable adjustments, special consideration, access arrangements or protected characteristics.

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, 35 of the 738 complaints we received (around 5%) related primarily to arrangements for reasonable adjustments or special consideration.

GCSE British Sign Language

Ofqual has developed proposed assessment arrangements for new GCSE qualifications in British Sign Language (BSL). These arrangements set out how DfE’s proposed subject content, which requires no prior knowledge of BSL and is focused on language learning, would be assessed to support valid and reliable results. Ofqual’s proposals have been developed to promote valid and well-designed assessments that offer quality and fairness for students.

While the proposed subject content is designed for students for no prior knowledge of BSL, DfE has proposed that the qualification be accessible more widely, including for students who might wish to take a GCSE in their first or primary language. Some of these students might normally use BSL as a reasonable adjustment for some of their formal assessments in other subjects. Ofqual is considering requiring GCSE BSL assessments to be made available in both English and BSL as part of the standard assessment model. This would mean that students who use BSL as their first or primary language due to their disability would not need to apply for a reasonable adjustment to access the assessments in BSL.

Ofqual is publicly consulting on the proposed assessment arrangements for GCSEs in BSL and seeking views on the language(s) to be used as part of the standard assessment model. Anyone interested in reading and commenting on these proposals can do so until 11:45 pm on 7 September 2023.

Reasonable adjustments for disabled students who miss all their assessments due to their disability

Every year, reasonable adjustments are made to assessments or to the way an assessment is conducted, to reduce or remove disadvantage caused by a student’s disability, without undermining the integrity of the assessment. Some adjustments are the responsibility of the school, college or other exam centre entering the student for the exam and others can only be put in place by the relevant awarding organisation. Adjustments are determined on a case-by-case basis and can include allowing a student to take exams at home or in hospital if they are unwell.

In 2022, the exam boards that offer GCSEs, AS and A levels were able to use alternative evidence as a reasonable adjustment to determine a grade in exceptional circumstances where disabled students were unable to take exams and assessments, even with other reasonable adjustments in place, due to the extent of their disability.

Exam boards worked together to consider such exceptional cases to respond to them in a consistent way. Ofqual discussed with the exam boards how they planned to deal with such cases to consider the potential implications for compliance with the regulatory framework.

This meant that in a small number of exceptional cases in 2022, where there was supporting medical evidence, exam boards were able to use an alternative assessment approach to determine grades for those students. Senior examiners used robust assessment evidence provided by schools and colleges to determine a grade without the student taking the scheduled exams and assessments. Exam boards considered each individual situation carefully, case by case, and ensured that the work was assessed by their examiners to the same performance standard as the work of students who took formal exams.

As part of the resilience arrangements for exams and assessments for 2022, Ofqual provided guidance on how schools and colleges should collect and retain evidence of student performance in the unlikely event that exams could not go ahead as planned. That meant that schools and colleges would be more likely to have the assessment evidence that they would need to provide to the exam boards so that they could determine a grade.

Equality impact assessments

Equality impact assessments (EIAs) are an important part of Ofqual’s policy development process. In our EIAs, we identify the potential positive and negative impacts of the proposed policy approach for people who share particular characteristics, including protected characteristics.

EIAs help us to consider how we can mitigate or eliminate any negative impacts and promote equality. To make sure we have identified and considered as many of these impacts as possible, we ask respondents to our consultations whether there are any impacts we have not identified, and whether they have suggestions for how any negative equalities impacts could be removed or mitigated.

Before Ofqual finalises any policy decision, we consider all the potential equality impacts, including any new impacts raised by respondents that we might not previously have identified, to decide whether there are steps we can take to remove, reduce or mitigate any potential negative impacts. Where we can, we may reconsider proposals in response to issues raised or gather further information to help assess the impact. On occasion, we might decide that such impacts are unavoidable. Where a negative impact cannot be mitigated, we set out clearly and transparently the reason why this is the case in the EIA.

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, Ofqual launched 9 consultations and published decisions on 7 consultations, some of which had been consulted on in the previous financial year. We included EIAs in all our consultations, taking account of any consultation feedback on potential equality impacts.

Ofqual identified potential positive equality impacts in 6 of the 9 consultations launched in this reporting period. These were:

• ​​Regulating alternative academic and alternative technical qualifications at level 3
• Updates to the End-Point Assessment Qualification Level Guidance
• Regulating level 1 and 2 qualifications designed to lead to employment

• Regulating level 2 qualifications supporting progression to T Levels

• Regulating level 2 and below qualifications supporting progression to higher levels of study
• Updating Qualification Level Conditions for T Level Technical Qualifications

Ofqual identified potential negative equality impacts in 2 of the 9 consultations launched in this reporting period:

• Regulating alternative academic and alternative technical qualifications at level 3
• Ensuring the resilience of the qualifications system in 2023: GCSE, AS, A level, Project and AEA

Other consultations published during this period were:

• Regulating academic and technical qualifications at level 3
• Subject-level conditions and guidance for new French, German and Spanish GCSEs
• Consultation on designing and developing accessible assessments

Further information is available in the EIAs in the relevant consultations.

Website accessibility

Ofqual wants as many people as possible to be able to use its website and is committed to achieving at least the requirements of the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. Most of Ofqual’s website and associated digital services meet this requirement. For any non-accessible communications such as older PDF documents and videos without subtitles, details on how to contact us about accessibility needs are documented in Ofqual’s accessibility statement.

Equalities as part of Ofqual’s strategic approach

Ofqual’s approach to regulating qualifications has fairness for students and apprentices at its core. This means thinking about how our regulation might affect all students taking regulated qualifications – including those who share particular protected characteristics and those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Ofqual’s corporate plan 2022 to 2025 sets out our strategic priorities and embeds fairness and equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of Ofqual’s strategy and work programme.

Ofqual’s corporate plan includes 4 strategic priorities:

1. Quality and fairness for students and apprentices

2. Clarity, effectiveness and efficiency in the qualifications market

3. Shaping the future of assessment and qualifications

4. Developing Ofqual as an effective, expert regulator and inclusive employer

In March 2023, Ofqual published its Equality Objectives 2023 to 2025. We chose to base our equality objectives on priorities 1 and 4. Equalities and fairness in assessment runs through much of Ofqual’s work so the objectives do not attempt to capture all that we do in this area, rather they set out priority areas of work. Committing to equality objectives that align with Ofqual’s corporate plan embeds equality, diversity and inclusion into Ofqual’s strategic approach.