Guidance

Marking Progress: 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 and to fulfil our responsibility as a government department.

What data will be collected?

Data should relate to the progress of marking for the time period and qualifications in scope of the collection.

Qualifications in scope

The following qualification types are in scope of this collection:

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

Countries in scope

Data should be included for all learners in centres in:

• England

Time period in scope

Data is collected at multiple points during the year for the summer 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 the exam series in scope of this collection, there will be more than 1 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

1. Numeric values must not have any formatting.
2. All fields are mandatory unless otherwise specified.
3. This collection is for externally marked components only, we do not require data on moderated components.
4. Submit 1 row of data per component.
5. Where a component can contribute to multiple options, for example, in GCSE History, Religious Studies etc., and there is an overarching specification code which groups the options together, please use this overarching specification code in the ‘SpecificationCode’ field. Where there is not an overarching specification code, please use the ‘SpecificationTitle’ field (field 7) and use -2 in the ‘SpecificationCode’ field.
6. The ‘ScriptsToBeMarked’ field should be based on entries; we accept this may fluctuate with withdrawn entries, late entries, private candidates.
7. The field ‘MarkingPlatform’ should be provided where possible. It is intended to improve understanding of how marking is delivered in practice and to strengthen analysis of marking-related risks.

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	Value	Validation Regular Expression
ReportingDate	Date the file was due to be submitted 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	^(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 •A level	^|(GCSE|AS|A level)|$
QualificationNumber	The unique identifier for the qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications, for example, 123/1234/1	5	Valid qualification number. 10 characters accepted	^.{10}$
SpecificationCode	Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code -2 accepted where a component can contribute to multiple options and there is there is not an overarching specification code	6	1 to 7 characters accepted. -2 accepted where a component can contribute to multiple options and there is there is not an overarching specification code	^.{1,7}$
SpecificationTitle	Specification title also known as subject title	7	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
ComponentCode	Unique identifier for the component (as designated in the specification)	8	1 to 10 characters accepted	^.{1,10}$
ScriptsToBeMarked	The total number of scripts to be externally marked for the series	9	Up to 7-digit integer	^\d{1,7}$
ItemsToBeMarked	The total number of items to be marked for the series. -2 accepted if not available	10	Up to 8-digit integer -2 accepted if not available	^(?:-2|\d{1,8})$
ScriptsMarked	Total number of scripts marked as of data cut-off date	11	Up to 7-digit integer	^\d{1,7}$
ItemsMarked	Total number of items marked as of data cut-off date -2 accepted if not available	12	Up to 8-digit integer -2 accepted if not available	^(?:-2|\d{1,8})$
PanelSize	The total number of examiners in the panel for the given component (including team leaders)	13	Up to 7-digit integer -2 accepted if unknown	^(?:-2|\d{1,7})$
ExaminersWithdrawn	The total number of examiners who are no longer available to mark (for example because they have been permanently suspended or have quit)	14	Up to 7-digit integer	^\d{1,7}$
MarkingPlatform	Marking platform being used -2 accepted if unknown	15	1 to 20 characters accepted -2 accepted if unknown	^.{1,20}$

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’ 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
‘ExamSeries’ value is in scope of the return	Fail and rejected
‘AwardingOrganisation’ is valid acronym	Fail and rejected
‘QualificationNumber’ is a valid qualification number in Ofqual register	Fail and rejected
‘SpecificationCode’ must be consistent with those submitted in the Specification code data collection or is -2	Pass with warning

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 actual requirements were made.

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