Corporate report

Regulatory Burden Statement – April 2023

Updated 11 April 2024

Applies to England

Overview

Ofqual is the independent qualifications regulator for England, regulating on behalf of students of all ages and apprentices to make sure that qualifications, apprenticeship end-point assessments (EPAs) and National Assessments are of good quality.

Through effective regulation Ofqual makes sure that regulated qualifications are fit for purpose, valid and delivered securely. Students, parents and those who use qualifications and assessments need to be confident that standards are set appropriately and that they can be trusted. Regulation makes sure that information about the qualifications on offer to students is readily available and that there is transparency of pricing. Ofqual holds awarding organisations to account and makes sure that students and apprentices are treated fairly if problems arise. Regulated qualifications support a well-informed labour market, with businesses able to choose people who are best suited for the demands of their work, driving economic growth.

This statement explains the work undertaken in the last 12 months (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023) by Ofqual to prevent the introduction or maintenance of unnecessary burdens on regulated awarding organisations. It also sets out how Ofqual proposes to manage regulatory burden in the next 12 months (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024).

Ofqual is required under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act (ASCL) 2009 to publish an annual statement outlining plans to keep its regulatory functions under review. Additionally, Ofqual is also required to publish information regarding the regulatory provisions imposed in light of the Business Impact Target 2021 to 2022.

Any requirement placed on awarding organisations is a burden, which means that there is a level of unavoidable and necessary burden. Much of Ofqual’s regulatory approach is outcomes-focused, rather than prescriptive. This approach to regulation allows awarding organisations more flexibility to take specific action that is fitting to their context while securing what is in the interests of students and apprentices. Prescriptive requirements are only used where necessary for quality, fairness, or clarity purposes.

Ofqual takes a risk-based approach to regulation, ensuring its approach is proportionate to potential harm and has the greatest impact. To achieve these aims, Ofqual analyses available evidence and evaluates risk to target its regulatory activities in addition to effectively combining its regulatory tools. Each year Ofqual undertakes a range of activities targeted at the most significant risks to qualification standards, fair outcomes for students and apprentices, and public confidence in regulated qualifications. 

In the wake of the most acute impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been a return to relative normality for significant sections of the qualification market in how assessments are delivered.

In 2022 a full series of exam-based assessments were reintroduced across general qualifications and vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) for the first time since 2019. Emergency requirements such as the General Qualifications Alternative Awarding Framework (GQAAF) and the Vocational and Technical Qualifications Contingency Regulatory Framework (VCRF) were withdrawn where possible.

The regulated qualification market has continued to change with the number of regulated awarding organisations continuing to climb. This includes awarding organisations offering EPAs as part of the consolidation of regulation for apprenticeship assessments. Post-16 qualifications have continued to be developed along the lines of the government’s post-16 skills plan, with the first wave of T Level qualifications being awarded in 2022.

Ofqual will carry out its work over the next 12 months being mindful of unnecessary burden. This involves continuing to improve the efficiency of its processes, such as data requests and its communications with awarding organisations. Additionally, a co-regulatory approach will be applied to a number of work programmes, such as the VTQ action plan for 2023.

Activity to manage regulatory burden between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

Regulatory provisions and guidance

The COVID-19 pandemic required regulatory oversight of alternative assessment and awarding arrangements. This was to make sure that students across the country could proceed to the next stage of their educational journey, despite the constraints from public health requirements and disruption to education. Ofqual set out additional requirements through regulatory frameworks for both the GQAAF and VCRF.

Both the GQAAF and VCRF were designed in a way to reduce the unnecessary burden as far as possible, as detailed in Ofqual’s 2022 Regulatory Burden Statement. However, they were still a substantial additional set of requirements for awarding organisations to implement.

The need for extraordinary frameworks has fallen as the acute stage of the pandemic passed and society has scaled back on the broader restrictions put in place. In recognition of this, Ofqual withdrew the GQAAF for future students. Similarly, the VCRF provisions that enabled some qualifications to be awarded through teacher assessed grades as a pandemic mitigation were also withdrawn.

For the academic year 2022 to 2023, VTQ awarding organisations are not expected or required to follow the VCRF. The framework has been retained though, to enable awarding organisations to respond quickly should another exceptional circumstance arise.

Ofqual is particularly mindful of the burden incurred when introducing new rules. For example, in the past year Ofqual carefully evaluated each element of the level 3 qualifications review and decided to introduce new rules where necessary. However, Ofqual did not introduce rules that would duplicate existing approval requirements set by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE).

Ofqual has taken a risk-based approach to its review of awarding organisation’s Centre Assessment Standards Scrutiny processes (CASS). Awarding organisations were required to introduce CASS processes to improve the control they have over the quality of marking in the centres that provide their qualifications. In line with Ofqual’s risk-based and outcomes-focused approaches to regulation, Ofqual reviewed a stratified sample of awarding organisations, seeking to understand their CASS processes. The sample was selected to reflect the impact of different awarding organisations and secure a representative selection. The results of this phase of the review were used to identify areas of risk to compliance with Ofqual’s CASS requirements. A second phase has been started to test the effectiveness of strategies to mitigate those risks, again using a sampling method. The output of the second phase will involve communicating Ofqual’s findings on both the areas at risk and the effectiveness of different risk mitigation strategies. This will support all awarding organisations to improve their risk management frameworks as needed, in a manner that best suits their context.

Communications and engagement with awarding organisations

Ofqual has continued to develop processes to secure clear, efficient, and accessible engagement with awarding organisations.

Consideration has been given to how communications could be packaged for relevant audiences to streamline the number and volume of communications from Ofqual to awarding organisations. A new approach to improve and consolidate communication is the VTQ Regulator’s Briefing. The briefing is designed to highlight important updates for the sector, signposting to further information when required. To help make information easy to access, news and updates were often bundled into single publications where possible.

Digital communications have facilitated more flexible ways for awarding organisations to engage with Ofqual. Webinars have been developed as a way of efficiently disseminating important news, guidance, and training.

Recent webinar recordings and the VTQ Regulator’s Briefing are time-stamped which allows awarding organisations to skim over material that is less relevant for them and focus on specific areas. Additionally, efforts are made to make sure that recorded webinars are subtitled so that hearing-impaired viewers can access materials without any extra steps. Induction sessions are now recorded and shared with newly recognised awarding organisations, supporting the onboarding and training process.

Data requests and compliance monitoring

As pandemic mitigations have concluded or significantly reduced, Ofqual has reviewed the additional meetings and reporting arrangements that were implemented for that context. As a result, some additional engagements between Ofqual and awarding organisations have either been discontinued or had their frequency reduced.

Further efficiencies have been sought through improving the processes through which Ofqual collects data and evidence from awarding organisations, reducing the administrative burden of responding to requests.

For awarding organisations offering general qualifications, the data collection template for the monitoring marking process data collection has now been formalised and made more predictable. This has involved working with awarding organisations to standardise and clarify the data collection template.

For all awarding organisations, a new online portal is now in place to ease the process of submitting information for the annual Statement of Compliance requirement.

Ofqual took the decision this year to move to a risk-based and staged approach regarding requests for additional financial information as part of the Statement of Compliance review. This aligns Ofqual’s requests to the awarding organisations’ natural reporting cycle, preventing the need for additional data generation to meet Ofqual’s compliance timeline.

In addition to improving the format and predictability of requests, Ofqual also consolidated requests to prevent duplication of effort or incurring unnecessary effort. One example of this is marking progress data for both general and vocational and technical qualifications that has been consolidated into a single collection. This removes the need for awarding organisations to repeat a process if they offer both qualification types. Following feedback from awarding organisations, the scope of the special consideration data collection for VTQs has been scaled back.

Working with other regulators and government bodies

Ofqual works constructively with other regulators and government bodies to maximise consistency and coherence across requirements, guidance and processes.

Work was undertaken during this reporting period to prevent the duplication of awarding organisations’ effort in providing the same, or very similar, information multiple times to different bodies. Ofqual has worked with other qualifications regulators to enable a single Statement of Compliance submission that can be used across regulators.

Similar work was undertaken with IfATE to streamline the submission of assessment strategies by aligning organisational requirements regarding T Level technical qualifications.

In the context of the government’s post-16 qualifications review, Ofqual has also worked with the Department for Education (DfE) and IfATE to consider the processes that an awarding organisation encounters when acting in the publicly funded qualifications market and streamline where possible. This includes working in partnership with the DfE and IfATE to streamline guidance and approval processes by supporting the development of a single access point website and deduplicating requirements between organisations.

Ofqual has worked with IfATE and the DfE to allow awarding organisations to forego the need to upload information to the Register of Regulated Qualifications for prospective qualifications at the point of application for approval as a Technical Occupation Qualification or Alternative Academic Qualification.

Ofqual has worked alongside DfE and IfATE in regulating awarding organisations that offer EPAs. The DfE and Ofqual previously ran two separate approval processes for awarding organisations wanting to offer EPAs, with substantial duplication of effort due to the similarity of information required. A new process has been introduced that ‘nests’ Ofqual’s approvals process within the DfE’s. The DfE takes assurance from Ofqual specifically around an organisation’s assessment and sector expertise. The new nested registration process has reduced the requirements of the second stage of the DfE’s registration process by around 80% in terms of the amount of information needed.

Business as usual processes have also been considered across regulators and government bodies. Engagement and communications are coordinated where practicable and desirable, working with other regulators and partner organisations, such as the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment, Qualifications Wales, DfE and IfATE. Event notifications about T Levels are managed via a joint process with IfATE, and data collections for awarding organisations are aligned with IfATE. Where incident management of awarding organisations offering VTQs is needed, the work is conducted jointly across regulators and enforcement action is aligned where appropriate to prevent duplication of tasks. Information on incidents relating to awarding organisations may be shared with the DfE where it is appropriate and lawful to do so.

Approach to managing regulatory burden between April 2023 and March 2024

Continual improvement of process efficiency

Ofqual plans to build on the work outlined above and continue to review its processes in relation to burden imposed on awarding organisations.

For example, there are reviews planned regarding aspects of the recognition user experience. Supporting materials on Ofqual’s website, the design of the recognition gateway website and the expansion process are all to be reviewed with a focus on user experience and whether there is undue friction that can be addressed.

Ofqual is currently conducting research with awarding organisations on the engagement approach and seeking feedback about where improvements and efficiencies could be reasonably made. Ofqual plans to act on the feedback in the next reporting period. Separate to this, analysis of communications conducted through the online portal will be used to monitor and further improve interactions with awarding organisations.

All live general qualification data collections will be reviewed to identify which can be stopped or refined given current data needs. The event notification portal submission process for general qualifications will be reviewed, with consideration given to awarding organisations’ internal reporting and data capture systems to identify and act on the potential to streamline.

Workshops will also be held with awarding organisations offering general qualifications to clarify Ofqual expectations on the submission of event notifications. This will support awarding organisations in providing the required information at the point of initial notification to reduce the need for sustained engagement on relatively minor issues.

There are essential projects being planned which may lead to a necessary increase in information requested from awarding organisations. In each instance, Ofqual will take all steps, including through consultation with awarding organisations, to mitigate the depth of any additional burden where possible. For example, as the work to redevelop the Ofqual Register of Regulated Qualifications proceeds, Ofqual will continue to engage with awarding organisations. This will create an opportunity for inputting into the work, while also assessing the effect that any future changes could have.

In the year ahead, Ofqual will continue work to identify any out-of-date regulations that can be removed, as well as consider any longer-term opportunities to streamline the regulatory framework.

Implementing qualifications reform

VTQs continue to undergo significant reform through the next reporting period, in line with the government’s post-16 qualifications review at level 2 and below and level 3. While this necessitates a proportionate level of regulation, substantial thought has been given to how the level of burden could be reasonably minimised. In line with Ofqual’s general risk-based approach to regulation, a risk-based approach is to be taken regarding the regulation of reformed qualifications at level 3 and below. This approach will focus on requiring awarding organisations to concentrate only on those areas that pose threats to the validity of their qualifications considering the purpose of each group of qualification.

Ofqual will take the same fundamental approach to the level 2 and below reforms as in the level 3 reforms, meaning that awarding organisations will be familiar with the broad milestones and requests of development. Further to this, the rules that are being proposed for level 2 Technical Occupation Qualifications mirror the requirements for equivalent level 3 qualifications wherever possible. This includes the assessment strategy requirements, which should support awarding organisations in understanding and implementing that guidance.

No further rules are being proposed for level 1 qualifications which are prerequisites to employment, instead being solely governed through the general conditions of recognition. For entry level, level 1 and level 2 qualifications that support a progression to higher levels of academic or technical study, Ofqual expects to propose a limited number of additional rules. Additionally, the new rules should be consistent with the existing rules and approach applied more widely in the qualifications review as far as possible. In each instance, awarding organisations will be able to engage on the requirements involved through consultation, with a particular focus on ensuring that additional burden is necessary and proportionate.

Co-regulation

Ofqual continues to develop a co-regulatory approach to its functions where appropriate. A co-regulatory approach involves working closely with regulated awarding organisations to identify and address threats to quality and fairness, in the interests of students, apprentices and those that use qualifications.

Co-regulation requires engagement with awarding organisations but supports minimising burden by helping to focus work on the most important issues and facilitating well-designed regulatory requirements. Co-regulation does not preclude the full use of Ofqual’s regulatory tools, including enforcement.

A co-regulatory approach is being taken to consider the implications of Ofqual’s research into qualifications for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) which identified areas for development for these qualifications. Co-regulatory workshops were designed to support awarding organisations to identify and resolve issues and share developments and good practice. While new requirements may still be necessary, several issues may be able to be addressed using the information and discussion from the workshops. This could result in fewer new rules but the same level of improved outcomes. The first of these workshops has already been held at the end of 2022, and there are more scheduled for the next reporting period.

In 2022, some VTQ results were delivered late to students. This was a serious matter and Ofqual set out an action plan in December 2022 to address this for results in 2023. To facilitate the implementation of the plan, Ofqual has set up a 2023 VTQ Action Plan Delivery Group with relevant awarding organisations to support their delivery of results in 2023.

Ofqual is also developing ways to support awarding organisations to innovate and develop their qualifications. This will be realised through the development of an innovation service. Awarding organisations will be provided with support in navigating rules related to innovative practice and technology where innovation encourages valid and efficient assessment, reducing development costs and increasing the range and quality of qualifications in the market.

Annex

Engagement with existing and prospective awarding organisations

Throughout the year a number of optional meetings and webinars with selected awarding organisations were conducted to discuss policy development, provide guidance or conduct training. The table below sets out these optional engagements.

Table 1: Summary of the webinars and virtual events from April 2022 to March 2023.

Ofqual webinar or virtual event	Dates
Webinar explaining our regulatory approach to digital Functional Skills qualifications	April 2022
Learn more about our external quality assurance team	April 2022
Equalities impact of consultation ‘Regulating alternative academic and alternative technical qualifications at Level 3’	April 2022
Learn more about our VTQ field team	May 2022
Digital Functional Skills - technical evaluation workshop	May 2022
Explaining our accessibility guidance decisions	June 2022
Joint webinar on Ofqual and IfATE’s proposals for alternative technical qualifications at Level 3 (5/7/22)	July 2022
Ofqual’s proposals for alternative academic qualifications at Level 3 (6/7/22)	July 2022
End-point assessment qualification level guidance consultation webinar	September 2022
Learn more about the work of our data services team	October 2022
Preview the new process for submitting your Statement of Compliance webinar (4/10/22)	October 2022
Webinar to demonstrate the new process for submitting this year’s Statement of Compliance via the portal (26/10/22)	October 2022
Learn more about the work of the public enquiries team	November 2022
Webinar on consultation proposals for Level 1 and 2 qualifications designed to lead to employment	January 2023
Innovation service workshop	February 2023
Webinar on Alternative Academic and Technical Occupation Qualifications at Level 3	February 2023
Webinar for Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) - what to cover in an assessment strategy	February 2023
Webinar on consultation proposals for Level 2 qualifications supporting progression to T Levels	February 2023
Webinar to improve the event notification returns Ofqual receives	March 2023
Webinar - End-point assessment apprentice outcomes data return	March 2023

VTQ regulator briefings were held in:

• April 2022
• June 2022
• September 2022
• November 2022
• January 2023
• March 2023

Recognition regulatory activity

The recognition process for all awarding organisations is necessarily robust. It is important Ofqual maintains a high bar for new entities to be recognised to provide regulated qualifications.

Table 2: An overview of recognition activity for the previous 12 months, and those relating to organisations offering end-point assessments only.

Regulatory activity	1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023	1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022	1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021	1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020
Recognition decisions	623	477	203	84
Of these, recognition decisions on organisations offering end-point assessments only	535	428	149	N/A

Compliance and enforcement regulatory activity

Ofqual sets requirements that awarding organisations must continuously meet and then monitors their compliance with these requirements. Where problems are identified, compliance and enforcement regulatory action is taken to make sure awarding organisations put things right, and that the students and apprentices are treated fairly. (A full list of such actions that are published can be found at ‘regulatory actions and interventions’.)

Table 3: An overview of compliance and enforcement regulatory activity over the previous 12 months and compared with recent years.

Note 1: Compliance activity occurred but was not reported.

Regulatory activity	1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023	1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022	1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021	1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020
Compliance activity – including specific information gathering exercises	77	See note 1	See note 1	See note 1
Audits	1	0	0	32
Investigations	5	0	7	3
Directions	0	0	0	0
Special Conditions	18 (11 of which were imposed at recognition)	25 (20 of which were imposed at recognition)	8 (4 of which were imposed at recognition)	16 (6 of which were imposed at recognition)
Fines	2 (and a further 2 cost recovery penalties following fines)	1	0	3
Undertakings	1	1	4	7