Guidance

PTQ Outcomes: Assessment Reference Information

Updated 1 May 2026

Applies to England

Introduction

In order to fulfil our regulatory and accreditation functions as set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, we require awarding organisations to provide the following data for regulated qualifications.

This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities, publish reports, and to fulfil our responsibility as a government department.

What data will be collected?

Data should capture information about assessments available to students for the time period and qualifications in scope of the collection.

Qualifications in scope

The following qualification types are in scope of this collection:

• Vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) that are included in the Department for Education’s performance tables (PTQs) for the academic year being submitted. These are:
  • Technical Awards
  • Technical Certificates
  • Tech Levels
  • Applied Generals

Countries in scope

Data should be included for all assessments available to students in centres in:

• England

Time period in scope

Data for the latest, full academic year (1 September to 31 August).

When data will be collected

Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is updated regularly. Please submit templates in order specified in the reporting schedule and on the collection page.

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. Data should capture information related to each assessment, to use as reference data for the other PTQ outcomes templates.
4. Submit 1 row of data per assessment per qualification.
5. If the assessment is linked to more than one qualification then please add a row for each qualification the assessment is related to.
6. Rows should be included for any assessments referenced in any of the other PTQ outcomes templates.
7. ‘AssessmentCode’ is a unique identifier for the assessment, allocated by the awarding organisation. Each individual assessment must have a unique code – codes should not be shared across different assessments and, aside from when specifications change, should be consistent across submissions, data collections and over time.
8. Assessment refers to the actual assessment tasks taken by students, such as tests or portfolios. Assessments are the lowest level of granularity within a qualification where marking and/or grading occurs.
9. Assessments are not equal to teaching units, but a unit might only contain one assessment. In the ‘AssessmentCode’ field, when one teaching unit is assessed by one assessment, please provide the URN (Unit Reference Number). Otherwise please provide a unique identifier for each individual assessment as defined above.
10. Where multiple delivery modes are employed as part of the assessment process and aggregated to determine a single assessment result, use the delivery mode ‘Product based’. Where an assessment has multiple delivery modes available but these are not aggregated to determine a single assessment result, use one of the ‘Mixed’ delivery mode options.

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])$
AcademicYear	The academic year which this data submission relates to (defined as 1 September to 31 August). For example, “2021-2022”.	2	The academic year in the following format: start year (4 digits), a dash, end year (4 digits). Format accepted yyyy-yyyy	^(20)\d\d[-](20)\d\d$
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}$
QualificationNumber	The unique identifier for the qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications, for example, 123/1234/1. If the assessment is linked to more than one qualification then add a row for each qualification the assessment is related to.	4	Valid qualification number. 10 characters accepted.	^.{10}$
AssessmentCode	Unique identifier for the assessment, generated by the AO. See general completion guidelines for detail	5	1 to 50 characters accepted	^.{1,50}$
AssessmentTitle	Title of the assessment	6	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
AssessmentType	To indicate type of assessment, internal of external. Internal assessment means set and/or marked by centres. External assessment means that the assessment is externally set and marked by the awarding organisation or another independent body. It does not include moderation or verification of centre-based assessment undertaken by an awarding organisation	7	Accepted values: • Internal • External	^(Internal|External)$
AssessmentSchedule	To indicate the schedule for external assessments The list of assessment schedules is given in Appendix A. Please choose the most appropriate -2 accepted for internal assessment	8	See Appendix A for accepted schedules	^(Timetabled|On-demand non-sessional|On-demand sessional|Mixed schedule|-2)$
AssessmentMethod	The method used in the assessment. If multiple assessment methods are used, please use the value “Mixed”. The list of assessment methods is given in Appendix B. Please choose the most appropriate.	9	See Appendix B for accepted methods	^(Aural assessment|Coursework|E-assessment|Multiple choice examination|Oral examination|Portfolio of evidence|Practical demonstration/assignment|Practical examination|Task-based controlled assessment|Written examination|Mixed)$
DeliveryMode	Mode of the primary assessment method used. The list of delivery modes is given in Appendix C. Please choose the most appropriate one.	10	See Appendix C for accepted modes	^(Paper based|Computer based|Face to face|Remote|Product based|Mixed – including computer based|Mixed – not including computer based|Not specified)$

Validation rules

A data submission is only considered complete once it has successfully passed the validation rules.

If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it. A file may be successful but with warnings. Warnings will not cause failure in the validation process but will highlight entries which may need to be checked. You will receive an email with details of the warning in an attached “Data Validation Warnings Report”. If you receive this, please review the report and contact Ofqual Data Services should the data require any amendment.

The validation rules for this template check that each field is correctly formatted. The correct formatting of the fields are detailed in the ‘file format’ section. Failure to format the fields in line with the validation regular expression will result in unsuccessful validation. Additional validation rules are also in place for this template and may include cross-referencing with other templates. These validation rules along with whether they result in failure or a warning are detailed in the following table.

Validation rule	Result if not met
‘ReportingDate’ values match date the file was due to be submitted to Ofqual regardless of when it was actually uploaded (this date will be made available by Ofqual)	Fail and rejected
‘AcademicYear’ 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 and does not belong to AEAs, GCSEs, AS or A levels	Fail and rejected

Appendix A: List of assessment schedules

Please use the following list of assessment methods for entering values for the field ‘AssessmentSchedule’. Where terms used by an awarding organisation differ from those given below, please select the closest match possible.

Assessment Schedule	Description
Timetabled	The test/exam can only be taken on a specified date set by the AO
On-demand non-sessional	The test/exam can be taken at any time during the year
On-demand sessional	The test/exam can be taken at any time within exam windows specified by AOs
Mixed schedule	Where parts of the test/exam use one schedule, and other parts another
-2	For internal assessment

Appendix B: List of assessment methods

Please use the following list of assessment methods for entering values for the field ‘AssessmentMethod’. Where terms used by an awarding organisation differ from those given below, please select the closest match possible.

Assessment Methods

• Aural assessment
• Coursework
• E-assessment
• Multiple choice examination
• Oral examination
• Portfolio of evidence
• Practical demonstration/assignment
• Practical examination
• Task-based controlled assessment
• Written examination
• Mixed (any combination of the listed methods)

Appendix C: List of delivery modes

Please use the following list of assessment delivery modes for entering values for the field ‘DeliveryMode’. Where terms used by an awarding organisation differ from those given below, please select the closest match possible.

Delivery Mode	Description and Examples
Paper based	A delivery mode where an assessment is delivered on a paper to access and/or gather evidence of skills, knowledge and behaviours of the student. For example, tests, assignments, evidence logbook, etc.
Computer based	A delivery mode where computers are used for assessing skills, knowledge and behaviours of the student. Includes any “on screen” assessment. For example, tests, practical exercises, task-based challenge, etc. Note: this delivery mode does not include remote video-based communication or performance assessments.
Face to face	A delivery mode used for assessing students’ learning with the learner and examiner sharing the same physical space. For example, oral assessments such as interviews, professional discussions as well as practical observation, task-based challenge, etc.
Remote	A delivery mode used for assessing students’ learning with the student and examiner not sharing the same physical space, but instead using a video recording, web cam or via online video communication, for example, Skype or FaceTime. For example, oral assessments such as interviews, professional discussions as well as practical observation, task-based challenge, etc.
Product based	A delivery mode where the student is required to create a product/working model for assessment, and/or where multiple delivery modes are employed as part of the assessment process and aggregated to determine a single assessment result. Note: this delivery mode may primarily be used for projects.
Mixed – including computer based	Any combination of the listed modes that includes ‘computer based’.
Mixed – not including computer based	Any combination of the listed modes that does not include ‘computer based’.
Not specified	Where mode of delivery is unknown due to assessment being an internal centre assessment.

Recent changes to this guidance

Date of change	Description of change
01/05/2026	Updated the document template and clarified aspects of the text. Time period in scope changed so data is collected only once per academic year
18/09/2024	‘DeliveryMode’ values were updated to split ‘Mixed’ category into ‘Mixed – including computer based’ and ‘Mixed – not including computer based’

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