Guidance

PTQ Timetable: guide to the data submission process

Updated 17 February 2026

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 relate to assessment dates 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 is collected at multiple points during the year for the autumn, winter, spring or 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.

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 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 before a resubmission.

If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please contact the data services team. 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, 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 include all timetabled assessments.
4. Submit one row for data for each timetabled assessment for a qualification component.
5. Both internal and external assessments should be included.
6. ‘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.
7. 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.
8. 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, provide the URN (Unit Reference Number). Otherwise, provide a unique identifier for each individual assessment as defined above.
9. AssessmentEndDate only applies to assessments that have an assessment window. For all other assessments, re-enter the same value as for AssessmentStartDate.

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\d0[1-9]|1[012][-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$
ExamSeries	Exam series that the data relates to, for example Summer 2024	2	Full season name of exam series and year.	^(Autumn|Winter|Spring|Summer)( [0-9]{4})$
AwardingOrganisation	Awarding organisation acronym as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated organisations	3	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	4	Valid qualification number. 10 characters accepted	^.{10}$
QualificationTitle	Title of qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications	5	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
AssessmentCode	Unique identifier for the assessment, generated by the AO. See general completion guidelines for detail.	6	1 to 50 characters accepted	^.{1,50}$
AssessmentTitle	Title of the assessment	7	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
AssessmentStartDate	Start date of assessment window or date of assessment if it is a single day. It should be the earliest date on which the students may take the assessment.	8	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])$
AssessmentEndDate	End date of assessment window or date of assessment if it is a single day. It should be the final date on which the students may take the assessment. Repeat the start date value for assessments which are only taken on one day.	9	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\d0[1-9]|1[012]0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]$
AssessmentType	To indicate type of assessment, internal or 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.	10	Accepted values: • Internal • External	^(Internal|External)$
AssessmentMethod	The method used in the assessment. If multiple assessment methods are used, use “Mixed”. The list of assessment methods is given in Appendix A below. Choose the most appropriate one.	11	See Appendix A 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 B below. Choose the most appropriate one.	12	See Appendix B 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 the data services team 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
‘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

Appendix A: List of assessment methods

Use the following list of assessment methods for entering values for the ‘AssessmentMethod’ in field 11 above. Where terms used by an awarding organisation differ from those given below, 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 B: List of delivery modes

Use the following list of component delivery modes for entering values for the field ‘DeliveryMode’. Where terms used by an awarding organisation differ from those given below, 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.
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. 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 student and examiner sharing the same physical space. For example: oral assessments such as interviews, professional discussions, practical observation, task-based challenges.
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, webcam or online video communication such as Skype or FaceTime. For example: oral assessments such as interviews, professional discussions, practical observation, task-based challenges.
Product based	A delivery mode where the student is required to create a product or working model for assessment, and/or where multiple delivery modes are employed as part of the assessment process and aggregated into 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 the assessment being an internal centre assessment.

Recent changes to this guidance

Date of change	Description of change
29 January 2025	Updated the document template and clarified aspects of the text. No changes to actual requirements were made.
18 September 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